As the snow has melted, it was time for us to get back to work. This year, we planned to use our Memorial Day weekend to frame up the attached garage. Sadly we lost our supervisor, Rocky, at Christmas. In February, we brought Stitch into our home… an 18 month old rescue from Indiana Bulldog Rescue.

Earlier this spring, we discovered that our cement board siding is being discontinued in Northern Menards stores due to diesel prices as it is manufactured in the Southern US. We called Escanaba and had 200 pieces delivered to our property to complete what we didn’t on the cabin, as well as at least three sides of the future garage.
We also discovered a significant price difference in lumber for the rafters by $27.00 per board from our local Menards to the Escanaba store. Dragging up 40 in the truck was a no-brainer!

After unloading and opening camp, we were ready to work.

We needed to show the new Supervisor around so he would get a lay of the land.

Setting the treated boards for the sill plates started our workday.

Next, we built some walls. We started with the west wall, which included a window and side door.



We proceeded to build the rest of the walls: some in sections to reduce the load. Clearly, my Triumph Studio workouts have helped me immensely with the strength needed to haul around construction timbers, our Supervisor told us to watch our backs.




We did start to make a header for the 16 foot garage opening. We later changed our mind and will go with a beefier header which will easily surpass snow loads up here.


After a productive weekend, we said goodbye for now. Upcoming trips will include rafters and roof, drying in garage, finishing house siding and starting garage siding. Hopefully HVAC and drains will round out 2022.

Until next time, hooha! J, M and Stitch



Funny thing happened today. As we were driving home we passes an older farmhouse – 2 stories and tall like yours painted red. I told your Dad that is what your cabin will look like. That was just minutes before we got your first text message. Great work this weekend. You accomplished a lot.
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