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"Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."
- Unknown

"That which does not kill you, makes you stronger."
- Handed down through the ages.

"Life's tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid."
- John Wayne



Quickie: What's Been Goin' On

Before I go "belly-up" (as my husband so kindly tagged my passing out immediately after dinner these nights - not that he's much better) I thought I'd give you a quick catch-up. (And, believe me, I'm up WAY past my bedtime tonight, but I needed to install a new printer because mine died the other morning - not convenient for a General Contractor. But now . . . my copy machine won't work [and it did this morning]! Arrrgh!)
Anyway, we had 24 degrees last night up at the property and 28 down here by the lake. Right now it's nearing the freezing mark and, as we drove home from town tonight, the rain that was hitting the windshield was much more snow than anything. Word around town is that it's "snowing like a banshee" up over the hill . . . which means that Swamp River is getting it, too! Normally, I'd be excited as anything. But, this year we just need the snow to hold off a bit longer. But, I know that at these temps it will melt right away in the sun, so no worries. Still, I pulled out my snowshovel to help push the expected wet snow/slop off the work areas tomorrow morning.
So, to catch you up (with details to follow as soon as I have two extra seconds to properly journal on the blog again):
The garage - the exterior walls are sheathing and wrapped in Tyvek, the roof is sheathed and has a layer of a new-fangled rubberized rolled-roofing, the interior walls are framed downstairs, the interior walls are framed upstairs, and the two carriage-style garage doors have been built. Yet to do: deck off of pub, shingles on roof, shakes on exterior, windows installed, doors installed, interior finished.
The house - the timber frame is DONE, and we sadly bought our timber framer a going away dinner tonight in town. He leaves tomorrow for his (now-) permanent home in Montana. Boo-hoo!!!!!! It seems so strange without him around up there. Even he admitted that it was kind of sad packing up his tools - he'd been there so long. He said he misses heading out each morning. ('Course, maybe all he really misses is the beer and candy we fed him each day!) Also on the house - the interior walls are framed downstairs, the rough-in for the stairway between the two floors is done, and the interior wall framing upstairs just started this afternoon (before we got rained out).
Energy & Electricity - WE HAVE POWER! The battery and inverter/solar system are all in, and we are pulling in all the energy we can use (out of one outlet) from the solar panels. The 1000 gallon LP tank has been delivered, and next Tuesday the lines for it will get hooked up. Between now and then the generator (to charge the batteries when there is no sun) should get installed.
The well - WE HIT WATER NOT 6 HOURS AGO! They drilled all day yesterday and today and got nothing more than sand and some grey clay. Finally, this afternoon, the sand gradually turned to shale-y rock around 182 feet down. Then, we hit ledgerock - yayyyy! About 20 feet down into the rock the water started coming in . . . at 20 gallons a minute (that's really, really, really good)! Both Tom and I are in shock. We thought we'd end up with 400+ feet of steel casing, but we're at only 182'. Heaven! It all happened right at the end of the day today. We'll learn more tomorrow. I can't wait to just hold it in my hands and taste it - THEN I'll believe it!
Living off the land - Tom bought a very-slightly-used 2004 four-wheeler today. He'll use it for hauling - mostly logs out of the woods both for building with and for firewood. He's been looking for a while, and the price was right on this one. With a can or two of spraypaint (it's bright yellow - yikes!) and a few accessories it will be just what we need.
Us - exhausted. Need I say more? :)

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