Construction Journal Entry Week of 6/19/11

6/20-22/11 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Monday through Wednesday.

On the way, I drove part of North Shore Drive in order to locate the house where the recent bear attack occurred. We had just seen the cable TV show "I Survived" about the incident and I wanted to see the house. It is just a few doors down from Ron Siderits' place. I took a picture of it from the road.

I arrived at Camp Serendipity at about 12:30. After moving in and having lunch, I went to work dismantling the old snow shed. I fed a chipmunk a few peanuts before I started.

I used a chainsaw to cut one of the old snowshed legs into three pieces which I used to make a rack for the sheet metal roof panels. Then using a crowbar and a hammer I removed seven of the sixteen 2x8 foot corrugated sheet metal panels and stored them on the rack.

I quit for the day at about 5:30. When I was in the crawl space putting the chainsaw away, the power went out. I got out a phone that didn't need power, plugged it in, and called the PUD. They said the power was expected to be restored by 8:00.

Since I couldn't easily cook my dinner without power, I decided to take my shower first. I screwed the shower head back in now that the drywall was in place over the tub, and got in the shower.

I decided not to hang the shower curtain back up because I figured that whatever water spilled out onto the subfloor couldn't hurt anything.

About halfway through my shower, there was a knock on the front door. I called out and Ron and his son Robert came in. Of course I was buck naked with no shower curtain and no door on the bathroom, but they discreetly turned away and got ready to resume work on the drywall.

Since there was no power, they had to use hand saws, and nails instead of screws. When I got out of the shower, I went up in the loft and ate a half-loaf of banana bread, which was about the only thing I had that didn't need to be cooked.

The lights came back on at about 7:35. Ron and Robert switched to power tools and worked on the drywall downstairs while I cooked some more dinner for myself. They finished hanging the remainder of the board, and had two 8-foot sheets left over. They told me that Plain Hardware would take them back and that they would help load them into my truck if I wanted. I said thanks but no thanks because I didn't want them outside overnight.

Ron asked me whether I wanted round outside corners on the drywall or square. I had never heard of round corners, but after he explained them, I decided that was what I wanted.

Before they left I invited them up so that Robert could see the bronze model of Mt. Rainier. They left at about 8:45.

On Tuesday I slept in. After breakfast, I used a rope to tie Rosy, the rose bush, up against the porch so that I could get the truck up there. Then I brought the truck up and loaded the two sheets of drywall board into it. Then I drove to Plain Hardware where they took the sheets and refunded my money.

When I got back, I decided to whack down the weeds and brush that had started growing in the parking area and driveway. While I was in the middle of whacking the ferns down by the gate, Ron Siderits showed up. We went up to the cabin and had a nice long visit until about 2:30. We talked about the bear attack on his neighbor among other things.

After he left, I had a small lunch and then started cleaning up the drywall mess. There were two piles of scrap drywall, one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen. I left them alone and swept the floors all around them. I was in the hall sweeping when there was a knock at the front door.

It was Paul Scott. He said he was familiar with my website and he had stopped by a few times but I had not been at the cabin. He is building three cabins a couple miles up from Sears Creek. He was interested in my project, and we talked about cabins and building. We also talked about climbing Mt. David, which he has done and which Ellen and I have thought about doing. He said he had climbed Mt. Rainier when he was 19 and he was interested in seeing the bronze Mt. Rainier model. So we went up to the loft and got the model out. We traced his probable route on the model. I took a picture of him and got his permission to post it on my website.

After Paul left, I fixed my dinner and while I was eating, Ron showed up again to work on the drywall taping. He showed me samples of the round corners which I liked. He'll have to get some 10-footers for the job since I have 9-foot ceilings.

On Wednesday morning, I cleaned up the piles of drywall scrap, bagged them into six garbage bags, and loaded them into the truck. Then I swept up all the first floor at least to get the first layer of dust off. I left for home at 1:40 feeling very good about the progress.

6/24/11 (Friday) Bought the paint for the interior.



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