Category Archives: progress
Hauling wood on Good Friday
The temps are supposed to nose-dive below freezing for the next few days, and I’ve now just run out of all the wood I had stacked up for the winter. So, I went out this morning to cut some totally dead … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Advanced lightning attraction: hopefully NOT
The roof was leaking, though not through the roof. It was by way of water running underneath the bottoms of the rafters from the bit of moisture collected at the very upper ends. So, up went some flashing over each … Continue reading
Filed under progress
O.K. One more window tacked up!
You looking from the floor to the roof, due South, on the Western corner. This is just tacked up with a 2×4 on the outside to keep it from falling down the mountain until I make a proper structure for … Continue reading
Of books and shelves and mould at HSH
In moving some things around I opened up some boxes and, behold, a year’s worth of mould! So, I put up a couple of shelves with the wood at hand and put a few up to dry out. Yikes! Brown … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Tabernacle veils: a DIY project at HSH
From an email: I saw on the blog the other day that you stated you were going to make a veil for the Tabernacle. At our college chapel we have the same Tabernacle, but no veils. If you are able … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Stained Glass Angels at Holy Souls Hermitage Altar
I put up the two stained glass angels today. They were originally in the monastery of the Poor Clares up in Portsmouth, Ohio. When they left, the angels were still there. Providential, no? God bless you, my good nuns! A Hail … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Progress at Holy Souls Hermitage
The Angelus Bell, courtesy of Father K.L. of Holy Family Parish in Columbus, Ohio — went up today, about 15 feet up. So, the Angelus will be ringing out at 6:00 A.M., 12:00 Noon, and 6:00 P.M. The steps were … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Best day ever at Holy Souls Hermitage: Mass for Benefactors and… Jesus
Finally! The altar is set up in Holy Souls Hermitage. The first Mass in the actual hermitage was offered today, 1 January, 2012. This was was offered for all the benefactors, living and, in case anybody has died ever so … Continue reading
UPDATE: Pics of progress on the hermitage
O.K., so, the steps still aren’t attached yet.. But, some siding went up on the middle part of the Western side. No insulation, but at least it’s a bit better than the plastic sheeting. The “door” is still plastic sheeting… On part … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Almost no internet signal, but progress at HSH
I can only get a signal for 15 seconds or so. The reason for that is because I put up some corrugated metal on a part of one of the walls of the hermitage today. And while that’s progress for … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Altar progress at HSH, thanks to the orphans and…
A seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte and great Catholic woodsman showed up at the hermitage, and they offered to take up the altar from down below to up above. How could I say no? It’s really very heavy, but … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Some progress in building the hermitage
A bit of plywood below triple window of the kitchen/woodstove/water area of the hermitage (to the left) and below the gargantuan polycarbinate window of the chapel (to the right). That was a bit of a trick. Guardian angels to the … Continue reading
Filed under progress
UPDATE: Roof progress for Holy Souls Hermitage
This picture was taken last night. As you can see, I still have to finish the top bit (by far the most complicated) and a whole section on one side. So, that’s for today! UPDATE (1:15 PM) A start… UPDATE … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Better progress than I thought in building the hermitage today
Just as today’s sunset was lighting up the sky before all became dark, I finished filling in the spaces between the rafters in the higher section of the roof. There’s only one slope to the hermitage, as it’s really a … Continue reading
Filed under progress
No progress in plugging up the wide open to cold opening in the walls of the hermitage today…
The sunset at the end of another day on Holy Souls Mountain: Not much accomplished today with building the hermitage. There were many but very wonderful distractions, including the packages from the Tyburns. I’m still waiting for a certain package … Continue reading
Fire and rafters
It being a bit cold at night, I put some logs into the stove. These are red oak. They start easily and burn slowly, often with blue flames if there is anything more than coals. A great fire wood. It’s … Continue reading
As the saying goes: If you don’t know how to light a fire, cold weather will teach you
The recent weather brought a bit of snow… The Saamis have heaps of words for snow. I wonder what they would call this! There was also a huge increase in water volume down Holy Souls Mountain Falls, but no road … Continue reading
Smoke rising! Must mean that there’s a fire in the stove
Actually, this was just a bit of paper to get some smoke to come out of the chimney. I couldn’t resist the photo op. I put up just one section of pipe with the cap. That won’t be sufficient for … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Stove progress and explosive down
So, the plywood is down, the shims are down, the cement board is down, the bricks are down, the wood stove is tossed up on the bricks exactly where it needs to be, measurements are taken in a thousand ways … Continue reading
Filed under Benefactors, progress
Precarious vent window progress at the hermitage
The top window, recycled from Habitat for Humanity, was just now tossed up and tacked up with the constant help and countless “saves” of my guardian angel. “Saves” are when he saves life and limb for me, and even keeps such things … Continue reading
Thanks – Progress on the hermitage – Jenny the Jeep – Spider!
Jenny the Jeep’s driver side fabric door basically fell apart, so I put on the two metal doors that came with it from the previous owner(s). They actually work. One of these days, when it’s dry, the fabric top is … Continue reading
Filed under Benefactors, progress
Fall colors and a bit of hermitage progress
Florescent green/yellow The boards on the lower left protect the chicken “nestes” as the locals call them. The boards were donated by the neighbor, who had these donated to him about 25 years ago. They’ve survived just enough to be … Continue reading
HSH – before!
The start of the hermitage some months ago. So, there has been progress! A bit nippy this morning. Down in the low 20s farhenheit. Ice and frost, bless the Lord! The hands were pretty numb for Mass this morning. I’m … Continue reading
Filed under Prayers for Priests, progress
Window progress at the hermitage!
You’re looking down at the window framed out on the floor, reflecting the guard rails I put up so that it doesn’t tumble over and down the mountain. And it’s up! Tossing this in place was easy compared to the … Continue reading
The littlest bit of progress on the hermitage thanks to the pilot for Howard Hughes
The next window, a set of three in one, I hope to put up in this space today. The little desk is to be used to cantalever the window into place. There will be some lumber in place to support … Continue reading
Filed under Benefactors, progress
Hillbilly fiddle WNC mountain music in celebration of the humble wood stove going up Holy Souls Mountain
I recorded this music the other morning and edited it. Just one fiddle and no other instruments, but this local musician knows how to play! Enjoy what we enjoyed just before the stove was taken all the way up Holy … Continue reading
Filed under progress
A milestone of stove progress for the hermitage
The very kind neighbor, having finished the necessary welding on the stove, brought the stove up Holy Souls Mountain today on his amazing JD. Here’s the stove sitting inside the hermitage, not waiting for a proper floor and wall. This … Continue reading
Filed under progress
A bit of hermitage progress and a picture of my present humble abode
I forgot to mention in a previous post that the rather open-to-the-elements barn you see in this picture is where I have a humble abode, in a corner of the open loft. A great experience! Here’s a few pictures of … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Firey progress on Holy Souls Mountain
The neighbor made the stove’s 16″x3″ rectangular smoke vent morph into an 8″ pipe in just a few inches, it being that he’s a master welder. Squint now! The sparks can fly when cutting a stray bit… And metal on … Continue reading
Filed under Benefactors, progress
That’s why they call it evergreen!
“Still full of sap, still green!” (Psalm 92,14). The Lord provides in this way and that, encouraging our weak faith, so that we might be alive for Him, who is ever ancient, ever new. This reminds me that I’ll have … Continue reading
A wee bit more progress on Holy Souls Hermitage
Covered up an 8′x6′ empty space with plastic before the possible rain/snow fell last night. It snowed less than a foot further about a dozen miles up the way. Nothing just here, which I’m happy about, as the littlest space, … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Getting ready for the stove at Holy Souls Hermitage, and a rant on Euthanasia and Confession!
The second row of chopped wood, running the depth of the hermitage, was finished off, and a third started, with some wood ready to split. Work went until dark, which made me thank the Lord for the gift of sight. … Continue reading
Filed under Confession, progress
A realistic picture of progress in building the hermitage
Working in the rain in the evening. You can trees to either side in this rain forest, and the outline of the window that was put up the other day. You have to know how to work in the rain … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Some ersatz progress in building the hermitage, but progress nonetheless!
A bit of plastic tacked around a bit of the hermitage to help in a small way to reduce the size of the puddles on the floor of the hermitage. Some sides are still open and the whole upper portion … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Don’t try this at home, ever! Progress in building the hermitage
How does one put up a more or less 500 pound solid polycarbonate window? A pulley and eye screw and doubled over not-very-stretchable-rope, just for safety. . Get your handy 48″ farm jack (an incredible piece of equipment), lifting it … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Bulletproof Window[?] for Holy Souls Hermitage ready to go up!
The window, it seems, is unbreakable. It would be just my style to break it! I don’t know how many hundreds of pounds it is at an inch think (and 6×7 feet high and wide) and made, it seem, from … Continue reading
Filed under progress
A roof is finally over Holy Souls Hermitage: the roof just needs covering with roofing
The roof covering material is already on the roof. Just need to tack it down on a completely dry sunny day. What you see: the ground level isn’t tall enough to stand up in. It’s for the chickens and storage of … Continue reading
Filed under Benefactors, progress
Some progress on Holy Souls Mountain
Though distracted by many and various things, all very holy mind you — such as anointing one of the elderly priests in the hospital up in Asheville as, this week, the rest of the diocesan priests are away on retreat … Continue reading
Filed under progress
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. I pray for benefactors daily, offering Holy Mass for their intentions about once a month. You'll have to force me to take your donations, though. Scroll down for an explanation.
