The Build- August 2021

There had been a pair of broad-winged hawks living near the camp when we moved in and every morning they would call to each other while hunting. This grew to be one of our favorite morning sounds, until we learned they were killing our chickens! The chickens were slowly getting picked off one by one. We bought shiny spinners to place around the coop fence, hung wind chimes and pie plates. We would leave the radio on near the coop and park the tractor and side by side near by. Nothing seemed to work. Eventually the birds disappeared but not until they had killed over a dozen of our chickens/ young turkeys.

Good things come to those that work for it! In 8 days we framed the house, had a weather tight shell and ran power to the house. This did not come without challenges though. It poured out as we were laying the subfloor. The next day all of the flooring delaminated. We had to put down another layer of 7/16th OSB over the whole subfloor.

During this whole month Sam was working overtime to get out overdue mounts, prepare for the shop move. Audrey, Sam's nice helped prep forms to keep the pace moving. Donna, Sam's mother helped groom animals after they were mounted. Josh continued to work overtime at Altec in addition to building the house. Josh took off a week for framing the house with the help of his dad, Bryan. Sam's birthday was on the 23rd and Josh made a ribeye dinner after a long day of work.

August 14 tarred the foundation to prevent water from seeping through the cement.

August 18 installed footing drains.

August 20 framed up the exterior walls and stood them up.

August 22 backfilled foundation.

August 23 framed the interior walls.

August 24 completed the subfloor.

August 25 set rafters.

August 26 sheathed the roof.

August 27 dried the roof in... aka put grace snow and ice also framed in gable ends

August 28 ran power to the house 700' through the woods by hand

August 29 backfilled power line ditch