It feels so good to be building a home for ourselves, and to know that our future life as homesteaders is just around the corner. Today's woodworking session was another round of lakeside, house-building paradise. We spent most of the day working on our tie-beams (also known as girts), which are the horizontal spans of wood that sit atop the primary posts of our house, creating the top of the walls, and the bottom of our loft.

First, we made our measurements...

...then we sawed the tenons, starting with a circular saw, then finishing the job by hand:

Tyler used a chain mortiser to cut the mortises...

...and I learned how to use the bandsaw so I could shape our corbels.

When five o'clock rolled around, we headed back to camp and clumsily peeled away our sweaty clothes, trying our best not to fill our tent with sawdust. Then, we walked barefoot to the stoney shoreline, and gingerly ran into the crystal blue waters of Lake Superior. It was heart-stoppingly frigid, eliciting from us all manner of yelps, giggles and lamaze-y gasping. What a great end to a fantastic day!