Musings

Unsquare Dance

 

Back in the mezozoic era when I was in college, I hosted a late night jazz show on the college station.  My theme song was a Dave Brubeck piece (as would be the case with any civilized person in that situation), in this case Unsquare Dance.  For whatever reason this tune, or more precisely the title, leaped into my head when I first saw the juxtaposition of the new and magnificent stone wall with the whomperjawed lean-to attached to the ancient log barn behind the root cellar/granary.  I’d always recognized it was a bit off-plumb, but goodness the comparison was sobering.  My desire to get it straightened out needed to become action.

About that time my younger brother came for a week-long visit.  We are pretty much two peas in a pod, although he is a better marksman than am I.  He is an excellent carpenter and builder, so once I knew his schedule I ordered some 2x8x8′ pressure treated SYP to use in building the new wall structure.

The strategy was to assemble  stick-built laminated beam to serve as the top plate for a post-and-beam configuration, about a foot inside the original wall.  But first we had to jack up the roof to some semblance of planarity, which we accomplished with hydraulic bottle jacks and extra 2x8s to wedge the roof to the height we wanted.  It took a day of gradual lifting, but we finally had it ready to work on.  The foot worth of swale was as gone as we could get it, and it was time for the hard work to begin.