Day Five - Work, Work, Work

The home stretch, the last stand, the final push - Thursday. There was a faint hope this morning that some of us would be sleeping at creek tonight but by midday we can all tell that it is not to be. It is the very nature of this kind of project work to present emergent and progressively harder challenges as it unfolds. The stakes (the accumulated effort of the teams) are raised by the very fact that there is a deadline; no one wants their existing work to be for naught. So we work. We lash poles together, we saw exotic angles into wood to handle complex joins, we schlepp more pallets, we return to the forest of yellow jackets and sneak away with the trees we felled but could not take on Tuesday.

Jared learns and applies the official Tinkering School lashing technique. Lauren, and really every member of the Kablooie team, is making furniture.

Blake gets the Piki house ready for the day's work.

Ana decides to check and see if Prince Charming, or more likely, Prince Interesting is trapped in the slug she found.

Yes. She actually kissed it.

But the slug remained a slug, and perhaps she found her Prince Interesting after all.

Sophia and Blake have crafted a fire pit for the Piki palace.

Connor and Gever have been working on finishing the deck of the Nooi house.

The Piki team tries to figure out how to turn a paraglider that was cut open at a previous Tinkering School session into a house wrap.

Sophia catches the furniture bug and sets about cutting some chair legs.

"Impact or torque?" asks Ana. Choosing the right kind of cordless driver is important.

Not wanting to be caught sitting on her keister, Josie carves out a good solid seat for her chair.

Gretchen explains how the new ladder is going to work to Gever.

The new decking level at the Nooi house requires a very custom piece of joinery. Connor decides to carry the pole all the way up to the barn to make it happen sooner rather than later.

There, he learns to use the scrollsaw and bisects the log end to make a flat face on the wood.

And, with some help from Chane, Gretchen takes a turn as well.

Like a butterslug (that's a cross between a butterfly and a slug), the Piki house is transformed by the descent of the colorful nylon housewrap.

Unfortunately, the corner posts of the Piki house are not accommodated by the new housewrap; they must be sawn off.

And Josie is just the gal to do it.

Portrait of a Tinkerer: Blake takes a break.

The Butterslug (aka Piki house) is almost sleep ready.

Rarely seen, and once thought to be extinct, the Butterslug feeds on an exotic diet consisting solely of tool-carrying tinkerers.

The inside of the Butterslug is just as magical as the outside.

And by it's very blueness, the south wall is a place of unexpected delight for the visitors.

Chane and all the girls meet up to work with Gretchen on the Nooie house. "It's been hard, being the only girl on this team," says Gretchen.

Sophia is mastering the cordless driver.

Ana is glad that we have some ear protection available when she has to use the impact driver.

Daniel helps Josie get her chair legs screwed on.

The twice-daily ride to and from the creek continues to be a source of great joy for all involved.

Chicken at rest.

Josie beguiles another hapless chicken.

With an eye to the future, Connor and his racing chicken ponder the accomplishments of the day.