Rafters: Part 1

Chris has spent the last several weeks working out the rafters.  He's building them up on top of the walls, then lifting them and securing them in place.  They're heavy!  Somehow, he got the first one up with only my Mum and Dad helping.

It was tricky, and probably not as safe as it should have been, but they got it up!

Chris built the second level wall that goes through the centre of the house first to provide a stable surface to slide the rafters along before lifting them in place.  You can see the spaces for the windows that will look into the main living area from the kids common room

Once the rafter was in place, it was secured by cross pieces, and rope

Because Chris is building the rafters up on the walls, he can only build 4 at a time.  He builds them in a stack before lifting them up one at a time

My Dad, Steve, has helped with most of them!

My Mum, Jan, has helped too!

Chris lifts the peak, and walks it over to the edge of the centre wall

Then he uses a board to lift the peak up, while someone pulls a rope tied to the peak, looped over the bar Chris installed at the edge of the East wall

Chris switches to a longer board to lever the peak up

He keeps a short rope securing the peak to the wall so it will not fall over into the rafters that are already secured

Steve anchors the pulling rope from below

While Chris secures the rafter above

Mum can swing a hammer too!

Then Chris joins the two rafters together with the strapping that the metal roof will be secured to once all the rafters are finished

Lost and found

Last week, our sweet Simon did not come home for dinner.  He's never wandered off before, and certainly never missed a meal.  When he still did not come home for breakfast the next day, we accepted the fact that he wasn't coming home.  The worst part is not knowing what happened.  I've had the worst visions of the ways he could have died.  Coyotes, fishers, hawks, wolves, or hit by a car.  I searched all around but could find no traces of him.  Every time I drove away from the house I scanned the ditches and woods.  We've had some very cold nights this week, and a fair bit of snow.  I imagined him injured, slowly freezing to death.  We were all distraught.  The children were planning a memorial.  Without a body to bury they still wanted to leave a reminder of him in our pet graveyard, by Sebastian and Zeppelins markers.  A few days after he disappeared, when Chris was out in the mudroom he thought heard meowing.  He thought it was Oliver but he was asleep on the couch.  He figured he must have imagined it.  Then last night while Chris was stoking the wood stove, he heard meowing again.  There was Simon in the mudroom!  7 days after we had last seen him!  Chris called for me to come out.  Simon was skiddish, but came over when I shook the treat bag.  He followed me into the house and frantically started searching for food.  I fed him and he wolfed down a bunch before I took it away to avoid him overeating.  Oliver, who had spent the last week searching for his brother, acted a bit put out that he was home again.  Simon finally calmed down and came over to cuddle.  Today he's back to his old self, maybe a bit jumpy, definitely thin, and very snugly.  I don't know where he's been for the past week, but I'm sure he has one heck of a story to tell!  Too bad he can't tell it to us.  We sure are glad to have him home!

Two level framing

Our second floor only covers about two thirds of the lower level.  That means the ceilings and walls in the dining room and living room are two levels high.  Tall walls are harder for one person to raise alone.  But somehow Chris figured out how to do most of it by himself.

Is that Spiderman?

He built the walls in smaller sections and raised them separately before connecting them

Outer framing done!  We don't have all the windows yet, so the window spaces will be framed in later when we know the sizes

You can see the size of the double door and large dining room window here

Three of the walls in Zander's room are done

The view from the front door

Solstice cuddles with Simon

And Oliver

Zander shares his DS with them, Solstice only thinks she's playing it ;-)

The kittens are growing into fine looking young cats

Framing and keeping warm

We finally have some snow!  Not much, and the temperature has been up and down a fair bit.  In spite of having few very cold days, we still burn through firewood at a good rate.  This year we are burning mostly fallen trees from our property, so it burns up more quickly than we'd like.  Processing firewood is a family affair.

Zander is now strong enough to split wood with the axe

My Dad used his ATV to drag some fallen trees from the woods.  Chris chunked them up with the chainsaw before splitting them

The kids use the sled to move the split wood to the wood pile on the porch

 

 

Chris has been putting up walls on the second level

 

He's had some help

 

Grandad, Zander, and Phoenix lend a hand

The West wall goes up

And gets braced in place

Notice how its "almost" warm enough for no jackets and gloves

Phoenix is getting pretty good with a hammer

Finnlee is a good supervisor

All the second level walls done. 
Now Chris is setting up the scaffold to put up the walls that are 2 levels high

Christmas Eve 2015

So, its Christmas Eve and its 15°C.  It should be about -10°C.  Great weather for building, and chickens though!  This mild fall and winter have allowed Chris an easier time working on the house.  I just hope we get a really good deep freeze before the winter is over.  Otherwise the bugs will be horrid next spring!

We now have a couple walls on the upper level

You'd never know it was December 24th

All the roof lumber is laying on the upper level.  Under the plastic sheet is the window well for the master bedroom window

Chris has shoveled several tons of clear stone by himself.  Who needs a backhoe?!

Most hens lay fewer eggs when the days are shorter.  Our girls don't seem to know this!  Even with most of our old girls moulting, we still get 5-6 eggs a day.  The tiny egg on the left is from one of our newest layers.  The big one just below it is from one of our old girls, and the green one to the right of that one is from Breech.  Her eggs are getting pretty big too! 

Last night I heard a wolf howling just outside the mobile home.  First time hearing wolves here.  It was close, but the chickens, dog, and kittens are all safe.  Pretty neat knowing the wilds are so near.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Second level floor

Work on the house slowed down after the framing party.  Chris was working a lot, and there were other things to be done to prepare the homestead for winter.  But Chris still managed to get the floor joists up on the second level.

Floor joists under the girls' bedroom floor

Looking from the kitchen into the master bedroom

Floor joists finished.  Note the beautiful red of the sumac trees

Bare sumac trees and plywood floors in place.  The gap is where the stairs will be

The walls that separate the laundry room/mud room, bathroom, and master bedroom

Looking up through the stairwell

The posts and beam in the wall of the master bedroom

Its getting icy at night

The tamarack that surround our garden clearing are turning yellow

Molly napping in the leaves in front of the wood that will become the roof trusses

Sleeping kittens getting bigger and bigger

And here is Amelia, errrr, Emil, the rooster.  He's a pretty boy and is a good protector

Our first egg from this year's chicks.  Turns out our Easter egger Breech lays green eggs!  Now we're getting tiny eggs from all 6 of the hens that we hatched

We have magnificent sunsets