9/18-20/07 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 1:00. As I got out of the pickup to open the gate, I looked up the road just in time to see a small black bear jump from the road into the ditch and onto our property at the game trail. That was only the second time I have actually seen a bear near our property. It was neat.

After moving in and having lunch, I drove the pickup up to the upper roadway and proceeded to unload the wood stove. It was a pleasant 58 degrees out. After looking the situation over and thinking about it, I decided to pull the stove up the stairs rather than lifting it straight up and onto the porch.

I was able to make a nice plank bridge from the tailgate over to the stairs. The bridge sloped down just a little toward the stairs. I used four 2x10s for the bridge. The pickup bed was sloped down away from the stairs. I rigged a come-along from the high corner of the bed to the chain that was still fastened around the stove. This was to prevent the stove from sliding too far. I kept a little slack in that come-along and let it out as I slid the stove and its plastic coated particle-board panel out onto the tailgate. The tailgate was held up by only a single cable so that the other cable didn't interfere with the bridge, but I convinced myself that it was still strong enough to support the stove. I strung another come-along and chain from the stove up to the top of the Grid G2 column. This is the one that would pull the stove most of the way up the stairs. I used it to pull the stove across the tailgate and up onto the bridge.

To get the panel that the stove was riding on up onto the planks, I used the steel bar to lever it up and successively stick short boards and 2x4s under it. When the edge was lifted high enough to clear the planks, I cranked on the come-along and slid it onto the bridge.

Once the entire panel was on the plank bridge, I was able to slide the panel and stove all the way across the bridge simply by pushing on the panel. I did it only in stages, though, and each time I moved it, I would take up the slack in the pulling come-along, and I would let out more slack in the safety come-along. Once the stove was near the stairs, I removed the safety come-along since it was no longer needed.

When the load reached the stairs, I had to lift the edge of the panel again like I had before in order to slant the panel and the stove to the incline of the stairs. This took a while with a lot of maneuvers, short boards, clicks of the come-along, and prys with the steel bar. I also slid the ends of the four bridge planks off the tailgate and lowered them to the ground. This lowered the back end of the stove and tilted it up so it was parallel with the staircase. The end result was the stove resting on the panel which was resting on a pair of 2x10 planks which were resting on the noses of the stairs running up the staircase.

When I would crank the come-along, the stove tended to slide off the panel. In order to keep the panel moving along with the stove, I got an old hanger made from 16 ga. steel strap and a short rope that I had made when I installed the rafters, and used it to bind the panel to the stove. The steel formed a hook which I hooked over the end of the panel and I tied the rope to the stove. In that way, when I pulled on the stove, the hook pulled the panel along with it. The hook rode in the space between the two planks.

From then on, it was simply a matter of clicking the come-along, keeping the stove on the panel, keeping the panel and stove centered over the planks, and keeping the planks aligned. I also had to place a second run of planks above the others when I ran off the end. I also rigged a second come-along and chain from the anchor hook on the far end of the Grid F purlin. By using both come-alongs, I could keep the load right on track.

When the load reached the top, it gently tipped into an upright position and the two planks gently lowered themselves to the porch deck as I clicked the come-along. It was very gratifying to watch it happen.

Once the stove was flat on the porch, it was easy to push it on plank rails toward the door. I had a plank ramp going up into the doorway and I rigged a come-along and chain to the Grid C2 column inside the cabin. It was relatively easy to pull the stove up this gentle incline and into the building. Once inside, I slid the stove, still on its slippery panel, over by a window where it will wait until I have prepared the floor to hold it. I need to lay down a layer of marble first. It was a true delight to stand there and look at that stove finally up in the cabin after all these years.

I backed the pickup back down to the trailer and went in for the night happy with what I had done.

On Wednesday I decided to work in the woods. The weather was cool and there wasn't a breath of wind. I figured that I could work on the back stairs in most any weather but I didn't know how many good days there would be to work on the water line. The main thing is that the water in the creek is at its lowest so it is the opportune time to work on the transition from the creek bed to an underground trench for the pipe. It is also nice that the bugs are gone and it isn't too hot.

I hauled a big coil of 3" plastic drain pipe up to the site where the water pipe needs to leave the creek bed. The plastic pipe was 40 or 50 feet long so it was a little awkward getting it uncoiled and placed in the creek bed. The plan was to use the drain pipe to divert the creek so that I could dig the transition trench from the creek bed out into the bank where the water pipe would be subterranean from there on.

Everything worked pretty much according to plan. I made a dam with the dirt I dug out of the creek at the start. Once the dam was in place, the water ran through the drain pipe and the level of the creek went down. It took a little spade work to keep the creek draining, but I had no problem keeping the water out of the trench I dug into the bank. I dug a sloping trench in about six feet of creek bed that went down to about a foot deep. Then the trench continued beyond the creek bed and I dug a section about 8 or 10 feet long that went down to about 12 or 14 inches. At that point, it was alongside the creek bed and about 18 inches away from it. I dug the trench pretty much directly under the water pipe or a little to one side of it.

When the trench was dug, I gently pushed the water pipe down into it and the pipe conformed to the contour of the bottom of the trench nice and smooth. I want to make sure the pipe doesn't have any humps in it that can trap air.

Then while I had one foot holding the pipe down in the deepest part of the trench, I backfilled the trench from there to the creek bed. That held the pipe firmly down in place. I left a hole in the ground where the pipe comes up out of the ground where the trench will continue later.

In spite of the cool weather, I got so overheated that I had to take off my hat and shirt right away. The sweat still ran over my glasses so bad that I couldn't see what I was doing. I could see better without my glasses, so I hung them in a tree and worked without them.

I pulled the drain pipe back out of the creek and coiled it back up. Then I carried the pipe and the tools back to the cabin. I was glad to have gotten that job done. From there I think I will need a transit level to make sure the trench slopes continually down hill for the next 50 feet or so. That section is pretty level so it would be easy to make a mistake and leave a hump in the pipe.

After lunch and a nap, I went back to work on the staircase. I measured and marked the log stringer for the notches that will receive the CB66 flanges. I used Jack the Rip Saw and a hammer and chisel to cut the notches. Then I rigged up chains and a come-along to lift the stringer into place. Once I got the stringer up nearly in place, I realized that I hadn't cut it to length. It was way too long. I temporarily set the log back down resting on one of the CB66 abutments so I could scribe and cut the end of the log off. I cut off about 4 feet which I realized will make a perfect newel post. I hadn't yet figured out what I would use but this will be perfect.

With the log cut to length, I raised it into position wondering how it would fit. The top had to go in first and get tucked as deep in as it could between the two deck planks on top and the abutment notch in the beam. The bottom of the log rested on top of the CB66 flanges which are about 10 inches higher than the final position of the log. This 10 inches opens up the angle at the abutment on top and makes the log seem longer than it is. The geometry requires that the CB66 notches should be an arc centered at the top end of the log, but I had cut straight notches.

Now, I could see how much difference that made. It meant that I had to chisel a 3/4" triangular piece out of the log to let the flange start to pass. As the log went down, I would saw and chisel a little more off. I wanted a really tight fit because the compression forces on the stringer would be what holds up the load. I ended up driving the log down into place with an 8 lb. sledge hammer, forcing the flanges to cut into the log as they pushed into the notches. It ended up fitting very tightly and it made me very happy. It will be very strong. I'll still fasten the stringer to the beam at the top with a big lag screw, but it really isn't necessary.

On Thursday morning, I measured, marked, and cut the top end of the second stringer so it will fit into its abutment notch in the beam. I re-adjusted the scribing jig I had made for the first stringer and used it to scribe the second log for the miter cut. I made a paper template and used it like I had on the first stringer in order to figure out the geometry of the end of the log so it will mate with the deck planks.

I got a start measuring and marking the log for the CB66 notches but it got too late to finish. It also wasn't turning out too well so I will take more time later to get the measurements exactly right. I decided I better measure twice and only cut once.

A chipmunk, a flock of gray jays, and even a couple Steller's Jays came around all morning for peanut treats. They are nice company and make the work even more pleasant for me. I left for home at 1:15 feeling very good about what I had accomplished this week.