Bowling, anyone?

The Hubs thinks this view of our house looks like a bowling alley.  Heh.   

To orient you:  imagine standing in the living room with your back to The Lake and looking through the dining room to the back of the house and the spare bedroom.  If you could see through the window at the end of the bowling lane, you'd see the corner of the boiler shed.   Which probably doesn't help at all, eh?  I should scan our hand-made drawings and do a little virtual tour....

Also, to report some progress -- that's new sub-flooring, baby.  We'll be making forward progress again soon!

Tool of the Week

Guest post by Bob the Log Builder:

Tool of the Week:  Catpaw

Buried Nail:

Bang:

No Problem:

Insulation: check!

The Husband says the insulation is in!  If I hadn't spent the whole day on the couch reading, I could have gone out to the new house and taken some pictures myself.  Ah well; whaddya gonna do?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, from our logs to yours. 

Backward

Yes, gentle readers, that is the sub-floor coming OUT.  Being exposed to two wet summers made it swell and buck and - although it looks just fine to me - The Husband wants to prevent floor issues once we lay down the top flooring.  So, it's coming out.  As we speak. 

On the upside, you can now peek at the radiant floor heat tubing that's exposed. 

That's the only upside. 

Progress and Perspective, part 7

Our see-through roof on December 17, 2008:

Our completed roof with insulated ceiling, December 13, 2009:

Crookedness is all me, not the house. 

In the first shot, I'm standing on the first floor looking up through the non-existent first floor ceiling through the non-existent second-floor ceiling and out to the great beyond.  In the second shot, I'm standing on the second floor looking at the roasty-toasty insulated ceiling.   *sigh*    Merry Christmas to Anne and to Anne a good night!

Not-really-a-staircase

Remember how I was rooting for a staircase?  Yeah well -- it ain't in yet folks.  But, there's a ladder to the basement with a makeshift protective enclosure.  That's sorta close to a staircase, right?   Right?  Hello?   Anyone?  

All right. No, it's not even really close. But it still give a girl hope. 

Progress and Perspective, part 6

It's time for some more Progress and Perspective! 

Here's the house on December 17, 2008:

And here's the house on December 13, 2009:

This time last year we were putting on the roof trusses.  This time last year there was snow INSIDE our house.  Not now, baby!  Isn't progress great?! 

*I Spy* Quiz Results

Okay lurkers -  no fair giving me comments on a blog post in person.  DJ, you get props for commenting and entering into the spirit of the thing.  And The three new things evident in that photo?  

Drumroll, please......

1) I was standing upstairs looking down on the front door.  What's new about that (besides the fact that I actually climbed a ladder) is that there's a temporary floor up there!  I walked around my upstairs! 

Bob notes that yes, he knows this setup is not OSHA-approved. 

2)  There's insulation going in.  Oh yes there is.  (You can ignore the way the insulation is stuffed in the eaves in the previous post - that's obviously not how it's going to stay - it's just to stop the frigid draft temporarily). Here's a shot of the living room ceiling - and the "real" insulation:

3)  There's actually a door in my front door!  It's not the permanent door, so Bob says it doesn't count.  It counts.  I can pretend it's the real door.  (Apparently, he had a door just lying around.  Who has a door just lying around?)

Isn't it all so exciting?!   More pics to follow, I promise. 

Winter at The Lake

The Lake is fun in the summer when there's tubing, swimming, fishing, star-gazing....    but it's just as beautiful in winter.  Here's what it looks like now, with a light layer of snow and the water partially frozen.   Stunning.

Three things

We stopped by The Lake this afternoon to say 'hi' to my in-laws, to cut down a Christmas tree and so I could see the progress on the house.  The Husband apologized for the lack of blog-worthy progress; I spluttered my disagreement.  Let's hear what you think.   I have more photos that I'll post later, but I want to show y'all this one picture and let you pick out the three new things evident in it. 

Can you spot 'em?  Granted, two of them (in their current format) are temporary, but they represent baby steps on the way to the final product.  And they help me imagine what it'll really be like when it's done.  

Anne's Window

Sorry for the silence since Thanksgiving!  I've not even been up to The Lake since then.  But, just because I've not been blogging about it doesn't mean that The Husband hasn't been diligently working on our house!  Progress is... er... progressing. 

Working without a "real" house plan means that certain details haven't been worked out yet.  Terrifying and freeing at the same time.  So, last week we sat down and planned out where the lights will be in the house, especially in the loft/bedroom and living room, since now's the time to decide those details while everything is "open."  So, I've been told that the wiring is going in and insulation over top of that in the topmost ceiling.  Not that I've been there to see for myself, but The Husband is generally trustworthy.  He snapped this pic with his phone today to make up for my shocking blog-slack-ingness:

It's my window.    In the loft/bedroom I departed from our usual plain style and went crazy with a little half-round.  Crazy.    You can see the nice North Country snow on the trees outside if you look carefully. 

Thanks

Yeah yeah yeah...   great family, handsome husband, bountiful blessings, blah, blah, blah....     Wanna know what I'm REALLY thankful for this year?   This: 

Because once the boiler's hooked up, The Husband will be roasty toasty all winter long, as he builds the inside of the house.  

Yes, I know that the boiler house/woodshed is a little... er... rough looking right now.  It ain't gotta be pretty just yet.  Pretty can come later.  I need function.

Progress and Perspective, part 5

November 19, 2007

November 19, 2009:

Roasty toasty

The boiler is now in its happy, happy home! 

Fireplace poll

I'm taking a poll.  The Husband wants to use the fireplace this winter while he's working inside the house.  Something about it being cold in the North Country six months of the year and efficiently disposing of scrap bits of wood.   I want to have an inaugural fire once the house is complete and we're moved in, and the kids are at their grandparents' house and Norah Jones is on the stereo....    oh, hey.  Are you still there?  *ahem*   Sorry. 

Anyway.

I think it'll be all black soot and ugly in my beautiful new house.  He thinks that it's a matter of practicality. 

What say you?

A home.... for the boiler

Well someone's home is almost done!   And that someone is our gassification wood boiler.  All that remains to be done, The Husband tells me, is to put an interior wall in the empty space and put a ceiling in.  Oh, and extend the whole area with some fill and put down more concrete and build the other half of the shed for the wood storage...  but that can wait.  The half that the boiler will live in is done.  ish. 

Whaddya think?

Back in business!

Can I just take a minute to thank Johnny and Chris?  Thanks, guys, for working on our house for us while Bob was lying around doing nothing these past two weeks.  Sure, he had pneumonia, and then pleurisy.  But that's no excuse.  I mean, c'mon!   So, thanks guys. 

The Husband did go up to The Lake yesterday and they made use of the 60 degree weather to put in the concrete pad for the woodshed/boiler house.   He's paying for it this morning, though!  His poor lungs and muscles were not prepared for the physical exertion.  Eh - he'll get over it.  He's hardy. 

Here are some pictures of yesterday's work:

The west gable is mostly framed up.  Bob is debating whether to put the windows in now or wait until spring.

Inside shot

Outside shot

A Tale of Two Gables

Now that the east gable of our log house is finished (hooray!), work is starting on the west gable.  And by 'work' I mean the scaffolding is set up.  Bob has pneumonia and my FIL is in Dee-Cee visiting the cousins.  So...   no actual work.  Not right now, at least.  

This gable will be 'stick construction' as opposed to the other one, which Bob adamantly insisted be entirely log.   Mostly because no one will see this side of the house, since it faces the woods and our woodshed/boiler house.

Here are some views of the west side of the house, as it is now.  Hopefully this gable will go much faster than the other, and once The Husband is up on his feet again, I'll chronicle its construction.  Enjoy!

Yes, fascinating, I know.  Hey - it's the back of the house.  Whaddya want?

Good news/Bad news

The good news is that the east gable of the house is finished!  The Husband is gratified at the look of the wall, since he stubbornly insisted on making the entire gable log, instead of taking others' advice and making it 'stick' construction.  The windows are in, and it's considerably quieter in the house now.  Wierd.  Especially today, when it is crazy windy out.  Those windows are enormous down on the ground -- but in place, they seem smallish.  Not that we were aiming for a spot in Glass Home Magazine (Bob's derisive term for a popular log home trade magazine), but...     

The bad news is that the hardy country stock of a man with whom I'm wedded has pneumonia.  He is down for the count, to his great mortification.  So, he's not been working on anything the past week, nor will he be for another week, probably.  (His father and Johnny put in the east gable windows).  The Husband is on the mend now, but it's a long road back to stamina when you've got pneumonia, so we're in for another blogging furlough, unfortunately!  Meanwhile, enjoy these pics from today, and the completed east gable: 

Just a little somethin' somethin' for a Saturday morning:

This side of the east gable is all ready for windows....  which Bob and his father are heading to Syracuse to pick up today.  

Can you see me smiling from there?

Progress and Perspective, part 4

Building your own house is a S-L-O-W process.  But it is in the home stretch now.  I can feel it.  (If, by 'home stretch' you mean in the final two years.) 

Pictures of the house in October 2007:

And pictures of the house in October 2009:

Guess it's winter now...

Time to pull out the gloves and hats!

Upstairs

So my curiosity overcame my better judgement and I climbed a ladder to have a look around the upstairs of the house.  Of course there's no floor on the joists, but if you squint and turn your head *just so*, you can imagine a bedroom and bathroom and small balcony.  

Oh, and please pardon the crooked pictures.  I'm twice as clumsy in the air as I am on the ground. 
And that's saying something. 

More work on the east gable

Work has progressed enough on the east gable that you can see the outline of the windows!  Well, at least on one side of the chimney.... 

Panoply of colors

Viva Fall!