A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS

The ceiling is 2x6 Cedar decking. Just after we got going, I found out that a major lumber yard in Salem was closing it's doors, and selling all of it's inventory. Bonanza! I took all of the Cedar decking they had. As well as all of the 4x12 fir beams, and a lot of other stuff. All at less than half price. The catch was that couldn't deliver. I have a lot of family here. One loaned me a big flatbed farm truck. Driving that truck made me feel like a kid again back on the farm. Of course I had to unload by hand, but that was good exercise. Sanded and oil finish all of it before I put it up. A friend of mine loaned me a power lift, which made putting it up a lot easier.
Those logs up there are called collar ties. They are not just for looks, but they keep the rafters from sagging and pushing the exterior wall out. Where could a guy get a bunch of those? Around here they over plant the tree farm, and then thin them out later. this leaves a lot of trees laying on the ground just the diameter I needed.
Grandma had taken a job at a school not far away,but located in the foot hills of the Cascade Mountains. A logger town. Asked her to ask around. I could not believe what she found. A woman who worked at the school had a logger husband, He had brought home from the woods acouple of loads of just such poles. He had intended to build corrals out of them, and then changed his mind. He had cut them all to fourteen feet, just the length I needed for the collar ties! Another fifty dollar deal for two pickup loads. They made all of the collar ties, all of the hand rails all around the outside of the house, a fence to the street, and there is still a pile under the deck!