Hula hoop champion for 2009

This is Jack.....the one that has had my YURT ROOF KIT stored in his big construction garage. He is one fellow that I can say is of "the salt of the earth". He is the one that has the work crew over at my place early in the morning and they have a lunch and come back again. Because it was gonna rain, he put this ring and roof beams under cover. It was said on the news of MUCH MUCH rain. ha, not too much, but better safe then sorry. this ring is 5 feet across. this is the MAIN KEY to a yurt house.
this is NOT ANN BOLIN'S TOWER...but a tall tower anyway.
this shows most of the tower....hooooooooo boy, tall baby! Because we will be using this for all kids of stuff until the house is done, we found it cheaper to buy then to rent.....Jack supplied the last 3ed "story"...then they build the big box out of scraps around to put the ring on. All the rafters will hook to this ring....all the holes are drilled to take care of that....
The first board going up on 30 April 2009
this is a most curcial part of this house....(my heart says, will it all fit right?) I came to our place at 8 a.m. and brought my quick breakfast of buttermilk with salt and pepper in a jar......and some sun chips. ha, EXCITING to say the least.
I was around yesterday to see if this 5 foot skylight ring was going to be put in, but it started to drizzel and time for the guys to go home. the first board was put up and then they knew they hadto move the platform to put the rest of the beams on.
You can see the guy up there, and I asked who it was and one said, "It's the Hula hoop champion for 2009."
More beams put up......all these beams were in Jack's wearhouse. He didn't have much construction going on in the winter, and I'm sooooooooooo grateful for him keeping them in a dry place.
you can see that the metal work stuff goes up THREE stories high...then they had to build another platform to build a box to put the wood skylight on. great guys to put this together. Vicki had to yesterday go get pictures off the net so to take down to the guys to show them how it was done.
ahhhhhhhhh, this much done for April 30, 2009.

circle is completed.

This is the other side of my kitchen....a beautiful log that will hide my refrig behind her. hummm, maybe I ought to start nameing some of these logs. yeah? Vicki wants this log as plum as possible. got it. Later on they put a lot up on top of this and the other one like it and that is my entry to the Kitchen. yep, a big kitchen for all the parties we're going to have.l
"all right........let her down just so....."
This is the SIDE of our bedroom and two lovely windows too see the view again. the logs on the left will be cut off some, but for construction...this is what it is now.
now watch this.....that big ol boom truck thingie.....wonderful equipment....moves that log that has been cut to fit SMACK on top of those windows. that are plumb.
and there she is.....good, eh?

Another stem wall.

It was a little drizzily day and now that I know of these cool kine cement long arms....I stopped and took a few pictures. this is the Catholic Church in the background. This building will be used for when folks come a long ways and need a place to change before going into the Temple. It also will be a place for folks to leave their little ones while they attend the Temple and some will be sealed to their parents later that day or evening.
It's been interesting to see this go up as well. or go down, as it looks here. they just pilaled a bunch of crushed rock and then did the walls and now the cement floor ..........still don't like basements. but it's good for them.
you can see them using that little red box and getting the cement in the walls.
and the cement going up it's little pathway to the stem walls. cool. Nauvoo Temple in background.

Talent Show on Sat. Night

Well, folks, not enough to do on Saturday, besides being in that VERY FUN Fashion Show and working on the round house, but we were in this Talent show at night. Alan Birdsall played the Bass I made a while back and we sounded quite good...Tomasi on harmonica and I on the lap Dulcimer.

Nauvoo Women's 1st Annual FASHION SHOW.

MORE then a few months ago, when there was snow on the ground, we said we'd be in this little fashion show. Sounded like fun and Vicki was going to make some little vests for Bob, her dog. I was going to model some of my dresses and that was that. welllllllllllll it was quite a production and BAMB............it took up a pile of time and as we went through the practice on Friday, I complained more. hrumph..."why do I sign up for stuffs in the winter, when I knew I'd be soooooooooo busy with this house.....???" but it was a blast on Saturday at 11 a.m. There were almost 50 folks there and my friends had a good laugh and so did I. this was our line up in the end.
Here I am with Sue. She was not in it, but did some announcing. and laying out the goodies for the little snack lunch after the show.
The lineup of the 4 designers is here. Nadine Kline, Vicki (for Bob the dog) Myself and Denise Felt.

Here I am in my last costume, my shawl that I made years ago, and when I came out, Sue and other friends all had a great laugh, and that's fine with me. I was laughing well myself.
folks, if we didn't have enough to do, Vicki and I signed up for this little Fashion show. Above here is Silent Bob in his TUXIDO....Vicki made this the night before after working so much on my house all week long.
One of my favorite outfits is my dress with a shawl worn sideways.
Cute Vicki and Bob. He really was the star of the show.
My casual dress, I make these so I can have my pockets and keep my keys there. I came out pretending to be talking on my cell phone.
Vicki has many outfits for this dog and maybe if others knew about it, they'd buy the ones that she has at the Women's Guild that are for sale.

more walls and logs

Ralph, (the monkey) zapped up that wall and stomped on that end of the log wall......it was not enough power, so he had Jack, the boom truck guy, pound on it with the end of the loader. hoooooooooo boy.
Ralph aiming to see where it needs to be set down.
fitting that stubborn top end. You can see the clouds darkening.
they did several heavy duty screws in here.
Tomasi suggested putting this board up and he pushing it. good idea, it worked, Tongan style. Last log wall in. WHOOOOOOOOOOOPIES. AND YES, we'll see these log walls inside and out. Chinking will follow. you'll see all that when we're doing it.
this is the LAST pine panel in the living room. It had to fit "just right" and as Tomasi and Alan did the last panel building, it was not quite "square". oh well, the challenge. Tomasi (Hercules strength) pulls the log wall away to set in this panel.
Ralph cutting off a premade corner. Jack running the boom truck.
here she goes into this wall.
and setting her in.
After the inside walls were built, Ralph tacked these down. We're expecting wind and rain in the next day or two. Clouds were gathering as we did the last working here.
these are the three guys that worked Saturday afternoon. these are the inside part of the ROUND. This will be a door to the guest bedroom. Tomasi and Alan would hoist up the frame with the log at the top and it would be set on the anchor bolt thingie.
more of the same.
It needs to be put in JUST RIGHT and Ralph is hammerjanging it here.
Tomasi said he's not going to smile on this one. hrumph. Ralph can do anything.
setting it in just right another panel.
This is Sat. Morning and we have a new worker, Alan that will be working with Vicki and Tomasi. Ralph is only home on the weekends. Tomasi works in his shoes sometimes, but shoe of choice is slippers. He stood on this log to make it "flat" so Alan could hammer those in. This was the first and last pine log wall to be made and will go up on the other side of the house.
Alan hammering and Tomasi standing. How I've loved these Tongan Feet.
the workers on this last log wall. they were all cut and sanded on the inside, but now nailed and glued in.
more of the close up of these gorgious tulips. At night, they all close up.
Tulips looking towards the Mississippi and the statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith......depicting them going to Carthage Jail under false charges, on June 26, 1844.
On Saturday, I passed by our lovely Nauvoo Temple adn all the tulips are in full blast bloom. you can also see one of my inspirations for round top windows and doors.
Saturday was an overcast day....but the flowers I could not resist. tulips last for such a short time.
Now this is the last shot of the day before it rained. ahhhhhhhhhh.
This is the only log wall that is built of OAK. wayyyyyyy heavy. and very tricky to put in this spot betweek the front door panel where Vicki is standing and the guy up on the ladder is. beautiful hand hewn logs here.
My outhouse that got deleivered. facing the Mississippi. this was on Friday. When I came, the guys had just deleivered it and had it facing the house. I asked to have it turned around and bamb, it was done.
the last log put on by the boon truck..........and this will be the window that I'll look out of when I do my dishes. yeahsville.
Vicki checking how things fit.
This is one charmer of a young man. He mostly runs the boon truck. His name if Michael (forgot the last name now) but he's 22 years old and plays many instruments. He asked if he could follow me to my house and see my dulcimers. He'd not played a harp before and figured that out real fast. Then said, "can I try your funny looking bass? and you play the harp and I'll play the bass." zowie, he boomed away on that bass. wayyyyyyyyyy fun wonderful young man. this guy knows how to DO SOMETHING.
here he is again, handsome Michael.
this is a post that will be on one side of my kitchen.
This is another angle to see the last walls done on this day and it was a warm day. I'd stand in the middle of the circle and could hear an echo..........ahhhhhhhhh, accustics will be awesome.
this dirt will be moved around....I want to have a big porch out frount. either wood or the many flat stones that came from diging the foundation.
shot from the road looking up.
screwing in the rebar thing. I'm amazed on how these walls are put together. with HUMUNGUS screws and are solid. zowie
It's being put in place.
ONE HARD WORKER here. climbs up these walls like a little boy up a tree house. here's the other stained glass pannel, the last arched window that will go here. what a beautiful day, eh?
prep for the last window pannel, the stained glass one above.
now THIS IS A HACK SAW OF WONDER. I had to go to Fort Madison to get "extenders" for the rebar steel things that anchored into the cement. These were too short and had to have an extender put on. tricky.
a good shot of the five arched windows
I wonder how much these log walls weigh? 2-3 thousand pounds? that boon truck was invaluable.
Dave the log man in the center. This is the log that will be on our bedroom side. they are putting this log on two rebars that are anchored to the cement. Tomasi helping in the green shirt. Wonderful to use that heavy duty equipment. ...a boon? You can see the wall panels that have been made for the inside of the circle laying on the right side.
Putting in the last of the round top windows and Vicki helping to guide it onto the rebar thingies.
okay, it's just right.
Tomasi dreaming of what he's going to plant up on the hill above the house......He can make a chair out of anything, this is a cut off of these beautiful 1750 pine logs.
Dave the log man.........making the wall that will be where my antique sink will face and the window will be right there. I'll not cover these with cabinets, but shelves and let all see my Aunt Myrtle Apple dishes.