I wasn’t planning on Vermont this weekend but Jonny texted me this photo: one of the company trucks loaded with 1,300 linear feet of tongue-and-groove pine; 12-footers in the bed, 16-footers on the rack.
I text back: “What time do we leave, knucklehead?”
We got up there around noon Saturday, worked until after dark, were back on the job in the dark yesterday, worked until noon, then headed home.
Here’s where we left it Saturday evening: we had gotten the north rafters boarded in with the 12-footers.
Yesterday began with us unloading the 16-footers in the dark and carrying them up the outdoor stairs around back.
Morning coffee on the boil, by flashlight. The building won’t have electricity until spring.
First cup of the day! Nice after sleeping outdoors in 8 degrees Fahrenheit with a strong wind out of the northwest. Now & again in the night I was faintly aware of frozen trees cracking and popping.
No idea what the wind chill was, but cold fairly describes it.
D1D1, who turned 8 last month, gave me this little tent light for Christmas. It was her own idea and she bought it with her own money! So proud of herself.
I wanted to read a bit before sleep—had brought along the autobiography of Gordon Parks, A Choice of Weapons—but it was too cold to keep my hands outside the sleeping bag. Can’t very well turn pages in mountaineering mittens, so… I turned out the light early, around 7:30, pulled the hood up over my head, pulled the cinch cord until there was just an air hole left and… Zzzzz…
Another blanket would have been nice, given the wind, but I was plenty warm enough to sleep. Got good rest overnight.
First coffee break yesterday. We had gotten quite a lot of the flat ceiling boarded in.
By 11 we had run out of materials in the home stretch.
That little alcove on the right still needs to be boarded in.
About 150 linear feet of boards supplied by the lumberyard had damage that made them unusable. Jonny will exchange them and we’ll drive back up some weekend in February.
In the photo above you can see where we left the bathroom ceiling open (purple sheetrock is the bathroom) and, again, down the center, there’s the little alcove where three of the south-facing rafter bays still need to be boarded in.
The view of the building from my camp up the hill.
This was yesterday around noon. I had just packed up my gear and thrown it aboard the truck. The lean-to faces west; that strong northwest wind really swirled around in here overnight.
Gotta run! With the schools closed for MLK Day, the granddaughters are on their way over as we speak. Minding them makes Vermont look like lazing around in a hammock.
Tony DePaul, January 16, 2023, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
When you wrote first cup of the day, the first thought that came to my mind was you drink tea? Then I realised I was projecting Kenyan normalcy on you. When we say I just had a cup, no one questions that it was tea!
My friend! Always a pleasure to hear from you, Vincent. We served Kenyan tea to a guest here just a few weeks ago. She loved it and ordered a box later on for herself. Somehow, we still have a few teabags left from the box you carried here on your visit.
Funny, I was just thinking of you this evening when I did a polish on a Phantom script for Mike Manley. Tell our friend Nic to watch the Phantom strip on April 26. I’ll say no more… 🙂
I’ll be on the lookout. I can’t wait!
Great photos, the pine looks beautiful. I’m thinking if RI would export some of its warmer winter weather to VT you could be finished way ahead of schedule and that would be nice.
An odd winter down here for sure, Ellie. I wouldn’t mind a foot or two of snow. Even if it does wreak havoc. I’d like to take the girls sledding!
Tony, have you never thought of a solar generator, like one from Lion Energy, with a couple of solar panels to power a string of LED lights? Even after the build is complete, the lean-to or other ourdoor activity would benefit.
Good morning, Russell. Jenna and Jonny are planning something along those lines, I think. I’ve heard them say they want to set up the apartment on an off-grid basis at first, given that they won’t break ground on the house and have a well and a septic system for a few years yet. The garage should have an underground cable up from the road this year, though. After mud season the site engineer will likely be in there digging the trench (350 feet). And then when the house is in the works it’ll be a short run to provide power from the garage.
I don’t know much about solar but the kids do. The travel van they built a few years ago has panels on the roof, a battery bank, inverter, all that.
Thanks for reading!
It is really coming along beautifully. Just one question- if I text you a picture of all the stuff I’ve bought for unfinished projects, will you come to my house? You can call me a knucklehead and I’ll turn off the heat if you want. And I totally agree- babysitting is much more of a workout. Enjoy your girls and keep up with the great posts.
Thanks for reading, Laurie. Bring your list of projects when you come for dinner & a movie. Coordinate with the boss of me.
Love everything about this. Makes me shiver, but it’s great. Project looking wonderful.
We’re getting there, Brad. Jonny does this professionally so it’s fun for me to pick up on the shortcuts. He does things faster with a circular saw than I can do them with a table saw and the results look just as good!
What Brad said! Enjoy your granddaughters!
They’re fun. Right now they’re painting their own designs on seashells our neighbor brought home from Florida.
Thanks for following the scribble, Stephen.
Beautiful! There’s some law requiring that all such construction projects be undertaken (I didn’t say completed) under frigid conditions. I remember installing windows and other outside jobs in similar weather, when balmy summer conditions would have been just as good.
FYI, Tony, I still have several numb fingertips from frostbite acquired during a Baxter Park ski trip I did for the good ole BDN. And unlike you, I don’t have a nice-looking set of walls and ceilings to show for that one!
Hi, Dave. It’s true, these projects always seem out of phase. About half our energy is on-task, the other half is spent coping with conditions.
Baxter Park! I haven’t been there since 2002. Baxter had been an annual thing until then: camp at Roaring Brook or Chimney Pond, up the Cathedral Trail to Baxter peak, across the knife’s edge to Pamola peak, then either down Dudley or Helon Taylor, depending on where we had camped. Then came ’03 and the Super Glide get-off, ended my hiking days for good. Or so I thought at the time and for quite a few years thereafter.
I did manage to hike up to the summit of Monadnock some years after that. Not that Monadnock is much. But who knows, maybe I’ve got another Baxter peak ascent in me. Will give it some thought.
I didn’t know frostbite can cause permanent nerve-ending damage! Will be aware of that now.
Thanks for reading, Dave.
Looking great, polish your Carpenters Union badge.
Amigo! You must be getting set to saddle up for Mexico. Just a few weeks away now, I think?
You two make a good team. No electricity..no problem, apparently. Looking good.
Thanks, Cynthia. Jonny’s a good manager. He organizes materials, equipment, transportation, he even makes the coffee. All I have to do is show up.
Have not snow camped since I was 40, on Mt. Rainier. Cold? Bracing is the word I would use. Little cabin is looking good! Give all hugs!
The lake is calling.
Thanks, bud. On the drive up to Vermont Jonny suggested that I take Pam for a trip in the travel van. She likes the idea of the open road. As for the thing itself… I’ll have to see it to believe it. WA might be far for a first jaunt but you never know.
Another great post. Felt like I was almost there. Just needs pine smellovision.
Eric! Hey, are you mayor of Tybee Island yet? Keep me advised. I’m prepared to join your administration as chief of staff. My fallback position: chief janitor.