9/9-11/03 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:50 and found two frogs in the can over the gate lock. One was fat and the other was tiny. Probably the same two as last time. It was a beautiful 62 degree fall day. No more work had been done on backfilling the utility trench.

After moving in and having lunch, I carried a heavy oak table up to the building. It had been given to Kalimba and she didn't want it. I carried it up the temporary trail up the cliff on my back and then I used a come-along rigged to a pulley attached to a Grid F anchor hook to hoist it up onto the deck.

Next I duct taped the pulley and hook to the chain at the top of my rigging to keep the pulley from hopping off the chain again. Then I finished tightening the cable clamps to make the sling for lifting the windows. I made the sling so that the top of it was only a foot or so above the top of the window. There wasn't going to be much clearance between the window and the pulley holding it when the top window was up where it needed to be. There wouldn't be any problem with the lower window, but I wanted to make a sling that would work for both the upper and lower windows. To allow the window to go as high as possible, I tied a tight two-half hitches around the clevis of a shackle and then ran the sling cable through the shackle. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if I couldn't lift the upper window high enough to get it into the opening.

I rigged the sling around the window inside the nailing flange and lifted it off the ground so I could remove the 1x2 screwed to the bottom flange. Then I lowered the window back down, re-rigged the sling around the window outside the flange, and then began lifting it up to the window opening. It was a heavy load and there was a lot of stress on all my rigging. I could see that the sling was squeezing the two top corners together hard enough to cause a noticeable bow in the top of the window. It seemed that the window was strong enough to take it, so I just kept cranking until the window was up in place.

After I had gooped up the hole with caulk and put the window in the hole, I held it in place with a rope bridle and two screw-eyes just as I did on the first living room window and the bedroom window. Then, I noticed that with all my concern with the rigging and lifting, I had forgotten to check the window opening for flat. With the window in the hole I could see that it was not flat. One corner needed to be shimmed out about a half inch. I found two scraps left over from making other shims, and by cutting them to the right lengths, I had exactly the shims I needed. I gooped them up with caulk and squeezed them in behind the nailing flanges. Then I pressed the window in tight and it fit nicely all the way around. Then I screwed and nailed it into place and removed the sling and bridle. It felt really good to have one of the big windows installed. I now know for sure that one guy can do it.

During the work, I fed the gray jays and the chipmunks quite a bit. The birds like it when I am working on scaffolds because they can see me out there and there are lots of places for them to land close to me.

On Wednesday morning I slept in and got a late start working. I started out by stretching diagonal strings across the high window opening and sure enough, it was not flat either. I needed to bring one corner out 3/4 of an inch. I set up my ripping jig and made two shims going from 3/4" to nothing in 5 feet. I installed the shims and also planed part of the bottom of the opening in order to make a nice flat front for the opening.

Then I set to work rigging to lift a window up to the high opening. I felt uneasy up on the high scaffolds again, but after thinking about it, I figured out what the problem is. I have new no-line bifocals and my eyes are not yet used to the distorted view that I see. When I am up on the scaffolds, things just look a little weird and make me feel uneasy. When I got these glasses, I first got trifocals with lines in them. After wearing them for a couple days and realizing that I would be seeing double when looking down at a scaffold plank or a rock, I realized they simply wouldn't work for high scaffolds or for hiking off the trails. I took them back and got the no-line ones. They distort the picture, but at least I only have one rock or plank to consider when I decide where to step next. I still have to walk slowly and deliberately on scaffolding or rough ground, but I'm sure I'll get used to it sooner or later. At least it's good to know the reason I was feeling uneasy up there.

In the process of setting up the rigging, Mike Hitchcock and Barb White stopped by to see the project. Mike said he would like to build a log house but he had never heard of Skip Ellsworth. I told him he really needed to take Skip's class before he started building or even planning a log house. Mike was a general contractor who had build a multi-million dollar showcase home that had been featured in the Seattle Times, so I felt really good when he complimented me on what I had done so far. He took some pictures of me and the building, and I took a picture of them which they said I could post on my web site. I'll do that as soon as I get the print back.

After they left, I went back to work lifting the window. Instead of rigging the sling inside the flange in order to remove the 1x2 on the bottom, I decided to rig it on the outside and just run it between the 1x2 and the flange. After rigging it that way, I lifted the window a couple feet off the ground and removed the 1x2. I was able to get at the screws easier that way and there was no problem getting the 1x2 out of there. The sling ended up right where it was supposed to be, so I didn't have to set the window back down to re-rig the sling. I just continued lifting it up.

I got it up to the first scaffold level and then set it down on the scaffold so I could re-rig. The two come-alongs were wound nearly all the way up so I had to pull them out again in order to lift the window the rest of the way up. Everything went smoothly. It was just a matter of clicking away at the come-alongs.

The anchor hooks holding up the pulley are about a foot away from the wall. That didn't make too much difference on the lower window, but on the high window, that held the window a foot away from the opening. The knot in the rope holding the shackle and sling was right up against the pulley as far as it could go. I pushed the bottom of the window into the opening and was very relieved to find that the window was just high enough and went right into the opening. I was relieved that I was able to lift the window high enough.

Of course, the window wouldn't stay there unless I held it. So I got a couple more screw-eyes and another rope and made a bridle to hold the bottom of the window in the hole just like the bridle I used to hold the top of the window. With the bottom of the window in the hole and both bridles tightened up, I relaxed the come-along 5 clicks. The window stayed put, held by the bridles. Then I could push the top of the window toward the hole so the window was more nearly vertical and tighten the top bridle up to hold it there. Then, I relaxed the come-along another 10 clicks and I was able to push the window all the way into the hole. I tightened both bridles and it stayed put.

I was pleased with how the window went into the hole and how it fit. Then I reversed all the actions of the clicks and the bridles so that the window was swinging out in space again. It was a tight squeeze but I was able to caulk the window opening all around so I could start the process over again of putting the window back in the opening. Since I knew the routine of five clicks and ten clicks, I clicked right through it. Then I screwed and nailed the window into place, removed the sling and bridles, and felt really good about having a high window installed. The most gratifying jobs are the ones that I doubted that I would be able to do by myself and this was one of them.

Thursday was another beautiful Fall day. I decided not to begin installing another window. Not only do I have to re-rig all my lifting rigging, but I will have to figure out a strategy for getting on and off my scaffolds. For the other windows, I simply went in and out of the window openings using a ladder from the inside of the building. That will only work until there is glass in the opening. From then on, I will have to do all the accessing from outside. I am up and down the ladders and scaffolds and in and out the window openings dozens of times for dozens of reasons for each window. I will need some fairly easy way of doing the same thing without the benefit of the openings. At this point, I don't know exactly how I will do it.

I spent the morning staining and installing the trim around the two big windows I had installed. I think they look really nice. During the process I fed the jays and chipmunks quite a lot. Most of the flock are young birds that still have mottled dark feathers on the fronts of their faces. The older birds have clear light gray coloring there. I was wondering if I would ever recognize Scruffy again, because I realized that the mottled feathers on his face which helped me recognize him were really just a sign of his youth. But on one occasion I am sure one of the birds was Scruffy. He had that unmistakable lump above his left leg. He looked all grown up now with clear feathers on his face, but with that lump I know it was him. It was good to see him again. I left for home at 1:00. The frogs were not in the can on the way out.