Raising the Beam

The livingroom is wonderful. It has a beautiful big beam across it. This came from our land. We wanted a reminder of all the trees that we had to chop down to build our house.

Ray chopped it down and then while I was at home one day he hauled it into the house.

If you could see this thing you would be surprised. It is over 16' long and about 16" across. It is heavy! He was going to use a guy's truck to haul it over the yard and into the house. I objected, fearing he would wreck the truck! We tried pulling it across the yard, but put it aside.

Me Making a Sad Attempt at Moving the Log

The next day I come in and he says, "What's that stick doing in the livingroom." *grin* Cocky guy! I find he has manually hauled the log across the yard, up over a 2' step into the house. He peeled it before he did this.

Log Peelings

The Log In the Livingroom

I wanted to wait until the older boys and the employee were there so it would be easier and not so scary! But he knew we could do it! *laugh* So we got the three little ones outside holding a rope and hauling while we lifted from the other side. I am sure that their little bodies couldn't do much but they liked helping.

Big Helpers

He and I worked as a team and lifted that log up 8' to the top of the wall (on one side).

Beginning the Lift

Leaning On One Livingroom Wall

Half Way Up the Second Wall

It was resting there and then we worked the other side up. Boy it was so heavy that if we dropped it it would surely have crushed/destroyed one of our legs! Scary!



When that side was up it was not over yet. Now we had to move it across the top of the wall - 7 feet to the end of the wall. At the end of the wall was a drop off - it could roll right off! We got to the end with a lot of struggling and sitting on top of the wall to do this!

Note: the Lip On Each End of the Log!

At this point we had to drop each end into a slot that he had prepared. The overhang on each end was only 1.5". We could not afford to have it leaning too far to the right or left or when we dropped it the other end would catapult through the air! Finally it was done.

Well we thought it was! Not really - one end was too tight. We had to pull it up again and then Ray had to climb up on the wall and chainsaw the gap to fit better.

Chainsaw Ray Notching the Log

Now it was done. And it sure looked good. Ray has now peeled some more logs and he will be using them as posts at the bottom of the staircase.