Weekly Update: 10.21.23
It was one of those weeks that felt like two weeks. Or maybe even three. We got so much done, and the weather fluctuated so much, it felt like a collection of days from different seasons and different project stages. All of the variety kept things interesting as we shifted gears almost daily.
On Saturday, we started the day planning to get a good chunk of our rafters up. It was a cold, windy day. Before we got to work, we enjoyed the campfire our brother Jeremiah started and a few of us partook in some of his stick-roasted biscuits. They turned out delicious -- and I was glad we had only picked up a couple cans of dough or else I would have been seriously tempted to splurge myself.
It had taken us a week to get about half the rafters up, so our hopes weren't too high about what we could accomplish. We were hard at work by mid-morning -- me cutting rafters, blocking, and sheathing as needed, while the menfolk put everything together. Grace and Erin spent hours whitewashing. We all worked hard, and by midafternoon, the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" was growing much larger than any of us expected. It looked, miraculously, like it was possible to finish the rafters that day. Inspired, everyone picked up the pace. We worked like crazy, and when the sun went down and it started to rain -- we only had three rafters left. We made a mad dash to clean up and get inside before we got drenched, but we felt elated to have made so much progress.
We were all pretty exhausted on Sunday, but because we were so close to being finished, our brothers put the last three rafters up in the afternoon. We rested and recreated for the remainder of the day. Since it was too cold for homemade ice cream, we made our first fall dessert in the slow cooker -- pumpkin apple crisp. I was a bit skeptical about the recipe, as we have tried a couple slow cooker crisps since camping, and none have turned out well. But this recipe was a hit -- warm and full of comforting spices. I have a feeling we will make it again before pumpkin season is over.
We had all been a bit discouraged with our slow progress with the rafters, so having such a successful weekend gave us all renewed energy for the rest of the week. On Monday, we tackled the rake walls on both ends of the house. I had been a bit overwhelmed with all those angles, but it wasn't bad at all. We just set our miter saw to 14 degrees, and everything fit just like it should have. We had both walls framed and sheathed by late afternoon.
It was just us ladies at home on Tuesday. All the next steps on the project required more height and muscle than we have between us, so we took a break from the bunkhouse to deep clean the wall tent. As of today, we have lived out here for six months, and while we do our best to be tidy, dust and bugs have a way of getting into all the corners. It was a lot of work, but the experience was rather therapeutic. It feels like a fresh start for the last leg of our tent living experience. In the evening, our latest Menards order arrived -- this one with our windows, insulation, and lumber for our interior framing. We hope we can get by with picking up the rest of our supplies ourselves, but we shall see.
Since all the men were working again on Wednesday, we all took the afternoon off. I did some non-homestead-related writing. Bonnie-Jean gave Grace a haircut and her own hair a henna treatment. We all enjoyed the warm, October weather. It was just -- nice.
On Thursday, we hit the ground running again. Our dad helped all of us ladies work on installing the house wrap. First, we did a detailed examination of the sheathing all over the house, looking for sections we had forgotten to nail properly. When we were ready to start with the wrapping, we decided to cut our 10-foot rolls in half to make them easier to work with. It was tricky to put up the wrap between the tent and the house, but we wrangled it in there. We had to quit working early to go to the dentist (a bunch of us had scheduled cleanings for the same afternoon), but we made a good start. We love the folks at Willard Family Dental, and we are thankful to have such a great clinic so close to home!
We had Levi home with us on Friday, and we finished the house wrap. I honestly wasn't sure we could even do it, as we had some crazy awkward areas to reach. It took a lot of team work and creativity, but we managed it. It was hot, and by afternoon we had all lost our coats and long-sleaved shirts. I hate heights, but I was prepared to do my part if necessary. Thankfully, Grace and Levi do much better than I do, and they spent most of the day up on a ladder or scaffolding. For the most difficult to reach places next to the tent, Grace put on the safety harness and worked her way along the wall balancing on the tent frame. Inside the bunkhouse, I finally took my turn on the scaffolding as I walked two different safety ropes down the wall for her. Grace made her balancing act look easy, clipping herself from one rope to the next as she stapled the house wrap in place.
Looking ahead to next week, the forecast is calling for several rainy days. We really don't want to take any more water damage, so we are planning another push over the weekend to get the fascia, eaves, decking, and tarpaper on. We also need to trim three inches off of each rafter as (unfortunately) I missed calculated their length. If we can finish all of that, we will be dried-in. Rain will no longer wreak havoc on our build site, and it will no longer slow us down -- we will be able to work inside even in wet weather.
Reading over again all that we accomplished this week, I can't help feeling that we were blessed in our efforts. I often quote Psalm 127, and this week, it felt like God was building our house, working all things together in a way that moved us forward. I wish I knew what the difference was. I want there to be a way for me to repeat the blessing, to make every week so productive. But that is the thing about grace. We don't initiate it -- we respond to it. That's the whole point of the first verses of Psalm 127 -- we can't make the blessings come with our own anxious toil. Rather, "he gives his beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2, ESV). He has a plan for how and when things should come together for us, and our job is to rest in that reality. Instead of toiling, our part is to give thanks with our words and with our lives, as we live obedient to His Word. Looking forward to this next week and all we hope to do before the rain, I'm thankful that God is working everything out according to His kind, wise, and ever-loving will.
