The Elephant and A Different Breed of Cat

Hello Friends,
Thanks again for coming by the house or asking how things are moving along. I laugh each time someone asks me if the project is completed. Only in my dreams. But keep asking, I love it that you're interested.

The Elephant and Building Codes: There's a very funny email circulating, "Why Teacher's Drink". If you haven't seen it, you should. It's hysterical. In one of the scenarios, the student is trying to solve a very complex problem and is having great difficulty doing so. The answer requires an explanation for Yes or No. The student can't solve the problem, so he draws an elephant in the middle of the problem and says he can't solve the problem because there is an elephant in the way. Well, I don't have an elephant in the way....I have a whole herd of them! The issues we face everyday with the building of this house are a little like trying to move a herd of elephants. You have to be very, very careful. The decision making process of where to put stairs, for example is simple, but how to construct the stairs is another matter all together. The stairs are going in the log house, and this should be easy, but the stairs have to start in the middle of the window to make the landing and turn to reach the first 18' floor joist, which is over the front door. Are you with me? The devil really is in the details. The details of building codes, that is. Virginia says I can't have stairs in the window unless the window has tempered glass, or I have bars across the inside window. I don't know about you, but I prefer to be IN a bar, not behind them. Then there's the quandary of the rise and run and the variations on step height. Without going through the brutal details, we've spent 2 days trying to get the right specifications and we finally have them. That's one elephant out of the way. The other elephant is plumbing. You can't just run PVC up through a log! And how do you get upstairs plumbing down, up and over. Another day and half was spent on how to build chases and where they should be. We've gone through just about every scenario you can think of, but I think we're getting closer. The electrical is about to be notched in. Jason will use a chainsaw to make channels down the door facings for the light switches and drill through the logs for the outlets. He assures me this will work beautifully. I"m just waiting to see what little devil rears it's head when we start this. There are a few more elephants out there, we'll just have to move them one at a time.
We are putting in the wire mesh between the logs and getting ready for chinking on the outside. The diamond wire mesh has to be cut to fit in between the logs, nailed in with roofing nails and it's sloped to provide water run off. The slope starts fairly deep at the top of the log and slopes down to the outside of the next log. I've included a picture so you can see what that looks like. Jason thinks he can start chinking Friday or Monday. He will chink the side next to the existing house first. Once that side cures out, he'll use a chainsaw and cut into the logs and the chinking to fit the flashing in for the tin roof. I expect chinking will take the better part of next week. He'll use about 6 tons of sand and S and Brixsment N cement to make the mortar. The outside mortar will be a greyish color and the inside mortar will be a buff color.

A Different Breed of Cat: A special note to my dear friend Dr. Patricia Brown, my (forever) professor of English, American and World Lit and someone I adore and admire. She sent me this email the other day: OTHER FOLKS JUST DREAM NORA. YOU CALL UP A CONSTRUCTION CREW AND WHIP THEM INTO SHAPE. YOU CERTAINLY ARE ANOTHER BREED OF CAT!!!
Pat, You and a few other different breed of cats are responsible for this! You've taught me for years there's nothing I can't accomplish. And you, like the others, and you know who you are, set me free to dream. The power of education is liberating and empowering. I've learned through you and others to look at problems and situations from the outside in - upside down and sideways. Interpretation is the engine for imagination. Thanks for giving me a jump start...not that I need too much juice to begin with. Love ya!

Talk to you soon
Nora Belle