Howell Cabin

Eliot and I drove about 120 stakes into the ground under yesterday's layout lines. Most went pretty easily into the dirt but one corner of the dig exposed rock, and that means getting out the Big Hammer. The payoff was a complete set of screed boards, leveled to within about 1/16". As we were putting tools away, the mountains said farewell with a lovely moonrise.

Okay, the hole is dug; now it's time to get the foundation laid out and forms put up. We drove some stakes, which was tricky in the all-rock corner. Then we leveled some batter boards into place, and got the mason lines laid out square and to less than 1/16" error. That pretty much took most of the day. But before we left, Eliot made time for a little--I mean BIG--digger work.

Everybody worked on painting the shop today.  A bridge over troubled water (line). Actually it's just the preview trench; the excavator will come Tuesday to finish it.  Everybody likes a blue butterfly!  Siggy sat in the Really Big Digger.

The excavation team came today.  Paul, the excavator driver, helped Siggy scoop and dump the bucket. Then he taught Eliot how to drive and set him loose: The crew did get the foundation hole dug: Meanwhile, much of the family got a good start on painting the shop:

We started the day watching Eliot's friend Calvin in a mountain bike race. Then we installed batter boards and laid out the mason lines to mark the boundary of the foundation footer. Then we went up the hill and put on the last fourteen pieces of trim. The shop is ready to paint! My favorite insect today was this big guy: Eliot broke open the Quadlock, and tried assembling it. We couldn't quite figure out the corner pieces, so we're glad we practiced.

No, I didn't get convicted of a felony. Friday morning I bought a flatbed trailer. Meanwhile, a semi truck brought a shipment of foundation form supplies to Marson & Marson, our lumberyard in Cle Elum. Eliot and I took the trailer up Friday night and hauled most of the styrofoam forms up to the storage container. Saturday we reorganized the container and built a rack for drying the finish on the tongue and groove wood we'll be ordering soon. New flowers! That's a neat thing about the mountain meadows: new variety every week. Saturday afternoon is rainy. We used the first rain shower break to drive into town and buy more fuel for the generator. Got back, and the next shower is trapping us indoors. Back out in the drizzle, we roughed out the house outline and drove stakes for the batter boards:

My birthday gift to Eliot was "digger driver for a day." What I didn't think about when I gave that gift was that it means Dad is "shovel driver for a day." It took Eliot a while to work out where the various controls were. After a near mishap, we asked our neighbor Russ for some tips, and he got Eliot off to a good start. By the afternoon, Eliot was driving the tractor so close to the house that his hand wouldn't fit between tire and siding. I think he was showing off. Christina came up with the other kids and some sandwiches. There was one trillium left, and it had turned a gorgeous purple. Siobhan collected it. Guinivere dabbed primer on nail heads. Siggy carted around cinder blocks! Unfortunately, the intended painting project never worked out because the only side of the house ready to paint was in full sun and the surface was super hot. But we did get the foundation holes backfilled with the digger, and Eliot filled a...