By the time one wall plate is seated properly and the other is placed where it can be maneuvered without the excavator, it's finally time for a very late supper around 9PM. We're strung out, completely and utterly spent, and way past the point of being hungry. Thankfully, Amy has prepared a feast for us, which Tyler decides should be enjoyed under the grindbygg.
Amy and Tyler carry a food-laden table down to the worksite, which Robin and Linnea (Peter and Amy's daughters) have lit beautifully with tiki torches and citronella candles. Sitting on stumps, we devour our veggie-studded peanut noodles, enjoying the food and the company. For the first time all day, I stop to really look at what we're building; the frame could not be more beautiful.
It's nearly 10PM now, and while everyone else helps clean up from dinner and make their way towards bed (or home to New Hampshire, in Roger's case), Tyler and I remain with Peter as the work continues. Though we won't be doing any more raising tonight, we desperately need instruction on how to finish everything once Peter leaves. Mainly, this means learning about the twenty-six rafters that will form the roof of the grindbygg.
By headlamp in the inky black night, Peter designs and builds jigs for us to cut the rafters. He then gives us a crash course in us how to use them. As he talks, I madly take notes on my computer, typing as quickly as I can, trying desperately to absorb all of Peter's knowledge, yet scarcely able to focus on or grasp what he's saying. We're all so beyond the point of total exhaustion that we've moved on to a sort of giddy delirium.
It's well past midnight when we pack it in, trudging like zombies up to our camper. Trent is leaving at 4 o'clock in the morning (so he can make it in home in time to go straight to work), while Peter, Amy, and the girls are heading out around 5:00AM. We'll be getting up to see them off.