March 2006 till April 2006. Starting at 8 rows high we need to go 12 high,at 10 rows now. Its getting there but slowly. Lots more work than it looks like. Studs for the walls going up now to. Weather just WON'T cooperate! Randy's in for just 3 weeks, so we shall boogie fast as we safely can. Trying to make it to the rafters, so we can dry it in before he leaves.

As
you can see we all worked long hard hours. Even worked at night when we could, mainly if we couldn't work during daylight.

From Nov 2005 to Dec 2005 we worked long and hard trying to get as much finished as possible because we knew Randy would be going on another out of state job. Row by row it slowly started to look like we were going to have a house soon. But you know how it is....Always something in the way. We had several set backs and plenty bad weather but we're making it thru it all some how.Now in Dec at 8 rows high we are taking another few months break, until Randy can return home.

Now the waiting is over! Hoooooray! We load the logs on a trailer and haul them 1 mile up the road to our place of construction. Logs are still heavy but not near as heavy as before due to the curing time. Its now Jan 20, 2005. We added a layer of treated 2 X 6's anchored all around the concrete so we could try to stay away from bugs and water. Than finally first log is laid! Then we had to drill holes in the logs to be able to drive the rebar down in it for an anchor.Each logs had about 4 of these bars. We had to stop construction for a few months because Randy went out of state again on another job, then again in Oct we started again, and started row 2.

After all logs have been peeled and washed they need to dry (cure). They were set on racks and second row was crossed over for air to circulate and left for a year and a half. It is now June 2003, and we have a while to wait.....

Now we are almost finished peeling logs, it's May and very hot!This bridge was made by my hubby Randy, we had to cross the creek to get to some of our logs, and had no other way to do it. On our last load crossing the bridge, it kinda gave a lil and Randy had to work to get across. I had to help move the log across and was hit by the tractor, and re-injured my arm that I had previously broke. Had to wear a brace for about two weeks, then the very next day I broke the top bone in my foot, you can see the bruise in the foot pic. After being peeled the logs needed to be power washed to get the onion peel skin off of them, so beings we were in the woods, we had to use a welder to have power for the presser washer. When Randy was at work and needed the welder we used a gas powered generator. To get water out of the creek passed the welder or generator we used a well pump to pump the water out to the creek. We filled large barrels and when they were all empty we had to refill them...This was done many many times...pics show bucket with pump in it in the creek.

Peeling the logs were hard and long work, as I said before we stayed out in the woods till dark most days. This was sure an experience to go thru, and quit a teaching tool for the kids school work. They learned about bugs, wood, trees, water,team work, the sun, and hard work! Pic up top Wyatt and Blake took a break to play on a roll of hay. Next two pics are logs ready to be peeled next two pics are peeling of the logs, we all did this everyday...Got to be a chore we didn't look forward to, kids liked this faze better than any of them because when they got to hot, they just jumped in the creek.

It took about a week to prepare the ground for the forming up to pour the concrete, we had to have dirt hauled in, spread it...By hand I might add, pack it, then build forms for concrete, dig for plumbing, ad the plumbing, and then finally pour. Now it has to set, so we wait....Then Randy gets called to a job in VA...We wait longer...Finally he gets back in March...We all march off to the woods....Takes us a week to find and mark 120 trees the right size and length, we used pine and popular trees. The pictures here show Randy doing the cutting even tho Aaron did do some of the cutting, but everyone else helped with everything that needed to be done. We at times had to pull by hand the logs out of the woods because the tractor nor truck could reach them even tho we had 4 chains! It took us about 2 months to fine all the trees we marked and cut them and drag them to the spot in the woods we cleared to peel and dry the logs. Even tho this task was hard and very hot and tiring at times...WE kept on....

We used the tractor to move logs from one place to another, loaded them on the homemade racks we made to peel them. In these pics Randy and boys peeling logs. Peeling is when you take the bark and onion skin layer off of them. Lower pics Aaron taken break after lunch, and all of us eating in last pic. We would go out at day break and work till lunch, cook lunch on smoker in woods then back to work till dark.