A quieter day (thank goodness)

Many of the MacTavishes have been overly busy recently, participating in the active life of their various communities throughout the land. It has been a bit harder to organise work details at the Hut for the construction of our new lodge, but we've managed to keep the project moving along. Apart from an early morning gathering to do the muscle work for raising the main structural poles of the lodge, it's been pretty quiet. After the rush of events over recent weeks, that's a nice change!

Piper Tom, hearing the cheers from the Galloway Inn even from this distance, is alert to the fact that Nilf Kennedy and Lucas Campbell have become married. Never one for formal ceremony but always one for music, he launches into a tune we probably don't hear enough of these days...

Lodge News

First thing in the morning, it was time to raise the main timber pillars of the Clan Lodge we MacTavishes are building near our Hut. Firstly, we maneuver the dressed logs into place, lining them up with the holes we dug yesteday. Laying them on the ground, one on the left and one on the right, we affix the cross beam between each pair of pillars with 'tounge and groove' rebating (also competed last night). We wedge the construction together with a wooden wedge, driven in by a mallet. We then tie the guide ropes securely to the top of the poles. Something like this:

We then raised the beams, using a combination of levers and ropes. Our first attempts failed as the clay in which we had dug the holes was 'carved' out by the poles as they were lowered in, causing the dislodged 'fill' to fall to the bottom of the hole and make the beams uneven. So we had to rework the holes and then use a lever to lower the bottom end of each pole into its hole, now braced with timber. Again, something like this:

By mid morning we had raised two sets of poles, complete with cross beams above. We had to stop there as everyone had to go and work in their tradeshops or on their fields. A bunch went out fishing, as usual. Several of us only had hours of paperwork in the back room to look forward to. Ach well. One day it will be seen to have been worth it. We hope...