10.31.2018

Another cold start to the day - in fact, once Jim headed outside, he found water that had been sitting in a cover for the snowblower had frozen over!

But Jim doesn't let a little cold stop him - here he's peeking out while working on details of the pole barn roof...

This morning, he cut more hurricane clips and got those installed.

A better view - you can see the angle attaching the joist down as well as the hurricane clip going from the header to the joist.  Our roof is definitely strong!

 

 Jim worked on putting up all the rafter ties....

He also got the edge blocking in the front all finished - here he's attaching it from the outside...  He was hoping to get the rest of the drip edge put on the front, but it started raining.  However, he has gotten a ton of this intricate detail work done that takes so long.  Once the supplies come, he'll be ready to just press on.

He even brought up some supplies to store up here!

 

High 52/Low 44

10.30.2018

Jim had to do some project management work again today, checking back with the roofing company on the order of siding and shingles.  His rep said that the siding is supposed to be in Thursday so we're hoping for a Friday delivery of everything.

Then Jim had to work with the water softener people - he talked to the tech who was able to replicate the issue.  He replaced a few parts and hopefully it is on the way back to us now.  We sure have missed the soft water, even though the quality of this water is still very good.  On that note, we are also really enjoying the bathroom vent when we shower - it works great! 

The afternoon was spent back up on the roof.  Jim was able to finish the back and take down all the roof jacks!

Next, he got back to working on the front...

Making good progress - first roof jack up.

End-of-the-day picture!  Jim has now used up all the shingles that were remaining from the carriage house roof.  We have 19 bundles on the way that he'll use for the front as well as the side of the stairwell roof next year.

High 46/Low 27

10.29.2018

It was another drizzly start to the day - Jim spent a good part of the morning continuing to work on updating/transferring computer files.

Then he did some woodworking to get some detail work finished on the pole barn.  He made the rest of the rafter ties...

Then he had to come up with these very complicated edge blocks to go at the very end of the rafters.

He also finished putting the clip angles down to attach the wall support pieces to the deck.
 

He worked inside first (way over his head!) and tacked the edge blocks in place with nails.  Then he went outside and first screwed the sheathing down to the block and then toed nails through the rafters.  Whew - a lot of work but the end result looks great and work better when Jim has to put the ridge shingles on.

The inside view...

 

I got a glimpse of him working ... it's hard to get pictures of him when he's working around the back because of the terrain of the property.
 

With all that done, he was able to get back to putting shingles on.  Each shingle in these last two rows has to be cut down to size but he's almost done in the back!

High 48/Low 32

10.28.2018

Another rainy day outside so Jim had lots of inside work to do.  He's actually doing some computer work - mine is not working well at all and Jim is working on upgrading computers.  His has a lot of high-tech software so it takes time to transfer all that.

We got our replacement smoke detector, so Jim got that put back up today.

Then it was back up into the attic to finish off the bathroom vent work.   It still took a few trips up and down the ladder and back and forth into the workshop but it's basically all done now.  Jim may replace one coupler with a rubber one just in case he would ever have to take this run apart for any reason.  This is the view coming up from the bathroom vent...

and then over to connect into the vent run for the microwave.  So our bathroom vent is now functional!

 Jim also made these cradles to hold up the ends of the pipe...

His next project was to make edge blocking for the sheathing at the ridge of the pole barn.  He wanted more substance to nail into when he puts the ridge shingles on.  These were the first cuts to size and the first cut in the pieces...

All finished!  There's one block to go in between each of the rafters at the top and the sheathing will connect to the notched area.

High 44/Low 37 - drizzly

10.27.2018 - Blinds!

Today was a blustery, cold, rainy day - which made us even more thankful that we were able to dig our giant hole for the propane tank, get the tank in and get all of that area back filled in dry weather!  

We decided to go to church this afternoon in Saratoga because of the weather, so on a shorter day Jim decided to get out our new blinds!  Opening up the first box and figuring out what's what...

 Jim wanted to do all of the windows that don't have blinds on them right now, so he decided to start in the bathroom.  He was explaining to me how they would fit once he gets all the jamb extensions made. 

But for now, he made mounting boards out of leftover OSB, attached the clips, and mounted them to the top of the steel window frame...

We're really impressed with the quality of these blinds.  The mounting clips go into a recessed area at the top of the blind so you don't see anything when you put them all the way up.

All up!  Although you would never guess from this picture, this is the Cloudy Day color and it looks wonderful in the bathroom.

Next up were the kitchen windows...

Trying it out...

Then the living room...

This is the Sandstorm color - again, it's perfect in the living room.

We got the top down, bottom up feature on most of the windows...

Putting the last blind up in the living room...it feels cozier already!

Continuing on, Jim is attaching the blind in the master bedroom...

This is the Cloudy Day color and looks perfect!

The other bedroom window...

And, last but not least, the second bedroom window.  This is the Sandstorm color...

This is a just another step to really make the house feel even more like our home!

High 37/Low 34 - rainy

10.26.2018

Jim did a little more grading this morning - the yard really looks nice.

He moved the dirt pile to the end of the driveway section here (at the back of this picture) and got the driveway section back in shape too.

After the sun warmed the frost off everything, Jim was able to get back on the roof.  His first job was to cut the excess roof ridge off.  That required him to get his tools up there - not an easy task with just toe boards on the roof.

He sat up on the ridge to cut the board...

All done!

Then he had to repeat on the other side.  Glad that job is done!

Jim was just getting roofing supplies up when the gas company pulled up.  They filled our tank so we now have about 850 gallons of propane underground!

Back up on the roof, Jim first had to extend the drip edge to the ridge on both sides and then he was able to continue putting the shingles down.  This was the point where he then had to put more roof jacks up.

Wow - all of the full size shingles are now in place on the back!  There are two more rows but both need to be cut down slightly.

View from the ridge...

While he was up on the roof, he did get a call from the roofing company that the remaining shingles are in.  However, our siding still isn't in and Jim was going to have them deliver both at one time.  They are supposed to check into the siding and call Jim back on Monday for a status update.

This is the view of the yard with our new tank buried.  I used up the rest of the grass seed we had and spread it around and raked it in a bit.  We'll see if anything comes up but regardless, it looks great!

High 44/Low 27