Our carpenter was on vacation this week so we focused on scraping and hauling rocky subsoil up against the house for the base layer of the patio.  Footings have to be poured in this area for porch roof poles.  Soil, then gravel has to come up to grade, be compacted, then dig out for the footings.  Huge rocks in this soil.

Mom was moving dirt, glanced down from the tractor and saw something red out of the corner of her eye.  It's a red jasper, Indian spear point.  She thought she'd died and gone to heaven when she brushed the dirt off!

I got skunked today.  It happened on the way back on our run in the woods behind the house.  Dad had seen a skunk on the hill this morning.  I always chase critters on my runs.  I didn't know about skunks.  Got it right in the kisser.  Sure smarts in the eyes and makes your mouth foam.  I rubbed and rolled all over the grass so the whole back yard stinks now.  Had a special bath which helped take the pungency away but it's still darn strong. Guess I'm not so lovable right now.

Gosh!  Got behind on posting progress!  We did take time off over the 4th weekend to relax! 

The wildflowers from last year have popped up all over the mounds of topsoil that was pushed aside!

The ceiling/upstairs floor beams were installed, leveled and plumbed by Dad and Carpenter Mike.  They used a mechanics floor jack and scaffolding to get the beams right where they wanted.

Then the BCI joists were installed in the upstairs floor system.  Mom set the brackets and Dad nailed in the joists.  Mike did the cutting.

The floor sheeting went on next.  The guys were very adept at walking on the beams and joists.   Once they had a few sheets down, Mom crawled up the ladder and nailed the sheets.  She is not very adept at walking on beams and joists.

We had another load of wood delivered today; a few more studs for the interior walls and then the I-joists and beams for the upstairs.




One of the beams was a 40 ft versalam that the boom truck operator set down pretty close to where it's supposed to go.  Spooky to watch the guy move it over the top of the house!  Tomorrow it will have to be finessed into place!

The big girls came in for a visit today!  They must have seen the ramp to the front door and figured it was just another chicken coop!  The little girls don't venture far from their home yet, and still have not been invited to join the big girls.

All the exterior walls are up and sheeted!  We started the interior wall layout!

Neighbor Eddie mowed the hayfields this week.  He'll be back to rake it then bale it.  He keeps half the bales.  This year that sounds like a good deal to us since we're feeling a little behind on our chores!

Lots of excitement here!  Got 1/3 of the longest wall raised on Friday with the rest ready to go, but decided to wait til Monday, in case it got windy. It's framed and sheeted.

I had to run off some of those free range cows!

 I finally got my gopher today!  I've caught a couple of the varmints, but they both bit me in the lip so I let go!  Today I nailed one!!  Mom saw me with it so she traded me for a treat.  Something about getting worms if I eat it.

Also today, we raised the rest of the east wall using wall jacks.

Dad and Mike jacked up the wall, Mom hopped around nervously.

Got the den wall framed and raised and the front wall is ready for sheeting tomorrow!

Got stairs to the basement!  The Man Cave has an entrance!  Today we started laying out the walls!

One of my favorite places for a rest is on a pile of dirty laundry!  Mom and Dad are making some stinky piles lately!  I love it!