Log Home Update: Part 13Beams and floor joistsbackfilling the foundation

After getting rained out on Friday, Don and Adam went back up the hill today and worked in the glorious sunshine. They got a great deal done.


Placing a shorter glu-lam over the entrance to the utility room.


Securing floor joists to the main beam.


Using hangers to attach floor joists to the beam over the utility room opening.


Way up high is a hawk/buzzard soaring above the Aerie.


Nearly all the floor joists are in; only a few over the utility room still to be placed.
There’s a good view of the backfilling that Ron did the other day. Lots of fill is still needed inside the garage, though.

9 Things I Hate About Everyone

My little sis must have gotten out of bed on the wrong side this morning. She forwarded me this E-mail:

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.... I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours? Do I point at my crotch when I ask where the toilet is?

2. People who are willing to get off their ass to search the entire room for the T.V. remote because they refuse to walk to the T.V. and change the channel manually.

3. When people say, "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too." Damn right! What good is cake if you can't eat it?

4. When people say, "It's always the last place you look." Of course it is. Why the hell would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they? Gonna Kick their asses!

5. People who say, while watching a film, , "Did you see that?" No Loser, I paid $12 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor.

6. People who ask, "Can I ask you a question?".... Didn't really give me a choice there, did ya sunshine?

7. When something is 'new and improved!' Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before it, couldn't be new.

8. When people say, "life is short". What the hell?? Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that's longer?

9. When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks, "Has the bus come yet?" If the bus came would I be standing here, dumbass?

April 15

Traditionally it’s Income Tax Day (although this year’s filing date has been moved to Monday, the 17th) but to many firearms advocates, April 15th is Buy A Gun Day in celebration of our Second Amendment rights.

Last year I convinced my wife that I needed to purchase a flintlock muzzleloader to take advantage of the special season for primitive weapons for deer in PA. (Of course, I never got my PA license last year spending most of my time in NY, but I am ready for this fall.)

This year I will forego the purchase of any new weaponry. With the need to sell our New Jersey home and build or PA log home, I’ve not time nor inclination to add to my collection. Besides, with the purchase of the adjacent lot in PA, I’ve got 17 acres to explore there. And in New York there’s 34 acres with 10,000 state acres adjacent I’ve yet to learn as well as I should.

But next year….

Tenn. Black Bear Kills Girl, Age 6

The next time one of those folks speak about how we have to learn to live with black bears here in New Jersey, I think I’ll just hand them a copy of this.

Black bears generally avoid humans, animal experts said. Rangers at the Cherokee National Forest, where the attack took place Thursday, said a disease, tumor or parasite might have made the animal more aggressive.

The 350- to 400-pound bear attacked the family at a waterfall near a campground after several adult visitors tried to drive it off the trail, Hicks said.

The bear bit the boy's head, then went after the child's mother after she tried to fend off the attack with rocks and sticks, Hicks said. The animal picked up the woman with its mouth and dragged her off the trail.

The girl apparently ran away, and about an hour later was found with the bear hovering over her body, Hicks said. A rescuer fired a shot that scared the animal off, Hicks said. Authorities said they did not know whether it was wounded.

The girl’s 2-year-old brother has a puncture wound to his skull. Their mother remains in critical condition with eight puncture wounds to her neck and “too many claw and tooth injuries to count.”

In Northern New Jersey, we’re told to keep our trash secure and keep our eyes open when outside. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Rogers, the bear expert, said there have been only 56 documented killings of humans by black bears in North America in the past 100 years. Rogers said the current population of black bears in North America is around 750,000, and there is generally fewer than one killing a year.

But of course, when it’s only one human life a year, the bear lovers will argue in favor of the bear.

Log Home Update: Part 12b: Tonka Toy Time

The pictures Deb sent were of Rob back filling the foundation and grading the driveway leading up to the garage. He needed to get some of the dirt out of the way so we will have room for the materials that will be shipped from Beaver Mountain Log Homes on Wednesday. There should be three or four more truckloads of stuff coming then. Not just the logs, but the panels that form the garage, the insulation, the roofing materials, the tongue and groove planks that from the second floor, the second floor floor joists, and much, much more.


Rob is backfilling around the garage and the south wall of the basement.


Here, Rob is grading the driveway up to the garage as well as filling around the front of the garage’s foundation. The two green bundles behind him are materials to be used in the first floor decking.

Log Home Update: Part 12a

No pics this day—it’s raining pretty good at the building site. I drove out this morning with some of my workshop tools (drill press and band saw) for the storage unit and to initial the papers for the 7 acres next door. Yeah, we’re buying that lot, too. It’s the only way to assure you’re going to like the neighbors! ;-)

Anyway, after making my drop at the storage unit and picking up the mail, I drove up to the property to take a peek and was surprised to see Don, Adam and young Kyle on the premises. It was raining pretty good and I figured they would have packed it in for the day despite it being just 9:00 AM. They were there to check the materials on site and to hope for a break in the weather. I caught them just as they were about to give up. Don showed me around and pointed out that Rob, the excavator, had already backfilled a good portion of the foundation.

A.G.T. made a comment about the dimensional lumber (2 x 10s) being used for floor joists. If memory serves, Beaver Mountain doesn’t use I-joists. They do have a steel joist system (not a solid girder but the kind with a W through the center of the joist). Using that would have spanned the 28-foot width of the foundation without a center beam, but the cost was more than I cared to pay. The traditional 2 x 10 over a 14-foot span (half the width of the basement) was almost half the price.

Oops, Deb just mailed me some pictures from yesterday! Let me go look at them. Be right back!

Log Home Update: Part 11Rafters and floor joists

Whew! Just posting the pictures of what Don and Adam are doing out in PA is making me exhausted. They are really moving along.

Today they started putting the floor joists in place.


Don (on the wall) positions the end of one of the floor joists before nailing it in place.


One half of the floor joists are in place.


Adam dons the tools of the trade.
Trucks in the background are parked on the driveway of the nextdoor lot.


SW corner: The joists are in under the bedroom and bathroom.


NW corner: Joists are in under the kitchen and dining area.


And there was still time to put most of the joists under the second first floor bedroom in the SE corner.

It was an excellent day for working on the hill and Don and Adam made the most of it. From the looks of things, all the joist will be in place by tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

Adirondack Critters

Mark has been keeping the woods camera in operation. Depending upon the bait he has set out there could be ravens, deer, fox, fisher or nothing. Pretty often it’s nothing. This last week he got a fisher coming in on April 9th and the 11th.From the time stamps, it looks like the critter was there 5:25 PM on the 9th, 12:33 AM, 12:58 AM, 6:49 AM, 10:28 AM and 10:35 AM on the 11th. Looks like the fisher is a local and really enjoyed what ever the bait dujour was for this week.

SUNY-ESF has a web site with a description of the (Martes pennanti Erxleben) and its habits.

The fisher prefers mature coniferous and mixed forests with thick overhead cover, and avoids openings such as logged areas, especially in winter. Unlike the marten, the fisher may also use deciduous forests, including dense second-growth stands. Seasonal changes in habitat use may occur, with some fishers leaving high elevations to spend the winter in conifer swamps and lowland conifer forests.

That pretty much describes the forest around Mark and my cabins and with several thousand acres of state “Forever Wild” land to the north of my place, there’s plenty of room for the fisher to roam.

The fisher is an opportunistic omnivore, eating large quantities of seeds and fruits such as beechnuts, black cherries, and mountain ash berries when seasonally abundant. However, snowshoe hares, voles, mice, red squirrels, flying squirrels, and shrews make up the bulk of the diet. The fisher hunts by running back and forth over an area, and then rushing and biting prey that it flushes.

With a diet like that, I would gladly encourage a fisher to live in the neighborhood. Voles, mice, red squirrels I can do without.

The fisher is most active at twilight, but alternates periods of activity lasting 2-5 hours with bouts of resting or sleeping in temporary dens as it travels throughout a large area. In a 24 hour period, the fisher travels about 1.5-3.0 km (1-2 mi), but may cover 30 km (19 mi), for example when searching for mates. Fishers are active at all times of the year except during severe winter storms when they stay in their dens until the arrival of milder weather.

This might explain why the critter on camera appeared at such varied times.

And this little tidbit makes the appearance of this particular individual very interesting.

In March or April, the female bears 1-6 (average 2 or 3) young which at birth are blind and covered with fine, gray fur. The female spends most of her time with the newborn young, leaving them for no more than 2-3 hours each day. As the young mature, the female spends more time foraging, traveling directly to the boundaries of her home range to hunt. By 49 days of age, the eyes of the young open, and they are weaned by about 4 months of age. The young disperse in autumn or early winter.

Our visitor is obviously and adult. It was also photographed early in the winter, so it’s range includes my backyard. If it is a female, it might have a den nearby and, perhaps, may be caring for some young. Time to keep the camera set up during June when the little ones would be out and about after their eyes are open. They won’t be weaned until around the end of August.

We have our own pictures:

Fisher poses for the camera.


Nosing around for food. “It was here last evening.”



“That food’s got to be here somewhere!”


“Phew! Six more hours doesn’t make this stuff smell any better!”


“It’s 10:30 on a sunny morning and that fish is really, really ripe!”


“But, darn it, I’m goin’ to eat it anyway!”

Proponents of global warming browbeat dissenters

At least that’s the gist of the story by MIT’s Richard Lindzen in the Wall Street Journal linked to by John Hinderaker over at Power Line. John appropriately calls it a “Climate of Fear.”

John’s lead paragraph brings up an interesting point:

Most people assume that "science" has proved that the earth is getting significantly, and potentially catastrophically, warmer, and that the reason is human activity, specifically the release of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases. In fact, scientific support for that theory is weak. But it's where the money is: funding for climate research by the U.S. government alone is up more than a billion dollars a year as a result of the alarmism spread by--guess who--the same people, largely, who get the extra billion dollars. There are some contexts in which economic interests make reporters suspicious, and some contexts in which they don't. Why? Beats me. Ask a reporter.

Just one more reason to question everything you read and see in the MSM.

Too many modern “scientists” have become like the alchemists of the Middle Ages—performing incantations and questionable experiments to curry favor with the “Nobility” in order to be granted funding. They have strayed from the path of science and have crossed over to the Dark Side of greed.

Log Home Update: Part 10c: Repost of floor plans

Just in case you’ve not seen the post in which I clumsily drew the floor plans of our log home, allow me to direct your attention to that October 10, 2005 post:

Log Home Plans, Part II: The Design

An update on the projected finish date. In this post I said, “We are hoping to be able to move in by the end of 2006.” Well, Don’s timetable has a move-in date of October 21, 2006 followed by “Hunt Deer.” Deb, Don’s wife, has the same date on her calendar, but it is followed by “Take Cruise.” (She promises they will be back in time to hunt bear and deer.) In either case, the motivation is there! And, so far, everything is progressing according to the timeline. Once the bulk of the materials are delivered next week, we’ll see how things move along.

Log Home Update: Part 10b: Construction Begins

Beaver Mtn. delivered one truckload of materials on Tuesday for the construction of the first floor deck. (The balance of materials are due to be delivered on Wednesday, the 19th.) Sill plates, floor joists and subfloor materials are stacked and covered.

Don and Adam started constructing the floor system on Wednesday.
It’s hammer and nail time.

Adam checks the end placement of the huge glu-lam beam that will support the floor joists.


Placing one of the support posts under the beam. Adam is on the ladder while Don makes sure he gets it right.


The "front" end of the glu-lam rests on the door/window header.
(This header is only a temp. A glu-lam had to be ordered at the last minute when we realized it wasn't included in the package. Doh!)


Looking down the length of the beam. Don E-mailed to say the beam actually came in six (6) pieces, each one pretty heavy on its own.
Adam auditions for the circus by walking the wall. Looks like it’s a little more overcast today, but the view is still great.


Looking from the open end of the basement you can see how the beam rests on the header and the location of the three posts down the middle of the basement.

Log Home Update: Part 10a: The Concrete Pour

On Monday, the foundation crew finished up their work with the forms and then they poured the concrete. Don took some pictures of the process and I finally got copies this evening. It looks like it was a beautiful day on the hill with clear skies and views that would last forever. To get the concrete to the back (south) wall and the adjacent corners, and to make pouring concrete into the 8” wide spaces between the forms, they used a pumping crane with a long boom. The hose attached to the crane allowed the crew to “drop” the concrete straight down the void. It looks like they added a layer of nudura barrier material to the exterior walls of the basement. I’m guessing this is to protect the foam during the back-filling process that should have taken place today.


Two concrete trucks plus a crane? Didn’t know there was that much room on site! Notice the filled metal forms for the garage in the foreground.


Pouring concrete from a hose.


Hose from crane drops concrete straight down the void.


No wheelbarrows, ramps or very long chutes needed on this job to reach the distant corners.


The boom on the crane can really reach out but it helps when you can pull right into the basement, too!

Illegal Immigration = “Modern” Slavery?

Mostly Cajun posts the following:

Illegal Immigration = “Modern” Slavery?

(And he admits to stealing it from Geoffrey who posted it here. )

The writer takes the oft used “illegal immigrants do jobs no one else will do” and compares it to the pro-slavery argument of the 1850s that ran: "...if it weren't for slaves, who'd pick your cotton and tobacco? Would you pay thrice the price simply to appease your conscience or go to Europe for cheaper goods?"

It’s a valid comparison. Geoffrey then points to those who want to keep the illegal alien in existence for the purposes of exploitation. It’s an interesting and thought provoking article.

Look at the signs being held up during the recent marches and look at the list of organizations acting as sponsers. Geoffrey did:

I've noted that the "protests" are organised by "The Usual Suspects" in our society: The American Communist Party, World Workers: Unite!, the AFL-CIO, and the other Socialist-Communist band of brothers who seek to destroy capitalism once and for all. This should give a clue to the people who are being "helped": You are the useful idiots and these people are not on your side.

I might add: What was with the Arabic signs? Just whose support were you trying to get with those little beauties. Also, as a Latino, before you start holding up signs saying this is your land, Europeans go home, etc. you better remember that Spain is in Europe and your ancestors are as much European as the English, Irish, German and the Swede. Hell, even Native tribes came from the Asian continent at one time. In that respect you're correct, "We are all immigrants." Some of us just follow the rule of law better than others.

I'm not going to post much more on this very complex issue, but just a few more thoughts:

• I would like to see everyone follow the law and see that those responsible for doing so enforce it.
• Breaking down the door is not the way to earn the respect of the homeowner giving the party.
• When those breaking the law belong predominently to one ethnic group, the reputation of everyone in that group will be suspect in the eyes of the public.
• Breaking the law to gain entry to the US and then demanding "rights" that usually belong to citizens or those here legally? Sorry, that does NOT make for a logical argument.
  

Busy Day, April 12

According tot he History Channel’s This Day in History, April 12th has been one very momentous day.

In 1633 Galileo found himself on trial for the second time on the charge of heresy. In 1616 he had faced prosecution for refusing to accept Church orthodoxy that the Earth was the immovable center of the universe. Upon conclusion of that trial he was forbidden from holding or defending his belief that the Earth revolved about the Sun, something scientist had known for centuries. During the 1633 trial, Galileo tried to claim he didn’t hold any belief in the Copernican view but that he wrote about the issue and its evidence as part of the general discussion within the scientific community. The argument didn’t work and in June he found himself pronounced guilty of heresy.

Along with the order came the following penalty: "We order that by a public edict the book of Dialogues of Galileo Galilei be prohibited, and We condemn thee to the prison of this Holy Office during Our will and pleasure; and as a salutary penance We enjoin on thee that for the space of three years thou shalt recite once a week the Seven Penitential Psalms."

Galileo agreed not to teach the heresy anymore and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. It took more than 300 years for the Church to admit that Galileo was right and to clear his name of heresy.

Three hundred years to correct an error. *sigh*

In 1861 Confederate batteries bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay signaling the start of the Civil War. General P.G.T. Beauregard commanded the Confederate shore batteries that rained over 4,000 rounds upon the small isolated fort during the 34-hour bombardment. U.S. Major Robert Anderson was forced to surrender the fort on April 13.

President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1944 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Hot Springs, Arkansas. First elected in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression, Roosevelt was re-elected in 1936 on the basis of his “New Deal” legislation, in 1940 when America faced the threat of war, and again in 1944 with the US and its Allies still battling in Europe and the Pacific. He died just three months after the start of his unprecedented fourth term. With the passing of the 22nd Amendment, no president may serve more than two elected terms* in office.
(*The History Channel’s article reads: “two consecutive elected terms”, but that is NOT what the Amendment says. The wording I have in front of me is this: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”)

Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth in space in 1961. The 27-year old test pilot rode the Vostok 1 spacecraft around the Earth at a maximum altitude of 187 miles. Gagarin was more passenger than pilot on this flight as the entire trip was controlled automatically.

In 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and, after completing 36 orbits, set down successfully at Edwards Air Force Base in California, thus becoming the first reusable manned spacecraft to travel into space. (The Enterprise had flown freely after being airlifted by a Boeing 747 back in 1977, so Columbia was the first shuttle to fly.)

Animal rights terrorists

Before you make any donations to PETA, Green Peace, HSUS or any other organization that proselytizes for Animal Rights think back on this group and their activities:

David Hall and Partners who ran the family business at the Darley Oaks Farm in central England, endured abuse, death threats and firebomb attacks during one of the UK's most sustained harassment campaigns by animal rights groups.

In the worst incident, in October 2004, the grave of Gladys Hammond, mother-in-law of one of the co-owners who had died in 1997 aged 82, was dug up and her remains stolen.

They have never been found.

Death threats, firebombs, grave robbing…sounds like a sane, reasoned approach to protesting the use of guinea pigs in research.


Animal rights activists admit dug-up grave case

Laptop theft on the rise in SF

You go to a Starbucks or other hot-spot café in The City by the Bay to do a little work while sipping your latte and you run the risk of having your laptop ripped off.

"You walk by any Starbucks and you see people with a laptop, it's so tempting for the crooks. They walk in, right on top of the person, and the person has all their attention on the laptop. They snatch it right out from underneath their fingertips.

"The word is out with crooks in general,'' Lynch said.

So very civilized, this liberal, tough on gun control, Paris of the West.

San Francisco's Western Addition area has been hard hit this year, with 11 robberies so far. Park Station Capt. John Ehrlich, who oversees the area, said he has met with the community, giving the message that people need to fasten down their computers and back up their data.

Read the rest of the story here.

The cops can’t do much about it since they say they can’t stakeout all the internet cafes and they caution the victims that resistance may be dangerous. One man has already been stabbed for his PowerBook.

Hey, remind me again why concealed carry laws are bad.

Illegal incursion across Canadian border thwarted

Our southern border has proven as porous as a sieve as demonstrated by yesterday's marches of illegal aliens in cities across the country. Yet up north, Bob couldn’t make the trek from Aurora, Ontario to St. Louis, MO. Who knew that the Canadian Border Patrol could be so strict?

Oh! Wait. It’s Ontario Fish and Game that won’t let Bob go. You can read what’s going on with bumbling bureaucratic red tape in the Toronto Sun. (And while you’re there, be sure to sign their petition to Free Bob.)

Global Warming? What Global Warming?

The Opinion page of the Daily Telegraph contains the following article:
There IS a problem with global warming... it stopped in 1998
By Bob Carter

the official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, that for the years 1998-2005 global average temperature did not increase (there was actually a slight decrease, though not at a rate that differs significantly from zero).

Hmm, 1998 they say. Two years before the Solar Maximum was predicted to occur. Wonder why Al Gore didn’t mention this the other day? I know what most college-based scientists researchers are looking for: grant $$$$. Pure and simple. A finding against the possibility of Global Warming means little or no $$$$ coming in.

I better get back up to the mountains to help cut firewood. If the temps aren’t going up, I’m gonna need a whole lot more than I got now when winter comes.

H/t to Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds for bring this to our attention.

More Sh*t Happens

Back in February I wrote about the Trip From Hell (Best Laid Plans or Sh*t Happens), wherein I had a flat tire and then had the entire wheel come off to go rolling passed me down Route 17 in white-out conditions when the entire wheel assembly seems to have given way. I got the truck repaired and then new tire on March 10th. I put that new tire in the spare position under the truck bed figuring I would get three more when I found out what my tax bill was for this year (or this fall if I ended up owing Uncle Sam or NJ too much cash) to complete the set.

Well, the spare that was now on the truck’s driver’s side rear position started acting wonky. It had very little air in it last week so I filled it to the recommended pressure and went off on another jaunt to PA and then the Adirondacks, a trip of approximately 750 Miles. Whenever I stopped I visually inspected the tire and it seemed fine.

This morning I drove to Home Depot to pick up some grass seed to attempt another lawn in the backyard (that’s, another story) and the tire seemed fine when I left he house. Walking out of the store, however I noticed it was nearly a pancake. I figured, what the hell, I’ll slap on the new tire/spare that’s under the truck and go get this one checked out. That’s when I discovered the spare was missing. Someone had stolen the brand new tire from under my truck despite the locking access to the mechanism that lowers it to the ground—and they were kind enough to crank the holder back up into position and replace the lock! It’s going to cost me about $225 for a new rim and a new tire to replace the one that was stolen. Oh, I found out the flat had been patched once before, was leaking around that patch and the dealer didn’t recommend it be tried again. I decided to get a full set of new tires now and use one of the others already on the truck for the spare.

What really bothers me is that I have been in constant control of that truck since I got that new tire. It’s only been on its lonesome one day when Terry and I drove her new car to see the logs stacked in Hancock/Deposit, NY. WHEN did the thief get to steal the tire? And if he could get by the lock, why not the entire truck? It is the same key, after all.

Log Home Update: Part 9

Don, our GC, tells me the foundation crew will be putting the finishing touches on the forms this morning. This afternoon they will pour the concrete. (Don has promised me pictures.) Tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday morning the metal forms around the garage will be removed. Don will take delivery of the materials for the sill plates and deck on Tuesday and start construction of that on Wednesday.

As you look around the northern PA area in which we are building you can see new construction using prefab concrete panels, concrete block and poured concrete. Block is the material of choice if you’re only doing a crawl space that will require a half dozen courses or so although you see traditionalists using it for full basements as well. People who think they need to rush will use the prefab slabs. You can erect the entire basement in a day with no forms. The problem Don brought up was how it ties to the footings and the joints where the slabs abut one another.

I guess the greatest advantages of the system we are using for the basement foundation is the speed with which it goes up, the added insulation the foam provides, The wall can be tied to the footing using long pieces of rebar set in the footing, the continuous wall strength (no seams or joints along the entire horizontal length), and the speed with which you can get right to work after the concrete is poured (the foam forms don’t get stripped as they are part of the wall system). The insulation value is important in an area where there is going to be living space. We’ll have radiant floor heating in the basement and don’t want to lose the warmth through the walls.

Using concrete block (cinderblock) would have taken much longer and every course and every joint is an adventure. You constantly have to check for level and plumb, cut block to fit, mix concrete (can’t keep it around to do the whole job), etc. Even using the “panelized” concrete (prefab) slabs that can be poured elsewhere and erected on site would have required a crane to hoist them in place and would have left joints where the panels come together. And they don’t have as strong a tie-in to the footings. Neither system would have the added insulation of the foam blocks we are using on this project. The cost is very competitive, too.

I’m told that there are plastic strips in the foam block into which you can screw. That’s where the vertical metal supports are attached. This makes it very easy to attach furring strips to finish off the basement. I’ll have to pick Don’s brain on this as I intend to do the finishing of the basement on my own. I just ask that he erect the partition walls for the bathroom and the workshop once the floor is poured.