Hawkins Bar

     I've been asked to work on a Jim Groeling designed house in Hawkins Bar. This is an opportunity not to be turned down, Jim not only designs beautiful redwood homes but he is also in the redwood salvaging business. This means the quality of wood he uses is that of a century ago when the virgin redwood forests were being logged at an alarming rate. Back then it seemed these forests would last forever, today we have only 2% of those redwood forests remaining.

     I agreed to take on building doors for the house, we would start with the exterior doors and then move on to the interior. Before I began I got a call from Joe Yonts asking me if I had a shaper and was it in working order. He wanted to run window sash stock through it because the Lighthouse Road Shop's shaper was down. This turned into a much larger project, all the stock was rough milled so it all needed it's final milling and then pushed through the shaper. At this point Joe's back went out and he could hardly walk. 

     At the same time Shane Miller's truck was discovered abandoned in the Mattole. Shane's wife and two kids had been murdered in Redding and he was a suspect. Dozens of police officers showed up in our rural valley, estimated between 60 and 70 officers. Sheriffs, Marshalls, Redding Police, Fortuna, Rio Dell and more. Roads were closed and Joe couldn't get home so he had to spend the night at our place.

     I ended up glueing up 33 sashes and sanding them too. Just as I finished sanding me and the family packed and drove south for our son's college graduation. 10 days later we are back and now I'm working on the doors. The frames are mortise and tenoned and the birds eye panels have been cut to size but I had to break away and get back to the Yellow House to bat proof it. Since we've been gone they have been pissing and shitting on everything, even the freshly painted walls. One more day of house work and I'll get back on the doors. Time to get to work.