Up Stairs

The upstairs has started

 

 

More Framing

 Framing .................

 

Placing the biggest beam downstairs to support the loads. The upstairs floors will have radiant heat in them, and will be extremely heavy. Later this summer we will have pictures of the gypcrete and the radiant heating that make it so heavy

                                The second beam is now in place, and all of the downstairs walls are finished.

                                    Got a lot of rain Tuesday and Wednesday, but the crew worked right through it.

                                    These last two pictures show the joists all in place. The decking is going on late Friday and Monday, then the upstairs walls will begin. Now that the downstairs walls and joists are finished, the basement walls are secured enough to backfill the surrounding areas, and build up the soil around the basement and get the grading and drainage started. The black plastic material you see below is the waterproofing, and basically shows where the backfilling will occur, and the finished level of the soil around the house.

Framing has started

Lumber delivery and framing has started

                                The fog rolled in and a heavy mist started the day. Not really typical according to the                                         locals

                            The lumber truck from Spenard Building Supply has the heavy duty telescoping crane.                             He delivered the stick lumber for the basement build out

                                    Then the truck with all the roof trusses showed up

                        It took everyone to get all the trusses off the truck and stacked out of the way

That's Les watching the framers work on the lower level of the house and the gorgeous view.

 

Helping out with some of the easier work

The next day was beautiful, and the crew got a new guy from Paris Texas

The framing crew leader, Ken (on top), is a real perfectionist. Everything has to be level and square. He is a part owner of the contracting company we hired.

Turned the corner, starting to be able to see the window and door locations for the 2 guestrooms

Tilting up another panel that was built on the ground, then put into place and secured

 

Denali National Park and beyond

 Our friends Don & Debbie came for a visit.

But first a pic with the grand kids  when we were home for a visit in Texas.

Denali

Formerly known as Mount McKinley. 20,310 feet tall, the tallest mountain in North America.

McKinley National Park was created in 1917, in honor of former President McKinley. In 2015. President Obozo renamed the National Park and the Mountain to Denali, which is the original Athabascan name

 We took the 8 hour bus ride into Denali and saw the mountain. I (Nancy) was so excited to see it so close up. We'd seen it from far away and then as we flew over from Fairbanks but this was the best. As it is in a National Park, masks were still required everywhere. The park is over 6 million acres or wilderness, so must still be a Covid hotspot.

                            It is estimated that less than 30% of all the people who visit Alaska ever get                             to see the entire mountain, as it it so tall it creates it's own weather and is                                 usually shrouded in the clouds

We took a hike

Sled Dog kennels.

                                The dogs at Denali are actually working dogs. All winter long there are                                     sled dog teams that patrol the park with Forest Service Rangers to                                         prevent poaching and other illegal activities in the park while the roads are all closed.

Beaver Dam

The Horseshoe Lake loop trail is a great hike, it takes you through the forest and around the lake to the Nenana River. We saw a mother moose with her calf in the lake, along with several Beaver damns

                                Of coarse we had to enjoy a cold beer after the long hard day of hiking and                                 sightseeing.

Katmai National Park and Brooks Falls

Katmai is about 290 miles Southwest of Anchorage and is only accessible from the air or water. It is about an hour and a half flight from Homer. Katmai is a little over 4 million acres and contains thousands of brown bears. It also is famous for having many volcanoes, and Mt. Novarupta, which was responsible for the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century

Great picture of the Homer Spit from the float plane on our way to see the bears.

 

                            We did see the bears catch a few fish but the Salmon run really started a few days after                                 we left and is really strong now for any of you who want to watch it live streaming on the Explore.org webcam.

https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

Back in Soldotna

There is a Russian Orthodox Church in Soldotna, AK that we toured.

The Alyeska Tram in Girdwood is a nice day out.

Had to have a drink at the Salty Dawg!

The guys went fishing and caught a few fish. Halibut and Alaskan Cod.