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.