11/13-15/01 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 1:30. The weather was 42 degrees and raining. It rained off and on all afternoon. There was also quite a bit of wind. The logs on the wall felt too damp to stain so I decided to work on the porch structure instead.

I measured the thickness of the Grid F.5,3 bearing end of the new porch beam and calculated the length of the F.5,3 post. I checked the remnant logs on the upper roadway to see if there was one good enough for the post. I decided there wasn't. I cut the post from the butt log on the high rock that I had harvested earlier. Mother Sow started and ran just fine. I used a cant hook and a rope through an anchor in the Grid F purlin to move the log from the high rock to down below the porch. I didn't see a single jay.

On Wednesday morning, Ellen called to tell me that there were flood warnings on some rivers and that I should check on the Skykomish. It had rained all night so the rivers were getting pretty high.

Before I got out of bed, I heard a noise outside and I looked out just in time to see a deer racing up the roadway in front of the trailer and on up to the building. A few seconds later, Bert and Ernie came loping up the same way, sniffing the ground. The deer seemed panicky and the dogs seemed relaxed. I wonder if they ever caught the deer, and if they did, what happened.

I went to work, moved the post into gwizzing position, and rigged up to gwiz. I spudded off as much of the bark as I could first with a spud. The gwiz blades stay sharp longer if I can get the bark off first. There is quite a bit of dirt and grit in the bark.

After I gwizzed the log, I cut and formed the end to fit into the CB88. I used Mother Sow for this, and again, she started and ran fine. Then, using a come-along hanging from an anchor on the Grid F purlin and some ropes, I lifted the post up and set it down on the CB88. After trimming it a little so it would fit in, I set it in place and marked it for the holes. Then I got the half-inch drill motor out and drilled the hole in the post.

I put the log back into the CB88 and bolted it through with a length of 5/8" allthread which I cut off flush with the nuts. Rather than taking the post back out again, I decided that I can treat the post with Board Defense later being already installed like that.

It rained all day, but the flock of drenched jays showed up for peanuts anyway. I fed them quite a bit.

On Thursday morning it was still raining. I went up to the spring and cleaned out all the leaves and debris that had collected around it. I also walked the hose line and used a hoe to clear away the leaves and especially any branches that were lying across the hose. I figured this might be my last opportunity to do so before the first snowfall. I learned the hard way a few years ago that if there were any branches lying across the hose, the shrinking snowbank would pinch off the hose and it would then freeze. The effort of clearing it is well worth it. The jays all showed up again for more peanuts. I packed up and left for home at about 1:30. There was no flooding problem on the way home.

I skipped going up to the property on Thanksgiving week.

11/27-29/01 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It was 34 degrees out when I arrived at 1:00. It had evidently snowed recently but it was all melted except for a trace here and there. After moving in, I noticed that the big Ponderosa Pine in the drainfield area that had died last year or so, had broken off about 50 or 60 feet up. The top part, which was 30 or 40 feet long, evidently tipped over on the way down and landed with the top aiming straight down. There was a hole, 20 or 30 feet from the trunk, where the top hit the ground. There were a bunch of limbs sticking out of the hole as if someone had planted a bouquet of them.

About six feet away from the hole was the top of the trunk. It must have bounced out and landed there. Then from that point, the rest of the trunk that broke off was lying out away from the part of the trunk still standing. The fallen trunk was broken in 6 or 7 places and was lying on the ground in an irregular sawtooth fashion. One end of each broken section was touching the ground and the limbs held the other end up off the ground as high as 6 or 8 feet.

It would have been something to see to have watched that thing fall and crinkle up like that. But, I'm glad I was nowhere around at the time. I think there must have been some pretty high winds at the time.

I got Mother Sow out and made the Grid F.5,2 post. It fit nicely in the CB88 but I drilled the hole a little low so the threaded rod held the post up off the bottom of the CB88 an eighth of an inch or so. Not acceptable.

On Wednesday morning it was snowing and there was six inches of snow on the ground when I woke up. Bill called me just after breakfast and told me that he had two doors ready for me. He will either deliver them to me if he is up my way next week, or else I will go down and get them on my way up to the property.

The wind had blown snow up against the building so that there was snow between the logs that looked just like I hope the chinking will look. I went out and took some pictures of it.

The snow was coming down pretty heavy and it got to be a foot deep in parts of the driveway. I figured I had better back the pickup down to the road while I still could. I decided to put the chains on because it is easy to do while the pickup is sitting on dry ground, but if I got stuck in the snow without them, it is a lot harder to put them on in a snowbank. With the chains on, I backed down to the road with no problem.

There was more snow forecast for the weekend so I decided to take the gate down. There should be enough snow from now on to keep intruders from driving in, or if they do, I will see the tracks.

I made a bipod from two ten-foot 2x4s connected with a C-clamp. I set it up over the gate and used a come-along to lift the log up off the rebar pivot. It worked pretty well and I pulled the log out of the way of the road and the driveway.

When I went up to the building, I saw a set of bobcat tracks that must have been made while I was down below working on the gate. There was also a set of rabbit tracks, so maybe there was a connection.

Next, I used a spade bit to enlarge the hole in the post I had made. I tried it on the CB88 and it fit perfectly this time. I cut a square of tar paper to fit on the bottom of the CB88 and then made a paste of Board Defense and smeared it over the bottom of the post. It has been too cold to spray on the Board Defense so I will install the posts and beam before I spray them. I smeared the paste on the bottom of the post because I won't be able to get the spray under there once it is installed. When that was done, I installed the post and tightened the nuts.

On Thursday it was still snowing lightly. I made some more Board Defense paste and smeared the tops of both posts with it. Then I rigged up one come-along hanging from an anchor on the Grid F purlin and another come-along from the top of the Grid G2 post. With this rig, I pulled the beam log I had prepared into position and up on top of the two posts. I felt pretty good after getting it up there. I didn't use the winch but lifted it up with these 61-year-old muscles. It was fun. I left for home at about 1:30, not having seen a single jay all week.

12/4-6/01 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On my way, I drove to Sumner to pick up the two doors from Bill. He keyed the locks and deadbolts to match our other keys. It was good to visit with him and see his shop. It was snowing pretty heavily in the pass when I went over. I arrived at 2:30. The driveway had been scooped out, but there was about 10 inches of new snow since that had been done. There was a total of about 20 inches of snow on the ground in the open.

I made trails with the snowshoes and by the time I had moved into the trailer, the trails were packed down pretty well. Then I carried both doors up and stood them up under the porch. The doors are fiberglass, so they aren't too heavy, but with the jambs and thresholds attached, they were plenty heavy enough walking in the snow.

I used my scaffold planks to make a temporary deck out to the new deck beam so I could work on it. Then I used the rebar cuter I got from Dick to make the two rebar spikes. I also got the drill out and ready to use.

On Wednesday, I replaced the receptacle in the trailer that I use for the microwave and the space heater. It would get hot to the touch if I ran the heater for very long and I decided it should be replaced. The new one fixed the problem and stays cool to the touch even after running the heater for a long time. I think the problem is that the old one only had the type of wire connectors where you stick the bared wire into a hole. The new receptacle had that type of connectors as well as screw connectors. I used the screw connector because I think they make a much better connection.

I drilled and drove in the two rebar spikes in the new porch beam. By the time I finished, it was lunch time. Just as I finished lunch, Larry stopped by and he had a hot spiced cider while I had my coffee. Afterwards, we went up and he helped me lift the doors up onto the temporary deck, and then carry the back door into the building.

I started getting ready to install the door, but I realized that I had a problem with the size of the threshold. My rough opening is framed with 2x10s which are an inch and a half wider than the maximum size threshold they make. Since the threshold will be the top step coming up from the deck, I can't have an inch and a half notch in the top step. It would be dangerous. I tried to figure out how the threshold was made so I could figure out the best way to widen it. I ended up taking it off the jambs, which was quite a chore in itself. Then I tried to disassemble it by taking out the screws on what is an adjustable part of the threshold. It didn't come apart that way, and I had a heck of a time getting it put back together. It is very complicated. I decided to take the threshold home and decide what to do about it later.

On Thursday, it snowed another foot. If this keeps up, we are going to have a lot of snow this winter. There was a storm warning for the mountains, so I decided to leave a little early. I did some more work on the threshold and then started getting ready to leave. I ended up leaving about 1:30.

On the way home, I decided to stop at the rest stop, but I was going a little too fast to make the corner and slid into the soft snow that hadn't been plowed and up against the berm. I couldn't get out without first putting on the chains, and I had to do some shoveling in order to do that. I ended up wasting a half hour before I got out. Since the snow was coming down so heavy, I decided to leave the chains on going over the pass. I was glad I did because the snow on the road was pretty deep.

When I got to Skykomish, I lost another half hour because a semi had gone off the road and there were about 5 wreckers trying to get it upright and out of the ditch. The cops finally ended up leading us out and around a detour. I got home barely in time to get Andrew.

12/11-13/01 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I got a late start and didn't arrive until 1:30. It was 32 degrees and snowing. The driveway had been plowed, but there was about two more inches on top. After moving in, I made the parts for the thresholds. I cut lengths of 1x2 and planed them down to the thickness of the metal threshold. then I countersunk and drilled holes for the screws.

On Wednesday, it snowed lightly all day. I reassembled the door frame and threshold and installed the door, including the knobs, deadbolt, and peephole. Bill had given me some good tips on how to do it, so it went pretty well. It is really nice now having a front door. I still need to case the frame inside and out, but that can wait for a while. For now, I can get in and out of the building easily and still lock the place up.

The snow turned to rain over night so on Thursday it rained cats and dogs. The new snow got a heavy layer of slush on top. I was glad I didn't have to work out in that. I rigged up two chains, one on the protruding end of the main loft beam and the other from the top of the Grid G2 column. I'll use these as anchors for come-alongs in order to move logs around when I put in the porch joists. Some of the logs are already on the porch beams, but I need to move them down to the roadway to gwiz them and flatten them, and then I will have to move them back up. The logs aren't big, so I will use come-alongs to do all the moving.

I used this rigging to move the first joist log down off the porch beams and into gwizzing position. By the time I finished that, it was time to pack up and leave. I left at 12:30. Another winter storm was due and I wanted plenty of time to get over the mountains.

12/18-20/01 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It was snowing pretty hard when I went over the pass, but I followed a snowplow the entire way over so I didn't have to put on the chains. When I got to the rest stop, however, I decided to put them on. It was still snowing heavily and the plows hadn't worked the roads below the pass for a while. I also planned to make deliveries of Ellen's blackberry jam and in order to get in and out of Earl's and Mike Dickinson's, I would need the chains. After those deliveries, and visiting with Earl for a while, I proceeded on and delivered jam to Larry and Roberta and to Mike and Shirley, spending some time visiting with each of them. They told me that there had been quite a bit of rain, alternating with snow and pretty cold temperatures. As a result, the snow on the ground, which was about two feet deep, was very compact with two or three layers of ice inside.

My driveway had not been cleared since at least one of those freezing slush episodes so it took me a while to get parked. I didn't do much shoveling, but with the chains on, I was able to ram the pickup into the snow, and then back out and ram into it again. After a dozen or so of these maneuvers, I had flattened the snow down enough to be able to get parked in out of the way of the snow plows.

I had not cleared the snow from the roof of the privy yet this winter and the accumulation was 28 inches of very heavy compact snow and ice. I figured this was beginning to be a dangerous load so after moving in, having lunch, and making trails, I got a ladder out and spent the time to clear the privy roof. I had to chip away at the snow with the shovel; it was that firm. I also cleared the snow off the top of the mixer. The skimpy cover I have over it can't take much of a snow load.

I spent the rest of the day sharpening the gwiz blades, rigging up to gwiz, and fueling and oiling the gwizard.

Wednesday was a beautiful, clear, still day. All the trees were still loaded with a maximum load of snow and everything looked like a scene from a Christmas card. The sun only peeked out now and then and the temperature never got above 24 degrees, so the trees didn't shed much of their snow during the day.

I set to work gwizzing the log I had selected as the first porch joist. It was the butt end of the log I had recently harvested from right behind the high rock. It felt good to be gwizzing again. The skill I had acquired was still with me so the work went smoothly. The log had beautiful, sound wood.

Next, I used a long straight cedar board to determine which side of the log was the straightest. Then I nailed a 1x2 across each end of the log a half inch or so below the tangent to that straight side. Using the technique I had used before, I stretched two strings on one side of each 1x2 about 5 inches apart. With a magic marker, and sighting across both strings, I drew a line the length of the log to mark where I needed to cut it. Then, I moved the two strings to the other sides of the 1x2s and scribed a similar line on the other side. Then with Mother Sow, which still had the ripping chain installed, I ripped the slab off the log making a flat surface for the porch deck.

Since my specs call for 5 inch diameter joists, I flattened the small end of the log on the bottom so that it was 5 inches thick between the flat spot and the flattened surface on the other side. The flat spot would be the bearing surface on the deck ledger. Since both porch beams were a little higher than the ledger, and were going to support the butt end of the joist, my plan was to notch the beams and leave the joist round on the bottom.

When the joist was ready, I used a come-along and a rope to raise the log up into its position on the porch. I wasn't exactly sure where to position the joist. The question was what to do about the Grid F,1 column. If I placed the joist inside the column, it made the size of the deck a foot or two shorter than if I placed the joist outside of the column. But, if I placed it outside, there wasn't much of the Grid F.5 beam sticking out to hold it. There was barely enough, but it wouldn't look too good. The log would also have to be out of square with the building because the ledger doesn't stick out beyond the building foundation. I went in for the night wondering what I should do.

On Thursday morning, in the cold light of day, it seemed clear to me that I should keep the deck square and place the log inside the column. To sort of compromise, I decided to notch the side of the joist about halfway through to gain 4 or 5 inches of length to the deck. It also makes the log joinery look a little classier if they are notched.

With the joist resting on the beams, I propped the small end up off the ledger using scraps of lumber so that the flat top of the joist was level. Then I cut a little stick as long as the depth of the notch I wanted, and used the stick and a pencil to scribe the log for the notch. Then, I rolled the log back, and with Mother Sow, I cut out the notch. I rolled the log back into position, and it hugged the column very nicely.

Then I cut a thin stick the length of the thickness of the scrap lumber propping up the end of the joist. With the joist still in this level position, I used this stick to scribe the two beams for the notches that would receive the joist. Rolling the joist back out of the way again, I cut the notches in the two beams. There wasn't a lot of room to work with the saw up there so I rigged up some planks and held them with clamps so I could hold the saw at the angles I need to in order to cut the notches. With the notches cut, the log fit snugly in place with the flat top nice and level. I didn't have time to spike the joist in, so I clamped the end to the ledger so somebody wouldn't knock the log down while I was gone. Then I took some pictures of what I had done, packed up, and left for home about 2:00.

I skipped going to the property Christmas week because Christmas fell in the middle of the week.

I skipped going to the property New Years week because Ellen had Tuesday off and I had to take Mom to the doctor on Thursday.

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