The Edge of "Finished"

This is amazing! Only EIGHT days into the job of construction and Bill (and I) have come this far .

I have learned so much from Bill... like how to give the space"Character".

There will be more comments and photos in just a bit.

Note "The Dog house"

On the Edge of "Easy Living"

There have been some changes to the landscape at the old Draper 

Homestead.  First, we had major excavation work done by 

Northern Dirtworks.  My earlier photos show the extent of earth-moving.

Now, it's time to build the garage-woodshed -- before the snow flies.

Most of the work has been done by our friend Bill, who milled all the lumber ...

 

...and arrived last Tuesday to begin the back wall with oak posts.  He notched the nailers on the sole plate.

  

 

By Wednesday we had the back wall sheathed with slabwood.  We moved on to three of the four posts and beams with "Y" braces. It is amazing what gets done with good planning and good contractors.

 

Wednesday was rainy and cool. We managed to finish the " Y" Braces and put up 8 floor joists.  We even began running the bottom rafters in the rain.  Gretchen fed us vegetable soup, soda bread and lots of hot coffee.

Thursday was bright and sunny but very chilly (first killing frost). We put up half the back rafters, put down the flooring over the joists and began running the upper rafters. 

 

It's starting to look like my first drawing (see previous blog)!

 

 

Bill and I put in just over a half day on Saturday and here is where we stand. Incredible for less than "four days" work!

 

I'm really excited about more storage space, a woodshed that is "on the level" and one vehicle kept out of the weather.

I had a nice surprise while taking down the pre-existing soffit. A little Brown Bat has taken up housing there.

 

Then, he crawled into a crack that was less than 1/4 inch wide.

He's literally "flatter than a pancake".  Ever wonder where those bats live??  Now I know.  We've watched them swoop over the field all summer and cheered every mosquito eaten.  Time to figure out how to accommodate this little guy in this new building.

...More to come...

The Edge of Elderly Housing

Gretchen and I decided we will need a more easily accessed driveway in our future. This decision has been a difficult one, for it meant altering the landscape in a big way.  We have to remove many trees and eliminate the cooling shade and privacy. After two months (years) of painful discussion we are almost ready to build our combination pole barn/carport/and woodshed.

The house as it has been since the early 1980's

First, we hired Christian to remove two of the more difficult pines. He climbed and dropped 4-foot sections.

Next, our neighbor Garth brought in his excavator.  He was the man with a vision.

The changes over the first week have been amazing and shocking!

I disassembled the woodshed but left the "Covered bridge" in front of the door.

Garth did an excellent job in how he shaped our difficult "double slope".

The small pile in front of the house is our "leftover" cookstove wood, all moved and stacked by Gretchen. The green tarp is the full sized wood also "leftover" from last winter.  Everything had to be removed from the woodshed.

When we took the entryway off, the house changed (circa 1978).

Watch the telephone pole. It was in a very difficult location.

Next the wood chips and compost to hold the soil

Here are the two driveways merging onto the road. If you look closely (double click to enlarge), you can see the red flags marking the woodshed wall.

Very rough projection of the roof line.

We have a cement crew on hold till we get things straightened out at town hall.  Do we need a permit?  Or, not?   Stay tuned.

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