It's cold in here. It's always cold in here. I'm sitting on the couch, looking out our big windows at the skeletal trees shaking their branches in the wind. The snow's melted for now, and the brown grass and decomposing leaves add to the chilly feeling. Past the treetops in the distance we can see the tippy-top of the barely snow-covered Cadillac Mountain. Looking down from the window the playground is icy and a lone pink bicycle is propped in the bike rack underneath the basketball hoop. We live above the school. It's a nice, roomy apartment with two bedrooms and an open kitchen and living space, but I can't wait to move into our new house.
When might that be? Hopefully a year or two. We'll see. Right now our foundation is frozen in the ground. Inside the foundation we're piling up freshly cut timbers, ready to be carved into each piece of our timber-frame. A week ago we started cutting and carving the braces. That was a long time coming, but we're finally working on the frame! I have a stack of partially done braces waiting for me in the workshop, but I'm not in any particular rush to get out into the cold this morning.
A little over a year ago Jason and I began the long process of building our house. We started by working with the amazing designer (and my little sister) Laura Eysnogle on designing our house. We gave her way too many perameters in which to work: under 2,000 sq. ft., preferrably around 1,500; a story and a half, not too boxy, please; big kitchen and open living spaces; easily heatable; numerous entrances so we don't have to carry the day's work into the house (which I hope to keep somewhat tidy); and the plan needs to be compatible with a timber frame. Easy. Right, Laura? She did it, and we are so pleased! I cannot wait to live in the space she designed for us!
Soon after finalizing the plans, Jason began to speak to our neighbors about harvesting trees from their land. We offered to thin over-crowded spaces in their wood lots and clean-up blow downs in return for the wood. During weekends and vacation days we loaded the pick-up truck with chaisaws and other tools for cutting up trees and we headed out to spots all over the island to begin cutting down the logs that would become the pieces of our house. I loved this work. The snow was deep and the air was frigid, but we were warm as we dragged brush into piles and cleaned up trees, preparing them to be dragged out of the woods. When the snow began to melt, Jason retrofitted the tractor with an 8,000 pound winch and we struggled to drag the wood out to the road. There are still piles of logs waiting for us all over the island, and we're slowly getting through them, turning each log into a timber.
No, it's not the easiest way to go about building a house, but it's always an adventure! Soon I'll get up and work on cutting those braces, but for now I'll enjoy another cup of tea and maybe I'll fry an egg from our flock of chickens. What a pleasure it is to laze about on the Sunday before the week of February vacation!
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