VERTICAL!!!

HOLY COW! OK, when they say buildings take longer than expected, THEY'RE RIGHT! It's been a while since I've posted here (ya, a year), cause really, sawing trees, milling timbers and lumber just wasn't so exciting for me to share. I saw Jonathan coming and going on many days, exhausted and covered in sawdust, stinking of chainsaw fuel, grumbling about the mill, but a house I did not see! That's what we get for choosing to build a post and beam house, the slow way (one maybe 2 people working on it part time) while also maintaining gardens, chickens, horses, child, homeschooling, work, and whatnot. Oh ya, there were the FIRES in the summer that set us back a wee bit to say the least. Jamie and I were evacuated for 2 weeks while Jonathan stayed home working 12 hour days along with 40 other community members working on structural protection and building firebreaks. That is done with now, it is the wet season and the earth is thankful for it.

BUT NOW THIS IS EXCITING! In just 2 1/2 short days (short cause we are now battling day length and cold temperatures), we went from just a floor platform to this.

Pure beauty in our eyes. Yippee. We are all lighter for it too, even Jamie: "Wow, Mama, look at our HOUSE!".
It all went pretty smoothly despite the snow that had to be shoveled off the floor. Some adjustments had to be made, which is normal. The backhoe was a life saver, otherwise it was going to be some scaffolding and rope tricks and more back work than was worth it. Gotta love machines!

BIG thanks to Roy, Daniel, Tony, Martin, Earen, Camilche, John and Dale and their backhoe power, and especially James Heigh for his calm and cheerful expertise. These people made up the most recent crew, and we would also like to thank WWOOFers ExtraOrdinaire Laurence, Nicola, Marie, Benjamin, Tom, Brenda, and Laurent, as well as Larry and Barbara, and to all the others we have thanked in previous posts - every bit of help got us to this stage!



Here are some other photos to tell the tale: 

brrr

these are the details that took so long and were well worth the trouble. 18 posts and 20 beam sections later...


is this safe, really?

Now it's on with building the second floor platform, milling more wood, constructing the trusses for the roof, and putting said roof on. 400 bales of straw await a drier season to be infilled into the walls, and they are nicely stored in the old hay barn. Much has to be done before that stage - framing all the doors and windows for example. Onward!