Hailstones...

I heard through some Friends on Facebook that a big storm came through Dillwyn on Monday evening with hailstones the size of Golf Balls. Hope the roof didn’t get too damaged…

Almost finished with the roof...

Got up early Sunday morning and finished to back side roof. Looks pretty good except for the mud…


Finished the front roof with tarpaper and roof strapping. NO MORE TARPS!!!...

Roofing by yourself 201...

Drove down on Friday morning. Stopped by the dollar stores to get some required items to work on the roof. Last week I got some sample stain colors and put them on a pine board to check out the color. I think I am leaning toward the darkest brown stain. Sorted out the pieces required for finishing the roof.


Woke up at 6am, made pancakes and coffee. Started working by 7am.

I attached the panel to the rope using two vise grips.



This shows the method of getting the metal roofing on top of the cabin. The edges are extremely sharp and I didn't want to cut my head off while getting them up. I threw a rope over the cabin and slowly hoisted them up the ladder to the back side of the cabin.



Had to go to the front of the cabin, climb the ladder, hook up my safety harness, and slide the panel off the ladder and into position.



First panel screwed in place and it seems to line up fine.



Used some climbing equipment called ascenders to hold the panel in place while I climbed up onto the roof. This method worked well.



Attached a tow strap to one of the pier posts and them tied the strap to my climbing rope. Wore a climbing harness and hooked into the rope with another ascender. If I fell, this would keep me from falling to the ground and breaking my neck.



On a sad note... When I removed one of the tarps from around the ladder, a wren's nest fell out and two eggs rolled onto the ground. I carefully put the two eggs in the nest and moved it about twenty feet away while the mother wren watched me. She flew over to the nest, but wouldn't go in. About an hour later, I was aboiut to climb the ladder and I saw some egg halves laying in the leaves. Three other eggs had fallen out and the chicks had hatched. I gathered them up and put them in a bowl and got the out of the sun. tried giving them a drop or two of Gatorade (all I had) and they went to sleep. Came back about 20 minutes later and they were ready to eat again. This worked for about an hour, but they died...



Poor little guys... They are now buried on the farm.



This is where I ended up on Saturday evening.

Easter Sunday...

Came down with the wife and kids today. Kristina had not been there since just after the land was cleared. We didn't really do any work other than add some fencing to the front porch to keep the dogs out of the creek.

Too bad it wasn't there when we arrived. They were dirty after we were there 10 minutes...



Kyan, our intact male, was taking a "time out" in the cabin since he wouldn't leave Opal alone. It just killed him to see the other dogs out playing and being with Momma.



Did I mention that my wife is totally addicted to reading Twilight and read most of the day???



Nice little digital thermomometer that also records the minimum and maximum temperatures. Picked it up for less than $7 at Lowe's.

Stopped by the Depot Diner and was sad to find out that they closed at 3pm since they didn't have many patrons. My wife did get to meet Stephanie and Charity who work there and were just leaving. Very nice drive home in light traffic.

Back wall is done...

Drove down on Friday afternoon and discovered that one needs to get past Gainesville before 3pm to avoid traffic backup on I-66. Arrived at the cabin and was surprised that the front door was wide open. Had to check for bears, raccoons, deer, wild turkeys, bats, etc. Must not have shut the door tight when I left. A number of Wasps made it in and I only suffered one sting while working. Did some basic organizing and headed off the Depot Diner.

Got up around 8am and drove down to Farmville to pick up some items from Lowe's. Added the battens and trim work to the rear of the cabin.

Pretty much done...


Finished the drain piping from the sink to the exterior.
Will add more piping to the drain later. Put some screening over the pipe to prevent critters from coming in.



Finished adding the the few small sections of siding and did some work on the window trim. I will probably put up some temporary netting around the porch so the dogs can hang out there rather than running off and getting in the muddy creek.



Did a lot of cleaning on Sunday to make sure there was room for the entire family to spend next weekend in the cabin. Should be interesting...! Most of the lumber is out of the cabin now, so I bought a small table and 2 chairs. Chemical toilet is now operational and I am surprised how much room there actually is inside. Drove home Sunday around 4pm. Hope to get something done next weekend while the wife and dogs are here, but who knows... :-)