Amish Quilt Auction

You MUST copy and paste this link and watch my video!

http://s57.photobucket.com/albums/g221/jd2295444/?action=view¤t=MVI_1652.mp4

This was one of many Amish made quilts I really wanted to buy. The craftsmanship was absolutely incredible!! I made no purchases (save a jar of jam) but at one point bid $325 on a quilt that sold for $335!

Fun Days

Yesterday and the day before were my days off. Saturday afternoon, I went to Melanie's parents' house for lunch and lake activities. Paul and Melanie had all the kids along, plus the entire Pemberton clan came too. It was great to visit with them and get to know them a little better. We played volleyball in the shallow part of the lake with a net strung from the dockside to a metal post in the water. We played frisbee, some people knee boarded, and I wake-boarded. The food was great, the company was fun, and we had a great time in the water. The weather held warm right into evening.

Before we left, I got invited to the Pembertons' version of church for Sunday morning. It was so lovely and was definitely my favorite church I've been to yet. They put chairs on the lawn in the sunshine, Jasmine played guitar, Mathias drummed, and we all sat in a circle and sang together. There was prayer and each person in the group was given a chance to share with the rest of the group whatever was in their heart or on their mind. I left feeling full of happiness and gratitude.

From church, I carried on to an art festival at a local winery. That statement would seem perfectly normal if I were at home in Sonoma County. But what the heck, they have wineries in Minnesota?!?? Yes they do, at least one I know of. It's about 25 miles from Becida and they don't have traditional grape wine, but different fruit wines, mostly berries I think. I didn't try any wine, but I did buy some art and a hot dog. I got a pretty painting of a bluebird and a new set of earrings: two silver star studs and one moon.

Onward I traveled to Walker where the extended Burns clan gathered on Leech Lake to celebrate August birthdays. I know Uncle Ronnie was having a birthday and one or two of the little ones was too. Nathan brought his boat and I wakeboarded for the second day in a row. My spirit thought that was a fabulous idea, but my body isn't too thrilled about it today. It was lots of fun, I ate another hot dog, and also made plans to go to an auction with Aunt Lee and Uncle Ronnie next Saturday. This auction specializes in Amish made goods and I can't wait to see the quilts! Afterward, we're planning to see a car show.


Dustin, Missy and rugrats


Melanie, Lily, and Steph


Mark and Isaac


Rachel in a lake all her own!


Heather the grillmaster


Uncle S.L.


Paul and baby Lily with her very adult looking hair


Me wakeboarding


Nathan tubing


Nathan and Ariana on the tube before they got dunked


Aaaaaand after

We played till sunset and a little beyond and then said good-byes. It was so refreshing to spend two whole days with family and friends.

This morning Nathan Harper (Pemberton in-law) and I worked on my cabin again together. We plumbed the walls, installed the top plate to tie together the wall frame sections, and began sheathing the walls. We got the corner sheath boards in place on the first course before Nathan headed off for a job interview in the early afternoon. I went home for lunch and accidentally took a nap, only to awaken a few hours later to stormy skies. I rushed to the cabin and got everything tarp-covered just before the deluge. Then I went down in the basement to nail up some floor joist bridging I'd been avoiding since I hammered my finger and got a little depressed watching the water shower down into my soggy little beginning of a house. Luckily when I went to town for groceries, Lynea called me and cheered me right up! Despite a little (or a ton) of rain, I really do have remarkable luck in this life.

Walls Are Framed

Things (felt like they) were going slowly and I needed help. I know I can't do this project alone, and it came to a point where I couldn't move forward without help. Joel had helped me raise all three sections of the second wall, and it was time to raise the third but all my family was working. So I hired one of the next door neighbors and we were able to raise two wall sections on one wall, frame two more sections on another wall, and raise those up too. So we put up an entire wall, built a second, and put that up too, all in one day. I think paying for my new friend Nathan's labor is about the best money I've spent on this project!


This is my neighbor by my cabin, Alliyah, and her pet Guinea pig, Sasha. Alliyah has been visiting me almost daily. She tells great stories about the little farm she lives on and brought me some granola bars too.


Two walls up


Two walls plus frame sections for third wall.


Three walls up


Here's my new helper, Nathan, getting a brace ready for the wall we were about to raise. He sure knows a lot about construction for a guy who says he's inexperienced! He caught a couple mistakes, right before I made them yesterday. Whew.


Three and a haaaaaaalf...........


Four walls up!!!!!!!


I was mighty happy about the progress at the end of this day :-)

Today is Saturday and I'm taking the whole day off... By which I mean I got up at 7 and milled some more lumber with Constable Bob. But I only worked an hour or less, and now I'm headed to Melanie's folks' place to do some water skiing with Paul's family and the Pembertons. Tomorrow we're having a family birthday party at the lake in Walker and I hope to see an art show with Joel and Dustin along the way. Time for some serious relaxation!

Sometimes It's Good to Put Up Walls

I just stumbled upon an old email from my speech class professor from last semester. In his farewell to us students he said, encouraging us to pursue further education, "Yes, you'll get sleepy, yes you'll be short of money, yes you'd sometimes rather be doing something else. However, you get one crack at this thing called "Life". Gotta push yourself."

I've been sleepy (even slept in today), I'm short of money, and though I love what I'm doing, sometimes I'd rather relax than work all day every day. His words are timely, and in my opinion, good advice for anyone, anytime! I think I'll rise early tomorrow and get me some walls built!! It's time to push myself, indeed.

Sid and Joel helped me raise my first wall yesterday. I had hoped to get more people to help, but we were able to get the job done. It was a little scary for me to lift so much weight above my entire body. In the middle of the job, I was thinking to myself, "Why am I not wearing my hardhat?? I hope I don't get squished!" Despite my nervousness, the wall went up and with a bunch of advice from Joel and Sid, we got it pretty close to being plumb (perfectly vertical). I did the design and layout for the next wall, and then worked on framing that today as well.

Saturday night, I bought more windows, so yesterday, I was still planning their locations, and thus still designing my wall frames. I think I have it all figured out now, and I'm getting a lot faster at making wall frame plans. I realized I don't need a full blueprint style drawing for each wall, just the dimensions and locations of the windows and doors. The rest of the plan is just studs every 16 inches so I'm not even bothering to draw them now. Almost all my lumber is cut for the next 24 foot wall, so I'm ready to do a lot of nailing tomorrow.

Today after sleeping in, I went to Sid's and picked up all the lumber we milled for my headers. That took longer than expected; I forgot how many boards we cut from those logs Bryan gave me! Then I unloaded and stacked them at my cabin and had to go to Bemidji to get more materials from Home Depot. I was annoyed they had my order in four days ago and never called me, but once I got there, they were so nice to me I couldn't stay mad.

In addition to lumber, I also picked up a really nice looking bathroom vanity with a sink. It was on sale for half-off. I already have the one bathroom sink I bought from the guy who sold me the kitchen cabinets, but recently I've been thinking it would be so nice to have a half bath in the loft, so I'll need two sinks. Plus, Lynea says I can only have one funky fixture per room in order for it to look cool, not junky. So this new, modern, stylish sink/cabinet will look great with that retro light fixture I got a while back.

I shored up some lose ends on my floor and cut a bunch of lumber for headers and trimmer studs. I placed one header (of three in the current wall project) before it started to get dark.

I also had another surprise visitor today! Her name is Alliyah and she lives at the next house to the north of my cabin site. She brought her friend Curt down with her on bicycles and came over to check out my project. I think she was around 9 or 10 years old and reminded me very much of Ellie from the movie Up. She had short bobbed hair and I liked her right away because some of it was purple. She wanted to know, "Are you building a garage or a house for someone? Because it's kind of small for a house." I told her she was right, it is small for a house, but that it was just that and that I was building it for myself. Then she explained about how her goats might come over to my place because their fence is broken and her dad is a fishing guide so he doesn't have time in the summer to fix it and then in winter the ground is frozen. She says he'll have to get to it in spring or fall. I told her, "Well, your goats are welcome here any time," and she replied, "No they are not! If they came over here, they would probably go right in your basement and on your house! They might even try to climb that ladder." Then she told me all about their horses and Guinea birds and invited me over to meet her parents whenever I want. She said, "We're usually there. My mom is the kind of person who stays at home. You should come meet her because my whole family is really nice." If they are anything like her, I believe her.


Here's my first wall, standing tall! I don't think this picture portrays the magnitude very well, but in person it looks really enormous! Normal walls are 8 feet tall, but I'm building mine with 12 foot studs to provide more head clearance in the loft, so these walls will be 12 feet, four and a half inches including the bottom sill and two top plates.


After raising the wall, I drove Sid to get his car from the mechanic. Along the way, he showed me one of his favorite hunting spots, Rice Lake. It was so beautiful there! To access the lake, one must cross a long swamp. Lucky for me, an Eagle Scout built this boardwalk last summer spanning over three hundred feet of marshland! It was a very impressive construction.


Rice Lake in all its glory.


After I dropped Sid off at his car, I saw a guy walking his horse. Apparently, I need to start a photo album entitled, "Things I've Only Seen In Minnesota." I'm pretty sure Jeff Foxworthy would have something to say about this. You may be wondering, "Is that a mustang that guy has?" But no, I'm pretty sure it's a Shetland Pony...

If you don't like the weather in Becida, just wait ten minutes.


Land of firey sunsets


One more anecdote, if you're not bored to tears yet. I had a funny conversation while loading lumber in my truck today. CJ was the young man helping me and as we loaded two-by-fours, he asked, "What are you doing with all this lumber?" At first I was surprised there is still someone at Home Depot who doesn't know all about me and my cabin. Usually when they see me in there it's, "Hey Jon, how's the cabin coming?" Or, "Did you get that mud all cleaned out of your basement all right?"

So I told CJ I'm building my dream house. And his response came, "Oh, like in that movie the Notebook?"

I said jokingly, "Yeah, pretty much, only my life is much more romantic than that."

Then he asked, "Why, do you already have the girl?"

And I said, "Yeah, actually, I do." Then I asked him if that was the one where the guy had a terminal illness and he reminded me it's the one where he's poor and the girl is rich. I felt all super lucky and stuff.

Yep, just one crack at this thing!

My Name is Jonathan David Wheeler

but my Friends Call Me Whistle-britches. Read on.

Wow, nearly a week has gone by since my last post! Time is slipping away like a careless neighbor's horse from a flimsy corral. I worked a long day today and will get up early tomorrow. In this phase of the building process, not much time is left to write at the end of the day.

A quick list of things I've gotten done since last post:
1. My floor is pretty much done. Curt pitched in a bunch before he left back to his home in Florida for the winter.
2. I cleaned another flood mess out of my basement.
3. I plumbed in my sump pump so heavy rain should be lifted out through a pipe before it backs up onto my floor again.
4. I dug a trench and installed wires in conduit to supply power from the meter to my service breaker panel in the house.
5. Nathan and I knocked a hole in my basement wall and fed the main supply wires through the wall.
6. Nathan back-filled the trench around the house and mounded the dirt up to the basement walls. This should prevent most of the water from even entering my sump, thus a further measure toward flood prevention.
7. Today I framed my first main cabin wall!!! Sid helped me for a few hours today after we cut lumber in the morning.
8. I helped Sid mill up a bunch of lumber and in exchange he cut enough 2x9 boards for me to use as headers for my entire house frame! Also in trade for my work, he's giving me a set of really beautiful oak stair treads we milled.

This last item is where I got re-named. You can always count on Sid and Constable Bob for comic relief. So there we were, cutting lumber the other day, when Sid says to me, "Jon, we're gonna make a whaddaya callit outta you yet, I tell ya! Hey Bob, what was it we're gonna call Jon?"

And Bob, without missing a beat, with a deadpan straight face says: "Whistle-britches!"

I about doubled over laughing. If I'd been drinking anything, it would definitely have come out my nose. Sid, through his chuckle says, "No, no. Whaddaya call the guy who runs the saw?"

"Oh, a sawyer," Bob replies.

"Yeah, that's it. Jon, we're gonna make a sawyer of you yet!"

But do you suppose they call me Jon the Sawyer now? No, they do not.



Here's Curt taking a well deserved break while helping me finish my floor. Thanks a million, buddy! I hope Florida treats you well till we meet again and may you have safe travels.


My floor, nearly finished. Since this photo, I've got the last of the joists in and sheeted the surface. Now the only area lacking plywood is an L shape where the stairs will descend to the basement.


An unexpected visitor! This is the slippery horse that escaped from the neighbors' flimsy corral, I imagine. I heard hoof-clomps out on the highway, and next thing I know, this guy turns down my driveway.


He was like, "Hey, I'll let you take my picture if you let me eat some grass." And I just said (silently), "Go for it! I can't afford a weed whacker anyway...)" After his snack, he carried on down the highway and made a left on 500th street.


I've taken on corporate sponsorships to help fund my cabin. I've always loved Woolrich shirts. Actually, Kenny J, the guy who tried to sell me a helicopter gave me this old billboard to use as a tarp. It's heavy, but very effective.


Grrrrrr, argh! Round two. This time I squeegeed the floor and pumped the water out. I'm leaving the basement dirty-ish, in case this should happen again. Once I have running water, I plan to clean it all out with a pressure washer. Pictured here, you can see the back door, water pump, and pressure tank I purchased from Kenny J.


My makeshift plumbing job routing the flood water right out my egress window. Down with nature!


Why does this ditch look so small when I spent like three hours of hard manual labor on it?? Please do not comment that I am a wimp, you know how photos never do a scene justice... This is where we ran the heavy electrical wires Kenny J gave me.


Here's Nathan moving some earth up against my basement. Yesterday it rained and rained and rained. I got up late thinking I'd take a day off. I came to the DNA lab, checked email, ate some chips and yummy dip that Dustin made, and sat down to write a blog entry. Just then Nathan called and informed me he was at my lot waiting for me. He had a basement concrete pour scheduled for the day, but rain canceled so he came to help me instead. He brought his Bobcat so he could mound the dirt up against my basement. Right off the bat, the drive belt broke on the Bobcat, so we drove into Bemidji, got the replacement part, and soon had it all back together, the driving rain never deterring a Burns brother on a mission. We got soaked, but it was warm enough that I didn't mind. Again, no justice by the photo. I swear it was pouring rain when I took this shot. See how grey and gloomy the sky looks?


It kinda looks like my cabin is sinking into the ground. I hope that isn't actually happening...


A glimpse of my first exterior wall. Hopefully, in the next photo you see of it, this wall will be vertical!

I'm Floored (well, almost)

The past few days, I’ve been working and having a lot of fun and much of the time, I can’t tell which is which! I’m well into the framing of my cabin and it has been immensely gratifying so far. It finally dawned on me the other day as I thought, “Hmm, I better do the technical drawing for my walls soon,” that I’m not just the builder, but the designer and engineer too! I guess I hadn’t noticed, I thought I was just going to throw up some boards and call it a cabin.

When it finally came time to begin framing the walls, when I’d run out of excuses not to, and when I couldn’t think of any other little jobs to do on the place, I had to admit to myself, I had no idea how to frame a wall. Though I’ve seen wall frames in a finished state I’d never seen the work done and certainly never done it myself.

Reluctantly, I went down to Home Depot (which has become an almost-daily ritual) and purchased framing nails for the pneumatic nail gun Paul lent me. I picked up a few other little items and spent considerable time contemplating the purchase of a new shop-vac to help clean up the flood mud in my basement. I didn’t get the vac, but as I was walking away from that department, I saw the answer to most of the house-building mysteries lingering in my mind: The Creative Homeowner’s Ultimate Guide to Framing; Plan, Design, Build... Yesssss! I looked for a framing guide at Home Depot when I first got out here and couldn’t find one. I think I’d given up and assumed this was something left to professionals and other people who already know what they’re doing. I had to consider passing this one up because it cost a whole $18 but the ultimate selling point was the section on framing gable dormers. I really want one and REALLY need some guidance; so I bought the book!

I ended up borrowing a vacuum from Paul and (fortunately??) cleaning the basement took a full day. It was surprisingly hard work getting all the dry caked mud off the smooth concrete, but it bought me one more day before framing. So I went back to Paul’s that night and read the book on framing. I skimmed the drivel and got to the meaty stuff and read up everything I needed to get going. I was up till at least two AM educating myself, so I slept-in in the morning.

Then came the craziest part of all: framing is fast!! Everyone keeps telling me the framing will go fast, and I’m beginning to understand what they mean. Now I can’t stop telling everyone my amazing new fact: it takes me longer to make a technical drawing of a wall frame than it does to build a wall frame! It’s a really excellent book I got, and I was able to get more than one and a half walls built in a day, even working alone.

The following day, I asked Paul if he could, sometime in the future, help me raise one wall, as the larger one of two in the basement was too large for me to erect alone. He asked when I wanted to do it and I said, “Just whenever you have a few minutes free.”
Then he asked, “How ‘bout now?” and I was like, “Uh, perfect!”

He indeed helped me raise one wall, then another, then helped me level and plumb them, then helped nail them in place, then helped add a top plate, and then offered to help me put the floor on real quick… The progress was really great. We put up the first few floor joists and measured out the next bunch too.

The next day (yesterday, Friday), my buddy Curt came by to give a hand too. He’s returning to his home in Florida in a few days and wanted to pitch in before he’s off. Curt helped me carry, cut, and place many more floor joists. A couple hours later, I dropped him off and Paul came back to help some more. We got almost all the floor joists nailed in, added some bridging to solidify the joists, and began sheeting the main floor above the basement. Paul helped a couple hours and really got me going on the floor installation. After he took off with his kids, I kept working till dark which translates to: I got dehydrated, hungry, clumsy, and smashed my fingernail with a hammer. I didn’t cry, but I gave it some serious consideration…

Everyone who has looked at my wall frames says they look really good. I’m feeling very proud of that as it was my first try at framing and I feel fairly confident I can do the rest.

Today I took the day off working on the cabin, sort of… I drove to Backus last night after a big bonfire here in Becida with Curt, Paul, Joel, Dustin, and tons of Burns children. I got up this morning and drove an hour south to buy my back door from a craigslist ad put up by a guy who is building his cabin. He bought lots of extra windows and doors as he figured out what he wanted along the way. I got a pretty door, full width, with windows in it, brand new for $100; perhaps a quarter of its value. Then he asked me the question every good bargain hunter dreams to hear: “What else do you need?” He offered me a woodstove, propane tanks, a VW powered helicopter, go karts, and about 30 windows, all for dirt-cheap. In the end, I bought a well pump, pressure tank, and hot water heater for $100. Then he threw in a lot of four-gauge electrical wire (for free!) which I can use to connect my meter to my breaker panel in the house. New I think it would cost me over $600. I also scored joist hangers for free. I’m planning another trip back for propane tanks, some water well equipment, and possibly some more windows.

After my little shopping spree, I returned to Becida and headed to the Lake Itasca Family Music Festival with Curt for some relaxation. All the bands were individual families playing bluegrass and gospel! We filled our bellies with the three major junk-food groups; sugar, fat, and salt and took in a lot of good music for four hours or so. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face till we got home and the mosquitoes came out.


This was a highlight moment for me, for sure. Notice, each sibling has their bow playing on the fiddle of the one next to them.


They’re a bit blurry, but I got a kick out of seeing all seven kids lined up. Four girls and three boys, just like my family!


I think this family had ten kids! I knew someone out there had to be crazier than my parents.


I loved their skirts! I talked to the oldest sister after their performance and she confirmed my suspicion that the outfits were homemade. I estimate more than half the women at the concert were adorned in ankle to shin-length skirts. Most were all denim, but some of the really wild ones like these girls went with bright colors. It seemed to be more acceptable for performers than audience members.


Once this family was on stage, there was no room for instruments, so they just sang mostly a capella. Their harmonies were amazing!


I loved the name, but got a smoothie across the way instead.


My new shirt ☺


First wall frame! This is one of two walls in the basement which are designed to be load-bearing. That means the floor joists will sit directly on top and the walls will help carry the weight of the floor.


Wall number two. Behind this wall will be my utility room. The stairs from above will descend into the utility room, and then one can enter the room on the near side of the walls through the door pictured here. The diagonal board is bracing which I’ve removed.


First floor joists sitting on the sill plates and the load-bearing walls in the basement


Paul helping me set the floor joists in place


I’m smiling because the progress is so gratifying, but also inside thinking, “Why am I precariously straddling these narrow boards nine feet above a concrete slab?”


My progress so far on sheeting the floor. This plywood I bought is red because it’s specially treated with an oil-based sealant so it won’t delaminate (get ruined) if it rains before I get the roof on. I thought that was a good idea since it seems to rain about every other day here. I think this picture is funny because it sort of looks like some kind of clay building you’d see in the southwest with a terra cotta colored flat roof. My egress basement window looks like a door for really short people. I’m thinking the addition of some walls above will help my floor stop looking like a roof.


The basement is starting to look like a room!


Looking toward the utility room. The Xs between the joists are the bridging I added to stabilize the floor. I was standing on a ladder nailing them in above my head when I smashed my gol-danged finger.


Ouchie!


Looking through the door from the utility room toward the egress window.


Current progress, view from above

Graveyard update:
I’ve been having lunch occasionally at the Becida Bar and Grill. I’ve gotten on a first name basis with the owner, Jane, and I meet a new face each time I go there. Most recently, I met a guy from California and his local-to-Becida cousin Bruce (who I think works at the bar). Bruce was really friendly and chatty and I got the most reliable information on who may be buried on my lot from him. He reports that two of his father’s brothers are buried there as well as two other people. He didn’t specify any ages of the deceased, nor did he mention the genders of the two who were not his uncles. Until further and more compelling evidence is produced, Bruce’s story is the official report in my mind. Bruce looked to be about my Dad’s age, so I’m going to figure whomever is (or is not) buried there may (or may not) have been born around 1930ish, give or take 50 years….

Tomorrow should bring more work, more fun, and more progress. Sid has invited me to an early breakfast and then Curt is going to help me get some more sheeting done on my floor. I’ll be done be-floor you know it.