In 1980, my friend Jack and I set out to repair my family’s house, then a poorly converted camp, located beside the Lynn Woods.

Over the next year, we discovered that there was nothing that could be salvaged of the existing house. The 30 x 30 roof had little pitch, and had almost imploded during the blizzard of 1978.  There was almost no foundation, with rotted wood sitting directly on wet dirt.

Repair turned into rebuild, from the bottom to the top, including a total redesign.

Neighbors, friends, and family helped.  We held up the changing house with almost 30 telescoping house jacks. Demolition and construction went forward simultaneously while we also dug and built a new foundation.  In the process, tons of dirt were removed and almost every piece of the old house was removed and replaced.

Jack showed up at my mother-in-law’s house every morning for a year. We had breakfast and worked on the house, with Jack only taking time off for gall bladder surgery.  He was the talent and I did what he told me to do.

Cathy was working, in school, and trying to feed the multitude.  Peter organized and led the excavation crews.

Our friend Dick trucked the full-dimension lumber down from two small lumber mills in N.H.  We worked on the house from 7:30 am  until 2:00 pm and then went into G.E. for the 3-11 pm shift.