November 1-4
"Winter" dawned clear and dry - we continue to be blessed!
After too much "siding", and with Ben away on another of his jobs -
now he is his own boss and owner of Holy Cross Carpentry (www.holycrosscarpentry.com) - we decided to work on the decks, which still need a lot of
work. By Friday night we had almost finished the middle and lower decks, and the stairs down from upper to
lower and lower to middle decks.
Caleb Edelmann, our roofing contractor arrived on Thursday afternoon (nice
young man!); he plans to start work Friday morning - make that Saturday morning (after he arrived late Friday
to apologize and bring the materials his men will need tomorrow.)
Friday saw the first truss in place - it took a week! Let's hope they speed
up.
The weather Friday was more like summer and it looks like staying fine for a
while, so let's hope we get fully dried-in, with roof, doors and windows completely installed by the end of
next week. Then "rain/snow" days will still be productive. The plumber is also scheduled for Tuesday
and the electrician one week later. Looking good!!
On Sunday Jenny spent a few hours doing "clean-up", even though
Oskar does most of that work every week - there's an amazing amount of stuff that accumulates!
November 5-10
 Another good week: Ben, Kevin, Mike and I worked
Monday and Tuesday on siding (we feel the onset of "siding sickness" - there's so much and it
takes so long!). I also completed the deck stairs - they look pretty good!
Tuesday, instead of the plumber, we had news that he had an emergency on a job
site ("water everywhere") ... then Wednesday it was "he can't make it until Monday"!
Tuesday night it rained hard, but Kevin and Mike stayed dry in the "apartment". Wednesday morning,
once the cloud cleared we renamed Mt. Sopris "Snopris" - a gorgeous sight! The rest of the week was
sunny.
Our framing crew installed most of the windows and doors, but on Wednesday we
learned that one window was missing from the Amerlink package, so we won't be fully dried in for a while yet.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Kevin, Mike and I continued suffering
"siding sickness", but at least we've turned the corner ... of the garage, literally. Round the
corner it's cold though - the sun doesn't reach the north side at all, so while, until now, we've been working
in t-shirts, today I wore a fleece, a ski jacket and gloves all day. But dry and sunny is too good to complain
about, so we thank God for this huge blessing - it's almost mid-November!
By the end of Friday our log guys were still working on the second truss - one
week per truss is much longer than planned ... not good! Next week we expect the plumber and
roofers.
On Saturday afternoon Jenny and I spent a few hours filling nail holes in the
log siding. We plan to re-start staining pretty soon.
November 12-17
 The Plumbers (John and Tony) did start work on
Monday, but still had work to do by Friday afternoon - after several "disappearances" to other jobs
during the week.
The electrician is now not expected until after Thanksgiving (11/22) - another
breakdown in scheduling by our General Contactor - so our chances of moving in by early January are fading. The
roofers are also expected after Thanksgiving, once the plumbers have finished all the vents and flues that
"puncture" the roof.
Our work on siding continued, and we now hope to be finished by Thanksgiving -
if the wonderful weather doesn't give way to winter.
Saturday Jenny and I spent 4 hours filling more holes and staining siding.
It's going to be a long job!
November 19-21
This was a short week leading up to Thanksgiving and a much needed break! Ben was busy with other
projects, and Mike was not well, after taking off Friday to ski and enjoy his birthday, so Kevin and I
soldiered on finishing the garage siding and the deck steps. This involved working on high
ladders and scaffolding, but my "head for heights" is better these days, so we managed pretty well.
Now the only siding left to install is on two small gable ends, and indoors.
The log guys (Manuel and Sergio) installed the log posts for the front log
truss, finished the garage truss, and moved into the house to work on the final two trusses. They need the
"Genie" back to raise the garage truss - probably next Tuesday.
The firebox was installed on Wednesday - our first "appliance", and
the stone mason company rep. came to discuss the fireplace and other stone-work needed. We await his quote with
nervous expectation! We had planned to do most of the exterior stone work, but lack of time and the late date
has forced us to have all the stone application at the front of the house done professionally. We will do the
rest.
"Thanksgiving" (11/22 for our non-US friends): we have so much to be
grateful for and we thank God for all his many blessings. Although we had planned to be "in" by now,
we are excited to look forward to living in our "log cabin" soon, and to finishing the project over
several more months during early 2002. All we need is a partial C.O. (certificate of occupancy) from the local
county inspectors.
Now for a long weekend of rest: Kevin will be in Denver with friends and Ben
and Jennifer in Bailey with Jennifer's family, so we are "moving in" to Ben'Jen's house in Edwards (a
luxurious break from the RV). Thanks guys!
November 26-30
That's better! With batteries recharged and Ben, Kevin and Mike working with me on Monday and Tuesday, we
made a good start to the week - siding of course; this time inside. We also nailed plywood to the fireplace
framing.
Tuesday provided a break when we helped our log guys to erect the garage
truss; it took half the day, in 3 attempts, but it was fun.
Did I mention that winter arrived and the ski resorts received a much-needed
"dumping" over Thanksgiving - and so did our place.
This week our plumbers "should" finish - it's amazing how much
longer it can take than planned! Marc Briels, our electrician, spent 3 hours with Jenny and me on
Wednesday walking through the house, planning our electrical and lighting. We froze - it's a very cold
week. Marc plans to start work on Friday or Saturday. The electrical work is on the critical path - the
official inspection of framing, plumbing and electrical must be complete and approved before we can move on the
insulation, drywall, painting and interior finish work.
This week we also finalized our kitchen and laundry appliances and ordered
them from Contract Appliances in Glenwood - very good people to deal with and a very good price.
On Friday Kevin and Mike worked with Ben on one of his projects, so I spent
the day on odd jobs and digging one of the holes for the concrete supports under the garage truss log posts.
The ground was so frozen it took me 4 hours to dig a hole 2 feet wide and 15" deep - it needs to be twice
that deep! It snowed all day, so by the time I drove home the scenery was like a Christmas card! It's bye to
November and hello to December (almost 2002!)
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Come back soon to check on our progress.
God bless,
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