Stain!

My beautiful raw, lovely, virgin logs are all growed up!  They have a pretty new brown stain.  

I will go on record as admitting that I was wrong.  I did not want to stain the logs.  Yes, I understand that they need some protection from the elements.  Yes, I understand that they were weathering gray.  THEY ARE MY PRECIOUS BABY LOGS!  Leave 'em alone, I said.  

The Hubs didn't listen.  But, he was right.

We are using a semi-transparent stain and the unique character of each log is still very apparent.  The color is a gorgeous light chocolate.  I was wrong.  It is BEAUTIFUL!

F-I-L Jim lovingly brushes on the stain

The Hubs and The Boy are on the other side of the house using the sprayer.  The race is on!

The darker logs now show off the light stones of the chimney even better!

A close up of the raw logs and the newly stained logs

We are now at-home-in-brown-logs!

Shoes - er, dock - at last!

That Bob the Builder is quite a guy!  He and the crew have nearly finished the new docks and waterfront!   This is two days ago, as they fished out pesky large rocks as they completed the widening of the boat launch area:

And added decking (!):

And this evening, as The Hubs and I wandered down to take a leisurely boat ride (as summer is drawing to a close and we are trying to squeeze out every last bit of sun and warm weather), I took some photos of today's progress:

I KNOW, RIGHT?!!

Some landscaping, cleats and bumper and we're done!  This has been a two-summer project, and I'm ecstatic!  (And I'm sure folks launching pontoon boats are just as happy about that wide boat launch...)

Wanna come visit and sit a spell on my NEW DOCK?  You know you wanna.  

And, frankly?  If you're looking for me I'll be down there anyway, so you don't have much of a choice.  I'm never leaving this beauty.

Well, until the snow falls.

Y'know --   in two weeks.

Gardenland

So, my parents are gadding about in Pennsylvania for a week and left me in charge of the back 40.  Or, however big their enormous garden is.

So, I have been dutifully watering and picking and picking and picking and picking and picking....

I call this:  "Anne in Pea-land"

This was hour THREE of pale girl in the sun

Sugar Snap Peas

Raspberries

Fun fact: before this summer, my parents' raspberry plants never produced more than a cup.  Now, they yield like 4 quarts per week!  

You! Shall not! PASS!!

So, I may have been in the sun a little long.  It seemed funny at the time.  Heh.  Who am I kidding?  I still think it's funny.  

In any case, I have had yummy zucchini and yellow squash and sugar snap peas and shelled peas and snow peas and yellow beans and strawberries and raspberries and 5 blueberries and one cherry tomato, so I guess I can't complain.  Well, shouldn't.  Let's be honest:  I'm a-gonna.

The Shoemaker's Children

You know the old adage, right?  The shoemaker's children go without shoes?  -- then you can imagine what the lake waterfront of a dockbuilder looks like.

Ours has been a bit... sad looking for years.  When the whole building season (remember: we live in Northern NY, so it's about 2 days long) is a frantic race to complete docks and camp repairs for customers, it leaves precious little time to fix our own waterfront.  So, when it became an immediate problem last year, The Husband decided to undertake an infrastructure project in addition to shoring up the old waterfront.  He has been gradually building new docks and widening the boat launch and generally improving the shoreline.   Did I mention gradually?

Like work on The Log House, lakefront work happens in widely spaced fits and starts.  This week has been a huge leap forward, however!

Widening the boat launch

Fun fact:  we persuaded two nephews to stay as our own unofficial Fresh Air Kids after the rest of the family departed back to Merryland.  Guess what we're making them do?  Heh.

Chris, The Hubs, and John set a new crib

I can't promise decking on top of the bases any time soon, but it's getting there!

Basement rooms!

Do you see what I see??

Just a little studly...

The Hubs teaching The Girl how to screw the wall stud in place

Very studly.

The wall pictured above will be between the utility area and The Boy's bedroom.  Miiiight have to move the saw and lumber at some point.

Ketchup

I'm still here!  Promise!

I realize that I never showed off the completed main staircase --   she still had a hockey smile when I last posted.  Well, she is mighty perty now.  See?

Of course, I've already managed to slip and dislocate a toe, but that's not the fault of the lovely stairs.  It was the ninjas that attacked me early in the morning before I was fully awake.  That's who I'm blaming.

Besides the stairs (which have been completed for months now), we've had a few new house-build developments, but they aren't as photogenic as those shiny new stairs.  The Bob relocated a copper water pipe that he'd inadvertently put in the way of a future wall in the basement, added an external faucet (he calls it a hydrant; whatever) for watering our nonexistent lawn or flowers, and he reinforced a support beam that had decided to twist a tiny bit.  Tots importante, but not photo-worthy, really.  Those basement bedrooms are on the horizon.  I can feel it.  And you can bet I'll photograph the flyin' heck out of that process.  It'll be just like the old days.

To tide you over until then, here's some spring/early summer photos of At Home In Logs Land:

The great rhubarb massacre of 2016. 

 My parents went on a 3 week (!) trip to the Canadian Maritimes and left me in charge of the garden.  Mostly, that just involved watering.  For. Hours.  But, asparagus & rhubarb were in season and I grabbed the ol' machete and went to town.  

I picked so much rhubarb that I ended up begging friends to take it off my hands.  They have three long beds of rhubarb, after all, and a girl can only freeze just so much.

ONE hacking -- er, picking -- yielded 24 cups of diced rhubarb.  THREE WEEKS OF THIS.

The Boy & The Girl enjoying the first full day of summer vacation 

June 30th shot of my father's garden.

4th of July revelry with the Utica cousins

I'm sure we have done other cool things...  actually, probably not.   Not YET.  I am still in the optimistic phase of summer when I think we'll follow through on planning and executing horizon-expanding trips and wacky memory-making fun.  This is the year!

It'll be great.  You'll see.