June 11th and 12th, 2010

It is 1:00 am and there is still plenty of daylight! The first thing I do when I walk in the door after 8-12 hours of helping Jay build, you guessed it, download pictures and post! We've had a couple of exciting days. We spent friday night (11th) at the lot in our small tent. We thought that it would be nice to quit working and not have to drive back to the house, instead we crawled into the tent and snuggled with Kemper. Kemper came along and didn't sleep well. He made up for it on saturday, between eating mosquitoes and napping in the tent, he decided that was enough action. We worked all day saturday on the 2nd floor decking and came so close to finishing. I (Myra) stayed on the ground, cut all the pieces to whatever measurement Jay yelled out, handed the board to him, and he nailed the decking down. Seriously, I have numbers flashing across my face as I type. It does help doing this several hundred times, I finally can read a tape measure speedily, even upside down! No, not me, the tape measure. The pictures, in some ways, just don't do the lot justice. I need to take a few shots of other things on the lot. Maybe tomorrow. Good night, glad you're keeping up with the Harris' saga!

June 9th, 2010

The pictures show it all. We're so busy right now, just wanted to post the exciting development.

June 7 and 8, 2010

Monday and tuesday were a bit hectic, even for summer days. Myra's distance grad class started, she is locked in from 9 until noon each day with her class until the end of this month. Romay leaves tomorrow for Fairbanks to visit mom and to Anchorage for a basketball camp! She is traveling by herself while flying, a new experience for her! Jason has erected the first 2 post and beams of 11 total. We should have all of the beams up by thursday. Tomorrow we should get 4 or 5 up (heck, you never know, we just may finish) and will take pictures. Working on the 2nd level of the house is so exciting and gratifying. Jason has had help from a handful of willing people to lend a hand. Romay and I prepare simple tin foil meals from time to time, potatoes and meat in foil packets. Simple, but yummy, and I'm happy to say that we haven't had to rely on the all time emergency food of all, tube steaks, aka, hot dogs. I suglu (eskimo for 'lie'), summer hasn't been hectic, afterall, Myra got to relax in PJ's, drink coffee, and watch the Yukon as she took her class. We shall see you again in another posting soon.

June 6th, 2010

Today was a day full of building box beams. We took a 2x4 and nailed two 2x10's to the outside of it, kind of like a 2x4 sandwich. They took a little time to build as we tried to make each side of the beam square and well, some of the wood decided that it just wasn't going to work that way. Well, we built 11 of the box beams. We stored them under the house to keep them out of the rain. Meanwhile, we managed to trip up on the stumps as we were carrying the beams, sorta humorous to visualize almost falling while carrying an awkward long piece of sandwiched wood. We also had a young moose visit. He looked quite scrawny. He helped himself to the greens around our lot. Maybe he will visit often. (or she?). Good night, another full day tomorrow. I have a online class that is beginning and Jay will start the day without me. The weather is supposed to be warm with perhaps an occasional thunderstorm, sounds great to us.

June 4th, 2010

Friday. We finished the tongue and groove decking. Jason had to do some creative figuring, but it's all good. Like I said, he did figuring, which insinuates that it all got put together with OSHA 5 star ratings. Okay, so OSHA didn't check us out, but isn't that the reason why we feel so lucky to be doing it the way we are? Well, the only thing he had to do figuring on was using a table saw to cut a 2X6 plank in half, he had to do this on 3 of them as they are 16 foot long. Clearly not a big concern. Well, we also have a young man, Dayton, that is helping in leaps and bounds. He will be with us for about the next 2 weeks as he is in Galena for a summer program. Sweet deal. So tomorrow we are starting the 2nd floor with post and beams. Jason had time to fix Romay's go-cart. She is mobile and that makes all the difference to her little world. We live about a mile from the building site. Romay can garden in the early afternoon and meet us at the lot when it is convenient for her. Good night from the Harris' family.

June 3rd, 2010

I suppose I have been blogging like the way I have taken vitamins in the past. Now, it should be an each day thing, but it isn't. So here comes a late dose of building information. As expected, the weather has been raining off and on the past two days. Laying down the decking has been enjoyable, but a bit slower. We can't compare decking so much to joist building, but Jason had to order longer pipe for the pipe clamps. This means that we have to wait to finish the decking, meanwhile, he will go ahead with the box beam building for the goal posts that will go up after the decking. It has been cold. We went from 75 degree weather to 50 overnight. Regardless, we had a couple of families stop by last night to hang out, roast hot dogs, and help lay down decking. They also have kids, so it turned out to be a classic family get together with some work, food and fun. I am taking vitamins and doing well with it each day so far. I started yesterday.

May 29 and 30, 2010

Had a one day dry spell with the internet. Well, we made what felt like significant progress on the house. We did have a friend come over and help Jason with nailing on the joists. I was thankful as this allowed time for me to cook moose burgers over the fire and watch the guys steadily work. Another friend dropped by and handed out popsicles. It has been HOT, like 70 to 80 degrees. Although some of you may laugh at the numbers, keep in mind it is still May, anyways, the popsicles were much appreciated. We got all 11 joists nailed to the plates and managed to finish the insulation on the floor as well. Yesterday, Charlie and his gang also gave a HUGE helping hand. Along with their handy heavy equipment, 4 guys and Jason moved the materials to our lot. The housewarming party keeps growing with all the people that are pitching in, wonderful! It really is a thrill to be putting in hours toward our home. Jason and I do pray a prayer of thankfulness each day before or shortly after we start work. It is after midnight, although we're tired, we're going to bed with feeling content over a hard day's work.