The view from the outhouse
Thursday October 7, 2021

Here comes another one. Two days in a row.

Good morning from Silty Slough. 34 degrees this morning. The rain was forecast to stop and just be cloudy about 3 am. So far that hasn’t happened. I guess the weather doesn’t read the forecast. I was hoping to get my glow plugs and 3 rolls of bituthane on the mail plane today, but it doesn’t look like that will happen.
If it is raining I don’t need the bituthane anyway.
I don’t feel like talking about Joe and the Ho. It doesn’t do any good. Anybody that knows anything has it figured out. The rest of the moron supporters will never get it anyway.
I guess I’ll get with my inside to do list.

Here are a few more entries from the ships log of this big adventure

Sunday September 26
The crew needed a day off today. Kari and I sorted some lumber piles and moved things around to get ready for the winter. I moved some logs down to the mill and mowed a little before I take the bush hog off and switch to the backhoe. Switching it is one of my least favorite tasks that I have to do. It isn’t that hard. Drop the mower then take the 3 point hitch off the tractor. Then it is just backing up close to the backhoe, hooking up the hydraulic hoses, and then using the hydraulics to jockey the hoe into the brackets on the tractor and putting 2 big pins in. No real lifting or heavy work. I just dread it for some reason. I’ll put it off a little longer.

Monday September 27
It is below freezing today. Roger and Cory are having boat problems in the cold with everything freezing up. Kari and I sorted and stacked more lumber. Now it is all covered up with tarps until the next day we work and need a board. In the afternoon we went down to Al’s cabin and hooked up the batteries for the solar system so they will stay charged and not freeze.

Tuesday September 28
Cold again today. The guys are still having problems. They had to wait for the temperature to come up a bit. We got going about 2 pm. We put more 1” lumber up on the west side and started covering the deck.

Wednesday September 29
18 degrees this morning so we got a late start. The east side of the deck is completed along with 3 three foot rows of lumber and bituthane on the whole west side. We don’t want to put any more on until we get the 2 x 10 rafters set on the east side.
I marked out the rafter spacing on the 2 x 12 ridge board and while Cory and Kari attached the brackets, I started checking the crown on the 2 x 10 rafters and cutting the 45 degree angle on the top end while Roger was putting the last strip of bituthane over the ridge. We will determine the length of the rafter and the location of the birds mouth after the ridge board is in place. The metal roofing is cut to length and here already so it is important to get the rafter length correct.

Thursday September 30
12 degrees this morning when the dogs woke me up to take me outside. We started work at noon after it warmed above freezing. Roger and Cory hoisted the ridge board up and fastened it in place. I started cutting rafters and at quitting time we had 8 rafters up. Kari spent the afternoon moving leftover beams with the Kubota and getting them tarped for winter.

Friday October 1
It is snowing today but it is warmer. Roger and Cory are going to the post office. My CPAP has a recall so I have been using a spare travel machine I have. My sleep doctor says it is better than nothing. I received an email that it could be a year before my recalled machine would be replaced so I ordered a new one from cpap.com to be shipped FedEx to Skwentna post office. Tracking says there are 2 boxes and the one with the machine is here. Roger and Cory can’t get to the po fast enough. They say without my machine I’m a grump. Well I don’t think so. Anyway I had a letter to go in the mail so I met them down on the island. They were leaving the dogs with me. So the 5 dogs and I are watching the boat depart. A few wanted to follow and I managed to call them back except for Rogers dog Mister. He was headed down the sandbar following the boat. I jumped on the 4 wheeler to chase him but he was already out of sight. I went about a half mile to the end of the sandbar and no Mister. I headed back to the cabin with the other dogs. Roger and Cory came back and they hadn’t seen him along the river. My Cpap box was only the supplies no machine. I guess I’ll be a grump until Monday when the mail plane comes again. Roger called the post office and Mister was there on the porch so he went back to pick him up. His paws are injured from the trip so he won’t be at work for a few days. Cory and I started the house wrap on the first story while Roger was gone. When Roger got back we put the windows in the lower level. It is raining and snowing now so we went inside. Cory stuffed insulation around the beams that are sticking through the ceiling because Kari is complaining about the cold air coming in. I guess we are weathered out. Might as well have a margarita.

Saturday October 2
It was windy overnight and today. There are so many leaves in the river that Roger and Cory only made it about 100 yards before the jet plugged on the boat motor. The wind is still blowing and the leaves are almost all gone off the trees. No work today. Kari and I stacked the last of the lumber and recovered the piles the tarps had blown off. I clean up the scrap pile at the mill and did the last of the mowing until spring. I think we better get in the cabin before one of these dead spruce trees tries to blow over and kill us.

Sunday October 3
There are still too many leaves in the river for the jet boat to work. It is a beautiful day. The high was 47. Kari and I changed oil in all 3 generators. Fixed a leaking tire on the Kubota and did the dreaded backhoe change over. I used the backhoe to dig out and repair a drain pipe that I ran into and broke earlier this year. No big deal but it is the garage floor drain aka our shower drain. Kari wouldn’t be happy if it stopped working this winter. Now on to my second least favorite thing to do, fill the diesel generator tank. I have to stand up on a ladder to reach it until the snow piles up. It always overflows because there are no clues when it is about full. The diesel gets on my hands runs down my forearms and up my arms to my armpits. Next year I’m going to change to a 100 or 300 gallon tank so I only have to do it once. I failed to mention dealing with the pump and fuel hose that always manages to try to drown me with diesel fuel.

Monday October 4
25 degrees this morning. The guys get here pretty early and are hot to get the rest of the rafters on the east side. Kari and I are cutting and Roger and Cory are hoisting them up with a rope. Roger is working on top climbing on a ladder up to the ridge from the inside. Cory is on a ladder on the outside nailing the rafters at the bottom edge of the roof. It goes pretty fast and we are able to switch back to putting 1” lumber on the west side. We went on up as far as we can go leaving a 3 foot strip open to the ridge. Next step is to get some purlins on the rafters on the east side to climb on to finish the 1” lumber, bituthane, and start setting rafters on the west side.

Tuesday October 5
Light snow today so no roof work. Roger and Cory brought 55 gallons of diesel fuel. My CPAP is here so Kari voted for them to make a run to the post office. While they were gone she brewed a big pot of coffee so the three of them could have Baileys and coffee. I don’t drink nor have ever tasted coffee, so I had Baileys and Baileys. Have you ever looked at Baileys in a glass? It is cloudy. When you drink it, it goes directly to your eyes and brain. It clouds your vision and thinking pretty quick. I may remember the guys leaving. No Kari I don’t want any moose barley soup and fresh homemade bread. I’ll have some for breakfast.
A lot of you may think that these building delays are alcohol induced but I don’t think so. We mostly drink when we are weathered out or on good weather days to celebrate getting a lot accomplished. We also drink at the end of the week, but since we work so many days in a row we don’t know when that is so we just pick a day.
It’s five o’clock somewhere.
I did manage to get a set of glow plugs ordered for the diesel generator. They should be on the mail plane Thursday.

Wednesday October 6
Rain today. I didn’t even get dressed. I could be out in my rain gear getting my new shoes muddy and accomplishing nothing. I think I’ll just wear the best rain gear made….a warm dry cabin.

That pretty well gets things caught up to present day.

Stay safe and healthy my friends!!

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse
Wednesday October 6
Hello friends from Silty Slough, Alaska. Population 2 people, 2 cats, and 2 dogs. 34 degrees at 8:29 when the sun rose. It has been raining all night and should continue until after midnight. The river is low, low. The generator has been slow to start so I ordered new glow plugs for it. They should be on the mail plane tomorrow. I underestimated our gas and diesel needs for the summer construction. We are out of gas but our neighbor has a couple hundred gallons that we can borrow until we can haul more after Christmas. We have enough diesel if everything works. Roger and Cory brought 55 gallons up yesterday and plan to bring 55 more. If something goes wrong with the batteries or the inverter/charger we will have to run the generator more so I wanted to have a little extra. If the diesel system goes bad, we have 2 gas generators for backup. With the rain it is a lazy day for us and the dogs and cats.

I’ll get started on the day by day report.

Wednesday September 8
We are going to town this morning to get some supplies and to pick up our guests from Michigan, Dan and Rob. Roger, Myra, and Cory are headed in today also so we will have 3 boats heading down the river. The water was low but we had a good run. Kari kept the water under the boat and in a couple hours we were at the landing. First order of business is to head home, drop the boat and pickup and get Karis car to go back to A&W/KFC so we can get through the drive through. I am suffering from chicken sandwich and root beer float withdrawals. Now it is time to start the shopping trek.

Thursday September 9
Started the day with a run to the landfill, the lady there scolded me for not having my load tarped. The trash was in the back of the pickup in black contractor bags that had ridden perfectly 60 miles on the river and 40 miles on the highway in the bow of the boat without blowing out. I just don’t know how they made it the last 3 miles to the landfill in the back of my pickup. Anyway I begged for mercy and promised I would tarp my next load. On to the Sunrise Cafe in Palmer for breakfast then to Eagle River for dentist appointments. I had mine first and went to AIH for more tools and lagbolts while Kari had her appointment. I have a carefully planned the route in Anchorage so that we make all right hand turns when pulling out into traffic. First is Arctic Cat in Mountain View to get some special oil for the Bearcat transmission for only $25 a quart. Glad I just need one to change it. Then to the the bakery thrift store to get bread. It used to be Hostess and Wonderbread but they went bankrupt and moved to Washington DC to go into politics. We now have a Ding-Dong and a Ho-Ho in the White House. On to Kubota for parts and oil, then to Duluth Trading to get some shoes. This is my first new pair since before I retired 4+ years ago. The duck tape was wearing off my old pair and the soles were so thin I could step on a dime and tell you the date. Anyway I got to the checkout and I thought the pair I picked was on sale for $69 or $79. They rang up as $39 so I went back and picked out a second pair. Now a right turnout from here and head for Costco. We didn’t need too much so I think we got out of there for less than $500. It would have been a lot less but this construction project is going through a lot of Margaritas. Now it is off to pick up Thor. It is his birthday today so we are going to Red Robin for dinner. The wait is too long so we punch out and head for Texas Roadhouse where we had a great meal with Ken, Ben, and Jenny joining the party.

Friday September 10
Roger and Myra are heading home today.
Cory came by later and needed to work on his boat trailer. We needed the boat off so we headed over to Finger Lake and put it in the water. We made the repairs to the trailer in the parking lot and loaded the boat back up. Dan and Rob arrived about 7 so we picked them up and headed to the Palmer City Ale House.

Saturday September 11
First thing in the morning Dan, Rob, and I went to Palmer to fuel the boat and have breakfast at the Sunrise. Back home, loaded the boat and we were headed for the bush with a couple intermediate stops. On to the landing and up the river to Silty Slough.

Sunday September 12
Cory is still in town and Dan has something to do at his place so it is Roger and I. We planed some 6 x 6s to put some more corner bracing on the front deck post

Monday September 13
Roger, Dan and I made a platform to work from and set up our 2 temporary posts to hold the final ridge beam to go into place

Tuesday September 14
Rain No work

Wednesday September 15
Rain No work

Thursday September 16
Rain No work

Friday September 17
We have a full crew today. We completed the truss for the front wall of the cabin. Only two more trusses to build in place. We used the gin pole to lift the 6 x 12 for the ridge into place on top of the temporary posts. These posts will be replaced when we build the trusses.

Saturday September 18
Today we built the final two trusses and set 5 of the 6 x 6 rafters. Only 7 more of these rafters to go.

Sunday September 19
Dan and Rob fly home tomorrow morning so we are headed back to town in the boat. Cory is taking his boat in to be repaired so we met up on the sandbar out in front of Fish Lakes Creek. It is pretty cold. Cory is in the lead with us not far behind. The river is even lower than last trip but we made it in without any problems. Dan and Rob helped me put the Wine Down to bed in the hangar for the winter.
Roger and Dan stayed behind to work and got up more 6 x 6 rafters today.

Monday September 20
3:30 wake up so Dan and Rob can make their 6:20 flight. Nothing is open yet so Kari and I head back home after dropping them off. We were really sad to see them go.
Roger and Dan put more sheeting up on the back wall.

Tuesday September 21
Kari has a doctors appointment today just to renew a couple prescriptions otherwise we would go to the cabin today. I made another dump run this time with a cargo net over my load. No problem.
Roger and Dan finished up some loose ends and got the 1” lumber sorted and ready to go on the rafters smooth side down for the finished ceiling.

Wednesday September 22
Roger came in to pick Cory, Kari, and I up and take us to Silty Slough. We have a lot of supplies to haul along with our 2 dogs. It was a good ride in the afternoon. I didn’t get too cold.

Thursday September 23
It is windy and cold today. We started putting the 1” lumber on the rafters 3 feet or so at a time then covering it with bituthane. Then another 3 foot row of
wood then cover. 3 rows done today in the wind.

Friday September 24
It is cold and windy again today and we were seeing a few snowflakes. And I don’t mean like the ones you see running around in town. We finished the wood and bituthane on to the peak on the east side and got two rows on the back side.

Saturday September 25
We put up another 3 foot row of wood and bolted 6 x 6s to 10 x 10 deck beams where there is no wall for the 2x 10 rafters to set on. I know all this trusses, 6×6 rafters, 2x 10 rafters, 1” ceiling is as clear as mud. Basically we built a frame out of heavy beams and then framed a house around it. The roof/ceiling will be foam insulated from the outside in the spring. Then the purlins and metal roof will go on at that time. The rest of the roof over the existing cabin will be tied together in the spring also. I hope you can get a better idea from the pictures. Any questions forward them to Mayor Cooper, he is the project engineer.

That’s enough for now. I’ll post again the next rainy or snowy day.

Stay safe and healthy my friends!!

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse
Tuesday September 7, 2021

It is 7:25 pm here. A lot of my FB friends are fast asleep. I had most of this post typed on my phone and saved in FB with pictures ready to proofread and post. Some how a zero turned into a one in my phone and the post was gone. So this is the second version of the story. Like Jen Psaki I’ll circle back around to the real story. I’m happy that today is the first time in months that I’m caught up with the progress on the Spruce Manor addition. I will be happy when it is finished so that I can get back to telling you the temperature, what time the sun rose and set, and if the river is high or low. Here it is.
Monday August 23
It was raining today so Cory cut and planed the one inch lumber that we had left. Roger and I did some equipment maintenance sheltered from the rain under the deck. We spent a long time changing a seal in the front end of the Kubota only to find it was the wrong part and wouldn’t go back together. We used the old seal and got it reassembled. We use the Kubota every day to do something, either at the mill or at the site.

Tuesday August 24
The weather is better today so we planed, cut and set the 3 rafters on the east side of the structure. Then we added the vertical posts and gusset plated everything

Wednesday August 25
We need more logs milled, so Cory and I dragged logs to the mill and hauled finished lumber to the cabin. Kari and Roger ran the mill. I drag the logs with the forks off the bucket. Then we put them on to lift the beams off the mill and put another log onto the mill. While the forks are on I take a load of slabs to the scrap pile. Then I take a load of finished lumber to the cabin on the forks. I don’t know how many times the forks went on and came off for the day but a lot. Next life I’m going to get the quick connect kit for the loader so I can just drop the bucket and pick up the forks.

Thursday August 26
More dragging and milling today. We broke off in the afternoon and started setting 6 x 6 rafters in between the trusses. After work I mowed down by Al’s and Steve’s cabin. I destroyed the Bush Hog loosing a blade. It is going to need some welding. I have a spare blade left but the special bolt and nut is gone.
That’s ok I’ll just paddle my canoe down to the Tractor Supply Store and get a replacement. Not.

Friday August 27
Rain today. Roger did more maintenance on the rolling stock, fixing a flat tire on Kari’s four wheeler. Roger took a metal detector and found the missing blade, bolt, and nut for the Bush Hog Then he took the broken part and went home to weld it. I don’t know what is more amazing finding the parts or that the batteries in the metal detector were still good after setting for 4+ years.
Cory, Kari and I removed the knotty pine from the inside of the cabin where the addition is tying in. Kari headed down to Myra’s to pic berries in the afternoon. Roger came back and said Kari and Myra were soon to follow with snacks. Break out the refreshments, it’s Fridee night in the big city.

Saturday August 28
The weather is good today. We started building the next two trusses by building the west half first then setting the ridge beam on temporary center posts.

Sunday August 29
Missing from my memory

Monday August 30
Missing from my memory. I have no photos with those dates, so I guess it didn’t happen.

Tuesday August 31
We have a new member of our crew joining us today. Dan a neighbor that lives over by Roger and Cory. Today we got a lot done. Dan and I planed and cut the material. Roger and Cory put it in place and fastened it. We set the east side rafters on two trusses and swapped out the temporary center posts for the planed permanent ones. We also added 3-6 x 6 rafters. Doesn’t sound like a lot but we have to build scaffolding and platforms to work from. The timbers are heavy and each truss has about 140 lag bolts holding the gusset plates.
Really good day today.

Wednesday September 1
Dan came back today. I guess we weren’t too tough on him. He brought his 14” diameter beam saw. It will cut a 6” timber in one pass. Cory, Dan, and I added 5 more 6 x 6 rafters. Roger welded the brackets that I had made in Sterling to the tops of the last 4 pilings that hold the posts for the deck. We got the first 10 x 10 set on the outside corner. It is 18 feet long. It takes a while to get everything set to go up. With the help of the Kubota and a chain hoist it was standing tall and temporarily braced at quitting time.

Thursday September 2
It is raining today so the guys stayed home. I took Kari across the slough to the river side of the island so she could take the boat down to Myra’s. They are making onion soup and canning it today. The end of the ramp is really steep going down to the water so I worked on it with the Kubota. I was very careful because I had the backhoe off and the Bush Hog on the back. If I get stuck now I can’t use the hoe to pull me out. I guess I could just call Kamala. While I was working on the ramp Teddy found some dead fish to roll in. He won’t swim in the slough like Cooper so he really smells bad. Kari came home and gave him his first bath since we have had him. He smells a little better now.

Friday September 3
There were rain showers this morning so the crew delayed until 9am. It turned out to be a nice day with sunshine in the afternoon. We planed and set the last 3 posts that support the deck and the roof over it. I’m happy to have that task finished. After lunch we started putting the short 10 x 10 beams that supports the deck floor between the posts. We got 3 planed, in place, and secured. The fourth beam had some rot on it and we decided not to use it. No 10 x 10s left except for a couple 23 foot long ones that are reserved for the beams on top of the post. A quick trip to the mill, we have a short log left that we can get one out of. It is quitting time so we plan to mill it tomorrow. When we got back to the cabin Dan had located one upstairs that we had used for ballast on the scaffold crane. We will get it planed and in place tomorrow.

Saturday September 4
Cory and Dan are working at the community potato patch getting it ready to dig potatoes on the 11 th.
Roger and I planed and set the last short 10 x 10 beam between the posts. Then we selected the best 2 x 10s we had and started placing the floor joists for the deck. We need about 16 and are short a few. They are on 12” centers because of the long span.

Sunday September 5
It is very foggy today so Dan, Cory, and Roger delayed a bit before making the trek up the river. There is plenty of water so they can park in the slough again today. Cory and Dan started sheeting the front wall. Roger, Kari, and I went to the log pile to find something we can mill into about 7 more 2 x 10s 20 feet long. Luckily we had a couple 6 x 10s that weren’t suitable for trusses so we milled a couple of them into 2 x 10s.
We hauled everything the quarter mile back to the cabin with the forks on the Kubota loader. The trail isn’t very wide but if I zig and zag just right, I can wiggle 20 plus foot lumber through the trees. A birch tree had fallen across the trail during the night so I had to drop the first load and push it out of the way. Never a dull moment in the bush.
We set the rest of the floor joists and added a couple more beams to stiffen things up and we’re ready for the 3/4” plywood subfloor. We have about an hour and a half before quitting time. Roger was cutting, Dan was applying the glue to the joist, and Cory and I were placing the sheets and nailing them down. It was working fine, we had about 4 sheets down when the rain started. Not too bad, we want to get this finished. It gradually rained harder and we were pretty wet when we finished a little after 5. The guys have a cold boat ride home in the rain, they sure went above and beyond the call today.

Monday September 6
It was 37 degrees when we started work at 8 o’clock this morning. It is clear and we can see the mountain. We are all glad it isn’t raining. We added some gusset plates. Cory and I marked the tops of the 4 deck posts with a laser level and he cut them off. We planed the two 10 x 10 beams that rest on top of the posts. Roger and Dan rigged up the gin pole to hoist the first one in place. Not too hard, the more we set the easier it gets. We got it in place and joined to the other beam with another gusset plate. Then we hoisted the second beam. The posts that the beams set on have to be plumbed and lined up before the beam is fastened. It takes all kinds of tricks with ratchet straps and bottle jacks to get everything right on and bolted down. The 3 bottom chords for the trusses are planed and waiting to be cut in the morning. The deck looks good and the view is awesome.

Tuesday September 7
Today we set the 3 bottom chords for the end wall and the trusses over the deck. We spent the afternoon getting the ridge beam resting up on the bottom chords so that it can be hoisted into place when we get the east half of the trusses built.

That catches the daily blow by blow up. I hope the weather holds until we can get the roof on.

From the Silty Slough stay safe and healthy friends.

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

September tooth 2021
The view from the outhouse

Rain today so I have a free moment.
Kari is a Myra’s canning so I’m the boss for a while.
The adventure continues.

Sunday August 8
We went back to Wolf Lake this afternoon for more supplies.
Monday August 9
Kari and I headed down to the Kenai today to pick up the last of the quarter inch steel gusset plates and brackets that D & D Equipment Repair cut out on their plasma table.
Tuesday August 10
Don Johnson called from D & D to let me know that he had some supplies going up on a barge on Monday. I got in touch with Jody Payton and he will drop off our steel plates, propane, kitty litter, dog food, and beer on the same trip.
Wednesday August 11
Landon, Keith, and I hauled everything to Deshka Landing where it will go on the barge Monday morning and arrive Monday afternoon. Landon and Keith are flying back home to Ohio tonight.
Thursday August 12
We are headed for Silty Slough with more supplies. Myra planned to fly out but the fog rolled in. Roger came in to pick her up because we had too much weight for one boat. At the landing we split up the load and added a bathtub and another entry door to the barge load. I rode with Roger and Myra and Kari came up the river in the Wine Down.
Nice trip except the Wine Down started running a little rough at the end. Hope it is just a fuel filter.
Friday August 13
Today’s task is to unbolt the two 10 x 10 beams that we placed earlier and slide them south about a foot to attach to the other two beams that penetrate the roof of the existing cabin. The engineer should have paid more attention to the placement earlier. We selected 6 x 10s for the bottom chord of the trusses. Now back to the beloved planer to smooth them up. Roger and I reconfigured our scaffold crane and lifted 6 up. The room takes 7 and two more for the deck but we only have room for 6 right now until we tie the deck beams in.
Saturday August 14
We planed the 6 x 12 ridge beam and hoisted it up on top of the walls to be placed later. It is almost 24 feet long so it needs to be above the bottom chord of the trusses while we are getting them in place and secured.
Sunday August 15
We are building trusses. We skip the first one because the cabin roof has to be removed. There are five of one design and 4 of another to accommodate a sewing loft for you know who. We decide to build 3 of those to start. First step is to take down our scaffold crane and slide the beams for the bottom chords into place. They set about 8 feet apart on top of each post. Thus the name post and beam.
We put one against the roof to store until we are ready to build the final truss when we remove the roof. Then we set and bolted the other 5 in place. That’s only 6. The one on the north wall facing the river has to wait until we get the deck built. Clear as mud….I thought so.

Monday August 16
Today we framed the floor for the loft between 3 of the lower truss chords. One section has an opening for a stairway that bends 90 degrees at a landing. That took a little while but Roger and I gotter dun. Then started covering the joists with one inch boards that we planed earlier smooth side down because it is part of the second floor ceiling.

The barge is due here between 2 and 3. The water is too low in Silty Slough for the barge to get in so Roger and I took his boat about a mile downriver where they were unloading at Don Johnson’s. We just tied up along side and started loading the plates in Rogers boat. They are heavy and it will take two trips to get the 3000 pounds of stuff moved to Silty Slough. There we will handle it once more loading it on a wagon to go the last quarter mile to the cabin. Now unload it at the site. We should only have to handle it a couple more times before it is in its final resting place.

Tuesday August 17
We finished the 1” flooring for the loft. The engineer carefully measured the length of the bottom truss chord and carefully calculating the length of the rafters, and the length of the temporary center posts. He took into consideration the exact size of the ridge beam and also deducted the 13/16” for the flooring that the post would set on. Keep this in mind.

Then we cut 3 temporary posts to set on our newly built loft and placed 2 of them to hold the 6 x 12 ridge beam up. We cross braced them with 2 x 6s.

Wednesday August 18

Today we finished the temporary center posts and bracing for the 3 trusses. Then we planed and set 2 of the the 3 rafters on the west half of the roof. We are only going to build half the truss so we can hoist the ridge beam into place.

Thursday August 19
Today we planed and set the 3rd rafter in place. They are connected to the temporary center post with gusset plates the engineer designed. We also installed most of the gusset plates on the bottom chords so that we can fasten the rest of the truss members to them later. I was going to check the distance from the temporary center post to the east end of the bottom chord just to confirm my calculations but nobody gave me a round tuit. Keep this in mind

Cory’s parents are flying to Anchorage today. Kari and Cory are going to fly to Willow to pick up the boat he is buying. They are due back on Sunday with some plywood, Liquid Nails, and bituthane for the build.
Friday August 20
Kari is in Anchorage rounding up supplies.
Roger and I spent some time selecting the best 6×6 we had for a gin pole to lift the 6 x 12 ridge beam that is 24 feet long. We mounted a heavy angle bracket near the top with three 1/2 x 5 lag bolts. Then we attached a chain hoist to the angle bracket with a clevis. With the post standing about 3 feet above the ridge we secured it to the middle truss with angle brackets and gusset plates. One minor problem. The gusset plates holding the rafters to the center post extend out about 2 feet and the ridge beam has to be lifted over them. Roger fastened a 2 x 4 to each plate for the beam to ride out over them. Time to lift. It is going up fine about 8 feet is over the cabin. If we drop it I hope the 6 x 10s don’t break. The higher we go up the harder it pulls because we are holding it out from the gin pole to clear the gusset plates. It is about ready to clear and we are lifting at about a 45 degree angle. I’m really worried about the stress on the angle bracket and the lag bolts, not to mention the cheap little Chinese bolt holding the hook on the cheap Chinese chain hoist. At the point of maximum stress I don’t think you could have driven a thumbtack into my bung hole with a sledge hammer. Another half inch and the beam swung into place right on top of the 3 temporary posts and fit right up with the rafters. We just need to slide it a foot or so south to hang over the peak of the cabin roof.
Roger put some 10 and 14 inch lag bolts to hold the rafter to the beam. The temporary center post will come out when we finish the truss.
Time to start cutting rafters for the east side to complete the trusses. We will get a measurement, should be the same length as the other side. No they need to be over 3” shorter. Can’t be the math doesn’t lie. What could be wrong. I checked my calculations written on a scrap piece of lumber. Here it is. The top of the bottom chord should be 220 inches adjusted for the actual height of the 6 x 10. I have 224 and a half inches written down.
Ok. When we measured the bottom chord it is difficult to get the tape measure straight. It is common not to hold right on the end so Roger says holding on 2 meaning he is holding the tape on the 2 inch mark. I measure 222 1/2 and should have subtracted 2” instead I added 2”. The ridge beam is shifted 2” to the east. The first thing we say is “We can’t let Cory find out”. How are we going to fix it? We can just make the rafters on that side shorter and the angles a little different. Probably what most low bidders or the Biden administration would do. Or we can cut 2” off the rafters and the post and make it correct. Let’s take tomorrow off and think about it.
Saturday August 21
I may be one day out of sync. I know Roger and I didn’t take the day off, but let’s just say we did.
Rain is forecast tomorrow so Kari and Cory made their way up the river today in the sun.
Sunday August 22
Cory is back to work today No rain, glad the forecast was wrong. We had to come clean on my mistake. Something else the Biden administration never does. Even Cooper knows Joe has no balls, check the last photo.
Cooper likes to catch his red ball and frisbee. We decided first thing to take the ridge beam loose, trim two inches off the rafters, then trim two inches off the temporary post and fasten everything back together. We did all this with everything standing in the air. About 6 hours to correct the engineers mistake. Now I’ll be able to sleep at night.

Stay safe and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for protecting us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse
Monday August 30, 2021
Greetings from Silty Slough, Alaska US of A
6am and 43 degrees as I make my morning pilgrimage to the outhouse. Yes I was in my underwear and slippers. The river has fallen more overnight so I will need to cross the slough in the buggy to pick up Roger and Cory. They will park their boat on the river side of the island. Kari moved our boat over there yesterday. I usually ask how their morning commute went.
Let’s pick up the saga on….
Sunday July 18
Cory and I checked the outside wall framing making sure it is square and plumb and started the plywood sheeting or sheathing depending on who you talk to. We decided to glue and nail it to add some shear strength to the frame in case of another big quack. That’s my term for earthquake.
Monday July 19
Continued sheeting. Looks pretty good.
Tuesday July 20
We are headed to town today to take Thorian back home. He has had a great time this summer and we enjoyed having him with us.
Wednesday July 21
We have been running around like crazy shopping for supplies. Time for a good meal and a drink at the Palmer City Ale House. I can’t remember much happening in town after that.
Thursday July 22
Kari and I headed back up river to the cabin with needed supplies.
Friday July 23
Cory, Kari, and I finished sheeting the first floor walls. We had run out of Liquid Nails but picked up a couple cases in town. Prices are high and stores are out of a lot of basic items. Thanks Joe you moron.
Saturday July 24
We started setting the second floor joists. We are out of 2 x 10 so we will spend the next few days cutting more dead spruce trees, dragging them to the mill, and milling them into lumber. Roger and his grandsons completed their project and are here now running the mill.
Friday July 30
We have enough floor joists to finish the second floor.
Saturday July 31
Cory and I started the 1 1/8” plywood decking for the second floor today. Got about 2/3 finished.
Sunday August 1
The crew has the day off so I finished the decking. It took me a while but I’m old.
Monday August 2
We shot the grade on the post and cut them off. 10 x 10 beams will set on top of the posts after we frame the outside walls.
Tuesday August 3
Today we built the second floor exterior walls. They had to be stood up and wiggled in between the posts to set on the outside.
Wednesday August 4
Today we built the important end wall that faces the mountains. It has 7 windows and a door to go out onto the deck. Everything has to be perfectly spaced so the woman will sign off on it. I hadn’t planned to put windows in the truss above. It was reserved for dead animal mounts. After I look at it we may want windows.
Thursday August 5
It is back to planing beams today. The ones that set on top of the posts. We had to build a scaffold crane to lift them up. Two beams set today.
Friday August 6
Today we have 2 24 foot long beams to plane and get up on top of the beams we set yesterday. Tomorrow we are going to take the big plunge and cut a hole in the cabin roof and slide them in.
Saturday August 7
We marked out two 2 foot square holes on the roof metal and Cory cut it out. Then he and Roger cut on through the ceiling. I sure hope the engineer is right on this one. We are no longer just participants we are fully committed. We slid the first beam into the hole and across the cabin ceiling. It wasn’t easy but we didn’t break anything. The engineer aka yours truly, didn’t account for the 45 degree cut on the end of the beam so we were about a foot short of connecting with the beams that we set and fastened down yesterday. I couldn’t find any 12” caulk so we will unbolt them and slide them together later.
The beams in the cabin look really good. Like they have always been there, not just some remodel hack. Cory and Roger covered the holes and beams with visqueen and duct tape. We will check it out tonight if the forecast for rain is correct. The one hole is right over where Kari sleeps.

That’s enough for today. The crew is on the way. I need to check the river to see which side of the island they will park on and arrange for their buggy ride. Wish I could just call Uber.

Sorry I have been to busy to talk about the spineless worm that cheated his way into the White House. Haven heard from any of his supporters. I guess they to are laying low with Joe.

Stay safe and healthy and if anyone knows a good carpenter send them up.

Thank you Lord for your many blessings.

I’ll be in touch

Blue skies!!!

Thursday August 26, 2021
The view from the outhouse

I woke up about 3:30, just laying in bed making lists of all the things that need to happen to keep the addition to the asylum going. The Shell Hill cell tower is down so there is no phone or internet. It has to be refueled with a helicopter. Seems it runs out near the end of every month. It is 49 degrees and cloudy. Should warm up to about 60 this afternoon. Last week the low temp was 37, a bit cool for August. The river is pretty low right now. I expect it to come up when we remove part of the cabin roof to tie the addition in and the downpour begins. At least the mosquitoes are gone now. Rain is forecast this afternoon so I have a rain plan and a no rain plan when the crew gets here. I’ll pick up on the daily blow by blow to get caught up.
Let me back up a bit. Early June Rogers grandsons Keith and Landon arrived from Ohio to help for the summer. We made a trip to Sterling where our cabin neighbor has a steel fabricating shop. I drew all of the steel plates and brackets in AutoCAD and he cut them out on his plasma table. They were ready to be picked up. We swung by Seward on the way home, well not exactly on the way home but what is another 80 or 100 miles when you are on a road trip. We had something to eat and drove past the Sea Life Center along the bay. There were a lot more cars parked than I have seen before. Everyone was watching orcas doing what orcas do about 100 yards from the shore. No extra charge for the tour boys.
Sometime in here Cory Olson made it up the Alcan with 900 pounds of lag bolts to hold the metal plates and wood together. That’s a lot of screwing even for Kamala.
Wednesday June 23
Today we have a full crew, Roger, Cory, Keith, Landon, Kari, and yours truly. We framed more of the foundation walls and started getting them in place.
Thursday June 24
We finished the foundation walls and got the two beams in for the porch.
Friday June 25
We got the first outside wall up.
Saturday June 26
All 4 walls are up for the first floor
Wednesday June 30
Roger and I started to town for doctors appointments,but only made it as far as Bikini Beach when his boat overheated. We barely got cell service and contacted Kari to come and get us. We towed his boat back to his place where he changed the thermostat. The good news is my new planer arrived in the mail today. It made it to Northwoods Lodge and we picked it up on the dock there.
Thursday July 1
Kari and I set up Steve’s portable shelter to have a dry place to plane all the 1” lumber for the interior of the asylum.
Friday July Tooth
Cory, Kari, and I started cutting the boards to length and planing one side smooth. Then they were stacked and stickered to dry a little more. Roger and his grandsons have a cabin to stain so they won’t be available for a couple weeks.
Saturday July 3
Keep running the planers. There are stacks of boards left to plane.
Sunday July 4
The crew has the day off. Kari and kept working cleaning up around the sawmill and the planing shed. I can’t believe how much dust and chips we make.
Monday July 5
We are back to planing 1” lumber. 2 sometimes 3 machines going. It will take a lot to finish off the inside or the cabin.

Fast forward to
Wednesday July 14
Cory thinks that he, Kari, and I can set the post. I think he is just tired of the noise of the planers. Ok we will give it a try. Most of the posts are 6 x 10s 18 feet long. The corner post are 10 x 10. Might as well start with the big one just to see how tough we are. Cory cut a notch out of the overhang of the existing cabin for the post to fit in. First thing the post needs to be planed. I bought a real mans tool for the job. A Makita 312 twelve and a half inch power planer. It is the heaviest most expensive hand tool that I have ever owned. Let’s try it out to see how it works, it must weigh 60 pounds. We ran it down the post with the chips flying out the discharge chute. The finish is really smooth. Some sides of the post are extra rough and need multiple passes. We only need to plane 2 sides of this post since it is in the corner. The post was already on the Kubota forks so we wiggled as much of it as we could through the front door. I guess there was a reason the project manager didn’t want to build the interior walls yet. This chunk of wood is pretty heavy so we rigged up a way to get it most of the way up with a chain hoist mounted to the existing cabin rafters. It wasn’t too long and we had the first post secured in place. Film at 11. That wasn’t so bad let’s try the other corner. Repeat the above operation.
I think we put up one more 6 x 10 post for the day it is 40 percent smaller so we just lifted it up. I call it the arm strong method. We decided another young strong person would be helpful so Cory lined up a neighbor Liam Brion to help for a few days while Roger and his grandsons were still busy.
Thursday July 15
The work continues. Select a good straight post from the logs that we milled. Square the bottom end. Plane 3 sides now. Move it into place. Stand it up. Secure the post. 10 x 10 beams about 7 1/2 feet long go between the posts to support the second floor. They are almost harder to put up than the post. They are fastened to the post with a 1/4” gusset plate on each side. Each plate takes 14 half inch lag bolts. Probably more than needed but I don’t want it to fall down.
Friday July 16
Same thing today, post, beam, gusset. Repeat.
Saturday July 17
The posts and beams are all up and bolted in place. The bottoms of the post go through the floor and set on a 10 x 10 beam. Each post has a piling directly under the beam thanks to the magic of AutoCAD and Tom Lord. The posts are fastened to the beam with 2 gussets and 2 angle brackets. 32 bolts total for the bottom of each post. Luckily we have a couple battery powered impact wrenches to do the job.
Sunday July 18
Today we replaced the box header and cut the subfloor to fit around the post then glued and nailed it down. The project manager had the 2 outside strips of subfloor and the box header just fastened with screws so we could remove it all to set the posts. The woman decided we needed a 6 x 10 beam across the end of the first floor to tie things together. Don’t tell her but I have to agree it looks good and is stronger. I’m glad we don’t have HGTV. That channel makes men’s lives miserable, adds to honey-do list, and greatly increases costs. Kari found a bag of magic coins somewhere. They are about the size of a silver dollar. And have four letters on them. “Tuit”
Whenever she ask me to do some project. I say, “When I get around to it.” She hands me a coin, so I’m compelled. Hopefully she will run out. But I think she has a lifetime supply, at least my lifetime. In that case I hope she doesn’t run out.
That’s enough chit chat for today, I have logs to drag, rafters to cut, grass to mow. I guess I better get a round tuit.
From Silty Slough, I hope you have a wonderful day, stay safe and healthy.

Thank you Lord for protecting us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

PS. Cell service came back yesterday afternoon

Wednesday August 25, 2021
The view from the outhouse
Hello all from Silty Slough. Mayor Cooper has finally lifted the media ban for the Slough so I am able to post again. Really we have been so busy with the addition to Spruce Manor there just hasn’t been any free time. I will give you a blow by blow report on the summer’s events. No pun intended Kamala. There are gaps because a lot of the details are lost in the mass storage of my brain. I’ll do my best to recall or if I can’t I’ll just make it up as I go along.
Friday May 14
The river is clear of ice and the ramp has firmed up a bit. Roger is picking us up and taking us down to Northwoods Lodge to catch a ride to town to get the Wine Down ready to make the first trip up the river. Steve Butts was waiting at the house for us when we arrived. We shopped a couple days for supplies since we hadn’t been to town since early April. Steve and I got the boat ready and took it to a nearby lake for a test run. Everything is good with the boat so we are ready to depart.
May 18
The boat is fueled and ready. We are loaded heavy with supplies and 3 people.
The boat took way more RPMs than normal to stay on step for the trip. Must be about time to get the Hamilton jet rebuilt.
May 22
Tom Lord and his son Colby arrived to wake up their drill rig from its winters nap. They are going to drive the 6” pipe pilings for the foundation of the addition. Steve, Kari, and I had already laid out the location for the 20 pilings so drill baby drill.
May 23
Tom and Colby finished the last of the pilings. We shot the grade to cut the pilings off and Colby welded 10 inch square steel plates to the top of each piling.
I posted a picture of all the pilings sticking up before we trimmed them to length on a local FB group. My caption was “18 dry holes, no water, two more and I give up.” You should have seen the comments. Why are you drilling so close together? Did you water witch? Here is a name of a different well driller. Only a couple people figured it out.
I guess since we can’t find water here we might as well put a building on all these pipes sticking up.
May 24
Tom and Colby showed up this morning with pipe to drill a well at the neighbors cabin. 50 feet down, no water and we are out of pipe and time for now. They will come back later.
May 25
Steve and I started setting the 10 x 10 beams on the pilings. We were short a couple so we milled a couple more spruce logs.
May 27
Beams are all in place ready for floor joists.
May 29
Tom Lord and Charlie cam back and punched the well on down another 20 feet to get water.
May 30
Steve and I set the 2 x 10 floor joists.
May 31
Steve, Kari, and I started laying the 1 1/8” plywood subfloor.
June 1
The subfloor continues, it is hard work each sheet is 105 pounds.
June 2
Eric Johnson brought our windows and Tom’s dozer on his barge. Tom is going to work on our ramp with his dozer so that he can load the drilling rig easier.
Tom has the ramp is in really good shape now. He is on his way down river making several stops to drill wells.
June 3
We are heading back to town today. I took the boat to Alvin Millard to rebuild the impeller. Turns out the one that is in the boat is not exactly the right one. I got on the internet and had the correct one shipped from Marine Power in Louisiana. No point putting the old impeller back in. We will just hang out until it gets here.
June 8
The impeller arrived yesterday after 5 so Alvin is going to install it this morning. Alvin is Mr. Hamilton impeller if you need yours reconditioned.
Impeller is in, back home to get Kari, Thor, and the boys so we can head for the Silty Slough.
June 9
Kari and I finished the decking and started framing the crawl space walls. Treated lumber framing with treated plywood covered with bituthane waterproofing membrane.
June 10
First 20’ section is ready to hang under the deck. Fairly easy with the help of Mr. Kubota.
June 13-15
We ran back to town for a doctor appointment and a root beer float from A&W.
That’s about enough for now. Sorry if it is boring. I didn’t have time to politicize and tell you exactly what I think. I will try to post more soon, some rainy days are coming.
Take care, stay safe and healthy.
Thank you Lord for watching over us.
I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

The view from the outhouse
Wednesday May 12

Good morning from Silty Slough. 41 degrees at 6:30. 17 hours 31 minutes daylight for today. It has been raining just a little so it is still damp out. I had plans to dig the ramp down into the crawl space today. I’ll have to wait for things to dry out a bit.
With the gas shortages on the east coast Mayor Cooper is being proactive and has started a rationing program. The price on the liberals pump is now $8 a gallon and it will be open from noon until 5 minutes after noon. Qualified customers at the conservative pump will pay $2.20 a gallon and is unlimited for chainsaws, 4 wheelers, transportation to employment, and log splitters. I guess the Biden supporters wouldn’t have a need for fuel for any of these things anyway since they are staying home collecting unemployment. They are a big part of the problem, don’t have to go to work so they have nothing to do except drive around and waste the gas that the working people need.
Here are the entries in the ships log to keep you up to date with our life off the end of the road.

Friday May 7
Today we sorted and moved things around to make more room under the covered area where we park. I also moved 4 twenty foot pieces of 6” pipe over closer to where we are going to cut them in half for pilings.
I was just thinking President by cheating Biden got 80 million votes. Now we all know a lot of those voters were dead and a lot more don’t even exist but that still leaves a bunch of other people. I haven’t heard one person say that they voted for Biden or anyone say how much better off they are today. I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe as confused as he is even voted for the bad orange man. The Biden government has jumped the tracks if it ever was on the tracks. High prices for everything, gas shortages when 4 months ago we were energy self sufficient, the border out of control, crime going out of sight, and on and on. I can’t think of anything good that has happened since the election. Joe and Kamala are the laughing stock of the world.
Back to the story…We signed up for Starlink and can’t wait to get high speed internet and backup communication for or single cell tower link to the outside world. I have been watching the map of all the satellites at satellitemap.space to see when the birds start flying over Alaska. So far all I can see is one group in a polar orbit. I was watching it the other night. The first satellite in string 18 passed over Hawaii and 12 minutes later it was passing me in Alaska. That’s about a 5 hour flight in a 737.

Saturday May 8
It is dry enough today to get more snow out of the crawl space and I was able to get most of it. I’ll let the sun finish it. Kari decided today is the day we should move the 4 or 5 raspberry bushes that are right under where the new deck is going to be. I was able to slip slide around and pick each one up in the backhoe bucket and haul it to the other side of the cabin where we had already moved the strawberry plants last fall. That wasn’t too bad and didn’t make too much of a muddy mess.
Kari decided to make pecan cinnamon rolls after supper. When they came out of the oven I had to take a picture. It was then I noticed the clock on the stove it was 11:44 pm. Enough fun for the day time for a nap. I did manage to stay awake past midnight to be the first to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day.

Sunday May 9
Happy Mother’s Day everyone. I had the coffee ready when Kari woke up. The pecan cinnamon rolls look delicious. Kari wants hers warmed, I’m not waiting 15 seconds for the microwave. Awsome, better than the Holiday Inn Express cinnamon rolls on the “free” breakfast and as good as Cinnabon. I don’t think we did anything else exciting on our adventure today.

Monday May 10
It rained overnight, Kari said she could hear it on the metal roof. Must have not rained on my side of the bed because I didn’t hear it.
When I was outside this morning it hit me. This thought shooting into my head. One that would split a normal persons skull wide open. A Fauci moment. My solar electric system produces little or no electricity on rainy days. Now why is this? I just figured out that Mother Nature robbs the electric from solar energy systems in order to have enough electricity for lightning on rainy days. If it is raining in the wrong place the lightning strikes the high line towers and travels on the electric grid to power the windmills. Everyone knows they make electricity into wind. This is why it is usually windy when or just before it rains. The windmills are controlled by the government and blow the rainstorms around to the farmers that voted for President by cheating Biden in the last election. I’m very happy to be able to explain this to you liberal morons.

Tuesday May 11
It was misting rain again this morning so I stayed in and installed TurboTax on my computer. I’m glad they extended the filing deadline. This will give me time to file for an extension. There hasn’t been much sunshine to dry things up so I will wait to dig. When it is muddy you just make a mess and take a chance on tearing up your equipment.
About 5 o’clock there was a bit of sun so we decided to take the boys for a run. I wanted Kari to drive and take the side by side but she wanted to take the 4 wheelers. Remember this. Mine was parked behind hers under our deck slash carport or in our case slash snow machine/ 4 wheeler port. I hopped on mine with Teddy riding shotgun. Kari was following and Cooper with his natural herding instincts was directing the parade on foot. Up the hill by the root cellar, following the trail along the back of our property, then down the hill past Al’s, and on down to the ramp to the slough. The water from the snow melt and the rain has washed ruts in the top of the ramp. Further down it is gravel. I might as well try it and see just how soft it is. One length of the machine and I’m sinking in the mud. I’m headed slightly downhill and when I tried to back out I was stuck. This is not good, I just have my slippers on. I hopped off to a dry spot and hooked the winch from Kari’s machine to mine. Her machine was just sliding in the mud when she tightened up on the winch. Unhook, I’ll try to go on down the ramp and turn around on the gravel. I went forward a bit then progress stopped. It was then I noticed I was only in two wheel drive. Normally the machines just stay in 4 wheel. Note to self: always check. I went right on down and turned around. Now it is time to head back up through the muddy mess. I really don’t want to get stuck in the middle of the mud. I just put these clean clothes on this morning. So after a few tries pulling forward and backing up I have quite a pot of brown gooey soup stirred up but I’m still making forward progress. Finally I was able to jump the frozen lip of dirt and get out. Home boys enough adventure for today. Back at the cabin I looked and I’m still mud free. My 4 wheeler not so much but now we have a well and a power washer. If we had taken the side by side like I wanted to this wouldn’t have happened because Kari would not have attempted the ramp. I think this can be chalked up as her fault in the record book.
Soup beans with caribou sausage, cornbread, and a slice of onion is the delight for tonight.
It is time for a nap.

Stay safe and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse
Friday May 7

Hello from Silty Slough. We are continuing the transition from wintertime stuff to summertime stuff. I’ll get right to the daily blow by blow and I don’t mean like Kamala.

Tuesday April 27
Enough snow has melted so it is time to put the snow machines away and break out the 4 wheelers. I pulled the batteries out at the end of last summer and kept them inside for the winter. We have been charging them up during the day using some of the excess solar power. Now it is time to load them and the air compressor into the tub sled for the last snow machine trip of the winter. The person that designed the terminals on the 4 wheeler batteries needs to be taken out and horse whipped. It shouldn’t be that hard. Just ship a longer screw that will reach the little nut inside the battery post. The batteries are located in the very easiest place to get to anyway. I was not in a good mood by the time I had the batteries in the 3 machines. Air up a couple tires. All 3 started up and we are ready to ride. There is some slushy deep snow to go through on the trail back to the cabin and the ride is a little squirrely. Kari is following with Teddy riding shotgun. Cooper doesn’t ride. I took the second snow machine back and swapped it for the last 4 wheeler to come back to our cabin.

Wednesday 28
Kari thinks we should do something meaningful today. The least stressful thing I could think of was adjusting the door on the root cellar so the it could be opened without a pry bar. It went better than most projects. Take the screws out of the lock side and use a sawzall to cut the expanding foam out of the gap between the frame and the opening in the wall. Screws back in. Door opens easy now. I’ll get some non expanding foam to seal the small gap the next time I go to Lowe’s. That’s not enough work for one day so we decided to take the 275 gallon water tanks that we filled from the spring for our water supply out of the root cellar, now that we have a well. They are way bigger than the door opening so I cut both of them in half with a sawzall. One was still full of water so we had to pump it out first. The sawing went easier than expected and soon we had the 4 pieces moved outside. These will make good raised beds for Kari’s garden.
We haven’t eaten much of the salmon we caught at the fish wheel last year so we need to get with it. Kari made salmon patties with red salmon and a Cajun remoulade sauce to go with them. She hit this one out of the park. I thought I was eating crab cakes at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
The river is looking very thin it won’t be long now before the ice starts moving. I hope it doesn’t start in the middle of the night and we miss it.

Thursday 29
This morning it was slightly below freezing and warmed up to a high of 47. It was overcast for the first time in several weeks and spitting a little rain. It’s a good day to do laundry since we will need to run the generator anyway to power the electric clothes dryer. 3 loads and that is done. I warmed up a salmon patty and ate it on a bun for lunch. Batteries are all charged up so life is good.
The ice started to break up and move a bit on the main river a little after 5 pm. Then after a while someone hit the pause button and everything stopped. I just know it is going to happen while I’m sleeping.

Friday 30
When I went outside this morning the river was still jammed with ice, nothing moving. Good, we didn’t miss the breakup. Shortly after noon I went out on the deck and the river was on the move. Grab the camera, get a FB post on Friends of the Yentna. This is exciting. Friends you have to understand who you are dealing with here. We have been sitting around watching snow melt for the past few weeks. We can now see something happening that isn’t in slow motion. FB post are alive..moving here…stopped there….river rising…river falling…the creek is running the opposite way. This breakup is way more important to us than the Bill and Melinda Gates breakup. This means we will be able to travel again, soon we can get to the post office, the mosquitoes and bears will be waking up, and we can once again begin to get ready for winter.

Saturday 1
The ice chunks continued to flow in the main river and the huge piles of ice on the island and riverbanks are melting away in the sun. The river is rising and falling like a yo-yo as the ice jambs up and let’s go up and go up and down the river. Reports are that the Susitna River and Deshka Landing are still blocked with ice. Where does it all go? Amazing the power of Mother Nature moving millions of tons of ice in a short time. The Yentna River flows into the Susitna about 40 miles downstream from us and then out into the salty inlet water just Northeast of Anchorage airport. I don’t recall how far the ice makes it into the inlet from my days of flying over that area in the 747. Our friend and neighbor Steve arrived this morning from Seattle. He is going to get his boat ready while he waits on the river to open up. Steve is our chariot out of here so we can get the Wine Down out of the hangar at Wolf Lake and get on the river. Tom Lord is coming on the 21st to drive the pilings for the addition to the asylum and we need some supplies.

Sunday 2
The sunny days are doing a number on the snow piles around the yard. Cooper is going out and just laying in what’s left. Teddy is content laying inside on my bed. I wonder if they know the snow is going away and it will be back in a few months. The yard is continuing to dry out. Our wood chipped path to the outhouse is firm and dry. What more could you ask for? We found a few more steaks when we cleaned the freezer last week so tonight is steak night with a side of homemade mac and cheese. Dessert is strawberry shortcake with the last of the berries from the patch. Kari baked the cake at the prescribed temperature and time, checked it with a toothpick like she always does, when she flipped it on the rack to cool the uncooked portion of the batter ran out of the bunt pan and through the rack into the pan below. Don’t know what happened, the flour must have still been frozen from the winter or it thawed and then she unthawed it. Kari was a little upset, the boys and I were heartbroken, and the cats didn’t care because the don’t eat cake anyway. What do we do now? Dump that batter back in the pan with the rest of the partially baked cake and throw it back in the oven. It came out just fine, actually very good. Another cats ass trophy narrowly averted.

Monday 3
I’m having trouble accounting for my whereabouts today. Actually I know where I was I just can’t remember what I did. I guess I’ll have to take more pictures to jog my memory. That may not be so good though, I may not have even gotten dressed. I think I fired up the laptop and revised the piling layout for the porch we need over the newly added front door. That’s my story anyway.
Still watching the snow melt and the yard dry up. In Indiana I always had to water the yard. My how things have changed.

Tuesday 4
The snow from the roof on the north side of the cabin is in a huge pile in the crawl space I dug last fall for the addition. It is not in direct sunlight so it will be July before it all melts. We need it out of there to drive the pilings in two weeks. I’ll try to get the Kubota down the ramp I dug to get the rig down into the hole to see how firm the ground is. Not too bad. The actual hole has a gravel bottom so it is easy to maneuver once I’m down there. I hauled a few bucket loads of snow up the ramp and dumped them over the bank. It’s a little squishy but not too bad. Next bucket I can’t get up the ramp. I dumped the snow where I picked it up and back bladed the ramp a couple times. Maybe if I back up the ramp. No work. Multiple attempts and I’m dead in the water or mud in this case. I’ll wait until tomorrow morning when it has frozen back up. That’s enough fun for today. I waded up the ramp sinking about halfway up my boots and finally made it out of there. I went into the cabin and Kari let me know I had mud on the legs of my bib overalls. I’m just glad I had boots and overalls on. Normally I would be in underwear and slippers except now mosquito season is starting so I need clothes to help defend myself. Welcome to another shitty day in paradise.

Wednesday 5
I think today was the day there were rumblings on the river telegraph aka FB that a barge is on the way upriver. I know you are thinking Mississippi River barges but our river barges are boats that are bigger than the Wine Down. Some are 30, 40 maybe even 50 feet long. They haul everything that is big and heavy that is needed up the river. Dozers, trucks, barrels of fuel, building packages for cabins, and in the case of the addition to Spruce Manor windows and a bathtub. As soon as our pilings are in and the river level cooperates a barge will haul the rig out. I tried to get the tractor out of the hole but I slept in too late and the mud was too soft. We need to get it out to do other things. The chief engineer said we need to lay boards down to get through the mud. I guess someone with a sawmill should have a lot of slabs laying around so that’s what we did. It walked right up the ramp. The chief engineer also cooks. Today she slow roasted a corned beef brisket glazed with mustard, honey, and brown sugar. We have boiled it before with cabbage and potatoes. Tonight’s dinner was awsome along with homemade potato salad and the bread she bakes in a big cast iron pan. If she keeps cooking like this I will need to redesign the addition with wider doors.

Thursday 6
This winter we unloaded 3 stacks of lumber and metal roofing on top of the snow. We put ratchet straps around the stacks to hold them together when the snow melts on the sunny side first and wants to tip over. The snow is melting and some of the stacks have the material we need first on the bottom so we decided to restack the material onto terra firm-a. The first stack has drywall on top so we put the forks on the Kubota bucket and slid the 20 sheets off onto them to start a new stack. Then it is 3/4 plywood for the deck followed by 1 1/8 plywood for the subfloors. I’m thinking this is $125 a sheet now. I thought I was getting robbed when I bought it in January for $76. I would really like to thank all of you morons that voted for President by cheating Biden. None of you are saying anything because you are to stupid or to ashamed to know what you have done to this country. You never comment on how good things are now. Maybe you had to cancel your internet service so you could fill your car with gas. What has Joe and the Ho done to make you proud today? Don’t get me started.

Friday 7
More meaningful work today. We hauled some things we don’t need right now down to Al’s for storage to clear a way to drive the Kubota into the shop. Project is to haul 10 five hundred pound barrels of foam insulation outside since temperatures are remaining above freezing now. Kari is the operator and it goes pretty well with only a few screaming interchanges. Now we have our shower room and family room back again. Too tired for dinner tonight, chips and dip and shortcake. Steve called, the landing is open for residents and annual pass holders but not for day users because they want to protect their parking lot. I guess annual pass holders don’t park in the lot. Steve would just launch his boat and park off site like he always does but that is a no no until the magic day of May 15. So it looks like we can’t get back to town until after the 15th.

That’s about all the happenings for the last 10 days. Sorry watching snow melt was so boring.

Take care everyone. Stay safe and healthy.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

You can see the whole view on siltyslough.wordpress.com
I posted a link on FB Friends Of The Yentna when the river broke and had 53 visits. Next day I had zero. Must have been interesting.

Monday April 26
The view from the outhouse

Good morning all from Silty Slough. I hope life is treating you well.
The mayor woke me up at 5:15 to go outside. I’m not sure if he needs to go out, wants to go on patrol of his territory, or just knows I’ll get cold and tired of waiting outside in my underwear and will lure him back in with a chewbie. The boys enjoy their freedom to explore off the trails in the morning when the snow is crusted over from the overnight freeze, something they can’t do in the afternoon. It seemed extra cold this morning while I was waiting in my t shirt and underwear. The official sunrise wasn’t for a few more minutes and the sky was beautiful. I had to go back upstairs for the camera and the thermometer showed 30 degrees. The moon was hurrying to hide below the horizon to the west, the eastern sky was being painted by the sun and the mountains were watching it all. I need to take more pictures, I get a lot more likes from them than my writing.
In yesterday’s view I made the mistake of mentioning the food supply and sorting out what needed to be eaten first. After breakfast Kari suggested that We clean out the freezers, organize, and inventory everything. Everything out, revise the list, no way all of this will fit back in there. Moose, bear, salmon, halibut, frozen orange juice, butter, cheese, and all the toast I’ve been making to capture the extra solar electricity. After 2 small chest freezers and 2 refrigerators freezers we came to the conclusion that we can hold out here until after the 2022 election when it may be safe again and not be hungry. The only thing we will need is fresh fruit, vegetables, ice cream, and beer. We found a container of ice cream in a freezer with one serving left. I took a hit for the team and ate it to make more room for toast. One small bucket of freezer burned food for bear bait and we were finished. What’s for lunch? Leftover lemon chicken and rice soup, we also need to clean out the refrigerator.
I needed to thaw out my hands from handling all that frozen food so I went outside and pushed some snow around with the Kubota while Kari directed the performance from the deck. She had me move one of the big rocks along the path to the outhouse. Said she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight knowing it wasn’t in line. I showed her later. When she went outside, the boys and I turned the comforter around on her bed so the white tag is at the head. That will get her crazy.
The river is getting softer every afternoon then it freezes back overnight. The global warming is gaining on it though. I really don’t mind not being able to go anywhere, I just want the snow to melt and dry up so we can get started on the building projects. I had my first mosquito kill yesterday. They must be burrowing under the snow. When I plowed it disturbed them. I have this theory, the earlier you can kill a mosquito the better. They are in a pyramid scheme. If you kill one early you wipe out thousands of its descendants. If you kill one late in the season you only eliminate one.
That’s enough wisdom for one day. I need to have a nap and wake back up while the snow is still firm. The big switch from skis to wheels was delayed a day due to the big freezer project. The boys will spend the day chasing ravens, eagles, and airplanes. Today is the day for the mail plane but we can’t get to the post office right now anyway. All those cards and letters will just have to wait.

Take care everyone. Stay safe and healthy. And like my friend Carl Schuyler says, “Go out and have some fun.”

Thank you Lord for another beautiful day!

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!