Tuesday, August 2: Larry’s Fishcamp Cabin Update

 Monday we goofed off and only helped to paint one of Fishcamp Larry’s two cabins for guests. Primer and final coat, done by hand. In Larry’s case, literally by hand as he did all of the trim work while I just used the roller. Today we finished the job. I reinstalled the electrical outlets, switches, and new light while Larry cleaned and swept the floor of all the drywall debris. Then we both helped to move furniture and decorate and then clean all of the tools and miscellaneous from the front porches to make the cabins look welcoming. 

That was the little stuff and was over by 10:00 am. Then the grunt work began. Jim, one of Fishcamp Larry’s good buddies got on the tractor and started moving two by two by six inch blocks of concrete into position so we could lift cabin two up onto them and eliminate any wood to ground contact. We dug holes along side the building, tearing out grass and roots to make room for lifting equipment. With the help of a floor jack, like the ones used by Discount Tire when changing tires on a car, we lifted one side of the building enough to slide in three blocks of concrete along with several 2x6 planks to level that side. Then we did the same on the other side. Four hours later it was beer thirty! Shoveling dirt, sawing planks, carrying six by sixes and other wood parts made for a good days labor. When it came time for dinner we heartily ate the yellow curry chicken and rice Larry had prepared. Betsy even joined us in The Pit after an afternoon of geocaching in Homer. Good times! 

Master tractor magician Jim getting the end block in just so..

Larry, holding a shovel up, and a board down. Tiring work!


Jacking a building up isn’t as hard as it seems.

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