September 8-9 2007: The Doors, live at Cottonwood Beach!

My more than able assistant and photographer returned from her unexpected but hugely enjoyed trip to Bismarck to give Stephanie and Nathan some much needed help moving in (and just coincidentally, a huge helping of Nanna time with Adrian . . .) Anyways, even taking time for the closer than necessary Husker victory over Wake Forest and making ice cream and chocolate velvet cake for a belated birthday party, together we installed two doors. This was a much more time consuming task than I would have guessed, insuring everything is plumb and level. But, as we say in these here parts, we gotterdone. Photos of same below. The trim work is next on the list. Oh, and in the middle photo, far left, note the water lines!! Yay. And our septic line is connected. We hope the plumber finishes his work next week. Then we can start hooking up the toilet, shower, lav in the bathroom. Just in time to turn the water off for the winter. Ah, life's little ironies.

September 1-2 2007: Playing under the lights

Saturday September 1, Nebraska opened its football season with a home game. Hence, no work. My able helper got an urgent call to provide relief to some overworked kids in North Dakota before the first half was over. So, after the game, I went to the cabin by myself. A forlorn trip, for sure. Sunday, I started working on the wall between the bedroom and the living room. A friend I hadn't seen in many years, who lives in Germany, dropped in. Catching up after 20 years takes a while, so not much work got done during daylight. I used my brother in law's work lights for the first time, and worked a couple hours after dark so I could feel I got something done. Then Monday (Labor Day) I finished the wall. I had to custom cut--rip-- an 8 foot piece piece using my circular saw, which took a couple of tries. My brothers "made" me quit mid-afternoon and go swimming. I was tired and frustrated enough to not require much encouragement! Here are pictures of that weekend's progress.

We ran out of windows today . . .

Which means EVERY LAST ONE is installed! Huzzah. Hallelujah. Hip hip hooray. Happy Day! We also hung some fake bamboo (read: plastic) sunscreens on the porch. The plumber and electrician both worked this weekend. You can't see much of what the plumber did, as it is all under the cabin. Below are pictures of the electrician's work, the three LAST windows, and the screens. Progress, always progress.

So, is that arrow pointing up or down?

What arrow?, you might be asking yourself. Well, the one Jeld-Wen considerately puts on their windows so that even people who can't read will put the window in right side up. Lawyers, however, don't NEED pictographs, because we are highly educated, at least book-wise. Anyways, my friend Tim (another lawyer) and I very carefully put the large loft window in, screwed it in securely, then couldn't figure why it didn't work . . . After examining the other windows, we discovered it was UPSIDE DOWN. That's when we noticed the fairly obvious blue circle with the white arrow and the words "this end up." Had the window, the temperature and the humidity all not been so high, it might have been less of a setback. As they all were high, we re-set the window (with brother Paul's help), got the outside trim on, and called it a day. The swimming after was probably the more enjoyable. Here are some pictures of the installation of the large loft window.

A window for the kitchen

After getting the bedroom wall done, the sons in law clamored for more work in the +100 degree heat index! OK, so maybe they were WILLING to work in the nasty heat and humidity. In any event, I took advantage of their youth and stamina, and we installed the kitchen window. We had been waiting till we finalized the floor plan, and that happened Monday August 6. Here pictures of the kitchen window. If you zoom in on the top picture, you can see the anniversary "card" Paul & Mary & their foster kids made for us.

And the walls went up . . .

After finishing the loft, my fab sons in law and I worked the first interior wall, which will be in the bedroom. The tongue in groove lumber for the wall went together MUCH easier than the lumber for the floors. Maybe because it's a lot thinner . . . Here are pictures of that work.

Happy Anniversary Gift

Wow! When Alisanne & I got back to the beach last Saturday, August 4, we had an awesome surprise. My brother Paul and his wife Mary got almost the ENTIRE loft floor laid! They did it as an anniversary gift to us (we celebrated our 36th August 1). Blew us completely away.

Then, with the help of my brawny sons in law Nathan and Scott, we finished the loft floor, and got the railing up. Here are some pictures of the completed loft.

It is really cool. The guardrail seems a little low, so we are thinking of ways to keep the look and add some protection. We may just extend the handrails that we'll have on the stairs. The ladder there now is only temporary.