Rained most of the night, then a few brief showers in the morning, clearing off into a beautiful day. Toby Rheaume arrived shortly after 7 o’clock with his Woodmiser LT 70 portable sawmill. But before starting on sawing the shed beams, we returned to the house site for a large hemlock that had been overlooked during Saturday’s felling operations. A half hour later that tree, too, was in the skid pile destined for a commercial sawmill. Toby then pawed through the log pile set aside last summer
out of which I hoped we would find the six beams needed for the shed. Assured that we had sufficient red oak raw material, Toby and the sawmill went to work. The first two beams he cut are 9 ½″ x 10″ x 12 feet long; straining with all my might I can lift one end an inch or two off the ground. The other four beams are only 9 ½″ x 8″ x 12 feet; those I can lift one end maybe a foot off the ground. Getting these critters to the tops of the concrete columns, 7 feet 8″ in the air, is going to be a challenge. Unless, that is, my fairy godmother suddenly delivers the backhoe I so desperately crave. At his suggestion, Toby also sawed a large maple log into 1″ boards. Depending on how well they come through the drying process, those might become the built-in computer table, cabinets, and shelves in the Study when we build the house. They’ve been cut to a length (10 feet 4″) that will fit inside the van so that they can be taken to Virginia for air drying in our basement. After Toby was gone, Chree and I drove down to the Kubota dealer in Pittsford, who also makes street and driveway signs, and put in an order.
Rained most of the night, then a few brief showers in the morning, clearing off into a beautiful day. Toby Rheaume arrived shortly after 7 o’clock with his Woodmiser LT 70 portable sawmill. But before starting on sawing the shed beams, we returned to the house site for a large hemlock that had been overlooked during Saturday’s felling operations. A half hour later that tree, too, was in the skid pile destined for a commercial sawmill. Toby then pawed through the log pile set aside last summer