PB&J Twisp

 Glad to get the 3rd wall up to support the other two while we are gone for a few days. We're getting a real sense of the space now.   View from the master bedroom window. View from the living room window. Three walls, YAY!

 Very fruitful day today, and the weather cooperated.  No wind all morning, though it did make an entrance mid afternoon. We got wall raising equipment all ready by 9AM when Gail came to help.  With three wall jacks, the west and east walls went up quite effortlessly, though we could all tell we were dealing with heavy walls. That done, Gail went back to her still-in-the-building-process house where her cabinet installer was busy. We then built the north wall and nearly have it ready to go up.   And now from the RV, it looks like a house up there! Getting ready for wall raising The wall is almost up! End of day with the north wall ready to raise.

 Two days of positioning the sheeting on the walls, and today we nailed all of it down after Bill cut out the window and door openings. Tomorrow we'll get them raised, and, with luck, the north wall built and raised also to stabilize east and west. Balsam root (i.e. sunflower) and serviceberry blooms -- YAY Spring! Ready for raising!

 The sun shone and the wind blew making Bill's transport of the 4x8 sheets to the wall like wind sailing.  We did get the second wall done and as he was starting to sheet the first wall, he found it wasn't square-- at about halfway (24 feet), the 4x8 OSB (oriented strand-board) was not laying square on the studs. So he measured and remeasured and determined the wall was out of square by 3/4".  He then measured and remeasured the 2nd wall and found it was out of square by 1/2".  So the frogging began (frogging being a quilting term for redoing your work -- rip-it, rip-it). The good news was he only had to frog half of each wall. So while he used the crowbar to take nails out, reposition and re-nail, I remeasured the blocking on the first wall and cut and fitted as needed.  Since I hadn't done the blocking on the second wall yet, I measured and pocket-holed those pieces which took up the rest of the day.  At 5:49 we were both done, cleaned up and were able to...

 Bill had another busy day bouncing from here to there sorting out Al's stuff. He retrieved Al's truck from impound in Newport, ID, and barely got into Will's driveway in Spokane before the alternator and battery died. Amazing that Al got himself to the hospital with it in that condition. I, on the other hand, was able to get the blocking done on the first wall and put the sill and cripples in for the two windows on that wall. In addition, I sewed three more blocks (thanks for the photos, Nan) and continue to wait for my book to sew the remaining 94 blocks. (I bought two books on Amazon, one for Nan and one for me, and she got hers earlier in the week.) Since the walls are 9', the 4x8 sheeting (i.e. plywood etc.) doesn't cover from top to bottom, so blocking is placed at the joint of the large sheet with the partial sheet for secure nailing.

  Studying plans to chalkline exterior walls. First wall ready for sheeting. We finished the wall before the rain started at 5P yesterday. Rain may keep us from making much progress again today. Then Friday Bill returns to Spokane to continue tying up Al's business.

 Quinn and kids left early this morning after a fun three days ending with another campfire last night. We continued work on the decking. Bill came within 20 feet of laying the last tongue-and-groove. We're short 3 sheets. I took up screwing the floor until my back complained, then I went to Twisp to do some over-due laundry. When I returned Bill was just finishing up with the screwing (he has a much faster technique than I). Since the weather forecast is for rain tomorrow, Bill went to Omak HD for wood sealer. Most of the panels have weatherproofing, but there are several blond spots that are bare wood.  He returned at 6 and sprayed the sealer with some areas getting three coats. While Bill went to Omak, I made Brown Butter Sweet Potato Buttermilk Rolls, a recipe that Win gave me recently. I had to sample one piping hot out of the oven.  It's been ages since I've made rolls of any kind and these are quite passable.

 We had a great day on one of the warmest days of the last two weeks. Quinn and the kids went for another bike ride and were back around 12:30, just in time for Quinn to help us put down the first row of decking.  We continued through the day with Quinn hefting 4x8 sheets of tongue-and-groove, Bill working from the crawlspace to seat each sheet, then Quinn and I pounding them securely in place and nailing them so they wouldn't move when the next one was added.  The kids helped off and on by coming behind me as I was using the nail gun and they were hammering the heads that were not flush. Good helpers again.  Late in the afternoon, Quinn hid a bunch of easter eggs then took them for ice cream.  They returned for mac&cheese dinner and campfire with marshmallows.   laying the decking Piper and Paige dealing with non-flush nail heads; Grant was a sometime helper but mostly enjoyed tormenting the girls. Nearly complete decking

 Bill left before 6AM to again go to Spokane, this time to pick up his brother Al's remains, get copies of his death certificate and follow up on other appointments regarding Al's passing. Back at Twisp, the Goldens started the day with a bike ride while I put visqueen in part of the crawlspace.  Later they returned and enjoyed moving rocks in the ATV to the "rock guard rail" near the house. Then each of the three kids got a special ATV jaunt with dad up the road to see the llamas and the valley view. After that, they all joined me in cleaning the rest of the crawlspace of debrie prior to laying more visqueen. A walk of the property line and tossing rocks to fill behind the retaining wall rounded out the day. Bill returned from Spokane just in time to join us for pizza dinner in Winthrop. A good way to start the day. While Gramma laid visqueen in part of the crawlspace. Everyone perked up to frolic in the ATV, hauling rocks to the upper level. More fun helping me clea...

 Another good day tweeking the joists. I cut short lengths of joists while Bill placed them between joists on the pony wall beams. Then he strung a long line to indicate level along the length of both beams, and I moved a 2x4 block along that line on each beam while Bill in the crawlspace shimmed under the joist until the string barely cleared the block, resulting in a level floor, with luck. To end the day, we laid out tongue-and-groove decking along the west side, ready to glue and nail it in place. And then Quinn and the kids showed up for roasted marshmallows around the fire.  They will be here for two days before heading home. Placing blocking between each joist Assuring joists are level First row of decking ready for glue and nailing Paige, Grant, Piper & Quinn Paige Grant Piper

 We finished putting joists in the mechanical room/laundry room area of the house which is narrower than the main house. The lumber yard had initially sent us too few joists for this area. We called late yesterday, and they verified a mistake was made on the materials list. By 9:00A this morning the remaining joists arrived catching us off guard, just finishing our coffee, so we hustled up to the house to receive the order. Making the design-on-the-fly opening to the crawl space slowed down our progress for the day. Tomorrow we'll be cutting the remaining joists into 13.5" lengths for bracing between joists on the pony walls. After that? Tongue-and-groove decking.  Company coming tomorrow for 3 days (Quinn and the kids on their spring break), so more, longer breaks will be in order.😊 Crawl space access. Crawl space access on the lower right next to the garage.

Yesterday we spent returning items to North Valley Lumber here in Winthrop and Home Depot in Omak. Then again this morning, another trip to Omak for sewer pipe to put in the crawl space before access is limited for long materials.  That done, we got to work trimming floor joists to the proper length and putting them in place.  Trimming joists; both ends needed squaring up. Placing joists across pony walls. Initial attachment of joists to rim boards. (Note part names identified for some readers :) ). Further tweeking, leveling and squaring will happen when the joists are nailed to the pony walls.

 A warmer day today, though overnight it got into the 20s, and come morning our water lines were frozen. Later when the sun did its business on the frost free spiget, water returned with a gush from the broken faucet.  So we turned off the water and went to work, having a good day securing the pony wall posts and the beams upon them.

 Again a windy, chilly day, but lots of sun to keep us on task. Sill plate is in place now ready for rim boards and joists. But first we need to build the two pony walls to support the joists.  Applying sill seal foam prior to sill plate. Drilling to put additional bolts in the sill plate. Pony wall brackets secured, ready for posts.

 After bidding our guests adieu, I extracted the 2x6 treated lumber from one of the many stacks delivered Wednesday and was ready to get them in place when Bill returned from Spokane before noon. The wind was an annoyance most of the day and prevented us from establishing all the chalk lines for positioning our boards squarely. We'll finish that task tomorrow and get the sill plates and pony walls constructed (fingers crossed). Measure multiple times to assure square structure! 2x6s ready for placement on the walls.

 Sister Nan and husband Kevin came for a few days to work (YAY), so we had them hauling rock and landscape bricks. The weather was cooperative resulting in a nearly-complete retaining wall. Materials for the house were delivered (another YAY), so that phase can begin. On Wednesday, Bill was called away to deal with his brother's passing in Eastern Washington. Back on Friday to await death certificate by mail to continue dealing with the estate. Nan and Kev unloading landscape brick for retaining wall in the background. Good progress on the wall. Nan unloading rocks. Two truckloads of building materials arrive. Enjoying a fire on their last night.

 After dealing with numerous rocks to make a path for the stairs, I was pleasantly surprised to spent less than 10 minutes to dig a 2 foot deep hole for the post to mount the 50 amp box, with no obstructive rocks encountered! We laid the wire in conduit in the same shallow trench with the water and electric, then Bill got both ends hooked up (just in time for sister and husband arrival for a few days from Depoe Bay, OR). Port-o-potty delivered, too!   Above: wiring the 50 amp service. Below: trench re-covered and port-o-potty delivered.

 After a short break to Anacortes to pick up the Dodge Dakota with its new engine, we returned to continue the project. We laid low most of the day but did manage a couple key activities. Bill tied a rope around a snag close to the RV (upper photo), then pulled it down with the pickup (video). Another snag closer to the RV in the same area fell down while we were gone over the weekend so it was time for this one to go.  They both were rotten at the trunk line. Second major task today was to get the 50 amp RV service pedestal in place; we'll run the wire tomorrow.