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!
