The next batch of lumber arrived; this is the tongue-in-groove which will line the covered porch ceilings. It's much easier to stain when the wood is on sawhorses on the ground than when it's installed and you have to protect the ground (patio) below AND stain above your head and from ladders or scaffolding.
Dad and I put in an afternoon of staining on the day the lumber arrived. Our builder moved all that aside to make room for Jörg and me to do the next round. We made an early start, leaving Livingston around 6:30 AM. We stopped at the Rosebud Cafe in Absarokee for a load of protein before arriving on site. By 9:00 AM we were on the job.
Now equipped with drying racks and more sawhorses, Joerg and I got a system going (we're a pretty good team with stuff like this) of staining and stacking (loading on drying racks). What these pictures don't tell you is that we were battling some strong Montana winds. We had to relocate the staining operation to the eastern side of the house where we could get some protection from the wind. It was strong enough that simply pouring stain into our roller pans was an exercise in splatter art. We had to use weights (fireplace stone) to hold our trays down so the wind wouldn't flip them over. And when Jörg would move stained boards to the drying racks (one at a time), he had to hold them just right so that the wind wouldn't blow the board out of his hands.
Anyway, we worked all day (non-stop except for a short lunch break and timed water breaks to make sure we didn't dehydrate in the sun and dry wind) until about 6:00 PM. The end result was that were able to stain almost all of the boards. We filled every space on the drying racks and every space on every set of sawhorses - including two sets we brought from Livingston. And, a little horn tooting here, I think we impressed the builder; he needs this lumber to keep his guys busy so the fact that we could get so much done on the weekend meant that they could get to work with it on Monday.
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| Working in the wind shadow of the house. |
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| The view from our water break seat. |
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| Another water break...every 30-40 minutes we stopped for a bottle of water. |
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| Purple Locoweed (Oxytropis lambertii Pursh to you serious gardeners out there) |
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| White Beardtongue (ewww) (Penstemon albidus Nutt) |
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| Silky lupine (Lupinus sericeus Pursh) |
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| Two-Lobe Larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum) |
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| Hairy false goldenaster (Heterotheca villosa Shinners Pursh |
**If you're wondering what "Pursh" means in these plant names like I was, Pursh refers to Frederick Traugott Pursh. Pursh was a German-American botanist who lived from 1774 - 1820. He classified and described North American plants and was known for this so his surname is in the scientific names of many plant species.
Pursh played a role in studying the plant specimens collected during the
Lewis and Clark expedition.
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| Before and after |
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| Packing up to go home...the back and side of the house is lined with sawhorses covered in stained boards. |
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| And the drying racks are full. Only 20 boards remain on the pallet so I guess I'll be back here on Monday to finish. |
Since it was late, we stopped at the Stillwater Bar & Grille for bison meatloaf with huckleberry sauce. Huckleberries grow wild in western Montana and are a common flavor for everything from jam to gravy to ice cream. As we were finishing our meal, the chef came out to see how we liked the meatloaf (it was very good and the perfect end to our physically demanding day).
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