Wrapping Up the Roof... Until Next Year

This will not be a technical post as I am not much of a carpenter myself,
but I can give you a non-technical summery of the project to date.

The original plan had been to mill beams for the rafters but like many of the logistics
on this log cabin, original plans had to conform to present practicalities.
Time constraints factored strongly in favor of ordering and having the already-milled
beams delivered.  I think AJ figured that using his chainsaw mill, the fellas might turn
out a dozen beams in a day.  There were just too many beams, too many factors,
too many unknowns, and too few days in which to get it done.

 The men notched the logs, then used a winch and ropes to hoist the beams into
place.  Once set, the crosses on top were drilled, and pinned with rebar.

 It took a bit of figuring to decide how to cut and lay the 2" x 6" tongue and groove
so one could look up from inside and not see board end seams.
Once the guys figured out a system, the material went up fast.  Lots of trial and error.
As AJ says "Lots of trials, and lots of errors" :-D

Our boys helped quite a lot on this part of the project.  Apparently it was a better idea to have
them working on the roof, than under heavy beams held by ropes.
AJ was always quick to reassure me that no one had yet fallen and been killed on the project.
{Thanks Babe.}

Zachary cut much of the lumber, and Clay spent a lot of time on the rooftop handing tools
up and down and generally being an invaluable quick set of hands.

 (Some boys lookin' a bit tuckered here)

On the last morning a few extra hands showed up.
I really thought they'd get the wood up, the insulation materials, and metal roof, but alas...
the project came to a halt as they ran short of tongue and groove lumber about four
courses from the top.

A little plywood and visqueen were the finishing touches to keep the snow off this winter.

This pile of white is a stack of foam insulation.

Good progress for a weeks worth of work.  I'll have to ask AJ how many days of actual labor have
gone into this project total (not including computations, phone calls, and figuring).

Since they've only worked on this cabin when Ryan comes out from Colorado, I don't reckon there
are very many muscle hours on this project even though it was started a year and a half ago.
It's a lot of effort to have ready supplies, set up, get into a working groove, and accomplish anything
in only a few (or at most 9) days at a stretch.  I've been impressed!

So tonight I'll go out on a limb and hit "publish" while AJ sleeps on the couch next to me.
Tomorrow I'll have to come back and mend my errors but until then, enjoy the pics
and feel free to laugh at my ignorance!
If we were discussing my area of expertise, it would have been a much more intelligent post
about getting meals for sometimes-unpredictable large numbers and more than a couple hungry
men over the course of a week.  ;-)