Third Day on the Alaskan House

Breakfast that morning was scrambled eggs, bacon and/or caribou sausage and toast. 

And coffee, of course, if you wanted it. This was Jonathan's plate.

He is soooo patient with me taking pictures of his plates for my blog!!!

But I HAD to get a picture of that caribou sausage patty! I had one, too, and it was mmmmm!

Ladies in the kitchen after taking orders from each guy.

Here I'm taking my turn at the stove in the kitchen, scrambling eggs for someone's breakfast. 

Kim and Alanna working on breakfast orders.

Lots of space!

So much got done on that first full day of work!

They put up most of the wall, all the trusses except what needs to be done after the porch is added,

and half the roof!

With rain in the forecast, beginning at midnight, the crew knew we had to work quickly to get the house dried in.

Soon the second half of the roof was on, but they could not set the last wall panels until the lumber and drywall for the inside of the house had been brought over with the forklift and lifted in.

Young men did the unloading and lifting of the drywall and lumber.

Thankful for all the helping hands!

Sam sawing notches into the plywood strips that filled in between the tops of the walls and the bottom of the trusses under the eaves.

He also was the one to help set the last set of wall panels. He's the one just inside the window, lifting the over-the-window panel toward its spot.

It was very, very hard to get that panel to fit exactly where it needed to be, to slide into its notch.

He got it, without dropping it!

More wall panels are getting done.

 This is what has to happen before some of the panels went up--

shaving off the stuff in the middle.

A happy boy swinging from the chandeliers!

Sam right up there at the peak, helping get the center and final wall panel set over the doorway.

 Tramping it down into place!

Happy missionary father helping get the tarps up for temporary.

Boys resting. Two are Smith boys from South Dakota.

As we stood around about 6:00 to rest, we broke out into the Doxology,

thankful for the Lord's help in getting the house to this point before the rains and wind began,

which they did, before midnight.

Wonder who this is under his nice hat?

Second Work Day in Alaska

The first morning the whole crew was in Alaska, they were already done with the floor the night before, so they could start putting up the insulated wall panels. 

Sam and Kyle carrying wall panels where they need to be. They laid them in order by number, as the panels came as a kit.

 Here the guys are working on setting up the first one.

This one is most important because if you get it square and straight, it will be the pattern for the rest.

Unfortunately, the first couple panels were swollen with moisture and were difficult to get up right.

The second piece was a  narrow one, and the guys had to pound it in together to the other one with a sledge hammer.

"There goes our trusses!" one man moaned as he envisioned spending an hour on each wall panel and not getting to the trusses for a very long time, maybe not till the next day.

Jonathan is checking the level. Is it straight?

Now the third piece sets up the corner.

The worst panels were the first, and before long, three sides of the house were up.

Jonathan seems to be reading the house plans to try to figure things out.

Keith Lavery had begged for Jonathan to come help on this trip because many of the guys were willing to help but needed someone to tell them how to do it and how to get started.

Danny bringing a ladder over to the back of the house for setting up the first truss.

Another scene of the house with the tall spruce and blue Alaskan sky behind.

Checking again with a level to make sure the Alaskan Insulated Panel is level. 

I was so proud of Sam for being willing to be one of the ones up high to help set the first truss.

I remember twenty and ten and five years ago, it was Jonathan up there like that, and now Sam is up there while Jonathan directs and helps from below.

It's such a tremendous experience for our boys to be along to help.

Keith's sister Kim is the lady in the striped shirt.

Jonathan right in the middle of the truss.

Despite their fears first thing in the morning, this many walls and trusses were up before lunch!!!!

That was some outstanding work!

I loved this afternoon photo, capturing the sun's rays beaming down like a blessing on the project.

I don't know how many trusses and roofs Jonathan and crews have put up for missions. 

What a blessing!

By suppertime, this is what it looked like.

And this is what Danny's fort and road looked like that he'd been building behind the house with sticks he whittled while the guys put up trusses.

He gathered lots of these red berries from the woods, to be the "soldiers," he said.

First Work Day in Alaska

Sometimes it sounds as if Alaska is this romantic, fun, faraway place where you can fish for humongous fish all day, see grizzly bears at Denali Park, and enjoy life.

The truth is that Alaska is a lot of work, and this year there has been rain and rain and rain,

and therefore mud and mud and mud on the driveway to the house we were working on. 

And don't forget the constant attacks by mosquitoes every time you go out the door.

I dropped Jonathan at this house and then Danny and I had to go back to get our boots.

Thankfully, we'd thought to bring boots along.

The missionaries had lived in this basement all during last year's long Alaskan winter.

The "roof" of flooring and plastic had leaked, and now there were puddles and ponds of water all over the top of it.

The rest of the crew wasn't going to be arriving till that evening, and Jonathan did not know where to begin.

"I don't know what to do," he said. Most of both missionary families in the area were busy at school, and the father of the family who lived in this house was gone all the way to Fairbanks to get material. 

He'd had trouble with his brake caliper two days earlier, burning it up and nearly burning his truck up in the process. He had to repair that and stay overnight because he hadn't been able to get to Home Depot in time before it closed.

Gingerly, Jonathan started untacking lath strips holding the plastic down. 

Gingerly, Danny and I started shoveling water off the roof.

I also drove back to where we were staying to get a broom to sweep the water off.

 Jonathan unscrewing the lath.

Another way to do it!

Uncertain whether to pull the plastic off yet in case it started to rain, we waited until after lunch when the weather cleared, and Jonathan peeled back half the plastic and began the task of unsrewing all the temporary and borrowed plywood that was too thin for flooring anyway, in preparation for putting down the new, thicker, permanent flooring on top of the basement.

The wall panels lying all over the "roof" of the basement were there, ready to be set up. 

They were called SIPs panels, (Structural Insulated Panels) with 8 inches of insulation between the plywood sides. Each panel was heavy!

Finally we had reinforcements!

Keith Lavery of Society of Indian Missions is the one who called Jonathan about joining a crew he was putting together to help another missionary family in Alaska. 

Sam was flying up from Denver with ten of the crew, with more to arrive on Monday of the next week.

We were so grateful when the rest of the crew showed up that evening!

They didn't even wait for supper. They just fell right to work, determined to get as much done as they could in the week they were there!

Not a lazy bones among them.

That crew was one motivated crew!

And I was so proud of our 13-year-old Danny! He was such a big helper to Jonathan that first day or two. He's helping roll a log underneath the wall panels that had to be taken off the "roof" and stacked ready to set up the next morning.

He also helped with moving the plywood flooring pieces.

And putting beads of glue on the joists before the guys put down the flooring. 

Taking our children with us on these trips is wonderful!

Sam arrived that evening as well.

Back at the house where the crew was staying, I had spent most of the afternoon unloading and organizing groceries that had been bought for the crew, and making pies and jellos ahead.

The crew chose to pay for all their own food except for the meat the missionaries were supplying. 

One of the missionaries had gone hunting for caribou a couple weeks earlier, on purpose to have caribou sausage and roasts for the crew!

Here is a moose stew meat for stew!