5/20-22/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Monday through Wednesday.

On the way, I bought 4 30 lb. sacks of Quickcrete mortar mix at Lowe's. I arrived at 1:00 and wheelbarrowed the four sacks up to the upper roadway, then used the Trapper Nelson backpack (still stinky) to haul two of them up to the loft and the other two into the bedroom.

Then, I fixed the water leak in the trailer. The problem was bad plumbing. I had used Teflon tape on compression fittings and I shouldn't have. The cap also leaked and I think that is because there should be a ball inside the cap to seal against the compression ring. Since the threads on this fitting are parallel and not tapered as pipe threads are, the threads themselves don't seal the joint, and without a ball, there is no seal. To fix the problems, I took out some extra parts (an elbow and a coupler) so there was only a tee in the water line with a cap on the third nipple. I took the Teflon tape off the couplings and I built up the threads on the nipple for the cap with Teflon tape. This sort of turned the parallel threads into tapered threads, and when I tightened it up, there was no leak. I was very relieved.

Back to work on the building, I insulated all the remaining joints I could reach from the scaffold, which was the top seven seams, and then drove the galvanized nails along all the seams. Before I quit for the day, I mixed a batch of mortar and got started chinking.

On Tuesday, I started out by rasping down a couple of log ends. I tried a short piece of 1x8 pine that I will use under the eaves and found that it wouldn't fit between the log wall and the rafters in a couple places. The log ends needed to be worked down. One of them only needed to be ground down about a sixteenth and it didn't take long with Rasputin to do that. But the other one was about a quarter of an inch too high. I used a hammer and chisel to cut away most of the wood that I could reach. Then I used Rasputin to grind the rest of it down. That was hard work because there wasn't a lot of room to work and I ended up using the same muscles over and over. I finally did it though.

Before I chink a joint in the gables, I jam a piece of 1x8 pine in the recess above the log wall so the mortar will be formed up tight against the pine board. When the mortar is dry, I take the board out and the joint is ready to receive the ceiling boards. With the short boards in place, I chinked the seven joints. Earl came by during the process and watched me finish up.

After he left, I began the process of moving the scaffold down. First, I had to move all the log slabs I had stored up against that side of the building. I moved them onto the deck. Then, I took the handrails and planks off the scaffold and tied each scaffold frame to a rope that ran thru an anchor hook on the purlin above it. I used these ropes to lower each frame to a new temporary location down the wall. The temporary location was for installing the permanent bolt blocks for the next scaffold location. I got three frames hung at the temporary location before I quit for the day.

On Wednesday, I installed two more scaffold frames and laid planks on them. Then I made five bolt blocks and installed them in the wall. The logs were sort of irregular so a couple of the holes went through the log instead of between the crack between the log. My bit wasn't quite long enough to drill all the way through, so I had to do a lot of jury rigging with different tools to make the holes. I got two PVC pipes installed before I quit for the week. Two gray jays came in for peanuts during the work.

When I went down to the trailer, I discovered that the power was out. While I was having lunch and packing up to leave, I got to thinking that instead of making and installing those bolt blocks, it would be easier to just drill a hole through the center of a log. That way, I wouldn't need a block at all and the frame would be bolted tangent to a log which would be better. I decided that I would buy a 7/8 ship augur and make them this way from now on.

I left for home at 1:00 and on the way out, I stopped and talked to Larry who was walking down the road. I told him about my change of plans, and he asked me why I still needed the PVC pipe. Good question. I guess I don't, so I decided not to buy the ship augur after all and just drill a 5/8" hole through the log. I can plug that hole up just as easily as I can with a pipe in it. I drove home feeling good about that idea because it will really speed things up. No more having to set the scaffold up in a temporary location just to install those blocks.

5/25-26/02 I skipped working at the property this week because we went camping at Nason Creek and didn't get home until Monday afternoon. Andrew and Chuck rode up with me in the pickup Saturday morning and we staked out a good campsite which we were lucky to get. Ellen and Kalimba joined us later in the day. We made a few trips to the property Saturday and Sunday to look things over and to get a few items like water, flashlights, bug repellent, firewood, and cold medicine. We had a great time camping, but we were plenty tired when we got home.

6/4-6/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:10 and as I parked by the trailer, Larry came walking down from the building. He was wondering why I wasn't there because I had told him I was planning to change my schedule and begin working Mondays through Wednesdays. This week there was a scout committee meeting on Monday, so I went back to the old schedule. Larry liked the look of the chinking I had done so far.

After moving in, I installed the remaining 3 PVC pipes in the scaffold bolt blocks. With my new plan, these would be the last pipes like that I would have to install. With all five of the blocks ready, I moved the scaffold so it was hanging from those blocks.

On Wednesday, I discovered that the ceiling boards didn't fit into the groove above the wall in many places. I had the same problem on 5/21 but only on a couple log ends. This time, I discovered that there were a lot of tight spots. I got to thinking that it would have been a lot easier to have trued up these grooves before the roof was installed, but then I thought back trying to figure out when I should have done it. I remember installing the 2x6s and 1x2s on a cold rainy day in dangerous working conditions. Also, at that time, without the rafters, I wouldn't have been able to tell if the grooves were lined up correctly anyway. Then, after the rafters were installed, I was under the gun to get the roof on before the first snow, and as it happened, it snowed the afternoon I nailed on the last sheet of OSB. I concluded that I hadn't made a mistake after all, and this was the correct time to work on truing up those grooves.

In most cases, I fixed the grooves by removing wood from the underside of the 2x6 using the big chisel and a 2 lb. hammer. That went surprisingly quick and easy. I used Rasputin to work down the log ends in just a couple cases. But then, another problem was that there were beads of hardened caulk in the groove that needed to come out. At first I tried Jack the Rip Saw and that sort of worked to get the caulk out, but it didn't work very well. I decided what I really needed was a 3/4" wood chisel that was 18" long. That way it could reach into the groove and the end of the chisel would be out beyond the log wall and the first rafter so I could hit it with a hammer.

I didn't have such a chisel, so I decided to make one. I used a short length of railroad rail as an anvil and hammered the end of an 18" length of 1/2" rebar with a 4 lb. hammer until it flared out and was 1/8" or so thick at the end. Then using the bench grinder, I shaped and sharpened the end to make my chisel. It worked like a dream. Using this chisel and a 16 oz. hammer, I cleaned up the grooves on both sides of the gable. The whole thing took a lot more time than I had planned on because I hadn't planned on this project at all.

Another little delaying project I had to do was to disassemble my mouse trap and patch up the mouse hole. I used 1/4" mesh hardware cloth to cover the bottom part of the screen where the mice had chewed through the screen. It looks to me like my one-way mouse trap has evicted all the mice and they have been unable to get back in.

Once those jobs were done, I cut a bunch of insulation into strips and stuffed insulation in the cracks that I could reach from the scaffold to the north of the northernmost loft window. Then, I drove the nails in over all those logs. By the end of the day, I was finally ready to mix some mortar and do some chinking.

On Thursday morning, I got started chinking right away and finished a few courses before I quit for the week. I left for home at 1:15.

6/11-13/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 1:00 and after having lunch, I unloaded a huge pickup load of holly brush and stacked it on the compost pile. Then I went to work chinking north of the loft windows.

On Wednesday morning, I finished chinking the section north of the windows and proceeded to insulate and nail the section between the two windows. I finished before I broke for lunch.

After lunch, I chinked the section between the two windows. The mosquitos were pretty thick, but I didn't put any insect repellent on. I am fairly immune to their bites and so they don't bother me much. The whine in my ears is a little annoying, and I don't like them to get behind my glasses, but otherwise I am getting used to them.

Before I quit for the day, I went up and checked on the spring. I also checked on the little tree I had transplanted and it is growing fine. I moved the cone of hardware cloth up to the very top of the tomato trellis so the deer can't nibble the new growth on top. I will have to make an even taller trellis when it grows a little more.

A big tree from the Forest Service land fell over on our property and landed across two of the trails. I will have to bring a saw up there and clear the trails.

On Thursday morning, I caulked the seams on three of the four sides of the rough window openings. I had jammed fibreglass into these cracks with a trowel when I insulated, and now I caulked over that with clear Alex caulk with silicone. It came out of the tube looking white, and I hope it turns clear when it cures so that it will be less noticeable. We'll see how it looks next week.

Before quitting for the week, I insulated and nailed the section east of the loft windows. I left for home at 1:30.

6/17-19/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Monday through Wednesday.

I arrived at 1:10 and it was a nice cool 60 degrees out. After moving in and having lunch, I drove the pickup up to the building. I brought a load of six 60 lb. sacks of mortar with me and this saved me having to wheelbarrow them up the hill. I made it up okay without putting chains on the pickup. I also backed down without getting stuck after carrying the mortar inside. I also brought two 2x8 sheets of 1" rigid foam insulation with me. Just as I got the pickup back down, it started to rain a little. I felt lucky about the timing, although the rain didn't last long.

I spent the rest of the afternoon making Styrofoam plugs for the wall corners and getting them ready to chink.

On Tuesday, I started chinking. I decided to try to streamline the process to save time. I measured the mortar mix and the water carefully and marked the water container. That way, I could dump in all the water at once and mix it all up pretty fast. Otherwise, I have to start out mixing it pretty dry and add small amounts of water until the consistency is right. It's real easy to add too much water, so by doing it this way, it takes a lot of extra time. I also started mixing double batches and using a hoe instead of a trowel to mix it. That makes it a lot easier and faster. By the end of the day I finished chinking the section east of the loft windows which completed all the wall I could reach from that scaffold position.

On Wednesday morning, I made three wooden plugs and plugged up the top three scaffold bolt holes in the wall on the outside. Then I caulked the last side of the loft window, drilled five 5/8" holes for the scaffold frames in the next lower position, and dismantled the scaffold. Then I hung the five scaffold frames from the five new holes and tightened them up, and after that I moved my mortar mixing operation from the loft down to the bedroom. Finally, I swept up the loft. I left for home at about 2:00.

6-25-27/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:30 and it was a blistering hot 80 degrees. After I moved in to the trailer and had some lunch, I drove the pickup up to the building and unloaded six 60 lb. sacks of mortar mix. I got the pickup up and down without chains and without getting stuck.

I installed the planks and handrails on the scaffold in the new position. In the process, Earl stopped by and inspected the work. While we were talking, a really pretty bird flew into a tree. Earl identified it as a Western Tanager.

Speaking of wildlife, I disturbed a tree frog when I took the piece of plastic off the roof of the trailer that I use to cover the Dri-Z-Air air dryer. Then, after I got the scaffold set up, I took a look at the log wall where it meets the loft rim joist. In the first 8 feet, the joist meets the wall in a crack rather than at the center of a log. This will make it awkward to place the insulation because I have access only from the outside and not the inside. So, when I placed the rim joist, I filled the cavity with insulation first. Now, I could see that a family of mice had made a home there. I pulled the insulation out of the crack from the outside, and two or three bewildered mice walked out and looked at me before disappearing. I dismantled their house and swept up after them and wondered where they would move to now. I have to be especially careful not to build any such cavities that they can move into. This space behind the rim joist was one in particular that I had to make sure I seal up tight.

I realized that there was a cavity that the mice could get into where the Grid B and D purlins meet the wall. These cavities would be sealed off when the ceiling boards were installed, but that was a long time away. In the meantime, I decided I'd better take a couple short pieces of 1x8 pine paneling and jam them into the receiving notch to seal up the cavities. I hope I discover all such potential mouse houses, because I know that if I don't, the mice will occupy them before winter.

There is one extra large crack between two logs in the loft wall. I cut two eight foot pieces of the 1 inch Styrofoam insulation to fill sixteen feet of this space. That will provide not only the insulation, but good stiff backing for the mortar in that crack. I won't use any fiberglass insulation there. I also drove big galvanized nails in the bottom log to hold the mortar. Instead of using my usual 7d nails, I alternated between 20d and 10d nails. That ought to hold it. I have also been driving the nails every two inches instead of the three inches that Skip recommended.

Before I went in for the night, I stained the five scaffold bolt blocks. After I went in for the night, I discovered that I had run out of propane. The hot water in the tap was only lukewarm and I had to use the microwave to heat water for coffee.

On Wednesday, I insulated and nailed two cracks. These were 30 footers with no windows in them. In the process, Larry stopped by to inspect the work. He kidded that he thought he heard some big woodpecker pounding at my building.

By lunchtime it was getting really hot and I decided to use that time to go to Parkside Grocery and get more propane. When I returned, it was a really hot 85 degrees. I chinked two cracks including the extra big one.

On Thursday, I took three hoses out from under the trailer, disconnected them, rolled them up, and put them in the pickup. They were extra hoses and I had them connected in series to my water supply so that water was always running through them. I figured the 55 degree water would help heat the trailer in the winter and cool it in the summer. But now, we needed some hoses at home, so I took them out.

Next, I insulated and nailed one more row, and then I climbed up and jammed the pieces of paneling into the notches up by the purlins to block off the mice. I left for home at 1:10.

6/30-7/3/02 I went up to the property for three nights and three days: Sunday night through Wednesday noon.

Since I would probably be losing time next week because of a Cub Scout camping trip, I went up Sunday night in order to get a full day's work in on Monday. I arrived at 7:10 PM. Except for some inspection and opening up the place, I didn't do any work to speak of after moving in and having dinner.

On Monday morning, it was a delightful 55 degrees and cloudy outside. Perfect for working. I chinked one seam and insulated and nailed three more. The one I chinked was the tricky one that had the cavity behind the rim joist. I sealed off the inside, between the log and the joist, with mortar first. then I filled the cavity with insulation, and then I nailed and mortared up the outside of the seam. The cavity runs for the first eight feet of the log. After that, the joist is more or less centered on the log so I don't have any cavity problem. I tried to make sure that the cavity was completely enclosed by either solid wood or mortar so the mice can't get in. When I get around to chinking the northwest wall, which will be the last one I do, I will break away the mortar inside the corner so I don't have continuous mortar from outside to inside. In the meantime, it will serve as a mouse barrier.

Before I went in for the night, I made five wooden plugs, installed them in the five scaffold bolt blocks, and stained them.

On Tuesday, I chinked three more seams bringing me down to the 18th seam, counting the triangles at the very peak as the first one. It was slow going because I had trouble keeping my mortar consistent. It was so hot that the early batches were too dry. Then, I made some batches too soupy and they would slump away from the top log. The cracks were pretty big too which added to the problems.

On Wednesday, I chinked half of a 30 foot seam before I cleaned up the tools and quit for the week. I left for home at about 2:00.

7/7-13/02 I skipped going to the property this week because I was camping with the Cub Scouts.

7/15-17/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Monday through Wednesday.

I arrived at 1:00 and it was a hot 80 degrees. After moving in, I drove up to the building and unloaded six sacks of mortar mix and one bundle of fiberglass insulation. Then I mixed mortar and finished chinking crack number 19. That leaves 9 to go on that wall. Even though I mixed the mortar pretty soupy, it set up pretty stiff in the mixing box before I could even scoop it onto the mortar board and into the coffee can. To make a batch, I use two coffee cans of mix and then put half of it on the board and the other half in a coffee can. When I use up what I have on the board, I dump the can onto the board and use that before I have to mix another batch.

I was able to add a little water, work the mortar with a trowel, and soften it back up so I didn't lose any mortar. But that's a lot of extra work and takes extra time. I also have a suspicion that it makes weaker mortar because the crystals have already formed and connected and by reworking it, I break those bonds. I don't know if the bonds can be re-formed as completely after it has been reworked like that.

I figured that the air temperature, the water temperature, and dirty hoe, mixing box, mortar board, and coffee can, all contributed to the mix setting up so fast. The dirty implements provide large seed crystals that speed up the crystallization process. It was also possible that the particular sack of mix had a quicker setting cement in it.

To start eliminating possibilities, I washed all my implements real good before making a batch, and that one set up quick also. It had to be something else. The water coming out of the hose was very warm, maybe 80 or 90 degrees, so I suspected that was the primary cause.

Before I quit for the day, I dismantled the scaffolding since I can reach the rest of the wall from the ground. I stacked the brackets on the porch deck and laid the planks out on the porch deck. That night, I woke up thinking about the fast mortar setting problem and decided to try to put ice in the water. I didn't have any ice, so I got out of bed, filled the bottoms of half a dozen cream cheese tubs with water, and put them in the freezer so it would be ready by morning.

On Tuesday morning I cut insulation strips, then insulated, nailed and chinked the two cracks that intersect with the window frames. The mortar was still setting up pretty fast, but I mixed it extra soupy and made it work pretty well. The consistency of the mortar makes a huge difference in my speed of chinking. If it is either too soupy, or too crumbly, it takes probably three to five times as long as if it is nice and stiff and plastic. I hope I can catch on to how to make consistent mortar. Instead of using the ice I made, I just let the hose run constantly out the window so the temperature of the water stayed cool, around 55 degrees. That seemed to help, although I still needed to mix it pretty soupy.

After chinking the two seams, I insulated and nailed the three seams below the windows.

On Wednesday morning, I chinked one of the three seams I had prepared. Then I cleaned up all the tools, had lunch, and left for home at about 1:00.

7/22-24/02 I went up to the property for three days: Monday through Wednesday.

I stayed home most of Monday to help Aziza buy Marilyn's car, and then left for the property late in the afternoon. I arrived at 6:15 PM. I drove up to the building and unloaded six sacks of mortar mix that I had brought with me. I also unloaded a heavy drafting table that I got free at a garage sale and brought it into the building. It was still plenty hot out so I worked up a huge sweat before I was done. I took a nice cool shower before I made dinner and felt really good.

On Tuesday morning, I chinked two rows. Every batch of mud I mixed was the perfect consistency. It was great. It makes so much difference in how fast I can go. If the mud is too soupy, it slumps away from the top log and it is hard to get it to stick. If it is too dry, then it crumbles and falls away from the logs. But when it is just right, it sticks well, spreads well and stays right where you trowel it.

As long as the water is cool, the other biggest variable is the temperature. If it is cool, around 55 degrees, I fill my container to the lower of two marks. If it is really hot, around 85 degrees, I fill it to about an eighth of an inch above the upper mark. I interpolate between these two levels as the temperature varies. My two marks are about 3/16 of an inch apart. I sure hope I have it figured out because it would be nice to work with perfect mortar every time from now on.

After lunch, I insulated and nailed two more rows, and chinked half of one row. Before I quit for the night, I checked on the berries and saw that some of them were ripe.

On Wednesday I chinked two rows and then picked what ripe berries I could find. They only covered the bottom of a small yogurt container but there are a lot of red ones so next week I should get quite a few -- if I can beat my furry competitors to them. I left for home at 1:00.

7/30-8/1/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:30 and it was a pleasant 70 degrees. After moving in and having lunch, I drove to the building and carried 6 sixty pound sacks of mortar and 3 fifty pound boxes of nails into the building. Bert and Ernie followed me pretty closely the whole time, except that they don't go into the building.

After driving the pickup back down, I picked a small cream cheese tub of blackberries. Then I went to work and insulated and nailed the last two seams on the northeast wall.

On Wednesday, I chinked those last two seams. It felt good to finally have one wall chinked on the outside, but it was a little daunting to realize that the summer is more than half over. Good thing I am not tied to a schedule.

After lunch, I went up to the little tree I had transplanted several years ago. I built a big screen enclosure around it using four half inch rebars for posts and chicken wire around it six feet high. That should keep all the deer away and allow the tree to establish itself without me having to protect it any further. There is eight to ten inches of new growth on it so far this season so it should do all right.

Rather than use my hanging scaffold frames on the southeast wall, I decided to set the steel scaffold frames on the porch deck. Since the deck is not on yet, I used planks across the joists to support the frames. In the process of setting up the scaffolding, I stepped on the end of a plank that wasn't supported by a joist and fell through the porch. I didn't fall far because I sat down on other planks that were right there, but my leg did get pinched between a joist and that loose plank. It didn't hurt me much, but I realized that it could have. I'll just have to be extra careful from now on.

The scaffold isn't quite high enough to reach the top of the wall, so I put two short pieces of 6x8 crosswise on the planks and put my riser on top of them. That gives me an additional foot or foot and a half which will work just fine. It will just add a little more time to keep moving the riser while I work on that top seam.

On Thursday morning, I insulated the top seam on the southeast wall. I used rigid Styrofoam because that seam is probably the biggest in the whole building. The log I used for the purlin at the top of that wall wasn't big enough in diameter to bring the wall to the desired height, so I had deliberately left a two to three inch gap under it. That was the one I was now plugging up.

Before I left for home, I picked another half tub of blackberries. I also took close-up pictures of the mouse damage to the insulation between the rafters over the northeast wall. I think my one-way mouse trap evicted all the mice and prevented them from going back in. But to make sure there is no more mouse activity up there, I will use these pictures to compare with later on. When the weather starts getting cold this fall, the mice will be looking for places to winter, and I want to make sure they stay out of there this time. I left for home at 2:00.

8/6-8/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 1:30. It was a nice cool 60 degrees out. When I moved in, I discovered the power was out. I figured it would be temporary, so I ate my lunch with no power. After lunch I made a cup of coffee, and when I poured the canned milk into the coffee, it was mostly water. It didn't take me long to figure out that the refrigerator had defrosted and some of the water had run into the can. When I looked at the carpet, I saw that it was soaked. I took it outside to dry.

In order to defrost the refrigerator, the power had to have been out for quite a while, so I began to wonder if it was the power company or something of mine. I tried two old phones I have that don't need 115v power to work and got one of them to work. I called Roberta and she said that her power was not out. I went down to the power pole and tried reseting the GFI breaker, but that didn't work. The main breakers didn't look tripped, but I switched them off and on. I heard a little sizzle in one, but by flipping it, my power was restored. I guess I should replace that breaker, and I will if it gives me any more trouble.

After that, I unloaded a whole pickup load of pruning clippings and piled it on the compost pile and picked a small tub of blackberries. Then I finally got to work on the log walls. I insulated the second seam on the southeast wall and nailed the top two seams.

On Wednesday, I chinked the top two seams. The top seam is the widest seam in the whole building so it took a lot of batches of mortar to fill it up. The second one went a lot faster. After lunch, I insulated and nailed the next three seams.

On Thursday, I chinked two seams and picked a half tub of blackberries. I left for home at 2:00.

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