It Can't Be November!!! Good Thing We're Working Inside Now!

November 1, 2010

It's been a few weeks since we've blogged, but the work has continued on the weekends. Unfortunately, our real "work" at home has continued on the weekdays as well, and we've been too busy to justify taking time to blog. Even getting enough sleep has been a challenge. The two of us have literally been passing "like ships in the night" and have spent only a few hours in the same city or state in the last several weeks. We wonder what "normal" might look and feel like again. I'm sure it's expected that you'd be weary toward the end of a project like this, and we are. But we're pushing forward toward the end and the finish line is in sight! We occasionally have to elbow each other and remind ourselves to hold on...we're LIVIN' THE DREAM!

Therefore, a lot has happened that hasn't been blogged about yet, so for those of you who just look at the pictures and don't read all the clever text that accompanies it anyway, we'll throw a picture menagerie out here and write details later as we're able. Here you go...

Sandy is gluing and screwing in the filler boards on the stair risers going to the basement level.

Doug, adding a furnace duct to feed the main level.

IN THIS WEEK'S NATURE CORNER - We woke up early on Saturday, 10-23-10 and walked outside to enjoy the beautiful day unfolding. As we watched the sun rise over the trees across the perfectly calm lake, we began to hear a strange, dull buzzing/humming sound growing from that same direction. Suddenly a huge blackness emerged and came toward us. We were stunned as we watched for more than 10 minutes as thousands, probably millions of black birds flew over the lake and over our heads, from east to west! At times they covered the entire width of the lake. It was THE STRANGEST SIGHT we had ever seen, although strangely similar to an old Hitchcock movie, and you know which one I mean!

The question is, who are they? And another question, what are they doing?

 And yet another question (I'm sure I get at least three questions for this strange event, right?), does this happen every year? And, what kind are they? And, why are they flying west and and not south? (silly birds!) And, is this one of the plagues?

As the grass has been turning brown and dying this fall, funny things have been uncovered. This being one of them...Each time we went swimming this summer, we'd pull up any rocks or sticks in our beach area with our feet and pitch them to shore so that we could have a smooth, sandy lake floor where we swim and play. We seemed to be competing for the biggest item to be unearthed. Well, one sunny day, Chris exclaimed that he had what he thought was the winner, as he wrestled with a treasure at his feet. He dove down and eventually pulled up this 55-gallon drum (not with his feet!) which was buried at the bottom of Little Chippewa Lake!  Presumably it fell off of the Edmund Fitzgerald en route to Duluth! Ya, there's no doubt who won this year's prize for the lake-bottom treasure hunt! We're thinking that this should be the trophy for each year's winner; they can take it home and display it proudly on their mantle until they have to give it up the next year...the prestigious "Barrel Award"!

Late one evening as Doug and Chris were talking through how they could possibly build a chimney chase that was high enough and also light enough to manage to get in place. This posed quite a problem, so they schemed late into the night.  Sandy awoke the next morning to find the table literally covered with diagrams with various options. The solution they finally came up with consisted of a short chimney built in place on the roof. Then a second piece would be built on the ground and lifted into place. It would have four long "legs" which could be slid down into place in the first chimney and attached to it. It would then be sided and topped with a stainless steel chimney cover. Well, here's a picture of the beginning of the second chimney portion, the Lunar Module, if you will. It consists of 2 x 6's, braced with 2 x 4's, covered by sheathing.

The Lunar Module is then covered with Tyvek and Tyvek tape.

Ready for lift off! Well, there's one slight problem, it weighs a ton and is too tall to simply lift in place, unless you're a giant!

The wonderful answer to this NASA problem, is to hire the guy who has the machine that has the height that can lift the box! Enter Rod, a local siding contractor we found to finish the siding and soffit and fascia on the west side AND lift the chimney LUNAR MODULE in place AND side it! Brilliant!

The captain of the ship's maiden voyage does a preflight check and is concerned that she cannot find the bathroom!

Doug using a scrap piece of wood to write his "To Do" or shopping list

Read my lips, he says, it's a "POSTEEEEE".

We've worked our way to the far end of the basement now with our ducting and are working on the ducts that will keep the living area on the main floor toasty warm! It requires repeated up/downs on the ladder, sometimes with weights! Who needs the health club!?!

Main floor, looking from the bedroom into the living room.

The kitchen wall, looking through the bathroom wall. These lead to the upstairs bathroom and bedroom on the east side.

After waiting for the season-ending clearance prices, we added the bushes and shrubs to the front of the cabin. This should help with water flow and provide a barrier to keep people from walking too close to the high block wall. It also looks great!

As ever, Maddie places herself right where we are, to love and protect!

The chilling autumn view of Little Chip from Cty 16.

WHAT! The birds are back and are working the fields nearby!

Love the trees against the cool skies!

A resillient itch weed, works its way through the rudder slot in the bottom of the sail boat.

Sorry, gotta have a picture of rain-covered rocks with fall leaves and fresh young grass! Beautiful! Thank you, God!

Those pictures brought us through the 10-24-10 weekend...

Now, 10-29 to 10-31-10 weekend, Doug worked alone while Sandy was at the annual church choir retreat. What a trooper he is!

On Tuesday night, October 26th and Wednesday, October 27th, we had some of the wildest weather you can imagine. The meteorologists said that had we had slightly colder temperataures, it would have been perhaps the largest blizzard ever recoreded. I believe it! The wind gusts were 60+ mph in the Twin Cities. In Brandon, there was at least 2" of snow along with the wind. When Rod and his crew came to work on the siding, they found a "branch" had come down on top of the leg of the chimney box/LUNAR MODULE and crushed the grill.This branch was actually more like a medium-sized tree. Thank goodness it didn't break the box structure or land on the house or one of us!

Doug worked on plumbing for many hours and got so much done. Get ready for plumbing craziness...

Basement bathroom wall/toilet and sink waste pipes.

Somewhere in the ceiling...coming from the kitchen and bathroom areas.

Looking straight up from the main floor bath.

The lovely utility room, complete now with the hot and cold water manifolds, the water pump, the water filter (down lower-out of sight), the water softener and tank-less water heater. After hooking it all up, Doug tested it and TA DA, not one leak, there is now hot water and it tastes great! Though truly not a plumber at heart, he is amazing!

Driving away,  looking back, feeling good about his hard work.

Just a little remaining evidence of last week's snow.

Lake side peek on a sunny October afternoon.

Before we know it, there will be a city of ice houses right out in front of our place. Seems to be the best spot on the lake.

Lauren is 32 weeks pregnant here (but she's 34 weeks now, 11-1-10) Everything is going great and little baby girl is very active! We're so excited to meet her!

Also, during the month of October, Chris and Kelly were on the trip of a lifetime in Italy. Here they are in front of Casanuova, a hotel nestled in a Tuscan vineyard they stayed at in Figline, Italy.

This is the view out their window. AHHHHHH!

And here they stand, looking quite Italian chic, I might add, in Cinqe Terre along the Mediterranean coast. We're so happy they had AND TOOK this awesome opportunity! Oh, and by the way, they brought home a beautiful olive wood mortar and pestal for us. And to top it off, three precious stones from various cities along their journey! How cool is that!

This Thursday, November 4, Spencer is coming from Texas to help us out. He is able to bring Annie, so we'll get an "Annie Fix" too. We're looking forward to having them along with Adam and Lauren and Kya on Saturday. We'll even get to be together for Spencer's 23rd birthday on Sunday the 7th. So good to be family!