The Straw that broke the Camel's Back - August 4th

Okay, it was less like a straw and more like an entire roof's worth of shingles. And it was less like a camel and more like a dump trailer. You've seen pictures of this trailer. This is it:




Well, this weekend, Dave and I stripped the asphalt shingles off the roof of the shack. (We don't really have any pictures of this because, though we have been working hard, we are at our wits end and are not reaching for the camera as often.) We put all the shingles - every single one - into this trailer. This trailer is something my father inherited from my Grandfather on my mother's side. It is made of a truck axle from a GMC truck that originated sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. Dave dubbed it the "Road Warrior" trailer because it is rusty and has things missing from it and it's brake lights are smashed. It is just full of character. Sometimes we just call it Rusty.

Anyway, my father and I are driving down Route 4 (a very busy road that runs across southern New Hampshire) on our way to the dump with a whole %!#@* load of asphalt shingles in the trailer. Suddenly there is a bang and some very load grinding. Dad pulled off the road and started shouting for me to give him my water bottle because the trailer was on fire! So, I tossed him my water bottle and he ran to cool off the trailer before the whole load lit fire.

As it turned out, the trailer was not on fire, but the axle was very very hot. The left wheel bearing had seized up and the wheel kept turning, so the whole wheel just twisted right off of the axle. (the guy in the picture is Ray. He lives near where we pulled over, and he came over to see if he could help.)




So, as you can see, the wheel is about to fall off and the trailer is looking a lot like it might dump it's load of shingles and rooffing nails all over the highway. We were lucky enough to pull over across the street from E-Z Docking Solutions owned by a friend of my father's, John, who makes and sells docks.

These three guys worked pretty hard to keep that from happening. (from top to bottom, the guy in the blue shirt is John, the guy in the green is my dad, and the guy in the gray is Brian)






The wheel had come off completely.






After deciding that it is a bad idea to try to "kinda" push the wheel back on and limp the trailer across the highway to John's parking lot, they had a new idea.




I didn't think that this forklift could pick up this trailer.




It seems that I was wrong.




They had a little trouble getting the forks underneath the trailer, so they had to try from the street. In order to do that, my mother, Liz, had to stop traffic with the Geo Metro (whose name is Buster, if you were wondering.) Liz and Buster arrived on the scene as fast as lightning with a six-ton-jack and some blocks to hold up the axle.




So, with the traffic stopped, the forklift pulled old Rusty across the highway while the cars waited.



Now here Rusty lies.




He is sitting in John's parking lot awaiting our return with a new bearing. Rusty is still full of shingles. What will happen next in these crazy shack adventures!?

Our new walls - July 31st

We're back again, Shack Lovers. Back with more pictures, and more results. Since I last updated, we have finished our new walls and we are actually ready to start tearing into the roof (quite literally.) I also had time to try on several wedding dresses and had a fashion show for Haley, Orrin, Mom, and our friends Ainsley and Priscilla. We picked out a dress that was (of course) perfect in every way. You will all get to see it soon enough!

Back to the house! Okay, so when we left you, we had holes in the South wall. Well, we fixed them. Here is Dave working on mending the gap between the front and the back of the building.



He did a really good job. While Dave worked on filling the gap, I framed in the windows we got to let the sunlight in (anyone who had seen our apartment in Bratt knows how sun-starved we are after living in a cave for three years!) Here are our two great south windows. We hadn't fixed the gap at the bottom when this picture was taken. We call it the "squirrel vent". Squirrels are great, but we don't want them living in this house. So, we finished the plywood and covered it all up with "EasyGard" (some sort of Tyvec substitute.)



Here is the front and the South wall, all wrapped up like a present.



Now that we finished those two walls, its time to move on the the North wall. Now, this is the LAST wall that we are fixing. I think (and I know I have said this before several times and been wrong) the next step is actually to replace the roof. This is only a theory. Our goal is to be sleeping in the shack by the time we get married. I think that would mean that we would probably have to forgo the planning of our wedding. So, if you all show up on the 16th of August and find the bride and groom standing on the roof of the shack, looking really surprised and wearing work clothes and tool belts, it is because we forgot we were supposed to get married that day. If that is the case, we'll climb down, splash some water on our faces and try to act like we knew we were supposed to have some sort of party.

All that aside, I started taking out the North wall on the 29th (Dave had to do some work that morning, so I was on my own with the sawzal). The upright beams were rotten (surprise surprise) and behind the door trim, I found this pert little line of acorns.



Some industrious little rodent had lined them all up there. This was no shock - we've been finding these little caches all through the house within the framing. this was just the cutest display we have found so far. After the acorns in the door, it took little time to take down the North wall since it was not really attached to much.



If you are worried, the rafters and cross-ties are being held up with metal lolly columns. It won't fall down on Dave's head. We wasted little time and got right to framing it up.



Then we sheathed it all in right fast and replaced the lolly columns with 4x6 beams.



In no time we had it covered with Tyvec (the real stuff this time)



Can you hear our big sigh of relief? One more task done. We are reaching our limit of exertion since we have been going now for two solid weeks, no weekends, ALL DAY LONG. We decided to take today (Thursday the 31st) off. Well, we took it half off. This morning Dave, Dad, and I built the framing for the front eave of the roof. But, then Dave and I went out for lunch (a real treat after PB&J sandwiches on the job site for a week) After lunch, we went swimming together and I picked blueberries while Dave enjoyed a sun nap. I think we feel a little bit better. Let me find you a picture of this our lake so you can see just how enjoyable it can be.



We are off to enjoy our evening. We are looking forward to seeing you all at the wedding.

After the Storm - July 29th

Hello fans and followers. I know I said we were okay after that tornado and that we would update soon, but we haven't had the time. We have just worked ten full days in a row (ten hour days that is.) We're tired and dirty as usual. It can be hard to motivate to write something in the end of the day. I'll see what I can dredge up to show you though. First of all, Dave and I went out to breakfast the first day that they opened up the road out of town and we got to see some of the damage the tornado did to our neighbors. These pictures are from a lake about a half-mile from our lake.




All the bare trees used to be in the middle of the woods!



These guys are just fishing in front of the disaster area...



You can see the house across the lake from here is completely smashed.



Okay okay, enough of the disaster. I am going to see how far I can get telling you about where we are at, but we have done so much that I doubt I can catch you all up in just one entry. Hang in there, maybe I'll have time for another one tomorrow. First of all, we did frame the front wall. It is beautiful. We framed it with rough cut 2x6, so it looks really tough. We appreciate that after seeing a tornado rip through. Here is the wall all framed. We finished it on Thursday, the 24th.



Here is Dave taking a rare break to enjoy the odd spot of sunshine that poked through.






It was still raining, so we had to wait another day before we could put the sheathing on. It only took a couple of hours, and here is what it looked like once we were finished. The top window it not going to be that shape once we are all done, we think it may end up being an octagon window if we can scrounge one up.



I suppose that I should show you a little bit more of our life here on the lake, since our experience is all part of the adventure. A few weeks ago, my parents lent us their Coleman stove so we could make our tea and coffee in the morning. We enjoy our wake-up-drinks as the sun rises over the far shore. (the picture is a little off kilter because I balanced it on a damp cardboard box.)



And here is Dave cooking us up his special breakfast eggs.



Yes, we feel we are living large now that we can eat breakfast "on our own" - meaning not at Mom and Dad's house. We love having breakfast with them, but we missed our quiet morning times. Ahhh. So peaceful. But, it is early to work for us. Once we finished the East wall, we started in on the South wall. Our goal is to preserve as much of the existing timber framing as we can. So far, we have only been able to save the rafters and collar ties though. The ants have been having a field day in some of these posts. Here is Dave cutting off the tip of one of the rafters to try and preserve it. We think we were successful.



We lifted up the rafters a bit in order to cut the bad posts out from under them. The results we good, but we have some new holes in the house!



The holes from the outside...



So, we have since this picture, replaced the framing on the inside of this wall and managed to keep the exterior sheathing! I will have more pictures for you soon. It will have to wait for the next update, though because my camera is somewhere else at the moment. meanwhile, we helped Gary a little bit on a film that he is working on that involves people dancing on water. We spent Sunday evening in the water installing an underwater dock. Here are Dave and Gary enjoying the results of this experiment.



We tried to show how deep the water is where we set up the platform.



Oh the weird and wild things we do at the lake. We look forward to being able to entertain visitors. More updates soon!

Tornado! - July 26th

A TORNADO BLEW THROUGH DEERFIELD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Yes, if you haven't heard the news, we were nearly hit by a tornado on Thursday, July 24th around noon. We just thought it was a thunderstorm! Dave, Dad, and I were framing in the lake-side of the shack and watched a wall of water plow through Pleasant Lake from the South. We just sort of stood there and said..."wow" to each other. We just thought it was a really big thunderstorm. A few hours later, Dave and I got in the Volvo to go and get some more building supplies and discovered that our only road to Concord was closed (route 107 and route 4.) This is the first time we have been able to make any sort of update because the internet has been down since the storm. My mother's place-of-employment, VanBerkum's Perennial Nursery was hit hard.


I forgot to bring the camera for the work we did today, so you'll have to wait for pictures later. Hold your horses! We've done lots of exciting things. Check in the next few days to find out what amazing things we've done to the shack.

We're still here, we haven't blown away. If you want to read more about our tornado, check out our local TV station:
WMUR.com

Framing - July 23rd

Okay, so, we started to get ready for demo yesterday, now it is time to do the deed. Dave and I got started early this morning. In fact, we were started before Gary got there (this was a first, but we had the upper hand because we sleep next to the shack in a tent.) I was the first one up the scaffolding in the early morning, and I started taking off the trim boards around the roof. I usually try to hide from Dave when he has the camera, but once I got way up on the scaffolding there was nowhere to run from the camera. Here we go, starting the day off with photos.



I discovered that underneath the sheathing that one of the rafters was rotten clear through.





Here are the carpenter ants that were eating it...they are going nuts trying to figure out what just happened to their cozy little home.



Once I had gotten the roof free from the wall, Dad went at it with the Sawzal.



Bit by bit, we started pulling the wall away.



And a little bit more...



And a little bit more...



Now, the last part did not come out easy. Though that huge beam was rotten, it still weighed a ton! Dave and Dad wrestled it while I held onto it from above with a rope. We missed that photo op because we were all involved. We need a full time photographer to document the best stuff. But. we didn't have one today, so I'll just skip ahead. Here it is with no face on it.



I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that I put in some temporary framing on the inside for when we removed the gable rafters and collar-tie. The building seemed to be satisfied with my temp collar-ties and posts. So, with all this work done, we could finally start framing in some new stuff! Oh, wait. Not so fast. First we needed to deal with the walls that were pitching themselves South. Here Dave and Dad are doing some of that "dealing with."



It took two Come-a-longs and some creative yanking to get them to sit right. But, they are pretty true now. (for those of you who know something about how to frame a window, don't worry, the one in the picture above will be corrected. That is just the way it was when we revealed the framing.)

I know what I need to tell you, it looks really sunny in all these pics because my camera kept flashing. But, this has actually been a very rainy day. In fact, we decided to finish the day - though the front wall had only been partially framed - because we had to stand in the pouring rain to frame it. It looks like that will be the story all week. We are bound and determined to finish it, though! Stay tuned for a finished look to the front wall (by finished, we mean covered in Tyvec) and more adventures with replacing rotten beams like this one:



Stay tuned for the next installment in shack adventures!

Attack - July 23rd

Hello hello hello, we're back. It has been a long time now, and you have all been very patient. After we finished the braces last Monday, we had to take some time to figure out what the next big step would be. It all depended on what was salvageable and what was not. It depended on windows, it depended on a LOT of things. We got it all figured out, we got to enjoy the lake a bit. Dave got to catch up on work. So, this week we are back on the job and ready to get this place livable. On Monday, I did a lot of pulling out of old boards that were tacked onto the ceiling. Then I vacuumed (for hours) all the rodent poop that had fallen from the ceiling. You know how exciting vacuuming is - I guess it is alright that I didn't get any pictures.

The next day was more fun. We have come to the conclusion that the front gable wall needed to be replaced. It was all rotten. So, the first plan of attack was to pick some windows for the front wall so we could frame them when the time came. So, Dave and I went on an exciting trip to Big Jims. This is the place in New Hampshire where you go to get good windows for cheap. There were lots and lots!!



We picked out five really nice ones for the front room. We haven't taken pictures of them, but you'll see them once we get them in (and we are sure that you will all approve.)

So, now that we had the windows that we needed, we needed to start taking down the front wall. Here I am painstakingly removing the old windows so we don't break them.



Oh, I forgot that in order to start taking out the wall, we needed to set up the scaffolding. Here Dad is testing it out.



Then we made it taller!



Here is Orrin enjoying an afternoon under the scaffolding. Lizzy is right near him, but out of the picture. Don't worry, he is set pretty far from the construction project, it just looks like he is there to catch demolition debris (I put that sentence in for when his mother reads this update!)



Okay, things are really going in the right direction, now. But, since we took so much time off, I thought I would fill you in on what we have been enjoying while we put the project on hold.

One thing I should point out is that the weather this week has been really crumby, But last week was beautiful. Here is a picture Dave took when we woke up the other day. It turns out that when you sleep in a tent, it is really hard to sleep in. Between the sun shining in and the crows yelling to each other in the trees above our heads, we are up around 6am every day. So, here is a sunrise we took in and remembered to photograph.



Ahh, nature is nice isn't it. Here is a sunfish that Dave took a picture of.



Okay, that is all I am going to give you this time, but I'm putting in the next update right away, so read on to see the demolition continue.