August 31, 2008 - Lifting Poles (Part 3)

Despite a busy work week, Jeff was able to lift the third lifting pole into place on Friday, August 29th. Having more leverage from a higher tree behind and after learning a few things from the first two, this one went up considerably easier. He had the help of Michael, a friend of ours up here who is a contractor and recently finished building his house. Using the come-along and tree behind, all went as planned. Jeff using the come-along. Michael manning the lines. On Sunday, with the help of Mike McCarthy, Michael and six of his buddies, the fourth log was raised.

While its so nice to have so many volunteers, it turned out to be a few "too many cooks in the kitchen." It was tough to keep everyone communicating and on track especially when Michael and his buddies were all speaking Slovakian to each other.

So, unfortunately, one of the guys loosened a line at the wrong time and when the pole was gettting close to vertical, it swung over to one side. They had to lower it and start over. Jeff was not too happy to have to pull it up all over again, but most important nobody was hurt and the log was not damaged.

So, finally all four lifting poles are up and we are on to the next stage of the process. Next - Hiring the grader to level out the basement floor and hopefully dig the utility trenches at the same time, drag a few logs to each side to get them into position, and start stacking logs.