Rachelle

Harold back, picked up a load of wood. Had a warm-up fire (no paper, tough go, finally used road flare for extended ignition), pulled the wood off the little hemlock alongside the pile by the canopy and tied the tree up straight, cut a dead leaner spruce off the north line and loaded it up. About two inches of dry snow, no trouble on the driveway. Met “Rachelle”, the older gal running the Dacha grocery, while getting weinie roast supplies. Very few tracks in the subdivision.

Final Row of Shingles

Harold stopped by on the way to an appointment in Anchorage, and brought a battery-powered saw to cut the top shingle rows. Thought about wire-brushing the ridge metal and spray painting it one of the bright colors, but it was a bit wet, time was tight, and it actually looks pretty cool the way it is, gives it a aged look, like barn wood. So, fit, cut, and installed the top shingle rows on each side, replaced the cap, threw everything inside the structure and raced to a 2PM appointment. Was only 4 minutes late, got the tendon anchor thread pulled out of right thumb, a couple more short stops, and then back to Hope. Stacked the remaining shingles in the shack (nice de-odorizers), straightened up, lashed Ben’s ladder to the roof rack, and got out just at dark once again. The gravel path towards the cabin site looks great. There is not much F-1 left, we will have to get more next year.

Cedar Shingles for the Outhouse

Another weekend of work in the Holler. Harold showed up on Friday evening (10/21) prepared to shingle the outhouse, but before too long realized that the glue and tape he had brought was not capable of holding the shingles in place as required. Also, he didn’t bring any food. So he headed to Anchorage for burgers and beer (and a hardware store run).

Saturday morning (10/22) Harold headed back to Hope and with better tools began kicking ass on shingles. “It’s actually a lot of fun!” he was later heard to say. Around 10:30 am Harold woke up a beer-bleary Matt with a phone call and suggested he come down and join the fun. A short time later Harold called Matt again with a supplemental hardware store shopping list. After waking up, getting sufficiently caffeinated, and making stops at three hardware stores, Matt had gathered all the needed equipment and realized that enough of the day had been lost so that Arran was nearly off of work and would be able to go to Hope as well. So Arran and Matt made plans to stay at the Gillespie cabin that evening (which necessitated more lost time, as overnight gear and groceries had to be gathered).

Finally (around 3 pm) Arran and Matt arrived at the Holler to find Harold, Darren, and Keri. Harold was almost done with the first roof panel worth of shingles. Within a few minutes, Nick showed up from Seward, and Nick and Matt got a fire going to burn brush. Nick, Matt, Arran, and Darren started hauling brush to the fire (which quickly became enormous). Only two or three brush piles are left from the driveway clearing effort! After Darren and Keri left for home, Nick started helping Harold with the shingles, Arran continued pulling downed logs loose brush out of the woods to feed the fire, and Matt starting cutting up some firewood for the Gillespie cabin (after learning how to/how not to use a chainsaw). As dusk approached, Matt brought a small truck load of firewood rounds to the cabin and dropped off Arran to start cooking dinner. Back at the Holler, he stoked the brush fire then helped Nick and Harold clean up in the pitch black, as the final shingles were placed. Nick and Harold then headed home.




The shingles look fantastic, especially with the painted ones thrown in; one side is fairly randomized while the other has a systematic progression. After placing the sheet metal cap along the crest of the roof, Harold realized that each side is going to need another half-row of shingles to look right. So close. Oh well, it won’t take long to finish up now.

In the morning (10/23) Matt went back to the property to check on the fire. After stirring the ash, he got the heat back and the fire going again then re-stacked the remaining logs. While waiting for it to burn down one more time, Matt placed gravel on the pathway to the yurt.