Andrew is putting the finishing touches on the box beam foundation. Since the ground sloped to the south, we ended up cutting wood stumps for levelling. The far side is about a foot lower than the west side and with the ground freezing and thawing we'll be underneath using the jack to keep it level this winter. The cabin will settle so we'll be keeping a close eye on it for awhile, until things settle. For those that haven't built anything before(including us!), getting the foundation square and level is utmost and the rest of the building goes up evenly. If you don't apparently, there can be some nasty surprises.

I'm applying the 16" wide x 8" thick insulation to the floor. First we stapled chicken wire to the underside that will hold the insulation up. Then I applied the insulation, a layer of plastic and finally was able to nail the plywood floor on. This is about when my arm wanted to fall off and I would have been quite happy to let it. It took until day 3 before I was able to look at my hammer and not want to fling it into the wild blue yonder.

The final touches to the floor. It looks oh so nice and I'm very sad to have to put walls up as I love the view!

Being a spinner, I make my own yarn. I am forever looking for old fashioned ways of doing things so when I had the chance to take Violets fleece processing class I could hardly wait. She took us through the skirting, washing, drying processes that are done then into a little of the grading. So I came away from there wanting a sheep and I think I'm well on my way. Once this cabin is built, the bale house is built…..no, I think next summer is closer.

Bear with me….In the country, we don't have garbage pickup and have to take it to what is now called a "Transfer Station," otherwise known as, the dump. I wasn't happy about that but well, we did. Expecting a stinky mess and bears to beware of, I was sure it would be a gagging/scarey experience. We drove up the long dirt road, turned the corner, and no fencing, yup, there'll be bears. This was the cleanest dump I've ever seen! They don't need fences as they have two HUGE garbage bins that only household garbage goes into. Bears can't read to open the latch so there's not one in sight, now I can relax. Upon opening the latch, my gag reflex did want to kick in but I held my breath and was able to keep my lunch (sorry if I activated your reflex). Ok, back to the picture. So as we drove in, there's a metal pile to the right and eagle eye Andrew spotted this little red pump, sitting off to the right. He brought it home, tinkered with it, and it started! A bit smokey but all it needs is new rings - maybe… We might be able to pump water from the creek to the garden?

Pink stairs? Yes, they are pink, and old. But they were in the woodpile at the, ahem, nice transfer station so they came home with us too. Not being as limber as I used to, these make me look more graceful getting up to the floor.

Most days I walk the dogs down to the creek. I decided to take my camera and on the way down saw these little mushrooms I believe are future puff balls. Poof, FLASHBACK! When I was younger, the boys would bring them to the girls and ask us to look at them then pop them right under our noses. We caught on after the first one and would run away being chased by them and squealling as loud as we could. Neat memory though, maybe that's why I took the picture.

Here's Sissy at the creek. She loves to run through the water. On the rare hot day this summer, I wish I could.

I have books, lots of books, on plant identification. This was a test to see how well the digital camera worked for this sort of thing. It did a great job and can now take pictures and scan the books at home instead of packing them along. Anyone know the name of this little plant? It was right beside the creek. It's about 3 inches tall…

We are the "do it ourself" kind of people so when it came to wall raising, we thought we could do it ourselves. I dreaded and anxiously anticipated this day. That's the first aid box on the left corner, where's that helicopter I ordered to stand by… So, this is the south wall, our first ever wall raising. We strain, put a block in, strain, block etc.

And we get it to here, still smiling. I think the dogs are enjoying the live entertainment.

Strain, block, oh, it's getting rather high, gees it's heavy, what if it falls on us, we are stressed… sense of humor went somewhere, snarl…

Two hour later we made it!! Oh man was that ever exhilarating! Nothing like having a few sticks holding up a thousand pound wall that could squash one like a bug if things don't go well. Disclaimer; don't try this at home, unless you want a Fear Factor experience… (It really was scary)

The wall is up, smiles are back, and we have lived to tell about it. Oh gees, we have one more wall to put up!!! I didn't sleep well that night.

No problem, it wasn't aaas scary. Since we had the previous wall experience this one went up much smoother and only took an hour. The rest will be easy from here so we don't have to worry about the aformentioned disclaimer… I wouldn't say building is hard work but you do have to push yourself once in awhile. Even with my aching arm from the hammering, I'm still enjoying it. Maybe I'm masokistic, mashokistic (?)….. No, I just like to push myself to see what I can accomplish, that's all.