Going to town is such a depressing business. Every one is complaining about the recession, lack of work and how bad things are. Here by me paying work is also slow, only coming in drips and drabs (It is because all my clients also believe in this recession thing, as invented by the big spin doctors in the States and prescribed by the media). I thought a good way to beat the recession that everyone talks about, would be to work on my new house again. I’m not sure exactly how that will beat the recession but at least I won’t be hearing and hence thinking about it! I love being down there by my half built wooden house next to the river. All I hear is the sound of running water, birds chirping; occasionally monkeys chattering and laughing at me (that’s only when I arrive in the mornings. When I start swinging my hammer, they normally go. Guess it gets boring to watch me).
Have wood, have nails, have tools, no problem. I bought all the roofing materials and a pile of plywood for flooring during the boom times, so no need to spend major bucks at this stage. If I run out of wood, I can always fire up the sawmill. I know of some Pine trees that can come down if need be….

I’m very excited about my new water supply. With much sweat, I rerouted the overflow from my dam via pipes and trenches to come out uphill from the house. I now have a steady stream of water flowing right next to the house which then joins the little river in front of the house. Because it is quite a steep drop, I could make a little waterfall. Now, when I stand in the house, I hear water all the time. To have water on tap in the bathroom, I just have to stick a pipe into the stream and through the wall. Open the tap and voila, a steady flow of spring water, 24/7! And to think, these are drought times. I could actually have the stream flowing through the house if I want! Maybe do some crazy water feature.

The roof is almost done now so things will stay dry and I can work in the shade. Got to start on wall cladding and flooring. All the floor joists are in place so I can lay plywood. Also 4 exterior doorframes with doors and I don’t know yet how many windows. And so on and so forth. Enough work to last me until the end of the recession and beyond!

Might have to start the veggie garden and become a vegetarian sooner than I thought!!

I’ll tell you one thing, this is no baby elephant. It is not even one of those Indian circus elephants. It is one motherfucker African elephant! Which makes me think of something else. Why is it that they write f@#k? The writer thinks it and says it. The reader thinks it and says it. So if everyone is thinking and saying it, you might as well just write fuck. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the big elephant. Parts of it are really tough and I’ve had to chew my mouthful long and slowly and well. Off course, the hot weather has not really been conducive to developing a large appetite.
I’ve had to move the crane affair 4 times to get all the ridge beams up. The contraption has been working so well, I’ve also used it to get the 90 x 200 x 4.8 rafters in place. All 40 of them! It is been quite a tiring business and I have some new pains in places I never knew existed. I now suffer from permanent hammer elbow but the heavy framing is finally finished! Hallefuckinglujah!! My next party trick will be to get that pile of shutter ply on top of the rafters. I don’t know how yet and I’d rather not think about it right now…

I started a habit of lunchtime siestas – powernaps and don’t feel too guilty. Start work at 7 in the morning and finish around the same time at night. After supper and dishes and looking at the kids’ drawings and throwing a stick for the dog and telling the wife she’s pretty, I normally find a second breath and go spend an hour or 2 in the workshop. Blame it on the fact that I don’t have TV plus the missus disappears into her studio to paint. So what the hell else am I supposed to do!

Tell you another thing. If you complain of not having enough time to spend behind the bench, sell the TV. You’ll have some money to buy timber with and a lot more time in which to be creative. Amen.

While pondering how to get the ridge beam 4m into the sky, I lit my pipe and then started wondering why any sane person would want to ponder something like that. Why would one man want to build a complete wooden house by himself? Not just the house, also the doors, the windows, the furniture, everything. To top it all off, why would he also want to sawmill every single plank and beam from trees that he harvested himself?

Obsession, a lack of money, the feeling of self sufficiency, the urge to create something unique, some primeval instinct for shelter, a quest for achievement, a strange desire to be in total control, a dissatisfaction with the work ethics of others. It is probably a combination of all these that turns me into a masochist and workaholic. There is probably a whole list of things I can’t think of right know. My wife reckons it is a strange kind of vanity – that I think the work of others is simply not good enough. I might agree with her. I know some true craftsmen but I can’t afford them.

To have a dream and vision is of course very important. It is also the easy part. It needs to be followed by hard work, more hard work, determination and all the other big words. We’ve all read them. The phrase I like is “One must do whatever it takes.” That is a real important one if you want to realize that vision. I always try to snap out of all the deep thinking while the going is still good. Too much thinking can become dangerous and then nothing will get done. Safer to ponder practical challenges….

So how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! The ridge beam is 120mm x 300mm by 4.8m solid Pine, quite a hefty piece of wood. I could hardly lift on end off the ground, what you mean get it 4m into the sky on top of two notched posts. I dragged that mother with my trusty rusty Ford bakkie up the hill, then levered and rolled it into position next to the posts. One bite at a time. I borrowed some of the future rafter beams and spent pretty much the rest of the day building and rigging a crane with two sets of pulleys. As they say in the classics, in the dying light of the day, I finally hoisted that beam into place, one bite at a time. It dropped into the notches with a very satisfying kethunk! Sweet satisfaction of a challenge overcome and a job well done! Hey, maybe that’s why I do it….

P.S. I think the wifey took a picture of the whole crane affair. I’ll see if I can get it to post in the photo gallery.