Another busy day!

Today was a pretty full day!  I woke up to gazing out my window and discovering that my moon flower had blossomed!  For those unfamiliar with these beautiful flowers, they have big white blossums that open up at night and are pollinated by moths...the flowers wither in just one day, but are amazing.  so, I had to get up and go weed my garden and enjoy it for awhile.
From there I cleaned out the cooler and headed into Melrose to buy refreshments for people coming to help put on my roof....but I only made it about 2 miles before my car died.  Fortunately I had grabbed my phone at the last minute and I called Jim who was at home and he drove the tractor out to tow me back home.  I then used his car to run into Melrose.  Jim's Dad, and Wayne came out to help with the roof, and our Moms came to watch and help out a bit, too.  My mom also finished weeding my garden which I have been wanting to get done =) We had purchased some roof jacks at Menards yesterday, and used those to run 2x10x12' boards along the roof.  I worked from a ladder or down below handing stuff up, Jim's dad belayed him around so he could do all the monkey work, and Wayne spent most of his time up on the top of a tall ladder screwing metal in from the bottom of the roof.  I guess I measured and marked things, helped carry things over and lift up onto the roof and tied things onto ropes so Jim could pull them up.....not my most involved part of the project, but I am not really big on being up on my 10/12 pitch roof.  I'm fine with being on the ladders at the edge though.
We worked until a little after 5, then cleaned up and headed into the River-view in for supper.  It is my neighbor, has great food and is looking right over the river.  The water is rushing by really quick after all the rain we had this week.  We had over 2 inches Thursday night and Friday morning....but I heard they had even more- up to 7 inches near Chippewa, so I can't complain.  My driveway is getting better as we keep working on it, and not being quite as big of a mud puddle at least.
After supper, Jim and I walked home and stopped to look at the waterfall that is on the northern part of my crick- a surprising waterfall for this area- at probably 15 feet and quite wide.  Sometimes I forget to stop and appreciate how pretty it is.
I'm feeling quite content and appreciative of all the good things I have today....a great family and friends who have helped me so much....beautiful land with lots of wildflowers and butterflies, my cabin is coming along great, and I am dating a really nice, sweet guy.  Life isn't perfect, but some days I really remember how lucky I am. Now, tomorrow I may feel differently as I sit in a hard chair for 8 hours listening to people try to teach me things without being very informative at all =) Oh, 3 days of conferences....I am filled with anticipation! =)

Another busy weekend

This weekend was another busy one.  On Saturday, Christopher came out, as did Jim's dad Clare, and we worked on getting the rakes made and setting up the studs against the 2 end trusses.  This proved to take a lot longer than anticipated, with double notchings on each stud to accomodate the trusses.  But, the window is now framed in, and we are now working on the roof! Today, Sunday, Christopher was out again by 9, and by 11 we were all exhausted from the heat and dripping sweat again- today was a hot one, with the temperature up to 91.  We got the rakes put in place, and 2 pieces of sheathing on the roof before heading to the Haake family picnic during the hottest hours of the day.  But, we were back at 3:30 and finishing up the sheathing on the southern side. The tractor was a huge help in getting the sheathing up! I will be so happy when the roof is finished and nobody is monkeying around on my steep roof anymore- it makes me a little nervous. But- I love seeing the progress! Everyday I am more excited about my cabin =)

Trusses are up!

On Thursday, the trusses went up on my cabin!  Jim, his Dad Clare, Christopher, Wayne and my Dad all came out and helped raise the roof =) I am now able to see where my loft will be, and it is really starting to feel like a house!  I am so excited!  The bugs were miserably bad, but we got them all set in place in about 2 1/2 hours! Thanks everyone!