Mother Nature is finally giving us a break with the weather. We had another snow day on Monday, our third snow day in two weeks - 10 inches of snow this time. This snow came with a bit of blowing and Luke was snowed in. Our first day of work was Tuesday, it was a cold and windy day, unsuitable to working outside, except in short bursts... that wind would cut us in half! The ground has been saturated with precipitation and is a slimy exercise in balance - if we needed supplies moved, we did it early in the morning while the ground was still frozen. Saturday, Luke and I worked in tee-shirt sleeves for the afternoon. The ground is drying up. With the warm weather our efficiency has improved and we are making good progress every day.
I was reminded that I had not posted a floor plan in the blog, so here is the floor plan.
Like I said in the second paragraph, our work week started on Tuesday and it was too cold to work outside on the master bedroom so we worked in the tower to get some time out of the wind. None-the-less the tower is un-insulated and unheated. I was pretty chilled by the end of the day and enjoyed soaking in the bathtub after supper.Luke and I installed several beams and posts in the tower. I spent some time cleaning out the pond, I had been using it to store cardboard. It looks much better now. It will be the fall before we are able to move the fish to the tower.
Wednesday was nicer, the high temperature was in the mid 30s but there was no wind and some sunshine. Luke and I spent the day working on the master bedroom suite. All the framing work has been done and I am starting to rough in the electrical wiring... we will need an inspection and then we can put insulation in the walls. Malon Insulation was here on Friday and blew fiberglass insulation into the roof cavity.
This is our view of the rocks from where our bed will be.
On Thursday we started framing up the hallway between the tower and the master bedroom. Here we are installing the ridge beam. The two pictures below show the roof structure. The alcove in the picture at the right will house the Samurai armor that I got from my judo students at Kangeiko 2011.
Here is half of the joinery used to splice the ridge beam.
Here is the joint assembled.
This is the view thru the window on the south side of the hallway adjacent to the tower.
Below is the smile of a happy house builder.
After work on Friday and Saturday evening I got a workout moving a few tons of gravel and shaping the landscaping cloth around the exposed rocks... I got a great workout and got to see the Gravel Garden, called "karesansui" in Japanese or a dry landscape appear in front of my eyes. This is such a natural spot for a gravel garden. We did some landscaping with a tractor in the Fall as this spot is bounded by rocks, the house or property line and so is essentially land locked. We will build a fence along the property line to control the view to the east.
I appears that we will start out our week in the mud again, it has been raining since about 5:00 pm and still coming down at 9:00 pm. We plan to complete the roof structure on the hallway and get it sealed up. Then we are going to tackle the tower and get a roof over the tower before we get a lot of rain.
I should add that Carol has been taking very good care of me and had been enjoying unpacking boxes. There are good dishes in the kitchen and art in the windows. I got the new range/oven installed last weekend and she got some new pots and pans so has been enjoying cooking with the new toys. She is making the house a home.
We have been so enjoying living in the house, the continuous windows on the south face allow for a wonderful view of nature - snow fall, deer walking thru our yard and birds on the wing. The objective was the blur the distinction between the interior and the exterior and I think we have done a great job. The house is a delight to live in.
Regards to all, have a great week.
Van
I sooo enjoy following this. Love the detail pictures that most people would not think to include!! Love the shirt too (since I made it for you)! Love to you and Carol!!!
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