Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Despite the intermittent drizzle today, The Husband and his father are hard at work on the saw mill. Yes, that's right. Not only is Bob the Log Builder doing the exterior structure of the house the right hard way, he's also milling boards for the cabinets, trimwork, floorboards, etc. himself. He's repurposing a fallen maple tree today, and I dashed up to The Lake to take a few snapshots. I really wish I'd taken video instead, so you could hear the hum and buzz of the saw mill.












Term of the day: cant hook.














Due to the aforementioned drizzle, and a baby who desperately needed a nap, I didn't stick around long enough to get a picture of the nice solid block (sans bark) and then the slicing off of the boards. Perhaps another time.

Today it was maple, but he's milled cedar and spruce as well. Our home will be an arbor-iffic symphony of wood.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Sprung!

Last night, as The Husband and I drove back across the border from Montreal (where we were, sadly, dropping off our friends at the airport), we heard a sure sign of spring: peepers! Yes, as Adirondack bloggers everywhere are proclaiming, it appears that spring has finally sprung!

Here at At-Home-In-Logs, that can only mean one thing: yes-indeedy it's time to start work on the log house again! Can I get a hallelujah? Intrepid Log-Builder-Husband has changed his mind several times on what he'll work on next, but the latest decision is to finish the upper floor joists and complete the second floor. That, of course, will make cleaning the insides of the log walls easier, since we won't be on ladders quite as tall.... eh? easier?! harumph! I'm hoping to snake out of this most manual of labor tasks (I'm sure by now everyone's aware of my contentious relationship with manual labor). But, I fear I will be scrubbing log walls before long. *sigh*

Until then, I'll take long walks in the evening and listen to the sounds of spring... and plot how to get out of wall-scrubbing duty.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Gee I wish the grass was green!

We have good friends visiting us right now from Cambridge (the first). Since there's not much touristy to do right now in the North Country, we've been exposing them to food-based treats like collecting sap and Glazier hot dogs. The second run of sap for us small-timers is in full swing. Temps are still low at night and up during the day, and our bucket doth runneth over. Oh -- You thought I was kidding about making our friends collect sap. Nope. "Hey, welcome! Put 'em to work!"
It's already been a very prolific syrup year for us, and the Husband is making good use of the sweet mapley goodness .... maple cream pie for Easter. Mmmmmmmm......... Life is good here in the North Country. Even without green grass.