- sand 5 braces
- varnish 10 braces
- sand 8 large timbers
- varnish 8 big timbers
- assemble bents
- mark timber footprints on floor
- install one more floor jack in basement under stair post
- put "stops" on rafters for securing lifting sling
- repair "Big Bertha" (huge wooden mallet aka The Persuader)
- prefit 36" braces in mortices
- stack single timbers in lifting sequence
- book crane
- phone a friend -or several
- trip to lumber yard for small supplies
- bracing material on hand
- rent scaffold
Tuesday morning: Dennis's brother & sis-in-law have an unbooked day and come by to help. They help Dennis move timbers onto the floor and start assembling bents. These should be quick & easy for the crane to lift.
Pounding the first peg. No more "test fits". This is for real !!
Making very good progress on the first bent.
It's been a good day: 2 bents done and there's still just enough natural light to clean up the tools.
Wednesday morning: Dennis read over the list again, sets the goal and locks it in by booking a crane for Thurs, Aug 26. The countdown has begun. Nine days! Now we have a definate date to book off work, and we can start phoning the friends who wanted to try to be here for Raising (as per THE LIST).
Wednesday evening: The euphoria of having a date booked for Raising eases off a little and I realize my list also includes hostessing: getting lunch and possibly supper ready for however many people--work crew, their spouses & kids and other spectators-- who show up on Raising Day, getting tables, garbage cans, adequate drinking water if it's a hot day, and ... My head spins for a moment. Put that against a backdrop of life where back-to-school is looming too, there are some large projects we're trying to finish at work before month end, and we have (very loved and wonderful) out-of-province guests coming for a few days at about the same time as the Raising. I have a mental near-meltdown. Okay, it's all good. Pick up the pieces, make some lists and GET WORKING !!
Saturday (today): Things are progressing well. Only 5 more days. The menu is planned, the grocery shopping done and the baking is in the freezer. (Except for 2 items that family members have offered to bring..same thing though...on my list, that counts as done.)
Dennis is working this weekend, and we took some time to go to the parade in town this morning, but with the 3 1/2 hours we had, there was more progress on stacking timbers and we also have 3/4 of the work done on assembling bent #3.
We also discovered today that we need a new theory about black mold & discoloration on the timbers. Even some of those that have been under a dry roof since the day they were cut out of a log have some discoloration! It's not just rain, straw bales & tarps to blame. They were properly separated with 1" airspace on all sides...maybe they needed slight air movement too? And if so, where's the line between drying the wood too quickly, which causes excessive cracking, and getting enough air movement? Sigh...we're just glad none of the damage we found today is major or in visible places. There's almost no action required to clean these up.
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