Captions:

1. Project Manager Vincent Leyendecker makes pegs the proper way. Northcott Woodturning generously provided all the 1" pegs we asked for, but we also needed a bunch of 1.5" ones. Vince is giving it his best shot.
2. This is the beginning of our boom rig, starting with a sold utility pole on loan from the City, supplemented by some stainless threaded rod and a couple of white ash bolsters. You can imagine that more BTUs of discussion than BTUs of actual work went into getting this far.
3. It may not look like much now, but we are rocking on the derrick. This is a 35' utility pole, embedded a full 10' into the deck and secured by Tom Haanen's magic Hilti fasteners to the concrete below. Tomorrow, this mast will receive the boom.
4. Interior of a local historic home that many of us were privileged to tour after dinner, on the condition we did not reveal its name or location (apparently there have been some thefts of late).
5. This is the beginnings of the mast base reinforcement (ultimately in four directions) hosted by the generous and enthusiastic Tom Haanen. Go Hilti!
6. Current president of the Friends of Ohio Barns, Ric Berg, makes another mortise with his favorite Barr chisel. (To visit the FOB site and read about their work, click here.)
7. Apprentice Ali models a new XXXL T-shirt by out shirt man, Mark Hunger. It's got enough room on it for the entire TFG Fall Protection manual.