Chimney facing

So, I was wrong.

What?  It's happened on occasion. In this case, I predicted that it would be a goodly while before more facing appeared on the chimney.  Wrong.  There has been a whole lotta stone facing going on!

July 24, 2013  

The Hubs and Doug-the-mason catch a break and get unseasonably cool weather

July 25, 2013

Look how fast they're making progress!

Just a cool/weird angle 

Squeeeeeeeee!!

Since the exterior facing will be finished any day now, I am turning my attention to the interior facing.  Originally, since Bob and I had different preferences for the style of stone facing, we'd agreed that the interior and exterior facing would be different:  he would choose the exterior and I the interior.   I like the flat look better, but now I don't know.  Not that the interior will be faced any time soon.  We're talking next year at the earliest. 

Still....  a girl can plan...  

Friends and greens

We've had (and will continue to have) an exceptionally friend- and family-visit-filled summer.  High school friends, college friends, moved-away friends, and Marine Corps friends have all come to Casa de Log... and the summer's only half done!

Our token Vegetarian friend, Joaaaaannnnne (a former Marine Corps co-worker of The Hubs) got to experience a little bit of veggie-eating heaven last week when we raided my father's garden.

Yep, she's coming along nicely, eh?   The garden, I mean.  Not Joanne.   Although she's great too.

Joanne cuts the squash.  Or zucchini.  Same diff.

Pop loads Dave (also an old Marine buddy) up with veggies.

Dave and Joanne try to identify the herbs by smell.

It's been a few years since we've seen them.  Our Boy and their Girl were babies together.  *sniff*   Now they're giants.  I'm trying to cope.

But I digress.

Here's a shot of the bounty we swiped from Pop's garden and proceeded to devour:

Yes, the eagle-eyed among you are correct:  our salad included nasturtium.  Nasturtiums?   Nasturtii?  What's the plural here?

Anyway, our salad included these tasty flowers.  And also sugar snap peas, green onions, red onions, chives, at least three types of lettuce, kale, cress, two types of basil, and whatever else my father could pile in our bags.  We also grilled the squash and zuccs for some added yumminess.  It was a very green meal.

And the next day was an all-cheese dinner.  Because, why not?

Friends are great.

A Sunflower gets her wish

Well, Sunflowerakb, you speak and it shall be done!  Look at what I discovered when I went out to The Lake today:

 

Doug-the-mason was facing the bottom of the chimney!   Now that the area above the roof line has all its stone facing, we're starting again at the bottom and heading toward the top.  

Here's Bob's much more coherent explanation of why we faced the top of the chimney first instead of starting at the bottom:

The flashing or interface between the chimney and the hole in the roof that the chimney rises up through is not easy to waterproof.  Rain can seep down the side of the unfinished chimney and down into the inside of the roof.  When the stone facing is applied this joint/seam is overlapped so water cannot enter and will instead run off onto the surface of the roof like all well behaved rain should.  And stone looks much nicer than concrete too! 

Yeah, that's what I said:  moisture, something something.....     

Details schmetails.  

More! Stone! Facing!

Even in this gazillion-degree heat, more stone went on the chimney today!

Oh, did you want a closer look at the new stone facing?    Here ya go:

Before you get too excited, though, I think once the area above the roofline is done, it'll be a nice long while before any more facing happens.   Ah, well.   Such is my Life in Logs.

Still, what do you think?  

See? TOLD YOU!

So, there's this:

I KNOW, RIGHT?!!!!    SQUEEEEEE!!!!!

Masonry

Today, The Hubs is working on the chimney.  Yes, OUR chimney!  And I don't like your tone.

Before we can face the chimney with stones, we needed to expand the area above the roof line.  And by "we" I mean Bob, FIL Jim, and Doug the mason.   Although I *did* mix some mortar today.  Yes, I did.

The Girl supervises.   And plots how to distract us so she can resume climbing the scaffolding.

Our fancy mortar-mixing wheelbarrow.

The Girl isn't all supervising and trying to climb scaffolding, though.  She also helped Daddy get some bricks up to the roof:

A regular mother-daughter masonry team, we are.  Mixer and hoister.  It did seem dangerously like manual labor, though, even that small bit of mixing....   

I don't want to brag, but I might soon have a chimney with some facing.  You'll see.

And, yes, I know I've said that before.  

More little things

So, here's a better look at that new ceiling fan and peak trim board in the living room:

And the last few window casings are in:

(except in the Master bedroom and bathroom....  but don't hold your breath for finish work in there!)   I love that every piece of the window casings is home made, from tree to installation.

The main floor bathroom fan/light/night light is all hooked up and ready to go:

We have a handful of little things left to do in the bathroom, but it's functional, at least.  And in the world of bathrooms, it's all about function, eh?  

Stay tuned for more exciting "little things!"   It's all PROGRESS in my book!

Garden Update

Pop's garden, 7-2-2013:

Sugar snap peas

An orderly garden speaks to my soul.  Heck, an orderly anything speaks to my soul.

Visiting hours at the vegetable jail.

Lookin' good, eh?  I got to eat spinach from the garden already!  Yum.

The little things

I've had the opportunity to show off The Log House a bunch recently.  Old friends I haven't seen in 20 years, new friends we have just met, friends visiting from Africa....     and sometimes I stumble upon new things up at the House that even I hadn't seen or didn't know was there!

To wit:

This is the trim board at the peak of the {cathedral} ceiling in the living room.  Ta-daaa!

It seems like a very silly, simple thing to others, but I'm over-excited when I see even the smallest progress!

The Hubs texted me this picture today:

Ceiling fan!

Every little bit counts.  

If you want to visit, I'm in tour guide mode and taking RSVPs.   Operators are standing by.