Work Weekend - May 9, 2009

Hooray for melted snow! Ah, the sounds of spring - birds chirping, frogs peeping, the rustling of new leaves in the gentile breeze, the sweet smell of sawdust, and the first firing of the generator after a long winter. That's right, winter is officially over! And as any true-blooded New Englander knows, if it's not winter it must be construction season. This weekend we had a crew up at Jackson shaking the cobwebs off and making more good progress. Work this weekend included putting another good dent in the siding, installing cabinets, and getting a good start on the entry stairs & landing.

Pictures can be found here.

Progress? Not really. But you should have seen the view...

From October 4-5, 2008

A couple brave souls fought leaf-peeper traffic to get a little done on the cabin this weekend.  We continued working on the finished floor, as well as put in the tile hearth/base for the woodstove.  

The real star of the show was without a doubt Mother Nature, as foliage was near peak and the weather was somewhat cooperative.  A sampling of the pictures I took can be found here.

We're baaaaack!

Happy Autumn, NHOCers!  The return of Fall brought some great weather and renewed progress on the new Jackson Cabin.  This past weekend we had a stalwart crew of seasoned vets (alumni) and plucky new recruits (undergrads) come together to get some solid work done.  The entire cabin had been Tyveked a few weeks ago by a fresh crew of undergrads, and their continued work this weekend shows they're serious about bringing back the old school cabins love.  Now that's something EVERYONE can agree to vote for this season!

We began putting up the cedar shakes (siding), and just about finished one side of the cabin.  We also got most of the exterior trim up, installed the 'through the wall kit' for the stove pipe / chimney, and got another 1/3 of the finish floor screwed down.  

In two weekends (October 4 - 5) we'll be back up there hoping for good weather and another solid weekend of work.  We'd love to see you there!

Click here for pictures from the weekend

Summer 2008 season is underway!

Hello everyone!  

Jackson cabin has survived another north country winter, and we're back at it for another season of building.  With any luck, this fall we'll be able to have our grand opening celebration!  We'll keep everyone posted on just when that might be, but at the moment Columbus Day weekend seems like a likely possibility.  

We have had two productive weekends of work so far this spring.  The windows are all in, and we have actual locking doors!  Over the last two work weekends, we've done some major cleanup inside, and even begun putting the finished floor down on the first floor.  Pictures of all the work can be found by clicking on the links on the right side of the page.

Over the next couple months, our goal is to get the windows and doors trimmed out inside and out, and get to putting up the siding.  After that - it's just finish the floor, put in the chimney, and install the kitchen!  We are psyched to have this cabin so close to being done!!!

With Cabins Love,

NHOC Cabins

Progress update and new pictures

Hello NHOCers!

Despite some rather heavy rains this Saturday, we had a very productive weekend. First and most importantly: We picked up our new wood stove and got it inside the cabin! In the next couple of work trips we're hoping to have the cabin weather tight - which means that when that does happen, we'll be able to heat it and work on the interior much more comfortably through the winter.

A big NHOC KA-OOOOOOO-WAHHHH!!! and thank you to Beth and Ron Blankenstein of Concord who donated the stove. Thanks to their generosity thousands of NHOCers will be warm and toasty on cold February nights for decades to come.

We also managed to get both of the large trapezoidal windows put in, as well as the other smaller trapezoidal window and the fixed window up high on the deck gabled end. All we have left now are the doors and a couple smaller (and simpler!) windows. After that we'll put in our chimney and then be ready to start siding.

Pictures of this past weekend can be found here.

I hope this update finds you all in good health and happiness, making the most of this beautiful New England autumn!

Peace, Love, and Cabins,

NHOC Cabins

Jackson Work Weekend Oct 27-28

Hope to see you all there!

Also, we have new pics from a previous work weekend at the new pic page.

Work Weekend Sept 22-23

Just wanted to let everyone know we'll be up there working at Jackson next weekend. Hope to see you there!

Labor Day Weekend Update

Well we survived another long weekend of work at the new Jackson, and lucky for all of us, so did the new cabin. It was a tough weekend on the equipment and the local parasitic wasps, but in the end we had some really good stuff happen, like....

WE HAVE A WELL!!!! WITHOUT HAM!!! Yes, we put in a well at the new cabin. And no, this one has not had a ham dropped in it. (Anyone caught within 100 feet of the new well with ham will be drowned in the old well) Even without the new cabin this development is a significant improvement over the old Jackson Cabin. Add to this the fact that this well will be permanently sealed, yet easily accessible thanks to a soon to be installed Simple Pump (which is freeze-proof and capable of pumping water all the way up to the new cabin).

We mouse-proofed the area between the sill and the siding with 1/4" rat wire. Hopefully this will help keep the mouse infestation at bay for years to come.

So we were running out of funding, right? How the heck did we afford a well? Glad you asked. We'd like to give a huge thank-you to the Barker Foundation for donating $3,500 to the Jackson Cabin Fund. Their generous gift will help pay for the wood stove and chimney, kitchen amenities (including our new stove, pots, pans, and cabinets), the well, repairing the damage we've done to the access road (which we don't own), and the purchase of some new mattresses to fill out the new loft!

Also, in addition to the old pictures page, new pictures can be found here. Sorry for the two separate pages, but putting pictures onto Picasa has proven much quicker/easier/better than Photobucket (at least for those of us in Mac land).

Until next time, remember this:

"Work is reverence for this life. Play is reverence for our place within it."

Peace, love, and timber frames to you all,

NHOC Cabins

Work Weekend Update

Hey Everyone! We here at the NHOC Cabins hope that everyone is having as wonderful (and less busy) of a summer as we are. This past weekend we finally made it back up for another work weekend. There were five of us who tackled a couple of tedious but necessary tasks over the course of a weekend of nothing but absolutely beautiful Jackson weather. At one point as I sat on the deck, a handful of woodpeckers were busy finding dinner in the birch trees just downhill of the new cabin. A tiny hummingbird hovered around one woodpecker in particular, quickly darting from one side of the tree to the other, and then back again as if admiring the woodpecker's skill. A red squirrel bounded up within 5 feet of me to inspect such a strange two legged creature so quietly watching the forest around him...

O.k. - I'm back. Here's what you're really after....PICTURES FROM THE WEEKEND!

Secondly, we're already planning our next work weekend. OUR NEXT WORK WEEKEND WILL BE LABOR DAY WEEKEND. We'll be there all three days (Sat., Sun., Mon.) so any day that you can come up and help would be fantastic! If you are planning on coming, send us an email at NHOCCabins@gmail.com so we can get a rough idea of how many people to plan for.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see all of you up at the cabins soon!!!

NHOC Cabins

Cabins Update with Pictures from our last work weekend!

Hey Everyone,

By now everyone should know there are only two seasons in New Hampshire: Winter and Construction Season. Last I checked, there was no snow to be found and that can only mean one thing...We're back at work on Jackson Cabin! Over the weekend of June 16-17th six motivated alumni (and two very lazy dogs) got a heck of a lot of work done on the new cabin. We were able to fully insulate and sheath the east and west sides of the new cabin (the two non-gabled ends), finish framing the north (deck side) gabled end, and get a good chunk of the interior wallboard up on that gabled end as well. Pictures can be found here.

Here's a fun fact I was thinking about this past weekend while working on the cabin: This project truly does bridge the gap between not only alumni / current student, but it also bridges the generational gap. Since we've begun work, we've had UNHers ranging from the classes of the mid 1970's all the way up to the class of 2010...almost a 40 year span! Besides the obvious learning experience of actually building a cabin, we've all been able to learn about and experience first hand the past, present, and future of UNH through the New Hampshire Outing Club. Thanks again to everyone who has brought sweat, insight, and connection to this amazing project.

Remember to check back often for updates and pictures this summer!