IT WAS an inauspicious start, that steady downpour all morning. And the occasional cloudburst in the afternoon
Here’s half a minute of the view from my camp in the lean-to up the hill.
We started Thursday with a foundation and eight or nine lifts of lumber and sheet goods.
By Sunday morning a building had somehow appeared in the woods.
We’ll be back in Vermont Friday to sheath the roof, build soffits, assorted other things that need to get done before the roof shingles go on. Then the place is weatherproof. Windows and siding will get done in the spring.
Vermont’s starting to get chilly, the leaves are turning fast. Nights were in the 30s. I camped in the lean-to, Jonny in the travel van, Eduardo and Adam in the cargo trailer, seen below.
Carpenters in rain gear…
The rain finally quits and Jonny’s wondering… where are those three jamokes who came up here to build a garage with me?
Before you know it, we’re rolling…
Up go the walls and the engineered i-joists. I hope I proved sufficiently useful on the job site, given the class of historical figures I was nominated to represent over the weekend.
I can still go up a ladder with my half of a 24-foot i-joist on my shoulder. Not bad…
Next, I was assigned to cut strapping for Adam and Eduardo, a light-duty chore. I don’t know whether they needed strapping cut or were throwing the old man a bone.
The end of Day 1.
Time to warm up and grab dinner around the fire. We ate like slobs. Pam and Jenna had sent up pre-cooked rations for ten: chickens, sausage & peppers in tomato sauce, baking pans full of farro salad and orzo salad, dozens of hard-boiled eggs, on and on and on, too much to remember.
Because a hungry crew gets nothing done.
The view from my camp at the end of Day 1.
On Day 2 we banged out the subfloor so we’d have something to stand on when we started cutting rafters.
Glue warming up on the floor of Adam’s truck with the heater on high. It was chilly that morning.
The studio apartment over the garage has a dormer on the south side with two windows in it. The height of the wall is a compromise; the taller it is the more spacious the interior will feel, but that reduces pitch on the dormer roof. Have to take into account snow load & blah blah… So this is a typical scene: Jonny and Eduardo pause to talk angles and details while Adam, the bull of the crew, Mr. Full-On Action At All Times, looks around for something he can run at and crash into with his head.
So rafters start going up…
Master carpenter Eduardo, the strongest lean man on Earth. He throws 18-foot 2×12’s around as if they’re cardboard.
Before you know it, it’s another day down. Losing the light again…
Another night by the fire. Jonny’s not doing an amazing limbo, he’s just stretching his back on a bench.
The wind roared all that night, and then all the next day the air was dead calm, perfectly silent, not a leaf moving.
The night sky was so clear you could see through the center of the galaxy. Rather, you could see the light that had started on the far edge 100,000 years ago and is just now getting here.
Got some reading done in my tent at night…
Before we headed for home Sunday morning there was more CDX to go up on the gable ends.
More self-adhesive building wrap going up.
Eduardo and Jonny figure out what we’ll need for additional lumber. The yard will do the materials drop Thursday, we’ll likely drive up Thursday night or Friday morning.
Not bad for three days’ work! That’s if you count Sunday morning against the time we’d lost to rain Thursday.
And we did have five guys on site for one day, Friday I think it was. Jonny’s friend Dan drove three hours up from Rhode Island, worked with us for the day and drove home that evening.
The guys had taken off for home here. I still had to pack up my camp and drive the van back.
All the fun weekends start on Thursday, don’t they? I enjoyed every minute.
I felt fine but sounded terrible. My lungs were rattling, and still are. Coughing was like calling geese. I kept looking over my shoulder to see whether I was being followed.
I’d had a bad cold when I was up there solo a week earlier, felling trees and turning logs into stove-length firewood.
I feel fine but can’t seem to shake this bug.
On the drive home I enjoyed half a block of cheese for lunch, flavored in boot dust off the floor. There are essential minerals in boot dust, most people don’t know that.
At home, the bride handed me a cup of coffee, just because there’s love in everything she does.
I’m not grumpy here, I’m tired. And maybe slightly annoyed at the geese.
Tony DePaul, September 27, 2022, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Great write-up Tony! Is this a garage that doubles as a cabin until the house gets built?
You guys got that up quickly; it’s amazing what you can do with the right team.
It is, Will. It’ll be a 24′ by 24′ studio apartment over the garage. That’ll be the kids’ ski retreat until they get the house built.
They’d like to break ground on the house in 2025.
Next year, if we ride the off-road NEBDR up past their town, we can camp there and I’ll get your assessment on the health of the forest. I’ve got an idea of what should be left alone and what should come down but I’d like to run it by a professional.
Tony, that sounds like a grand idea! I’d love to take a shot at the NEBDR, and having a nice place to stay would be icing on the cake; let me know when you’re ready.
Kind regards,
Will
Wow – a lot accomplished in a short time! Nice to see that knife’s got a bit of use on it. Although cheese isn’t exactly tough duty – I’m sure there will be other tests.
Ha! I knew I’d hear from you on the knife pic, Chris. Best pocketknife I’ve ever owned. Many thanks.
No rest for the old man, the other three are just trying to not be out shown by an old Harley rider. They are probably calling in sick Monday due to the fast pace you set all weekend.
Better go easy on them, they know not whom they follow.
Haha! Thanks. I wish.
It must be so gratifying for you and the crew to see the results of all your hard work right before your eyes. I love seeing the progress you’re making, I’m looking forward to the updates. I hope your cold goes away soon, at least before your next trip to Vt.
Is it feed a cold, starve a fever? Or do I have that backwards? This cold ate really well in Vermont! Maybe that’s why it refuses to leave home.
The old saying has mistakenly become “starve a cold, feed a fever”, but it is my understanding that the full adage was meant to imply that if you starve yourself during a cold you are only “feeding” a fever.
Aha… good to know! No sign of fever. That’s how I know I’m not sick, I just sound sick.
Heard about your sister, pneumonia with no fever? I did have a pneumonia shot two days before this started. I’m inclined to think it’s a coincidence and not a reaction but what do I know?
Thanks for the cabin account, big accomplishment.
This morning’s Phantom throws a new twist as we were not aware of a second chronicle.
There’s no second chronicle. Keep watching.
Then again, I suspect Mozz did indeed get what he wants!
Mozz can be wily and the Phantom knows it. He said as much (thought as much) in the April 29 strip. He knew Mozz was up to something, but so was he. We found out what the Phantom had planned five months later, September 21.
Just wanted to add that I loved the last strip in this chapter today. It had the gravity of a movie ending; I half-expected to see credits rolling.
Thanks, Stephen. Just rolled in from VT, been off grid for three days.
In the next few days I’ll write something about the chapter just ended.
Classic portrait photo at the conclusion.
Homeless guy who washed out of the Secret Service.
You have always outdone yourself and here you are. At it again!! Can’t wait to see the place!!
The house is a few years away, we’re just warming up.
Tony,
Take care of that cough. You have to stay healthy for the garage finish. Wish you guys lived closer, we could always use a good carpenter, although in a pinch, Dan does very well himself.
Dan could always do anything, Judy, I’m not surprised he’s still at it. Lots of my heroes are a decade older than I, still out there riding motorcycles, building houses…
Impressive work. I’m in awe of that level of productivity. Keep an eye on that cough.
Still summer in Houston, I’ll bet. Vermont will be in full color when we get back there this week, I would think. It’s been chilly enough.
I enjoy reading your accounts of building in Vermont. Work done with many hands. Satisfaction. Real life. Thank you for sharing the experience with us.
It’s fun working with others toward a common goal, isn’t it? It’s a good tired, not just worn out.
Excellent!!! I love a good, backwoods cabin raising.
That is true, you’ve done a few.