On With the Subflooring

Foundation completed, and now it's time for the subflooring.  Dan the Mountain Man who will also set the logs, did the subflooring.  He was quite pleased and impressed with the quality of the work done by Kevin and his guys.  Dan's crew for the subflooring included his father, Dan; his uncle, Dane; and his two boys whose names I keep forgetting.  Dan's wife Tracy homeschools so she stuffed some extra work into the boys, giving them leave to join their father on this undertaking.

All the pieces parts up to this moment,  but it's the view that matters.  In the winter, we'll be able to see High Knob, one of Daddy's favorite places.  After we've lived there for few seasons, we may thin the trees so that we can see the Knob in the summer.

Dan's older son, Harley, about 10, I think. 

Both  boys did their share of work.

Note the tool belt with hammer.  Harley used both; they were not merely a fashion statement.

Dan's father, also Dan.  Dan, jr., and I commiserated about the confusion of being named after a parent.  No complaints, though, just some amusing moments.

Dan the Man's Uncle Dane, who is twin brother of Dan the Man's father Dan.  Dan the Man lives a ways away from Wise, too far to commute, but because Uncle Dane lives in Coeburn, Dan, Father, and children.... and later his right hand man Bob, had a place to stay, so Dan could work on my house.  Otherwise, I'm not sure what I would have done, as experienced, local log setters are hard to find.  Actually, I never did find one, so I'm enormously grateful to Dan the Man.

The back porch faces the road.  It confuses everyone, including myself, but we're gradually working through the "OK, now the front faces the back, right?"  I just tell the guys working on the house that I'm anti-social.

Kevin and I surveying my coming kingdom, from the beautiful subflooring.

With each component completed, I would take a deep breath, both terrified and elated.

The little white square just above the subflooring on the left is my mother's homeplace, where she grew up.  It passed out of the family, unfortunately, a few years after my grandmother died.  Sad, but these things happen.  Now I'm building a  home on that same farm, on what Mother says they called the New Orchard.  What goes 'round comes 'round.