Four days with no power or water dismantling an 1875 post and beam schoolhouse has, if nothing else, revealed that even I have my limits. We woke up at dawn every morning, and went to sleep around midnight, working in the pouring rain most of the time we were there. There were enormous ticks, spiders, wasps, snakes, bees and a mummified coyote pup - not to mention fog so thick I had to walk alongside the car to guide it, the entire time in fear not so much of being pulverized by an oncoming car in the zero visibility as I was of a giant tentacle reaching out of the forest and grabbing me, a la The Mist . We were forced to leave the last few floor beams and half the floor behind as we simply ran out of time, energy and space (and food and water).
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poor puppy . . . |
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fog clearing the last morning |
On the plus side, the neighbors dogs came to visit and spent their time chasing the shingles that were being thrown off the roof, we now own a superabundance of old-growth quarter-sawn oak, the stars and fireflies were surreal, and no one was bit by a rattlesnake, hit by lightning or maimed by a collapsing timber (although we are all covered with war wounds). The same neighbor with the dogs also hauled the 70 bags of asphalt shingles away for us, and will likely finish the clean up in exchange for the remaining wood.
We've spent the past two days unloading and sorting our piles (I can imagine what our poor, ever-suffering neighbors must think). Because of the rain we were only able to de-nail about a 1/5 of the wood, so instead of taking a break, that's what we'll be doing over the next week as we wait for the foundation work. Our punch list now includes sorting the piles of wood (framing, siding etc . . .), de-nailing, sanding and cutting off rot, moving stone and bricks and cutting down the last of the weeds, and planning out the build (and how to best use everything).
It's going to be a busy week . . .
That doesn't sound like any fun at all, but the end result will be worth it!
ReplyDeletethe saddest part of it is that I think it counted as our vacation for the year . . .
DeleteBlech, that sounds terrible. I also have fears of tentacle like things grabbing me from the bush.
ReplyDeleteIt was never something that occurred to me to be afraid of until now, it was utterly surreal out there!
DeleteI'm really amazed at how hard you work!!! Sorry you had to leave wood behind. But can't wait to see your post when it is reassembled. BTW, I just saw THE MIST for the first time this weekend and LOL when you wrote about the fog.
ReplyDeleteI'm not normally affected by movies like that, but that night left me wishing I had never seen it lol!
DeleteI've long dreamed about somehow acquiring an old structure, disassembling it, and then reassembling it on some large swath of land I've somehow come to own. I'd do an old barn, school house, heck, if I had enough room even an old baseball bleachers and I'd go Field of Dreams style and build a full baseball diamond. I love pretty much everything about this post and can't wait to see it all taking shape. Coolest thing on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteumm, kindest comment on the internet is more like it. The more time that passes the more I'm amazed we were able to pull it off, I just hope that the changes we have to make to accommodate it becoming a garage don't ruin the integrity of the building. Now, if only the damn weather would cooperate so we can get it up before the lumber turns to mush . . .
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