Laundry and Construction!!

We got a washer! But I can't use it off the pelton wheel power. It sucks too much power, even if I turn off the fridge, freezer, lights, EVERYTHING. We need to run the diesel generator to use the washer. I'd been putting off laundry waiting for the washer so there was a LOT to do and since Rodney had started the diesel, I figured I'd better make good use of it. I pretty much did laundry CONSTANTLY from 7 am until about 1:30 pm (between finding tools for the guys and feeding and watering them)! Unfortunately that meant that I needed to CRANK the wood stove to keep at least a bit of warm water going to it since we have no other hot water other than from the wood stove. It was a warm day yesterday (well, 50-ish, which is warm for Alaska in October) so the house was HOT! I pretty much left the windows and doors open. The heat was helpful for drying laundry though...



The guys kept busy yesterday too. Nate started out by digging out a better spot for the "barge" to land while at the same time creating a better road for the vehicles to drive up in the winter once the lake freezes. It was also handy yesterday for bringing the cement up to the house with the bobcat. I think they hauled about 3 pallets of cement yesterday, one at a time. That poor barge sat lower in the water with one pallet of cement than it ever did with any of the loads we hauled! I think they figure they'll need 8 pallets for the walls! There will be some SORE backs this weekend!!! Each bag needs to be moved from the barge into the bobcat bucket, then moved onto a pallet up at the work site, then into the mixer and finally wheeled to the pour site! Then again, the boat's motor is rebelling from all the hard work so unless we can fix it or get the replacement (just need to connect with someone who has offered one), we might not be moving any more concrete any time soon!

Nate working the mini-ex.

Rodney & Doug Thiessen filling & smoothing the cement in the form. You can see the white loops of pex which will run hot water from the wood stove to help heat that floor. Funny about Doug - he runs the horse camp so he is ALWAYS seen around camp in cowboy boot and hat. The other day I saw him in Walmart in sneakers and a ball cap and it took me a minute to figure out who it was! He looked familiar, but something wasn't quite right!

Nate lives in the mini-ex lately. He is like one with the machine. Rod (not Rodney) is running the hose to the cement mixer. His hair was completely grey by the end of the day yesterday. Andy (shaved head) has plenty of energy and a young back so he got to put the bags of cement into the mixer. I'll bet he's a bit stiff today, but we hope to abuse him enough again tomorrow to limber him up. Brian (black ball cap) looks like he's just watching, but he wheeled all the loads to the pour site. He definitely put in a full day yesterday too! Matt (camo cap) is just watching. Matt helped unload cement and went across with Rodney to barge back more cement.


I didn't get a picture of it, but they also poured a smaller pad up near the generator building. They will use that to set a 500 gallon diesel tank for the generator. We'll haul the diesel across once the lake freezes. We'll have to run off diesel once the spring freezes. It is a pretty efficient generator though so hopefully we won't need THAT much diesel, but we'll see! We hope to start the walls (insulated concrete forms - like this: http://www.smartblock.com/) in another day or so depending on the boat, curing of the pad, gathering of materials...

Meanwhile, I think I said Rodney was looking at a mini-truck. Well, he didn't get it. He and Nate test drove it and it scraped bottom on a fist-sized rock. That's not going to make it out on the ATV trail! So now he's considering an Argo, which is an amphibious vehicle. If you've never heard of one, you can check it out here: http://www.argoatv.com/