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.