Construction Journal Entry Week of 9/20/09

9/22-24/09 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:45 and was promptly greeted by Bert and Ernie. I discovered that the power was out but the freezer in the refrigerator was still frozen so it couldn't have been out long. I called the PUD number and learned that it was due to be restored by 5:00.

When I went up to the cabin, I found one dead mouse in a trap upstairs. The other trap was still set and the peanut on the floor was still there although it looked like it had been moved. I checked the trap in the crawlspace and it was completely missing. I looked around but couldn't find it. That told me that the mice had probably gotten in down there somehow. I checked the window vents and sure enough, the one at the Grid A1 corner had a hole in it big enough for my little finger. That's enough for a mouse. Somehow, two rungs of the hardware cloth had been cut away to make the hole. The window screen on the inside of the hardware cloth was shredded all along the ledge about mouse high. I couldn't figure out how the hardware cloth got cut, but I plugged up the hole by weaving rebar tie wire over it. It looks like I'd better beef up my mouse defenses.

Since the ripping chain was still mounted on the chainsaw, I decided to take a few minutes and work on a frivolous project I had been thinking about. Harold Samdal had suggested that I name the property "Camp Serendipity" because of all the good luck that has accompanied the project. I decided to do that and I wanted to make a big wooden sign with the name on it to hang from the Grid G3 corner of the building. I decided to rip out a big thick sign board from the butt log of the big Doug fir that Robert Ferrel had cut down. I made it about 4 inches thick and the width of the trunk. I also cut a notch in the end of the same trunk but where the diameter is smaller. This was to make a base to hold up one end of the bench I will make from the old stringer. With the notch cut, I cut the base from the log.

The power came back on some time before 4:00. Next, I mounted the gwizard on the chainsaw, rigged my long chain to the deck crane for rotating the stringer, and I used my braided rope hanging from the crane boom for the sling. I got the round side of the log gwizzed and all but about a foot of the flat side before I ran out of gas. It was pretty late so I quit for the night. It was nice having the floodlights to light up the work when it started getting dark.

On Wednesday I discovered that I had run out of propane during the night. The water in the tank was still warm so I was able to wash up fine. I used the toaster/egg cooker to make my breakfast and I used the microwave to make my coffee. Then I drove to Parkside Grocery and filled up the propane tanks. Bert and Ernie followed me back to Camp Serendipity and got a couple rounds of dog biscuits.

Next, I watered all 12 sequoia trees, and then I finished gwizzing the flat end of the new stringer. I noticed that the stringer wasn't quite flat but instead it sagged a little in the middle. I used the gwizard to take down both ends a little in order to make the thing flat. I wasn't sure how it got that way. It was probably the way I followed the lines when I ripped it. I know it wasn't that the string sagged when I scribed it, because the string would have had to bow up instead of sagging down. I was thinking that it might be from the log drying out with its center exposed like it was. I just hope it doesn't warp or change much more.

I took the gwizard off the chainsaw and put the regular crosscutting chain back on. Then I bucked up the old log ends that had made up the chip crib on the upper roadway. Now that the chips are gone, I want to burn up those log ends next winter. They were infested with carpenter ants during the summer, but maybe because of the colder weather or maybe because of the ant spray I had doused them with a few weeks ago, there was no trace of ants now. Only of their empty chambers. It will be good to get rid of that wood next winter.

Since I had the saw out, I cut up a bunch of other branches that were lying around. Finally, I scooped up the new gwizard chips I had made and carried them in four buckets into the woods and spread them on the trails to the spring. Then I went in for lunch and a nap.

After lunch, I moved the old stringer out of the cabin and set it in place for a bench on the porch between Grid E1 and E2. I rested the right end on the bottom projecting wall log and I rested the left end in the new bench base I had made. The bench is about 4 inches too high but when it is notched into the log and the base, that will lower it to just the right height.

Next I rigged up the porch crane and used it to lift the new stringer up onto the porch. I lifted one end first and got it leaning up against the Grid F3 PSL. Then I chokered it down further and pulled it up higher. I did this a couple times until it was chokered about at the center of gravity. Then I was able to get it lying on the deck and from there, skidded over onto two short 6x8s.

On Thursday morning, I looked under the hood of the truck to see whether there was any mischief. I saw two mice looking up at me. I made a lot of noise trying to scare them away but they just slowly crawled under and out of sight. I left the hood all the way open hoping that would help them decide to leave. This time of year it is common for me to bring mice all the way home under the hood and the cat usually catches them once I get home.

I brought a set of wooden brain-teaser puzzles up with me and I took them up to the cabin when I went up. I took some time off to learn how to work one of them. Then I went to work. I started by sharpening the chain saw. Then I got a big tarp and spread it on the porch deck under the new bench. I planned to cut the notches in the log to make the bench and I wanted to contain the sawdust mess in the tarp..

Just as I finished spreading the tarp, Larry showed up. I showed him what I had been doing and we discussed the idea of using angle iron to help fasten the stair stringer to the loft beam. Larry seemed to think that two half inch bolts would be sufficient without the angle iron. We both agreed that the extra beam below the stringer that I had planned earlier was unnecessary. I'll have to do some more thinking about the angle iron.

After Larry left, I used a 4 inch stick and a felt marker to scribe the underside of the old stringer for a notch to fit over the extending wall log. Then I suspended the old stringer using a rope on one end and a chain on the other end and while it was hanging there, I rotated it so that the scribe marks were on top. Then using the chain saw, I notched the log with a nice looking notch.

Then I turned the log back over and lowered it onto the projecting log. It fit perfectly. Now I just need to notch the other end to fit on the base and the bench will be done. I was out of time, though, so I put things away and quit for the week. I left for home at 2:30.



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