Brrrr! B-b-b-back t-t-to w-w-w-work

OK, it's been a while since I've posted. Progress was interrupted by a mini-vacation with my wife, Alisanne. We went to upstate NY, where I had a speaking engagement. We visited Niagara Falls and went to Hammondsport, on Lake Keuka. My mother grew up there. We were blessed with being there at the right time to see the country in all its fall glory! Then, our grandson Adrian's final adoption hearing was November 16, so I surprised Stephanie and Nathan and spent a nice weekend in Bismarck. In there somewhere, I went down on another VERY cold Saturday, and worked just a few hours, mostly organizing and cleaning up.

We had planned on working yesterday, but we had an ice storm and couldn't safely get to the cabin in time to get much done. So, today (Sunday, December 2), Loren, one of my technically skilled brothers in law (Alan, the other equally skilled BIL, was busy with his own construction project!) helped me with interior wiring. Of course, before we ran out of daylight, we ran out of material--both wire and junction boxes--due to my vast inexperience! However, Loren calculated heating equipment needs, feet of still-needed wire, number of boxes, etc and figured out design issues, so in addition to running wire inside, much was accomplished.

Here are some photos of the day. We ran two more lengths of wire under the cabin, but those pictures are boring. I also posted a 10 second video of our baby dragon. Heater. Much needed today, as the wind was 20 knots, gusting to 30, and the outside temperature never got above freezing. The sun was bright but cold! Progress, always progress.

Still more October 14 photos . . .

More photos for October 14 2007 post

I meant to add these earlier, but hit the wrong key.

October 14--Catching up

Our last post was September 9, but we have not been idle all this time: We hung all three interior doors, got the last section of interior wall up (I'm awaiting my table saw so I can trim out the interior, so there is a gap across the top of the wall dividing the living area from bathroom/closet/bedroom), run some wire under the cabin, put up some power receptacles, caulked all the interior, added supports for the angle braces under the loft, and drilled holes for running wire inside the cabin. The plumber has finished getting water to the cabin, all the lines for indoor fixtures, and the requisite on/off and drain valves. Alisanne has painted one interior door and the vanity for the bathroom. While much has been accomplished, there is still much work to do. But, we need that table saw! Here are some photos to bring you up to date. More are available at our Picasa site, link at right.

September 9 2007: Little green visitor

On an otherwise routine visit to the outdoor facilities today, I found this little guy making like spiderman, walking UP the door. Check out the cool suction cup feet. Tree frog. Spring peeper. I'm sure he found lots of tasty critters in the little outhouse on the prairie! Kind of made my day.

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.

Dove Promise

Sunday after lunch, I had a Dove dark chocolate square--the kind with red foil wrappers. The inside of the wrappers have cutesy little sayings, sort of like a fortune cookie. After a long 9-5 day in the cabin yesterday, I was happy to find this "promise." And, except for a little vacuuming in our house and washing our car and truck, that's pretty much what I did!

Get back, Jack--the loft is going up!

It's amazing. To me, anyways. My friend Zach came down today (July 28 2007) and together we got the joists and uprights in. Fairly plumb and mostly level. Not without our difficulties (we lined up the first upright the wrong way--long story and had a few other humbling experiences), but we persevered, thought things through (2 or 5 times), and, as we say 'round these here parts: We got 'er done!
In the afternoon, my friend Jeff came down, and he and I got up the angle braces and STARTED LAYING DOWN THE FLOOR!!
Woo Hoo! The boards we got screwed down are on the right side of the last photo. The others are all waiting to go into place. AND the plumber worked about 2 1/2 hours today and got the bathroom roughed in. How cool is that?! I'm beginning to think we might get done before I have to renew my driver's license. In 2012. When I'll be SIXTY TWO!! For cryin' out loud.

minimal progress--but progress nonetheless

Last Saturday, Jeff Valder and I cleaned up a lot of the "construction mess": We cut up all the pallets that weren't being used, and the scrap lumber that wasn't re-usable. So now there's lots of kiln dried fire wood next to our fire ring, much to my brother Paul's chagrin. It won't be there long, at the rate we burn wood! Sunday, Alisanne and I figured out how to put up the back support beam for the loft, so now we can rock and roll. The weather has been miserable--HOT and HUMID. But at least we can work in it--unlike the torrential rain we had early on, when we were still outside. Anyways--excelsior! (see Longfellow and Whitman . . . )

More windows! More windows! July 6 & 7 work

Alisanne & I got THREE windows in Friday and Saturday July 6 & 7! Amazingly, they are all pretty level and plumb. We have one more to cut and install--on the right side (north) wall you can't see in the first picture below--which will be over the kitchen sink, if we calculated correctly. After that, no more excuses for not building the loft. Yikes!

July 2, 2007 Taking the Plunge (cut)

Working together, Alisanne & I got another window in! Using the circular saw to cut the opening--after watching my brothers do it--was pretty nerve wracking, but I did a fair job. It is so hot now, it is really miserable. Sitting on the porch after a hard day's work is very satisfying!