The past two weeks have been physically and mentally exhausting! Although we have lots of experience remodeling and have even managed our own construction business, this is beyond any scope of experience we have ever done on our own. I am not physically strong enough to manage lumber this big. Jamey strained his back trying to manage the brunt of the load a few days ago. After a public plea for volunteers, a crew of 6 joined us on Saturday morning to set the trusses on the equipment barn. In all the excitement, I completely forgot to get a picture of the first truss being set!
The trusses made quick work of assembling the roof! I was terrified watching them place the first truss, but it went so smoothly! Just before lunch a torrential rain blew through our area. My friend Miriam and I had just gone to prepare lunch for the guys in our RV so we managed to stay dry. The guys just kept working. They were determined to get all the trusses set before they broke for lunch. Soaked to the bone and famished, they finally came to the top of the hill to have a picnic of sub sandwiches, chips and cookies.
With everyone pitching in, all the trusses were set by the end of the day! All the rain made it almost comical to try to work as we were all slipping and sliding our way around the job site trying to hand 2×4’s up to Jedediah and Zook to temporarily brace the trusses until the purlins could be added. While Fisher, Sarah, Miriam and I were not busy helping the guys, we painted all the joist hangers, hurricane ties and brackets a fashionable flat black.
I don’t remember when we stopped for dinner, but Noah cooked hot dogs on the grill for us and then we continued working until almost dark. We had to call it a day. Thankfully our volunteers came prepared to stay overnight, so we enjoyed a little time to visit too!
Sunday morning we headed back to finish the purlins. Most of our volunteers had to head home around 1pm and we had a wedding to attend that afternoon so we had a short day to finish the work on the equipment barn!
Not bad for a day and a half work! I can’t possibly express how INCREDIBLY grateful we are to Jedediah, Zook, Fisher, Sarah, Miriam, Madison and Noah for all their help! There is no way we could have done this without them! We raised the barn! YAY!
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Philippians 1:3 (NIV)
I thank my God every time I remember you.
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Luke 10:27 (NIV)
He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Tomorrow we will begin raising the Pavilion Barn trusses!
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