We had a crane back for hoisting Underhill House’s rafters up into place.  Unlike two weeks before when Dan had used his crane to fly the bents into position, we did not finish the work day earlier than anticipated. 

Fitting the rafters in place made for a long, physically taxing day for the crew, who were working in the air with big logs flying at them every few minutes. 

At the end of the day, I got a chance to be lifted into the air for some more birds-eye shots of the project.

Two weeks before when Dan offered to swoop me high into the air, I leaped at the chance without thinking.  Normally, I pass on anything as scary as a Ferris wheel, but my urge to see the house from the sky superseded caution.

Before my second ascent, I had all day to consider…

Is this safe?

Is it sane?

Well who knows?

I just wanted to go up and look down on the project from the air and capture more of those amazing images.

Dan had to add some extra sections to his crane for this job, and he said he could hoist me as high as a 10-story building. But because it was a windy day, I was not able to get up to the crane’s top possibilities.  He decided it would be a good idea if my plank seat was secured with a rope to keep me from swinging around too wildly. 

But this time I had the option of using hand signals for higher, lower, left and right to control my position.  That added a lot to the experience .

It amazes me how much our house looks like some kind of undersea fossil skeleton when seen from above.

See my shadow?

Perhaps painting the timbers white adds to that sense that our house is put together by anthropologists instead of carpenters.

Thanks again for the amazing sky ride, Dan.

And, thanks, Doug — for holding my rope.

But the most birds-eye view of all happened a few days later when a Charles Heidi, a friend of ours from Racine, flew over and took an arial shot from his plane.

We were out on our land that day working on the slip form stone walls and saw a plane circling around.  That has happened a few times, and it’s becoming less not surprising.

What a thrill to see pretty much our whole property from the sky.  Thank you, Charles.

We will be having an open house today Friday June 29 from 4-7. 

 3487 County Road H, Ridgeway, WI