A Little Pink

It must be devastating to hear "you have breast cancer".

Everyone has gone a little pink, including my Chicken and Goat Chow now come in pink bags.

In order to honer women who fought this disease and won, and to honer those who lost the battle.

To honer all the Mother's, Grandmother's, Aunt's, Sister's, Girlfriend's, Wife's, Daughter's, that we as MEN, need in our lives.

I respectfully painted my hammer pink,

200 Cuts = A Great Day

I really needed a day like today. Progress has been very good, but today was outstanding. We now have roof rafters falling into place and this means we are so close to sealing off the addition to the outside weather. Once this is done things will really start moving with the instillation of the heating system, plumbing and electrical.

Yesterday with framing square and my faithful 25 year old saw, I spent the day cutting roof rafters. Forty rafters, five cuts to each rafter, 200 cuts. Then all forty rafters had to get from the ground, up 3 stories to the roof. I was so happy to see Willie pull in today. We hauled all the rafters up and installed many. If we had another day like today, we would have the roof ready for shingles.

Now we can look forward to hauling sheets of plywood and bundles of roofing shingles all the way up!

The Week Ahead

With much appreciated help from Willie and Ron, we raised the last of our outside walls. The windows on the back wall still need to be cut out and I will do this as soon as I decide what size window to use.We are now ready to frame out the roof. We hope to have it framed and shingled this week and when our rented scaffolding arrives on Wednesday, this should speed up the process, or at least make it a bit safer working up at such a high altitude.

This week I need to finish digging 8 more 4' deep 16" diameter holes for the front porch supports. I will be calling to schedule Doug Cates to come back to poor the concrete floor but I need my holes dug first and maybe a little bit of concrete cutting. I need to cut 40 something roof rafters and I think I have this figured out. I also need to decided on siding and I am leaning towards the cement based lap boards. With the scaffolding in place this should go up really fast.

I have totally forgotten what it is like to take a nap. I miss my naps and look forward to the day I can enjoy a quilt free nap. I think once the roof is on and all the siding is up so that the house is weather tight, I will treat myself to a nap. In the meantime my bed is getting plenty of use.

It Never Ends

I get up every morning and wake the kids for school. I feed them, make sure they brush their teeth, tell them when to get dressed, and drive them to violin lessons and school.
I then work on the renovation project until my bones hurt.

I pick up the kids at school and use every last bit of energy watching the boy and keeping him out of trouble until Jeanne gets home.

At night I lock up the goats and chickens and I take care of the birds, geckos, iguana, guinea pig, snake, and dragon lizard all in the house under lamps to keep them warm. I then if I have the energy take a shower, hit the sack, turn on the TV, and 4 minutes later I am asleep next to a 100 lb snoring dog.

Now with all that, I must serve these guys their morning bowl of Honeynut Cheerios and milk.

Sir Richard Garrison

I thought filling the basement was something I would do.
How tough could it be, dumping some soil in, tamping it down and you’re done.

I bounced my plan off Chris over at CW Knight Heating, and he wrote down a name and number and he suggested I call.

Richard Garrison General Contractors has been around forever and a day, and everyone knows Richard, and he knows everyone. I think almost everyone who has worked on this project, from town officials to other contractors knows Richard and speaks fondly of him.
Respectfully, I get this urge to call him “Sir Richard”, or "Mr. Garrison".

First the 4" drain system is installed and covered with stone.


Two large fans are set to help blow the exhaust out from under the house. Richard also had a special catalytic converter sent in from Canada to help reduce exhaust fumes


I do not know how many of these large dump trucks came and went. They brought loads in all day, and I am so sorry the boy could not be here to watch.

Soil is ramped up to the the open ends and the skidsteer loads soil into the basement.


This was the perfect size skidsteer. It could fit under the house and once they built up a inside ramp, the skidsteer drove under the house and down into the basement

Sir Richard drives the dozer. I really want one of these beauties.


Compaction tested at 99% and 97%. A density of 95% was required


Hope, the turkey and a Guinea check out a Garrison Vehicle

Room With A View

I don't think I will ever get bored with our new views from our top floor. It will be even more relaxing when we have walls up so I don't walk off he edge. The later Fall and Winter views should be spectacular.



Below pictures are from our top floor.



Below the team from B&B Construction hard at work!

Another Great Day

We have the most incredible view when standing on the top floor, and I find it very hard to concentrate on the task at hand while up there. It is very easy to get lost in the view, so we better get walls up soon before I walk off the edge.

I find it a Little unsettling working at high altitudes and I found myself ducking down when ever a plane would fly over. I think we will need one of those blinking lights on top of our roof so planes don't run into it.

Willie and Bill have no fear of heights and watching Willie move along the edge nearly sent me into cardiac arrest.

Many thanks to Willie, Ron, and Bill for a great second day. We finished installing all the floor joist on the second floor and installed most of the flooring on top. Tomorrow I should be able to start the walls on the second floor and I will be calling every strong body I know to lift them into place.


Below Willie and Bill adjust a engineered floor joist. We purposely left the sheathing off the front and left out a couple of wall studs so we could load in materials, and a little down the road, the furnace, water tank, and water heater can be loaded onto a bucket loader and slid into the new utility room.

Taking Shape

Day one of our barn raising and we are on our way. The wind was a bit intense at times and we dropped a eight foot section of wall off the deck, and I am so tired the keys on my laptop are moving as I try to type.

Ron, Willie, Ken, and my nephew Bill put in a great days work. We did some really good work and I am very pleased. I will post more after day two.

Cold Mornings

One of my "Manly" duties is to take the garbage to the curb each week. It could be five in he morning and Jeanne would nudge me, and nicely remind me to get the garbage out to the curb. I do not think I missed trash pickup more then once or twice.

Another one of my undeclared duties that I handle because I am the man of the camper, is keeping the propane tanks full.
This morning in 30 something degree weather, I not only failed, but I failed while Jeanne was taking her early morning shower and the water turned ice cold before she could rinse the shampoo out of her hair. To me this would not seem like a big deal, just get out and towel off. But I guess leaving soap in your hair is a big deal to women.

I think maybe Jeanne is getting bored with me calling her a trooper, and I will not remind her how pioneer women lived, doing laundry in the river, cooking over a open fire, living in a covered wagon with very little, sewing her own clothing, giving birth on a rock, and a outhouse was a luxury. She would be very quick to remind me that pioneer men did not have Pepsi or Cable TV, and pioneer men did not live long.

Sorry Dear, I will get more propane today!

First Floor And Going Up

Willards of Willimantic delivered our 18' engineered Ibeams this week and yesterday with much appreciated help from Uncle Will, we installed the first floor. Working with the Ibeams was surprisingly easy, compared to conventional lumber.

I hope to get all the 3/4" sub floor glued and screwed today before the rain. This will give us a great jump start on what we want to accomplish over the weekend.

Willards will be delivering another load of materials on Friday for the weekend building frenzy. I must say I am extremely pleased with the quality of the wood being delivered to the job site. Every piece of lumber has been perfect, and because they deliver when you need it, the job site is easier to navigate. If I had gone to one of those big box places, I would have spent over $400 in delivery fees and would have to wait until they could fit me into their once a week schedule. It is great to have a place like Willards.

The Perfect Tool & Week Ahead

You can keep your laser levels and fancy do-dads,I just love my Plumb Bob. This tool has been in use since 2600 BC, and I think if I was ever to start collecting an old tool, it would be the Plumb Bob. Perhaps we will name a cat,dog,snake or something "Plumb Bob".

The up coming week should be exciting. We should start back filling the basement and I will post more on that when we start.

On Tuesday we will receive our delivery of building materials from Willards of Willimantiic. This includes something like 40 18' ibeams.
On Saturday, weather permitting we will be joined by friends and family for a good old fashion barn raising. Ron stopped by yesterday and we had a little planning session. My job this week is to do as much prep work as possible so that we don't waste any time Saturday.
Ron's goal is both floors and walls, and maybe the roof started.
Jeanne's goal is 100% done, move in ready.
I will meet my goal if I am still alive at the end of the day.

This weekend I worked on the front porch and continued to dig the four foot deep, 16 inch wide holes for the porch supports. I want to have these done and inspected before Doug Cates returns to pour the new basement floor. I really don't want to hand mix all that concrete.





Somethings I should not do. Somethings I can't do. And somethings I just don't want to do.
Installing the permanent lolly columns falls into all 3 categories. Willie and I put in the temp supports above, but I think I will hire out the permanent installation.

Touchdown

We are now down on our new foundation and I am very excited to start the next phase.

I do not think I could be more pleased with Wolfe House and Building Movers. Tim from Wolfe is a perfectionist. Once the house was down, Tim did not appear satisfied and raised it back up a little, and then moved the entire house back about a quarter of a inch. It is so amazing what these guys can do and they make it look so easy.

Going into this, I had no idea how to hire someone to raise our house. Thankfully I found the best!


Removing the 47 foot steel beams. Probably some of the most skilled Bobcat operators I have ever watched.


Wolfe leaving as they back out of our street.

Bring It Down

Wolfe House and Building movers will be here today around 1:30 to lower the house onto the new foundation. I am very relieved Willie is free today and on his way over to help me place the supports for the porch and the temp supports for the basement.

I will post more later.

Hope For This Week

I do not know what we were thinking, or more to the point, What was Jeanne thinking?
Yesterday Jeanne asked me to go up the ladder into the house and bring down Piglet, our young kitten. Being someone who does what the boss tells me to do I retrieved Piglet and brought her out to the camper. This was soon followed by a request to bring down Callie, and later I carried down Zoe. Now we have 2 adults, 2 kids, 3 cats, and 100lbs of Labrador Retriever living in this box. Again I ask, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

I was told the cats will go back up into the house tonight, but I doubt it.

We are hoping that the week ahead will be a productive one. Last week with Storm Nicole and Gall Stones, not much happened. Not much can happen until the house is lowered back down onto the new foundation. Wolfe House and Building Movers will be here this week and as soon as I know what time I will do a special post. The Wolfe team is fast and efficient so if you want to watch the house being lowered, don't be late. After the house is lowered, the basement will be filled, compacted and a new floor will be poured.

We have decided on a plan to rebuild the section of house that we demolished. We are going to have a old fashion barn raising. When we have a date to lower the house we will set a date for the Barn raising. We hope to get enough done in 2 days to allow the work to begin reinstalling the utilities into the house.

Last week we received a large payment for work that has been done so far. Today I will have the pleasure of mailing out checks to our great team of talented contractors. The Town Of Mansfield has done a outstanding job processing the invoices. I believe the turn around time, from when I receive a invoice and then the Town of Mansfield cuts a check has been phenomenal.

I will put my foot down when Jeanne and the kids try to bring the Goats into the camper.

Storm Nicole

With the heavy rains and flood warnings on the news, We have received many emails and many phone calls from folks checking on our situation. Your concern and kindness is appreciated. Thank you to Fran Raiola-Deputy Fire Marshall, who called on his day off to make sure we did not have any issues or needs.

Because the Willimantic river flow has been at extremely low levels and the ground so dry, the 225 sq mile watershed absorbed a tremendous amount of the rain, and the river had no problems handling the rest. We also did not get the amounts predicted.

At the beginning of the recent rain events, the river"s flow rate was at approximately 10 cubic feet per second, (cfs). It peaked on Friday a little under 600 cfs.
At 10 cfs, the amount of water passing the gauge about 2 miles upriver was 74.8 gallons per second. Last night when I checked the gauge, the river had peaked and started to drop. At 513 cfs, 3837.24 gallons per second was passing the gauge. We have witnessed amounts up to and over 75.000 gallons per second.

Hopefully when we experience the next rain and water event, we will be back in the house and enjoying the view and not living in this box.