We're Stuck

 

Things were going well until Marc tried doing the roofing by himself. The roof sheathing and paper had been done by his contractor friend, who then became busy with his business, so Marc figured he’d give it a go. And go he almost did…right off the edge of the pitched roof if not for his safety rope. I told him no way did I want to see him plunge to his death and that was enough of that; we’d hire it done! 

Of course, the primary person we’re depending upon for that is the contractor friend, whose schedule is so loaded up that time keeps passing and the roof doesn’t get done. That has stopped other stuff as well; the finalization of siding and being able to get into the area around the garage for the dirt work necessary for placement of the new RV. Marc did make the decision to make the run to Waupaca to retrieve it after we finished more road work, loads of gravel, and the extraction of many large tree stumps by the excavator guy. He should arrive back shortly, although I suspect it will be many weeks before we can occupy it.

All of this “processing” of trees took us many days of more backbreaking labor and a near-constant fire lasting five days. We’re in another no burn cycle, so now the limbs and brush are just piled awaiting the next chance to torch them.

 

road before

I’ve been spending off time making more rope baskets and coasters for the upcoming shelter auction, as my arthritic hands allow.

Overall, our weather has been comfortable as compared to many other areas of the U.S. We’ve received less rain this summer but only a few days above 90; most are 70’s to low 80’s. The Canadian wildfire smoke has often invaded our skies however, which makes things ugly and miserable.

That’s it for now from the lake….

 

 

Moving Along Slowly

(Can you tell it's feeding time?)

It's not easy being old. You move much slower and if you do too much you ache in places you had forgotten you had. Odd muscles begin to scream and new ailments seem to pop up. Since when did I ever have hip problems? Starting about two weeks ago! Near as I can tell from internet research, it's probably some type of bursitis from overuse but I woke one night in excruciating pain in my left hip and radiating down my left leg which prevented any sleep. That was when I was in the middle of moving tons of the stick piles to a massive bonfire for two full days, which was nothing but bend over, pick up, lug, toss, and turn around and do it all again as I sweated profusely while standing next to a 2000 degree (at least) blazing inferno rendering coals over a foot high. It was easy the next morning to stick a dry piece of branch into the coal/ash pile and poof--it would take off again. 

My other recent task was to work on our sitting area. Marc had ordered some gravel with lots of larger cobble in it so we had picked out the larger rocks into a discard pile. I decided to use them to spruce up the cut bank which was cleared long ago leading down to the lake. I built two flanking dry stack walls and also used some smaller gravel to fill in and expand the area which dropped away steeply. By doing this we will be able to install the largest boulders as a fire pit in this area after the bug tent is moved. It will go elsewhere. After carting rocks and shoveling gravel for two days to accomplish this I was able to truthfully answer my doctor during my annual if I was doing any weight bearing exercise for my osteoporosis! I want to add some small plantings to the side hills behind the stones but don't know if that will get done this summer. Whatever goes in there will likely be the extent of our "landscaping" here. I have enough to maintain with the two acres in Waupaca every time I go home. 

Our main endeavor of course, has been continued progress on the shop. The roof trusses came in and Marc's contractor friend came with a helper to install the sheathing and roof paper. After that, Marc worked hard to finish off the gable ends and do the headers for the man door and the oversize garage door, which he just finished installing. He still needs to get that actually hooked up to the opener when he returns from an unexpected speed run to Waupaca. 

You see, our RV fridge unexpectedly died. It had stopped running on electric about a year ago and now won't run on propane either. Fortunately, since we have an extra refrigerator at home, he is there now to pick it up and also bring back the pontoon. The fridge is actually the one in our house with a decent size freezer so it will be set up in the shop to do until we can move into our new RV. 

Next up will be tackling the metal roof installation. Roofing is expected in on July 7th. In between we'll likely get started on installing the siding. 

Slowly, as we have time, we're also working on selectively clearing out the hillside which sits between the bog and where our RV will be placed so it opens up an expansive view to the lake. It'd be nice to have it all placed by my next post! Marc has found that the forklift really helps in knocking down the smaller diameter trees. 

A surprise visit by a snapping turtle one morning! 

Getting Started

 

It feels like it’s been a long road to get to the point where we could finally start shop construction. We were late getting to the property this spring due to the amount of snow and cold and once here, we encountered many downed trees that needed dealing with. In addition, we continue to thin out dead and dying trees, particularly certain species like the popples, which are tall, spindly, weak parasitic trees of other desirable trees like the maples. Much of my work time is spent looping off branches and making fire size pieces, where we continue to have all day bonfires on burn days. Certain treetops I use to further build up and sustain our “brush fence” which we use to keep roaming dogs out; we also got the gate totally secured with wire surround so they can’t walk around that. 

At first, I was all about the forest and tall trees but now that it is getting thinned out, I must admit I like it better; the land becomes more usable and hopefully, it will cut down on the bugs by providing better airflow. The mosquitos and gnats are horrendous this year! There is one more large section I had wanted to remain natural because it provides a real barrier from views from the highway but I’m now giving thought to clearing that out as well. Maybe not until next summer though! 

One good thing about the delay in building from last year is that lumber prices are now around one third of what our quotes were last year. Marc debated going the package route but found buying things individually was a better deal so he started with the framing and sheeting lumber for the shop walls. Since he is doing this alone, he decided to do them panelized, which means he is building them in sections on the cement slab—something much easier than being up on a ladder trying to hold lumber himself while wielding the heavy, huge nail gun. It’s an act of “McGivership” though for him to figure out the way to stand the walls on his own and get them level. It proved to be very difficult and heavy so he’s going to decrease the size of the sections from 12 feet to 8 feet. By the way, the walls are also 12 foot tall!

Within a week or two he hopes to borrow a forklift from a friend who lives an hour from here which should greatly help in the building once the trusses arrive. When the garage shell is complete, we can turn our attention to leveling, compacting, and getting utilities to the point of where we intend to place the new park model and he can then move it from Waupaca and get it set and blocked. Next after that, he intends to build a deck for it. On his next return to Waupaca, he will bring the boat up as we’re hoping to get out on that when we desperately need a break from the work. All in all, it looks to be another really busy summer for us in the Northwoods, but it’s sure heaven to be here again!

Delayed

 

As you’ll see in a moment from the photos, winter just doesn’t want to give up as yet in the Northwoods. Marc checked out our property about ten days ago and there was lots of snow left. We just did get rid of the last of it here in Waupaca but the ground is still frozen or a muddy mess so we still haven’t been able to retrieve our new trailer from its current campground. About the middle of March we needed to visit it so Marc could shovel snow off its roof as we feared it was getting too heavy.

All of this will put us substantially behind on our start for the build season. In addition, from the looks of the property, there are now many downed trees which will first need to be taken care of before we can even access it with the larger trailer. Marc estimates May before we can gain access to the lot to get started. As you can note from the picture of our gate, which is about two feet off the ground level, it’s definitely going to be awhile! At least it appeared as though the RV made it just fine through winter under its new shed although the flatbed trailer didn't get through unscathed. Yes, that's two trees that fell on it....

It's been a long winter!