But first, a bit more detail on what we've been up to the last couple of weeks. The cabin walls quickly got higher and higher, until we realized that our square cabin was essentially a giant crib and it was becoming more and more difficult to get in or out. We cut a rough hole where the door will be and set up some scaffolding to make moving around easier. For a couple courses we could get away with using what were essentially giant metal hooks with a platform at the bottom. You could sling two over the top of a wall and put a 2x12 in between them to walk on.
We had to raise the sky line to accommodate our taller cabin, so Kodiak got to climb some trees while the rest of us watched in awe and terror.
We've since put up some more permanent scaffolding on the inside and out to make scribing, chainsawing, and generally moving around easier. Things were moving along nicely until one day early last week disaster struck! Jordan's footwear became dangerously dilapidated and required the attention of a professional of the highest caliber.
Actually, we broke our comealong, a tool we were hoping to use to haul up the last load of logs. After bringing one log up the ramp and onto the island we decided we were confident of the chain falls "two ton" (or so they claimed) hauling capabilities and decided to go for the biggest log we have left: one of the purlins which will probably be used for the ridge pole supporting the roof which is easily two feet in diameter. It's a seriously huge log, and it promptly broke the chain fall into two pieces. This left us without any logs to carve and with a several hundred pound log sitting abandoned on our ramp.
We promptly ordered a new toy - a chainsaw powered motorized winch - and then spent several days chasing UPS trucks around Hanover looking for our package. We assigned one person to sit at the picnic table with a smart phone refreshing the UPS delivery confirmation every thirty seconds (not "out for delivery" yet... or yet... or yet...) and got started on some necessary tasks which we were planning to work on after finishing the cabin. Most notably, we decided to pretend we were trail crew for a day and built some stairs.
On Saturday we finally got our chainsaw winch, which hauls logs up the ramp in about a tenth of the time our human-powered tools could. We were able to place the last course of long logs, and put up some posts to support them over the porch.
Right now, the rest of the crew is undoubtedly still mourning my absence and far too depressed to work. But once they collect themselves they will be putting one more course of short logs up. Next are three purlins, and then the roof!
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