Originally posted 11/27/22
Thanksgiving week is here, and as excited as I am about the weeks worth of accomplishment, I’d like to start by saying we hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
We came into town for a weeks worth of work, but wanted to take a little time to stop and smell the roses before diving right in to the work ahead. So Sunday, undaunted by the cold and damp weather, we headed out to see some of the local Gainesville sights. We first descended the boardwalk at the Devil’s Millhopper, a state geological park that features a deep natural sinkhole.
Then we toured the Museum of Natural History, which houses a huge butterfly rainforest exhibit.
Refreshed from a day of fun, Monday we started work on the boathouse. My goal for the day was to attach casters to the scaffolding so it could be easily moved, and get the back wall beam up and welded in place.
This was the longest and heaviest of the beams to be installed and I assumed the one that would give us the most trouble, if any at all.
Once the scaffolding was set up, my wife hoisted the first beam up using the double pulley system. I carefully maneuvered it onto the scaffold and then we wheeled it into position.
In all everything happened much smoother than anticipated, and in short order I had the beam leveled and welded to the frame. With plenty of daylight left we proceeded to get the north wall beam and south wall beam also installed. Exceeding our goal left me feeling very good about our progress and confident in our success.
After two more days and a few hiccups along the way, the progress was starting to look good. A little delay in making some minor adjustments to the rear rafters was needed, but they started going up smoothly. I joked with my wife that when we get home she could tell her friends that she lifted those heavy beams all by herself!
Thanksgiving day we were able to finish the rear rafters and weld up the border pieces for the front section. My Aunt & Uncle joined us for the holiday and were quite impressed with the progress we had made. It was nice to take a break and enjoy a holiday spread that reminded me of older times.
We came back Friday ready to work and hopeful to finish everything. Aside from some minor issues that were easily resolved, we managed to have everything done by 6:30 pm.
This week has been a major milestone on our journey to moving home. Getting the entire loft frame safely installed with only the two of us was an accomplishment that was deeply gratifying. I put my faith in God to guide me and he has never let me down.
On a side note, we sighted quite a bit of wildlife on this trip, which is not so unusual. There apparently is a family of field mice that had taken up residence in the front corner of the boathouse where there is some remaining stuff piled up. I found them quite cute as they darted out to spy on us and then run back to cover. The day before Thanksgiving we saw a whole flock of wild turkeys hiding out from the hunters on our property. Also a majestic buck has been taking cautious notice of our coming and going on the farm, and I am happy to see he seems unafraid, almost as if he is welcoming us into his forest.
Oh, and also… guess who got his first chainsaw!!!
FXT LEATHER 