Thursday, August 7, 2014

Building A Woodshed

This month we have spent Brian's days off building a wood shed together.
  It has been a trying, satisfying, rewarding project. 
Firstly, we planned where we would build the shed; facing away from the weather and near the cabin. Secondly, we discussed how we would build it, including a field trip to a local log built shed we admired, giving the children an idea of what we were about to undertake.
  
Day One: Brian and the boys selected smallish dead standing lodgepole on our property, 
cut it down, and hauled it back to the lodge. 
 Meanwhile, I darted into town to purchase pier blocks and screws.
Once home, Brian and I used the dumpy level to figure the length of our 6 support logs.
  Next, Jim used the brace and bit to drill holes for the logs to accept re-bar off the pier blocks.





Our shed is 10 x 20.  We used three logs in front and three in back, with a fall ratio of 5/12 for the shed roof.  Most of the cost for this shed is the 8 inch Torq screws we used to fasten everything together.




 On the second day, mid rafter cutting, the chainsaw broke down. 
 We ended up cutting the rest of the rafters with a hand saw. 
 This gave us much awe and amazement for all the men who have built entire log structures with hand saws!!
This really slowed us down, but was also a great learning curve for all of us.

The horizontal side pieces are notched in for a tight fit.



These smaller brace pieces could be cut with the chop saw, thankfully. 
 At the end of the day I brought home a second chainsaw from a yard sale for $40.  
 Preparedness lesson learned: Always have a backup tool!
The primary saw will be in the shop for more than a week...meanwhile...
we have to finish this shed and get to filling it.



The shed just needs the roof on yet, which will be next week's work.
  We have some used metal that we have been saving for just such a project.
We'll use some scrap 1 inch under the metal.
 Now I can see that all those piles of random building materials really are useful!
(smile)



Summer is at it's end and we'll be needing that shed full of wood very soon.
We plan on putting some major time in toward that end next week...then on to canning season...
 and all the fun of fall will be here before we know it!


Blessings to you this day-

Julianne

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Boys Will Be Boys

Life with boys.

  Adventurous.  Dangerous.  Gross.  Funny. 
 and Amazing!

The pictures say it all...

BOYS WILL BE BOYS!









.



Then there is this classic...



And last but not least....


Yup, that pretty much sums it up.


Living Counter Cultural: Femininity

Popular culture has a decidedly feminist bent.  Recent movies, tv shows and prominent women  are displaying heroins as   to...