I am sure you remember the subfloor post. I mean, how can you not?!? Well, Brett and I headed back out to the beautiful slice of heaven that is Maggie Lake for a week and got right back to making that subfloor in to a full blown cabin. My lovely in-laws spent the week with the kids. Thank you Corky and Lynn!
This time I was better prepared. My Foreman/husband gave me a sweet toolbelt to top off my work uniform consisting of cut-offs, homemade sleeveless t-shirt and Romeo's. It was ridiculously manly. I know you all want photographic evidence but truth be told, I am rarely caught on camera. You'd think I was a CIA agent. I am always behind the lens so, again, you'll have to use your imagination.
After we finished laughing over my uniform we started swinging bammers. At the end of the first day, Cabin Project 2011 looked like this:
Day two we sheeted. Which brought so many hilarious jokes from me. I am sure my Boss was entertained even though at times he didn't laugh. It's okay though, I thought I was hilarious! I mean, how can you not laugh at things like, "That's some crazy sheet!" or "That sheet is whack!" or "This sheet is scaaaarrry." Okay, it was corny and we had been slinging bammers all morning. In fact, after getting one sheet connected to the cabin frame by slinging bammers I told Brett to get in the car cause we were going to buy an air compressor to replace the one that broke that a.m. There was no WAY we would ever finish if we had to hand nail the ENTIRE thing. And, there would be a lot of whining. I think that is what sold him. At the end of day two, and a ton of sheet (ha, ha), the cabin became:
Cousin Mark joined us for the afternoon/evening and convinced us to close shop up early to go out in the boat and try to fish for salmon that "people" had been reportedly catching. We didn't catch any but we saw two dozen or so catching mad air i.e. jumping. It was spectacular! Huge salmon getting their entire bodies out of the water. So, we puttered around and watched them until the sun set and then headed back for a campfire and barfing. Well, Mark did all the barfing. Stomach flu and camping are not a pleasant combo. We felt so bad but I am so thankful he made it out earlier that day to hang the high sheet. Thank you Cousin Mark!
If I learned anything this week, I learned that construction is tedious, back breaking work. In the evenings we would hit the water (either lake or sound) and just veg out for a few hours and then hit the hay...by 10 p.m. We were spent! But, we did sleep like babies which was great because each day we had work to do. Day three was beam day. We had to hang the beam that the trusses would rely on. It was way up high and all we had were ladders. So, after a lot of math and design work, Brett came up with a plan and we had the beam hung and gables built by the end of the day. I didn't get a picture at the end of this day because we were so excited to go see the kids. You see, after we packed up the work site we went to Brett's parents to visit the kids, tuck the kids in to bed, shower off three days of bug spray and then drove to Neah Bay. Salmon fishing break! I'll get you up to speed on our salmon fishing adventure in a separate post cause this one is gettin' long folks.
Back from fishing on Friday, Brett designed the trusses and then we stepped back and said to ourselves, "Wow, that is one steep roof. Well, let's get to work!" Day four was spent on ladders. Rickety, bendy, ladders. I am a great ladder footer. Brett hung all the trusses. By mid-day the neighbor had clearly been watching our riskly ladder maneuvers and offered up scaffolding. Yep, I got to monkey around (literally) on scaffolding. I told you it was a manly vacation. The scaffolding helped us a ton. Thank you neighbors! At the end of the day we accomplished:
Saturday morning Brett finalized the gable ends (he is probably going to cringe at my incorrect labeling but just go with it) while I got camp organized cause after a family reunion the kids were going to join us for a night of camping! This is the last picture of the cabin I have because after the family reunion we drove the kids up to the camp/cabin work site and immediately realized that it was a horrible combo. Nails, powertools and wood scraps do not mix well with young kids. So, we all hugged Brett goodbye and headed home. Brett stayed a few extra days and kept on workin'. Brett's Mom captured these photos after we had gone home:
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| Gable ends, check. |
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| Roof sheet, check. |
Brett was able to finish the roof, install the door and weather wrap the cabin before heading home on Monday. Now we can finish up the rest piece-by-piece but it is ready to brave the winter as is. When we head back out to Tahuya, I'll capture a pic to share.
We had so much fun building this together. I know I have mentioned it before but we really do work well together and enjoy it. I learned so much from Brett and was so impressed with his knowledge. I mean, I knew he was smart but it was so amazing to see him come up with a plan on his own and transform a pile of wood and nails in to a cabin. Whew! I am one lucky lady. Cheers to one productive vacation.
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