December already?

Suprisingly the weather has been quite nice here in CC. We've had a few days of rain, so we've kept the tarps on the house for the most part. We've got one last section of roof that needs our 2X8's, so we've just been folding the tarp back from that section so we can work on it. Leonard was over on Saturday again so he and Dana got to be up on the roof while I ran the Gradall.

Here the guys are cutting the cedar fascia to put up on the front and sides of the dormer.

Here the guys are fitting all of the 2X8's in the valley on the south side of the dormer.


Dana and Leonard got the valleys on the south and north side of the dormer finished on Saturday. Then on Sunday I got to be the helper on the roof and we got some more of the 2X8's put up, working toward the edge of the dormer at the front of the house. We still have all of the blocking to do out on the edge of the dormer (I think there's pictures of what that looks like in my earlier postings from working on the other dormer). We had to quit early on Sunday afternoon because it started sprinkling a bit and got really slippery up on the roof. So we called it quits and pulled the tarp back over that section. We finished out the day working inside the house, we had one last window to frame up and get covered. We've been doing a little bit of work inside the house each night after work, but of course the bulk of it is still getting done on Saturday and Sunday. We'll have another full weekend again this coming weekend if the rains stay away. It's been a pretty dry winter so far, I hear we are really behind on our average rainfall, which is just fine by me! We'll cross our fingers that it stays this way for a while!

Finishing out November

Here are some more pictures and an update on our November progress:

We broke down and bought the Gradall that we used all summer. It just makes things so much easier, especially when Dana and I are trying to work by ourselves.

The winter rains have made parts of our yard a muddy mess.
A friend of ours has been nice enough to bring us some wood chips to spread out around the house. (Thanks Gavin!)
And, the dads have been playing around some more with the tractor. We've taken out some more of the alder trees close to the house, so they've been working on taking those stumps out.

Unfortunately I don't have many more pictures from this month. Dana's been putting me to work quite a bit, so I don't have much chance to take pictures. We've still been trying to work as much as we can, but of course it's getting dark around 5 now, so we don't have much daylight during the week. We spent the whole Thanksgiving weekend working on little things around the house. The weather was really nice over the weekend so we sprayed the house again. We had 2 coats of stain on there, but still needed to put the clear up. We got one coat of clear sprayed on about 1/2 of the house by Sunday night. And we pulled the tarps off of the roof to finish up some little things. We had some more blocking to finish on the roof and more A35 clips...I think we must have put up about 400+ of those now. It seems like there's still lots of little things to finish up that you just never get around to. Those little things take up a lot of time and don't show any progress! We got most of those things done and then on Monday morning we woke up to the prediction of rain! So, we scrambled around that morning to get the tarps spread back over the roof. We made it, and luckily so, because it actually rained pretty hard throughout Monday night. Everything stayed nice and dry though!

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

More roofing

We had very nice weather over the weekend, which helps a lot when trying to build a house. We've made some more progress, so here are some updated pictures.

Here, Dana and Leonard are working on the blocking for the north side of the roof. The dormer in the picture will be the master bedroom window.

They got the facia board up and the blocking completed on that section. You can see in this picture a big tarp on that south side dormer. Dana and I got that up last weekend before the rains hit. There is one spot on that dormer where water keeps leaking in somehow and running down one of the logs in the living room. It's driving me crazy! We also covered all of the door and window openings with some plywood to help keep the rains out this winter, remember it rains sideways here! We've still got so much work to do there's no way we'll get the windows in before the real winter weather hits.
Here, Dana and Harvey are up on the roof on the south side of the house. Getting ready to put up the facia board and start the blocking on the back side of the house.
Since Harvey was up on the roof all day, I got to baby-sit his little ones. They are very easily entertained and we had a fun day. Much easier than being up on the roof!
Poor Hagen...both girls have been a little shy with him, I think because he's so big. But today they had no problems crawling on him and posing for pictures with him!
Here's the guys putting the 2X8's up. My dining room is directly below this section of the roof they're working on. Harvey's up on the peak and Dana is working from the bucket on the manlift.

Ok, the peak of the roof is 27' in the air. That's my husband way up there in the manlift bucket. Crazy man!
Dana and I spent all day Sunday puting up A35 brackets. The entire back side of the house has now been completed (just as far as brackets go) and we started working on the front. We had to quit last night about 5:45 because it was too dark to see anymore. I hate winter time!

Tractor Work

Earlier this summer, we fell some trees behind the house that were much too close to where our deck will be. In between working on the roof, we've started digging out the stumps from those trees.

Here is a picture of some of those stumps before we started digging too much.

Frank helped out doing some tractor work while the guys were working on the roof. He must really like running that tractor, because on the day in question I came home from work to find him already digging with that backhoe. Before Dana even made it home from work, Frank already had the tractor stuck in the hole that we'd been digging!
Granted, it was a very deep hole!
Luckily, I have some four-wheeling experience, so we put some logs under the tires and were able to get it un-stuck before Dana even got home. My dad showed up and ran the "Heavy Chevy" to help pull the stump out. Here's my dad and Frank celebrating after getting the stump out of the ground.
One last trouble-some stump to go. Dana kept having to dig the hole deeper and deeper. No Frank's not kneeling in that hole-he's standing!
We finally got the stump loose in the hole, but it was heavier than the tractor, so we had a really hard time getting it out of the ground. Frank and Dana worked on getting all of the dirt possible out of the roots and then Dana took the chain saw to it and cut off as much as he could.
There are no pictures of the stump coming out of the ground, because by that time I was driving the Heavy Chevy with a rope and chain attached to the stump. The ground was pretty slippery since it's been raining, so it was really hard to get traction. After quite a few hard runs with the truck and Dana using the tractor bucket to help lift the stump, we finally got it out of the hole. And now there it sits, right next to the hole it came out of. We did fill in the hole with the now muddy dirt piled up next to it, but funny thing, there's just not quite enough. We've been getting a bit of rain the last few days, so it is getting very muddy.

Roofing

Our time right now is spent working on the roof system. Dana and Leonard have been putting up the 2X8's which are the foundation of the roof system. After the 2X8's go hundreds of A35 clips (little brackets to hold the 2X8's down), then our recessed lighting fits down in between the 2X8's, followed by the insulation, plywood, tar paper and finally, shingles.

Here the guys are working on the shed dormer. We've got the 2X8's and all of the A35 clips finished on this dormer. This was the easy one...only a 4/12 pitch roof. All of the other sections of the roof will be much harder - the rest is all 10/12 pitch.

Here's Leonard and Dana working on one of the valleys. Lots of extra angles and cutting here.

Working on the master bedroom dormer.

One side of the dormer done! (No A35 clips yet though...we've still got to find a way to put those up without falling off the roof)

Putting up the facia on the north side of the house. Gotta love having a man-lift and Gradall to help! It makes things much easier!

Staining

One of the big projects to get the house ready for winter is staining all of the logs. This doesn't sound like too horrible of a job, but it is a real pain in the rear! It is very time consuming as it has to be sprayed on and then back-brushed. (Like, meaning with a little, bitty paint brush by HAND!) If it's not back-brushed you get streaks over the house. The entire house gets two coats of stain, then a coat of special sealer over the log ends and then a coat of clear over the top. Here's some pictures of the staining process.

The other major project is getting a roof completed. Here's some pictures of Dana and Leonard working on the roof system over the shed dormer.

September progress

So, my original plan to post updates at least once a week has failed. At this point, I'll be lucky if I post once a month!

Here are a few more pictures from September. There's not much new to see. Everything seems to be going so slow right now, and we took some time off to go hunting.

The entire second story gets sheeted with plywood. When we get a chance we will cut the holes for the windows and then finish with half-logs over the top of the plywood. And, here are some pics of the inside of the house.

In memory of Bruno

This week Crescent City (and our country) lost a good man - Bruno de Solenni. Bruno was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday. We hear everyday on the news how many more soldiers have been killed, but it doesn't seem real until it hits close to home. I've known Bruno for more than 10 years. He was such a great guy and he always seemed to be in a good mood. This is such a sad time for his family and for all who knew him. Please take the time to read the letter below that Bruno sent just two weeks ago. Regardless of your point of view of the war, please think of our soldiers who are out there risking their lives while trying to make the world a safer place.

To our hero Bruno, you are always in our hearts.

Letter from Afghanistan
Published: September 22, 2008
Editor's note: This is the unedited version of the letter emailed to Triplicate reporter Adam Madison on Sept. 11 from Afghanistan by Capt. Bruno de Solenni of Crescent City.


Hi Adam, my name is Capt. Bruno de Solenni and I am writing you in regards to your article that I finally was able to read online.

I really wasn't sure what to expect, especially nowadays with some of the crap that you read in the news. I will say that I was surprised and pleased that it wasn't over-sensationalized and you kept a good theme on the topic.

I guess the main reason I am writing you is to thank you for your support and the point of view that you took on the article. I know that sometimes it is difficult to actually print something without being biased and taking just one side. But I will tell you the truth and give you an honest opinion about my life in the National Guard, about the war over here and many of the decisions leading to my third tour in the Middle East.

First off, when I first joined the National Guard, back in 1996, I had no idea that I would be here today. I do remember making the decision on Christmas Day when I was about 20 years old and felt like I was going nowhere with my life and needed to take a new direction. As my father and mother had stated earlier, I was always fascinated with history and the military, and was amazed at some of the hardships my grandfather endured in both WWI and WWII.

So the following Monday on the 26th I called a recruiter, and took the asvab test on the 27th in Eureka. Three days later I was down at the Oakland Meps station getting sworn in as a 62E (heavy equipment operator). When they asked when I wanted to go to Basic, I told them, "how about next week?" and they kind of laughed at me and explained that the soonest they could get me in was 30 days. On the 29th I boarded a plane and my life was forever changed, without me even knowing what lay ahead.

Eventually, a few years after joining, I did decided to go back to college at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Ore., where there was a GOLD (Guard Officer Leadership Development) program that allowed me to earn a federal commission as an Army officer while I continued to work toward my degree (which the National Guard also paid for).

In a sense, I was doing exactly what the National Guard said I could do if I joined … Finally, on May 11, 2001, I received my commission as a young, immature, 2nd lieutenant full of piss and vinegar still not knowing exactly what I was getting into.

When Sept. 11 happened, it was then that I realized that things were going to be very different for me and the rest of this country. One month later our battalion received the alert order that we would mobilize the following year to fill in on the current MFO (Multi National Force and Observers) mission in Sinai, Egypt. After returning from Egypt, I was home for eight months before volunteering again to go to Iraq for OIF II. It was there I truly (became) an infantry officer and learned a lot about myself and people in general.

Upon my return from Iraq, I was positive about what was going on there but very resentful at the way the media was covering the war over there. In my own view, I personally feel that some of the media deliberately fueled that war based on their own biased political views and I still hold them accountable for their actions.

Something that still upsets me is the fact that they exploited some of the crimes soldiers committed over there as a reflective view to the rest of the world of what our armies stood for. I am not saying that we didn't make mistakes, we did make them and we have painfully corrected them.

After returning from Iraq I took a break and just stuck to the one weekend a month traditional Guard and used my experiences from Iraq to lead a recon/sniper platoon out of the Grants Pass Armory for about 2.5 years. Then I received the opportunity to come to Afghanistan and work as an Embedded Trainer with the Afghanistan Army.

Some of the biggest dilemmas that I think we have faced here are mostly the fact that Afghanistan seems to have been put on the back burner up until a few months ago when the casualties here began to exceed those in Iraq where there are four times as many soldiers. Our true problems here are definitely reflective of the Pakistani border and the lack of troops covering it, which has been an issue for years and is being exploited by the Taliban as they train freely in Pakistan, unopposed by anyone.

In my opinion, Afghanistan does need a troop surge of American soldiers as well, otherwise we will only be able to sustain combat operations with minimal effect of containing Taliban insurgents. As I speak about this, these are only my views and opinions based on my experiences.

Even though I am now recuperating in the rear and doing fine, much of my time along with other teammates has been spent in the Helmand Province working with a handful of British soldiers in small isolated FOBs conducting offensive operations with the Afghan National Army. Our task is to mentor them during combat operations and to provide both air support and indirect fire support, which seems to sometimes be a daily necessity over here.

The good days over here are when we are truly sticking it to the Taliban in a firefight that is in our favor and you just dropped 130 105mm rounds on their position. Or when a ... hot F-15 pilot flies over your head strafing the Taliban with his Vulcan cannons.

The (bad) days are when you are covering up your your sergeant major from being exposed to the dust-out of a Chinook helicopter that is landing to medivac him out. At the same time he cries because he doesn't want to leave his team as he lies there half paralyzed with shrapnel in him, while fluids are coming out of his eyes and ears signifying severe brain trauma, (meaning we cant give him morphine).

The bad days are when you put your buddy in a body bag and you don't even recognize him because his limbs are missing and there holes in him everywhere. The miracles are when his last words are, "tell my wife and kids I love them," before he dies in his best friend's arms after struggling for several agonizing minutes to get the words out because there is a fist-size hole in his head.

And last but not least, the best days are when an Afghan comes up to you thanking you for everything that you have done to help them and for making their (home) a better place now that the Taliban are gone.

If anything, this is probably the biggest reason why I proudly enjoy being over here. I can't explain it to anyone and there is no description of what it feels like, but it was the same feeling I got when I was in Iraq as well. And I am sure it's the same feeling that generations of American soldiers before me have gotten as they fought and sacrificed their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy today.

Perhaps the biggest thing that has made being over here much more bearable, is the amount of public support that we have received from people. Getting a care package or a letter of support when you are out in the middle of nowhere from a complete stranger, thanking you, does make the day seem a little better.

I would especially like to thank my Aunt Jan Martin, and The local Troop Support organization who have provided care packages to soldiers serving overseas and have volunteered endless hours of their time and energy making our lives easier. The British soldiers (who don't get anything) are extremely grateful as well.

Along with this, I would especially like to thank the members of the VFW who donated several hundred dollars of G.I. shirts to the company of Afghans that I have been mentoring. You have all truly made my life and my job easier. Without your support, life would not be as pleasant.

Last but not least I would truly like to thank everyone who has supported the soldiers and the efforts toward supporting these wars even when there wasn't an end in sight. Until about 6 months ago there wasn't a news outlet that was saying that the Iraq war was winnable and that this was another vietnam in the making. Had we let the politicians get ahold of this war it would have been.

Fortunately our president (who is not perfect) has stood his ground against the naysayers who deliberately exploited the death of American soldiers for their own political gain, showing no regard to their families and loved ones who are still mourning them to this day.

I can understand what it was like for Vietnam veterans who returned from the war and were spat upon for wearing their uniform and standing up for what they believed in. Unfortunately this is still all-too-true for many of the British soldiers returning home to their own country. There are even certain ethnic religious neighborhoods where they cannot even wear their uniforms because they will be beat up in their own country.

I pray to God we never come to that and thank the fact that what has changed drastically between Vietnam and now is that even if the public doesn't support the war, they still support troops which makes a huge difference. This is especially comforting if you are one of those soldiers walking through the airport wearing your uniform and coming home on leave or returning from a deployment.

Once again, I cannot thank everyone enough for their support and all that they have done …
Sincerely,
Capt.
Bruno de Solenni