3rd week Sept. 20111, roofing and a woodstove

The weekend of Sept. 17 and 18 we shingled the roof of Barbara and Victor's cabin. Tristan came out a few days before and helped Steven get started, then Steven and I did the rest. Barbara made a billion trips up the ladder with shingles so we could stay up there and work.

That's me on the left, Steven on the right. The boards we're standing on have metal straps nailed to them, and those are tucked under shingles and nailed down. When we finished we pulled the nails and removed the boards.

Climbing around on the roof has been hard on Steven's injured ankle. After a long day on the roof, he sits with his foot up and relaxes.

A few days later I was climbing around on our own roof, patching it yet again. This time I smeared roofing tar thickly around the skylights and on some of the screws and seams of the metal roofing. It's hard to get one's footing on the metal roofing. I hate it.

The roof is done and the woodstove pipe is in.

On the floor you can see the pad Barbara made for the woodstove to sit on, using rocks and mortar. In order to NOT have to pull the woodstove out farther into the room, Steven and Victor got creative with the stove pipe. It works fine, draws well, but is going to be interesting when it's time to clean the pipe!

Time to start cutting firewood. Steven got the wood-cutting truck ready and made a gate-type deal above the tailgate so we can stack the wood all the way to the back and not lose any. After I took this picture I painted it, then painted the rest of the boards on the sides.

Victor took the capper off his truck and he and Steven built a frame for above the bed so they can haul firewood.

Steven put the receiver and hitch ball on the truck because we were going to take the wood-hauling trailer, but we decided not to take it on the first load. We wanted to go look first and see where the wood is and how far we have to drive, and make sure we can turn the trailer around. Good thing, since we ended up having drive and drive to find stuff to cut. The woods are pretty well cleaned out anywhere reasonably close to us.

3rd week of Sept. 2011, cutting firewood, etc.

Steven starts a cut on a tree. We're usually about done cutting firewood for the year by now, but we just got started. We're behind, because of helping Barbara and Victor build their house and things related to getting them moved here and settled in.

The tree is down and he's trimming off the branches so he can cut the tree into stove length. We're having to drive farther to find firewood now. We had to go 13 miles into the forest today. So many people here burn firewood, plus with the poor economy I suppose there are people cutting it to sell, too. It's costing us a fortune in gas this year to go out and get firewood. Still cheaper than buying the wood already cut, or heating with propane.

As Steven cut I carried the pieces to our truck and stacked them. Barbara did the same as Victor cut, as you see in the picture above. Sometimes Steven finished a tree and carried pieces to the truck while I stacked them. We took a picnic lunch along, as well as snacks and a jug of tea I made. We left home around 9:30 and got home around 5:30.

Victor has caught on pretty quick to using a chainsaw. He dropped this tree and is now cutting the limbs off of it.

Most of the view was blocked by trees, but on one curve, on the way home, we had a great view out over the valley. That's the lake near our house, and out in the distance across the valley is the little town of Fortine.

The next day Steven started unloading the truck, splitting it and stacking it a wheelbarrow load at a time. It was unseasonably hot all week, in the upper 80s. Makes it hard to do hard work like firewood splitting. The next day was even worse. It hit 92!

The kitten stood (layed?) guard on the hood of the truck while Steven split wood. Hard-working cat!

The cat suggested they both go take a nap. They're cooling off on the living room floor under the ceiling fan.

We cleaned up the uhaul and took down the shelf and towel bar and pan hooks in the back corner and started preparing to put the woodstove in. Here, the cement board is on the floor and Steven is getting ready to put one on the wall. Both walls in that corner will have cement board, to keep it more fire-safe. The little woodstove we're putting in is about the safest one you could have.

With this warm, dry weather I not only did my laundry, but I washed all the towels, blankets and sheets, and throw rugs. This is the last rug. It's the half-circle one that goes in front of the woodstove. It was REALLY dirty and dusty.

Wedding, Tristan and Krystina

I cried when Tristan came out in his suit. He's so handsome, and I just had flashes of his childhood roll through my mind. I can't begin to describe what special and wonderful person he has been all his life. I'm very proud of the man he has become. He's a good, kind, generous, helpful, thoughtful person, and well-known and well-liked throughout the valley. He deserves happiness.

He deserves Krystina. She's a beautiful, sweet, fun, wonderful young woman. I'm so happy she and Tristan found each other. She's so perfect for him. I hope they're always madly in love, and I hope it's always about the adventure for them, and never bogs down about the little things. I truly gained another daughter, and I love Krystina so much!

The wedding party comes forward. Emily was the Maid of honor, Stephen was the best man. Behind them is Tim, who was one of the groomsmen. I don't remember the name of the girl with him. She was one of the bridesmaids and is a friend of Krystina's.

The bride and groom with their parents. Steven was the photographer for the wedding, so I don't have many pictures on my camera. The rest of the pictures, including Steven's, are on our "Family Events" blog.

Tristan and Krystina cut the cake. Somewhere along the line the little figurines of the bride and groom fell to the ground, and the groom's head broke off. Isn't that supposed to mean good luck? I hope so!

A close-up of them and their cake.

Krystina's car got decorated by mysterious elves during the reception! They were leaving in her car instead of Tristan's pick-up truck!

Tristan and others worked to remove some of the 'decorations' so the car would be drivable!

2nd week August 2011, Part 1 and paintball

Two walls up on Barbara and Victor's house!

Third (south) wall framed and being held in place while Steven get a few nails in it.

Fourth (north) wall framed and partly sided.

Amy & Kevin and their kids came up on Aug. 9, and Steven put ball joints or something similar on their pick-up truck. I had a great time with the kids, and visiting with Amy and Kevin. We grilled burgers and ate at the picnic table. When Steven was done with the car he amused the grandsons by building them boats out of scrap wood. This one is Jonathan's.

I set Anna on a stump next to some of my flowers and made silly faces at her so I could take a picture of her with her adorable smile!

David plays the blues on a sax from the toybox! They always enjoy old favorites and a few 'new' (if I've been to yard sales!) toys in my "Grandma's toybox"!

Steven (Grandpa) and tests the boat he made for Andrew. The rest of the pictures from this day are on my Grandma blog. Thanks to digital cameras I take a LOT of pictures at times like this, so I have a special blog just filled with the grandkid pictures. That way they can go through it and look at every one of them. They love to see the pictures of themselves.

Back to house building. First floor is done, and they're starting to put the joists up for the second floor/sleeping loft.

Victor, Barbara, and Steven. We took a day off to go Huckleberry picking.

Stillwater River, near where we pick berries.

"Odie", our dog, enjoyed running around on the hillside while we picked berries. She made the rounds, visiting us all, getting petted for a few minutes, then off again on her rounds!

The red flowers are Indian paintbrush. I don't know what the white flowers are.

Steven, deep in a patch of berries.

Back home, these are some of my raspberries. They did very good this year. The Yellow Jackets didn't move in to 'help' me clean out the crop until the berries were almost done for the year! I was happy about that. Some years they show up about the time the berries are at their peak and I have to fight them for the berries.

While we were in Eureka this lady got out of a pick-up truck with British Columbia license plates, walked right past the sign on the pole that says "No Dogs", and told her doggie to "go poopie". There's even a visual/pictograph of a dog with the red circle and line! I guess the Canadians put everything into their socialized medical program in neglect of education and reading! lol

The way they drive down here they apparently don't have Driver's Ed... or they just don't respect our laws.

"Table for one, please!"

The family that shells peas together ... stays together!

Barbara puts finishing touches on a batch of soap she made. This batch is scented with "wild cherry blossom extract". My favorite is her oatmeal soap! I love all her soaps.

Clockwise from the guy in the blue shirt: Josh, Dennis, Steven, Brent, Tristan, Bryan. We played paintball in honor of Steven's birthday.

Team one heads for the woods. Team two waited 10 minutes and went after them. You can always tell which one is Becky... on the right, long blonde hair!

Left to right: Victor, Steven, Barbara, Becky. The rest of the paintball pictures are on the "Family Fun" blog.

Steven and Bryan. Andrew in front. Not sure who's behind Steven. I don't think this is the picture I meant to upload here.

At the end of the day the grandkids gave us lots of hugs! This is Andrew and Jonathan hugging their Grandpa!

Anna gives one of her famous smiles!