New roof (not ours)

What you may not know about The Husband's work, is that he is the third generation in his family business on The Lake.  The business was started by his great-uncle, and although the nature of the business has shifted from a full-service marina with store and boat-repair to construction and property management, the old marina building still stands. 

However, it is over 60 years old and needs some work.  You can see the slightly darker gray corner and new overhead door from some repairs made a couple of summers ago, but there's a lot more work to be done.  But, before any more major renovation work can be made to the marina, it needs a new roof.  So, The Hubs, FIL and Johnny set to work re-doing the roof this past week.  Once it no longer seeps moisture directly into the marina, the rest of the repairs will make more sense. 

And Bob has promised me they'll move most of the stuff being stored in the basement of our log house into the newly dry marina. 

I don't even live there yet, and the basement is full.  

Phil

Meet Phil:

You don't know him?  Let me back up:

No?  Still not ringing a bell?  How'bout now?

See our half-a-heating-shed out back of the house?    We finally got the fill in there to the left of the shed that already contains the gassification wood boiler.  Now it's all level and ready for Bob to build the other half of the woodshed.  

Blah blah blah --  all I know is that this side of the house is all cleaned up and fine lookin' now.  Er -- well it will be once it's no longer an active construction site and I can convince my green-thumb father to help us landscape. 

West soffit

Now all four roof soffits are done!    West side of house:

Go ahead:  say it.  It's a beauty.   

Getta look at the boards on her!

*{wheet-whoo!}*

Trees felled -  check
Trees limbed - check
Logs dragged out of woods - check
Boards milled from logs - check
Boards planed - check
Boards installed as flooring?  ummmm....   not so much.

But ain't they a beaut?

Bagpipes at The Lake

Between dinner and dessert at Grandma Ruby's last Wednesday, Uncle Ron took out the bagpipes:



And then we ate this:

Blueberry crisp made with handpicked blueberries.   Mmmmm....

Garden bounty

Our family's swag from my father's garden:

And that's just this week.

Oh, and the kids ate most of the carrots already. 

Mmmmmm....

More floorboards

Darn that Husband and his "from-scratch-do-it-yourself-crazy-woodsman" ways!   Instead of building me ...oh... stairs, he's milling and planing his own floor boards now.  He says this particular batch (planed yesterday, milled a couple of years ago from spruce trees felled on the property) is destined for the second story floor. 

Actually, as the hubs reminded me, these boards will be both floor and ceiling, since they'll cover the floor joists from above, but will be visible between those log joists from below.  "Old School," he says.  Then he muses (particularly voluble for so early in the a.m.), "It's taking me about a half-hour to do each of these boards, from limbing the tree with a chainsaw, to dragging it out of the woods and throwing it on the mill and then letting it dry for however long, and then planing it....   and I'm using POWER tools!"  

Bob's Lesson of the Day:   increased respect for our forebears of 200 years ago. 

Anne's Lesson of the Day:   patience in the face of floorboards.  Which each. take. 1/2 hour. to. make.     Erg! No wonder I don't have stairs yet.

We introduce a new series....

...here at At Home in Logs we like to call: 

What's getting in the way of the house build this week?

That's right folks!  We're deep into family gathering season, and this week's log-interrupticus is...

{drumroll, please}

A trip to Alexandria Bay!   (and not even during the Pirate Days)

Baby M and GirlCousin

Bob and Rrrrrrrrick!

So, we're at Boldt Castle and all the kids want to do is run around screaming and climbing on everything like the hooligans they are.  This picture captures the day perfectly:

1) Kids climbing on stone base of lamppost on edge of St. Lawrence River

2) Grandma and Uncle Bob/Daddy scolding at right

3) Boldt Castle employee in white, upper right, charging down the path to ask the kids, for pity's sake, not to do that!

Baby M, with her back to glorious setting sun over the St. Lawrence....  that's right:  playing with the rocks.