Floor joists installed...

Left work Thursday at noon and loaded all the flooring, rim and floor joists. Stopped by Lowes in Zion Crossroads and picked up some 1/4 plywood to cover the bottom of the floor and keep critters out of insulation. About 2 miles from the property I heard this strange sound and noticed the Land rover was handling funny. Pulled off on a side street and checked the trailer tires....nothing wrong?!?... then I looked at the left rear tire. FLAT... took a while to get it changed because I was having trouble getting the lug nuts off. Interesting to change the wheel with the trailer still attached. It was probably easier because I used the jack on the trailer as well and the hydraulic jack.

Arrived at the property and and finished Cutting the posts to level the beams. The laser level worked well.





Hooked up the camper and headed to Bear Creek Lake state park and set up the camper. It was dark by the time I arrived, so went to bed immediately.


Got up the next morning and headed back to the property. Set the Rim joists and squared them up with the 90 degree angle on the Level. Starting installing the floor joists and a few were a bit out of true. Will need to shim some of them up.



Took a break at around 2pm and went back to the campground to shower. The dew point was very high and I drank huge amounts of Gatorade. Took a hot shower and enjoyed the A/C in the pop up. Returned to the property around 4pm and finished all the floor joist. Had to rethink my plan for covering the bottom of the floor. No way I could get all the plywood under the joists and keep the floor squared. Will have to resort to cutting the plywood and butting it into the beam. Weather was supposed to rain, so I covered the lumber on the trailer. Left around 8 pm and got back to the camp and passed out.

Saturday I had to get a 3/4 inch socket to bolt the beams to the footers. Took about 50 revolutions on each bolt to get it all the way down. Was sweating like crazy and had to rest after each bolt.



Finished installing all the joists and the weather band was forecasting another intense thunderstorm. Took everything off the trailer and put it on the cabin floor and covered it with a tarp.



Left as it was getting ready to storm and arrived back at the camp around 4pm and took a long nap. Storm came and dumped a bit of water but no Hail or 60mph winds. Got up and had a pizza from a local joint and went back to sleep with the sound of rain on the roof. Stopped by Sunday to drop off the trailer and it was so humid I decided to split. Got home around 3pm and have been just laying around recovering.

Next thing I will be doing is finishing the floor and insulation and setting the Corner post and beams. Hopefully this weekend, but it depends on the weather.

Yogaville...

Came down on noon Friday the 13th towing the trailer and the main 20 foot beams for the cabin. It took Cliffe and I about ½ hour to get them out of the garage and onto the trailer. Took me a bit of time to get them off the trailer by myself.

Finished digging all the footer holes to accept the 12 inch tubes and got the bottoms for all of them filled by dark. Way tired and was in bed around 10pm. Got up at sun-up Saturday morning and got all the posts set and at least one 40# bag around the bottom of each post. The posts were cut a bit long and I will use a Laser level to even them all up when they are dry.

It was just too hot and humid to work after 11am, so I jumped in the truck and went shopping for some needed items and then just went for a drive. I had seen that there is a Yoga Shrine about 18 miles from the property in a place called….Duh…Yogaville. I drove up expecting that I couldn’t see the shrine from the road and they wouldn’t allow me to go unless I was on a tour. I just kept driving and finally got the the entrance to the shrine and there were no signs saying I couldn’t proceed, so I did!

After I entered the gate, the road split and I had to take the entrance road which was in the left hand side. I was figuring that maybe this was because most of the world drives on the left. The one lane road wound around with speed limits going down to 5 miles an hour and many sharp turns. I created a hill and WOW… there it was!




I then realized that the split road gave a much more dramatic first view of the shrine when taking the left route. I stopped at an overlook with a meditation bench and took a picture of the first view of the shine that someone encounters.




Drove down and parked in a lot and walked and shot a few pictures.


Symbols for all the different religions in the World






As I was returning the the car, I looked up the hill and noticed the building on top of the hill. Not sure who lives there but it must be the resident Swami. As I left, I tried to find a way to that spot, but I am pretty sure that it is off-limits. One day I would like to take the tour, but I better wait till the Wife is with me…

More info at http://www.yogaville.org/




I returned back to the Property and heard the weather report sating they were expecting a hugh thunderstorm and rain all night. Ran around and closed the trailer up and loaded everything back on the trailer as the storm hit. Grabbed a shot of the work accomplished. The Beams are not in their correct position, but at least they are off the ground. Drove home in the rain and can now spend all day Sunday working around the house! Plan to take the flooring joists down the next time I go down.

Pouring Piers...

The footers passed inspection... so off to do some work. Took Friday off and went and picked up the new trailer. On the way down to the property, I also purchased a 5500 Watt generator at Tractor Supply. Stopped at Lowes and picked up some pressure treated 6x6s and some concrete. Got there about 1pm and set up the trailer and got the genrator going. Started on the first pull.



Started finishing the holes to accept the 12" tubes and kept taking breaks every 20 minutes or so in the Air Conditioned Trailer. The A/C didn't really get the camper that cold because it was in the direct sun, but it removed the humidity and it felt good. Drank massive amounts of Gatoraid, but still ended up getting cramps in the middle of the night.





Footer is 6 inches thick starting at 24" below the grade. Inserted a 24" by 12" diameter quicktube and placed the 6x6 post on the footer. Put two big spikes into the footer pour and set the post after it dried. Filled the tube with cement. The pier extends 6" above grade and the post extends another 6" on the shortest post. Mounted the other posts with about 6" of "spare" above the estimated level line. After I get all the posts in, I will level using a self leveling laser to make sure the posts are all level.



Completed the four corner posts and one more footer before I died from exhaustion. Sleep well that night and woke up after a front came through and was amazed at how clear the night sky looked. Have to have a telescope party some day.