So, my buddy Dale is building a cabin on his 10 acres in the vast north. He's pretty remote. Fifteen minutes to reach the nearest non-residential structure and that's the convenience store. Another ten or fifteen minutes puts you in the nearest town of any consequence.
It's not very consequential. In fact it's another 30 minutes from there to the next metropolitan area. You may gather as much from some of the photos below.
At any rate, he's been building for the past couple weeks and finally my buddy Gabe and I were able to join him for a weekend of building. It was interesting. It was exhausting. It was humbling. Thank God I make a living using my brain. The building in question is 30' x 30 ' with a 10/12 pitch roof. It's huge. Ergo, the reason it's still under construction.
"Ergo" means "hence".
"Hence" means "therefore".
Friday night we arrived at camp and just dicked around until midnight. Saturday saw us up at 6:30 A.M. and working by 7:00 A.M. Thankfully, Dale's cousin Tim showed up in the afternoon. He got us rolling on sheeting the roof. We took only a few breaks and stopped work for the day at 9:30 P.M. Sunday we slept in until 9:00 A.M. and got right back to work. Another cousin, Mike, showed up to work as well. He was also a welcome addition. We shut down operations at 2:00 and I walked in my front door at 6:30 last night.
This is Dale. Note his mystical face. Actually, I kept the image because he reminded me of Chamber.
As we pull up to the building, Dale's parents (Dale and Cathy) are sitting in the sleeping area.
After Dale's parents "fell" from the gable I was able to get a clear shot of the ground below.
The neighbor John shows up with his wife. He owns 22 snowmobiles and is like the association's Dean Martin. We suspect mob ties. Which, if I've learned anything from The Sopranos, means absolutely nothing could go wrong with being linked to him.
Only part of the floor was finished. The rest was just covered with 7/16" plywood.
The trusses came in two pieces. Here they they are minus the peaks.
Dale and John's wife discuss putting a deck on behind Dale.
Dale and Gabe inspect John's Mule He has an inverter attachment so he can bring his blender wherever he goes, assuring him of readily available margaritas. I wish I was making that up.
Dale and Gabe have a fast-walking race. They are gay.
Dale and beer. You will see this theme repeated.
The stairway is formidable. Even more so when we had to limbo under the 2 x 12's that we were using for a temporary floor.
The view from Dale's upper rear window. I peed out of it. Gabe peed out of it twice. I'd say I lost, but the truth is we all won.
Except Dale.
Inspecting the party from the stairwell.
The ground floor.
At this point Gabe has had so much to drink he has become blurry.
The rear gable.
The rear gable and its wind bracing. Construction is a business with a tricky language. Things sometimes have funny names. For example: you would expect wind bracing to protect the building from gusts of wind. In reality it protects the building from Communism.
Ever see that movie The Water Babies? That shit was awesome.
Cut me some slack. I'm using a 2.0 Megapixel camera phone.
There is much work ahead of us.
Comment deleted.
Pretty big, huh? A man could strangle a whole mess of hookers here!
John mounts his trusty Mule to return home.
Dale gets a phone call. Hey, you try placing the winning bid for a soiled pair of Underoos in the middle of nowhere.
Getting settled in for the evening.
I shit you not.
You enter a clearing where a small group of adventurers are relaxing around a fire. What do you wish to do?
The
Gabe quietly calculates how many beers remain before he can sodomize Dale without waking him. Pro-tip: Dale actually just pretends to sleep.
All for you, Flagg. It's all for you.
My areolae: they are like delicious pepperoni slices.
Saturday morning. Not a soul in sight.
Reverse shot. Holy shit we're in the middle of nowhere.
Gabe prepares the first cuts of the day.
Cathy and the Dales inspect the truss peaks.
See above. No, not the one about Underoos, the one directly above. Dumbass.
Upon running out of beer Gabe threatens to end his life.
Usually you have to special order ugly white guys to go in your peaks. Dale's really on the ball.
Dale standing on aforementioned ball. He also uses it for Pilates.
Sweaty, grimy and paranoid. Or as I call it, "Wednesday".
Thank God for Tim's Capuchin-like antics on the trusses. Seriously. Nothing fazed this guy.
Snicker. Dale's prairie doggin'.
Eeek! Eek!
Fun fact: Time knows filthy alternate lyrics to virtually every song ever written and he will sing them without even being asked. Major themes include beer, butts and "filling her belly button". Again, I couldn't possibly make this up.
Dale preps the joists for the next sheets of 3/4".
Half the roof is done.
See?
The captions kinda write themselves, don't they?
I didn't get to take any pictures Sunday due to the rain. This is a damned shame because Tim and Dale were on the sheeting when the downpour began. Determined to finish the job, these crazy bastards were 20+ feet in the air on a 10/12 pitch in the driving rain pulling full sheets of 7/16" through trusses and nailing them down. If anything this weekend deserved to be committed to film it was that.
Sad kitty.
Oh well. We got a lot done and now that I've returned home to modern facilities I'm going to destroy myself with Mexican for lunch. Awesomed.
*Looking at you, Smithy.
**Filthy pervert.
