'Tis the Season

This is one of my favorite seasons - woodcutting!!! 

We had our first foray into the woods on Saturday, and I think we made out pretty well - four truck loads of blocked wood.  Up early on Saturday, we arrived in the area we visited last during last year's season.  It was a storm damaged area, and it is remarkable how much was gone since last season.  We didn't have to drive too far, though it seemed we did do a lot more wheelbarrowing this time.  I even got to do a little wheelbarrow riding -  courtesy of David.  And to top it off, David and Andres brought a cooler of warm burritos Marie made for our break - super tasty!

No pictures of the trees, but these might be even better.  On the way down, I was the gate keeper.  We drove out last and pulled the gates closed.  As Tom drove, he continued to tell stories from his days of working at Philmont - you'd think he worked many, many more summers there than he did for all the stories.  The last gate was easy - no barbed wire or poles to lash to the fence posts.  I pulled the metal bar across and slid the padlock through and shut.  When I hopped in the truck, Tom was looking over his shoulder and remarked that someone came to see what I was doing.  It was not really a "someone" -  not a person, nor singular. 

Moving towards a water tank that had spilled over was a small herd of buffalo.  By size, I could see there were adult/mature buffalo, a few "teenage" buffalo that had started to take on the rugged shape and coat pattern of the adults, but was half as tall, and a few baby buffalo - light in color, slight in size, and not yet wearing the thick coat or hump of the teenage or adults.  They were moving quickly to the water, and seemed almost to speed up.  I knew the horse fence (square wire mesh about 3" x 4") wouldn't keep them from us, but put stock in their excitement for the water, not me.  And though I often chide the lookey-loos who drive slow and block traffic between Cimarron and Philmont when the buffalo are out, I pulled out the camera and got these photos.  Finally I have buffalo pictures to post!

another HE'S HERE!

Welcome to the world!!!

Nathaniel Joseph Dieringer arrived on Tuesday, September 18th!  He joins his Mom and Dad, Amy and Pat, and his siblings, Maddie, Mia, Monica, and Benjamin, in Portland.  He weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz and measured 21" long!   

The best part - getting to meet him in a week!

House work continues....

So maybe we didn't really hold off until after Auggie's wedding, but Thomas and I ended up with a windfall of time this weekend.  I didn't attend an all day conference on Saturday after all, which meant we had pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday free.  We headed to Trinidad early on Saturday morning to rent a concrete sander.  After loading it in the truck and making a few other stops, we got home early afternoon and set to work.

Our basement floor is concrete, and until such time as we deem it necessary, we are not laying down any other flooring on top of it.  So to finish it a little more nicely, we took the sander to it for a nice smooth finish.  It also reveals the small stones in the concrete, which adds a nice variation in color and pattern.  The end result is really nice, but boy it took a lot of work to get there. 

The sander utilizes three sets of bars that rotate circularly to wear away the concrete.  To make it easier - cutting down heat of friction and dust, a garden hose is connected and sprays water into the rotating bars.  To keep it from getting too mucky, a vacuum hose from a shop-vac is connected to suck up the water and slurry.  To make it harder for us, the shop-vac suction didn't work on the machine, so I pushed it around and sucked up the muck.  Between Saturday and Sunday, I think I probably emptied that bucket a dozen times - having to bail water out with a bucket because it was too heavy for me to carry up the stairs.  Tom also helped carry it up for me several times.  And a number of times we team lifted out.  We slept well on Saturday night, and I am sure tonight will be the same.

As for the floor, it will need to be sprayed down and vacuumed some more before we are ready to apply the sealer.  Our backs need a break, and we need to decide on which product to use.  Moving right along....

Party Animal

I hope to get pictures from Marie to illuminate the good time had by all, in particular of Sofia.  Sofia turned one on Friday!  We had a delicious taco dinner and enjoyed cake and ice cream.  I think we were all feeling a little beat, as the party retired much, much earlier than usual.

Sofia sat at the table and enjoyed beans, cheese, and tortilla, some of which could be found flung all over the kitchen.  And then when the cake came out - too much fun!  She was much more careful about letting any of her sugary goodness fall to the floor instead of in her mouth.  The exception was all the frosting she thought she could soak in through osmosis - pink fosting smeared all over!  It was a joy to see Sofia enjoy her party so much.

Hooray for first birthdays!

It's Here!!

I think fall has arrived early this year, and what a welcome guest, though some sunshine would be nice.  This morning I boiled my first pot of water for tea on the drive to work; I have started wearing socks again; and the nights and mornings are dramatically cooler, causing us to close up the windows that haven't been closed since the spring.

 

Even more exciting, it rained yesterday.  Not a typical downpour of the summer months, the kind that lasts five minutes and evaporates in twenty.  No it was drizzly and wet all evening, and by nighttime it was a steady plinking on the roof.  The rain barrel filled, and the ground was still damp this morning.  Plants and people alike rejoice!

 

And even more exciting than that?!?!?  I walked over to the house to check out how the roof did, and it did great!  No water in the basement, and only a little water around the open doorway where the rain blew in.  Whoop whoop!  The house has been taking a breather, as have Tom and I, since Labor Day, but we hope to rent a concrete sander this weekend and polish up our basement floors before we really close it in.  It will be a dusty, dusty job, but better to do it early and get the dust blown out.

 

Hooray for rain and hot tea and dry homes! 

Raising the Roof: Act 2

So the step after hanging "base layer" is hanging propanel.  Really - two simple steps, could it be that easy? 

Hanging tar paper was strategic - we hung only the south side on Saturday and got most of the propanel up over it.  Gratefully the last 12 feet of it stayed put until we got back to work on Sunday.  With not much left to go on the south side, Tom pulled Jennifer to the north side and Daniel joined them in hanging the tar paper there, while Shaun, Mary, Andrea, and I finished the south side.

The propanel is a thin, grooved, and painted sheet of metal roofing cut to the length of our roof.  Tom and his dad prepped it by lining it up nice and tight and drilling holes through the stack.  This made it nice and easy to screw down, and it takes the guesswork out of where to stick your screw.

Pop used the tractor to set the pile in front of the roof and then move it around to the other side when it was time.  Two people slid it off the pile and up to the roof top, where it was dragged into place.  Once we liked where it was at, everyone with a cordless driver whirred through the screws and made short work of each sheet. 

Thomas and Shaun were our muscle men for pulling the sheets up the roof

Walking on the propanel requires good traction.  Thomas turned in his sandals after he slipped around a little.  It made me a lot happier.  Pictures from the ground were inevitably of one thing, but Mary caught some nice working shots.

 Lots of screws going in!

 The weather was beautiful, though the sun on the black tar paper was hot!

even I got in on the action from the scaffolding

When all the pieces were in place, we not so ceremoniously affixed the ridge cap across the top and called it a day!  Shaun, Andrea, and Mackenzie had a drive ahead of them, and Tom and us girls enjoyed some nap time, a couple movies, and some delicious pizza.  It was very satisfying to see the roof up and take it easy.

And lest anyone question our ability to have fun - we did have a great movie night on Saturday.  With sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows, we piled into the Vigil Cinema and watch The Muppets - the newest movie which happens to be Mackenzie's favorite.  We were projected it onto the big white styrofoam wall of the house and enjoyed a lot of laughs.  It was too windy to be outside, but it worked out inside.  Unfortunately my plans for popcorn and all that fell by the wayside, as we'd just finished dinner, and darkness was descending (aside from the full moon that eliminated the need for a flashlight walking outside).

the aftermath in the morning...

How to Install a Roof by Labor Day - Act 1

Act 1:

Aside from the work of having a frame from which to hang your trusses, installing decking, and all that fun stuff, there are just a few simple steps:

Hang your "base layer" - in our case it was drip edge on the bottom, followed by a row of bituthene, followed by rows of tar paper, and then drip edge on the side.  Sounds simple enough, I know.  Thomas and I got in the act early on Saturday with the south side of the roof.  Getting the drip edge along the bottom was mostly easy, though I don't much like to be that close to the edge.  Cutting the bituthene was relatively easy with the sawzall, though I was still vibrating long after Tom turned of the saw.  Applying the bituthene was the beginning of the problem.  Tearing paper and a breeze caused a few ripples, but it was pretty smooth when it was all over.

I won't lie that the first round of tar paper was riddled with expletives and tried patience.  First someone was subliminally bawled out for getting too little, though I distinctly remember pulling out a cell phone to use the calculator and thinking we should grab one more roll.  Next, rolling it across the roof after securing only one corner, the wind made Pop's point more clear about tacking down the paper excessively if you don't want to pick it off the fence.  We overlapped our tears and more aggressively secured the ensuing layers.  When we tacked and stapled till our hearts content, we secured the drip edge over the edges and took a lunch break.  Propanel would be a job for a few more people.

Saturday we nearly hung all the propanel on the south side before quitting time.  Sunday a few of us would finish it while work on the tar paper on the north side began.

Working on the north side of the roof, Tom was lucky to have four hand to help, as Jennifer and Daniel helped roll it out.  (On the other side, Shaun, Mary, and I finished the last of the propanel.)

 With the propanel finished on the south side, you can see the pretty sage green of our roof.

 Securing the bottom edge of the roof was easiest from the scaffolding, and it also came with the perk of being rolled around by Daniel and Pop.  (I felt like quite the monkey hopping up and down over and over again.)

We had many great teams handing up the panels.  Pop and Daniel did a fine job Sunday afternoon.  Ground crews were also running batteries back and forth, picking up dropped screws, and entertaining (or being entertained by) Mackenzie. 

Much fun!  I'll be back after the intermission with the rest of the story and pictures.

Cast of Characters

Whoop whoop!!! Our roof has been raised, and we are so grateful! Now I dare say we need some rain to test it out.

Most stories nowadays end with the cast and only highlight the names of the biggest stars at the beginning (if any at all). Our story is only full of big names, so let me introduce them.

Of course the prequels to the roofing story are loaded with a star-studded cast of our family in Miami, my parents from Portland, and a young “cousin” from Cimarron. This episode has a few recurring characters:

Pop and Daniel were super helpful, along with lending their drivers:

Catching their breath between sheets of propanel to hand up

From our Denver contingency, Mary and Jennifer planned to come, and when Jennifer's sister got wind of it, she, Shaun, and their daughter Mackenzie joined in the caravan.  They were delightful company and hard workers.  Mackenzie was a great distraction from the sun and wind and dirt.

 Shaun, Mackenzie, and Andrea take a break after we finish getting all the propanel hung on the south side.  Note Tom's fine craftsmanship installing a hand rail around the stairs, but don't look too hard at the angles.

 

Is Jennifer mocking Tom's stance or just showing off her bicep?  She, Mary, and Shaun joined Thomas on the roof as our "drivers".  Admittedly, I haven't set foot on the propanel, though I certainly spent lots of time on the roof.

  

Mary, also busy with schoolwork, snapped a few pictures when she wasn't busy on the roof.

For these friends and all our family, we are so grateful!  It feels good to have made our goal of having the roof up by Labor Day, and truly, we finished on Sunday, so it was up by Labor Day!