Day 55 Tuesday, September 25, 2001

And then the rains came, as my friend Butchie would say. I didn't think all that much of it, but in retrospect I realized it rained real hard all night into this morning. I slept until it stopped around 9 and headed out to work on the perimeter box. What I saw shocked me so much I went and got the camera.

I owned a pond, with a cement block box in the middle! I don't have a figure, but the blue wheel barrow, the big one, is FULL. I know it is wider at the top then the bottom, but there was many inches of rain last night. Enough to fill the 2 black tubs that I had all my tools in with water. I had them covered well from the top, but I never expected they would need to float to stay dry. Note to self: keep tools in the shed. I spent a few hours cleaning and drying and WD-40ing everything. Nothing was ruined.

So off to the Trading Post I go to get a pump. I bought one just like the one I have at home. I hate that. Anyhow, I chuck it in the basement and work on the perimeter box. The perimeter box is 4x10 Hemlock beams 12 feet long that go on top of the sill plate. A regular house would use 2 2x10s nailed together but this here is a log cabin. The first course of logs need to be bolted to the beams, and if you used 2x10s the bolt would go in between them and not provide much strength. The 4x10x12 is heavy. Very heavy. I'd say they weigh...one...millllllllion pounds. Ok maybe a hundred. It takes me the rest of the day and into the night to get them all measured, cut, caulked and nailed in place. By 7:30 the basement is dry. I finish the day by bringing 3 floor joists in, just for the hell of it. It is starting to look like something. Tomorrow I lay out the floor.

11 hours, cloudy with showers.