May rain doesn't dampen our spirits

We were skipping right along with huge progress for the first couple of weeks after the lumber arrived at the lodge site. Then the weather, once again, got in the way. These pictures show the first floor framing complete and the second floor loft and bedroom joists and part of the subfloor. We tried to stay up there last weekend to get moving with the porch posts and the framing for the wrap-around porch, but RAIN again stopped us.

It's hard to tell from this view, but the livingroom is on the right in the front, dining area and kitchen are behind it. The bedrooms are the two room at the front and back on the left. The door near the center of the back wall goes into the mudroom/pantry.

Side view looking at the livingroom to the right and the diningroom door on the left. The porch wraps from the back of the house on the left here, around the front, and spans the far side too. We're going to love the porch. I just know it.

This gives a fairly good idea what's happening with the second floor. The loft on the right looks down into the livingroom, which has a cathredral ceiling. The steps go up from the center front of the livingroom. 

The weekend wasn't a total loss, although it was close with the temporary structure over the livingroom colapsing from the weight of the water from all the RAIN. We camped out and had a wonderful fire. It was Supermoon Saturday night, made extra special by the appearance of my son Aaron and his daughter Alexis.

In the morning, Tom's nephew Brian and his daughter Samantha showed up for a little bluegill fishing. The girls (both 5) pulled in a fish every time their hooks hit the water. They were enthralled!

Walls Part Two

On Sunday we raised the rest of the front wall, and as you can see from the previous photo of the corner, this section was twice as long. I didn't think the three of us would be able to lift it, but we were miraculously strong all of a sudden, and up it went. Holy moly, it was hard though.

And then we got super motivated and built the first section of the side wall and raised it. It was a great day for busting our butts. We forgot the camera, so pictures will be forthcoming with this week's additional work, which may be be in a couple of days because the weather turned cold, really cold with the potential for inches of snow. So far, we've had report of maybe three inches there. I hope the Montmorency cherry trees I planted on Friday make it through with their leaves intact.

Building walls

The corner here is the living room fireplace wall and the front windows. I had no idea how heavy the wall was going to be, but Tom, Charlie, and I got it up. It was heavy but do-able. I was shaking from the effort of trying to hold it up and in place, thinking it might topple over the edge of the front wall onto the ground or fall back on us and squash us to death. Of course the guys helped me realize that it would stand on its own weight. But it still took me a while to stop shaking after it was nailed down and braced. 

What's for dinner?

We are slowly getting some work done. The foundation contractor sent a guy to grade the yard around the house and spread topsoil. It looks a lot better. This shot is at the beginning when the back is being sloped toward the drainage swale on the left.

Tim creating the swale to drain the spring water coming out of the hill to the pond beyond the house.

And here's the wall we've been working on. It too is in the early stages in these photos.

This view is from inside the garage (swinging) door. The house is beyond the end and to the right.

We finished with the backfill today. We filled the bed with a load of composted manure and some great topsoil and peat moss. Fascinating, I know.

At the end of the day.

Here we are relaxing after working on the stone wall. When I step on the dock, the bluegill come over and start looking up at me. If they could make sounds ( that we could hear) they'd be begging cries.

These catfish are huge. But, they're our pets: Spot, Scarface, Bushy, and Barry

Back to work!

Instead of a traditional window well, we wanted something that looked good from the inside and outside, so this space is made for window boxes to sit down on the terraces.

Gearing up for construction. T's been at the homesite (new name) for the last 2 weeks with a great guy Tim. They've done a bunch of contouring for water control and got all the piping done for water, electric, phone. I haven't been there yet to see the progress, but I hope to get there tomorrow. The pictures tell the story.

This is the window well for the egress window from inside the basement.

Give me some water!

Tom left for the property this morning, the truck loaded with pipe for the water lines, the buried electric lines, and that sort of thing. He was meeting the contractor who is digging the trenches, and if we're super lucky and the weather cooperates, we may have water to the house by the weekend. For that matter, the conduit for the electric will also be in place, so we may actually have power one of these days too.

I wish I had a picture to post, but I haven't been up there for a few weeks, and besides, nothing new happened before today's trench digging, so  . . . nothing to report.

This is just the beginning, though. From here, we'll be busy right up to putting the last daub of paint on the bedrooms.

Okay, I just found a photo that is close to what we're doing with the basement window well in the back wall of the basement. We've got to have a big enough window for a fireman to fit out of, so it will need a substantial well on the outside. This is what we're thinking of. How about that? It won't be nearly that deep, but this is the idea. I love it!