stairs stairs stairs

Well October 30th was mild and clear ( for once). Woodstove really worked to get cabin into the comfortable range ( 65-70 degrees).

Our only task was the staircase, taking the trial run and adjusting our "real" 2x12's took two tries but better right then making firewood.

Pictures show the efforts made, the system of parts are tacked in place, the cutting and moving and re-marking wore me out. Know when to quit!!!! Took time to stare at it and drink a hot tea ( Earl Grey of course).

Had a really cool looking red headed woodpecker eating at the birdfeeder. And lots of squirrrels.

Next trip we will make final adjustments to the stringers and then glue and screw time. Need to setup table saw to cut the stair treads.

Oct. 23rd leaf raking day

R we there yet???



Sheesh everyone grumps about driving up north sometimes, or they are all asleep.




Fall 2011 from the front porch. Would be nice if those two buildings went away, you can see the lake but the camera doesn't show it very well.




Self portrait. Nice day at cabin, we were there by 11AM and had a good time, pizza for lunch. Temps in cabin were 40ish and within an hour had it up to 65 then to 75 with the woodstove working. Heat is definitely upstairs not worried about heating house as I was previously. hunter was snoring on couch, all tired out from walking and playing outside. Hank curled up in front of stove.

Zone electric should take care of bath and bedrooms. Really wished we could have done the insulation this year. We got the stairs template cut out. I used a scrap piece of wood for our first run, really hard to visualize the whole thing till I cut it out then it fell into place. I can see why some carpenters do not do stairs and leave it to others.


And yes, it is a tad low where we want to put the oven unit. Try not to notice that detail just yet. Or the really small closet space that will be created behind the stairs. Oh well.

October 1st- feels like November

Well every year has this day,time to shut down the cabin. Night time temps were about 33-35 degrees and someone had to stay up to keep the fire going. We camped out and did ok, burned a lot of wood though. Breakfast was a culinary delight and even the boys got a plate of eggs and bacon with side of potatoes. Hank and hunter are working on "wait" in the picture .
Ben is learning the hatchett. He has a bit to go in that department.
End of the year, flannel season will commence!!! The coathook will get installed next year as soon as we insulate the walls and such. We will still go up and play but no overnites at the cabin during the winter.

We have several projects to work on too, stairs are all stained and ready to go. That would be a big help in working on the upstairs. Electric needs to be run and in place then we insulate.

Finish the bathroom, insulate ceiling and hang drywall, install tub etc.

Plenty to do, supplies are there waiting for us to install.

Sept. 10-11

Nicer weather for sure, bring on a long fall!!!!!

We now have working lightswitches in the hall and east wall. Ignore the "curtains" they are temporary.

I also took some time to work on making sure the siding will go up as planned. Many projects in the pipeline, Finish bathroom, more electrical stuff and build stairs. Supplies on hand just add time and skill.

Labor Day- cut short

Well Labor Day was supposed to be a great time, unfortunately it was not. Weather was good, even had Emily and the mutts up to visit. I got the bathroom lights installed, ceiling fan running and started on the East wall wiring. This includes the "crawl under the house" and let's just say that we will not do that too many times.

The husky is "bear" and he was visiting while his owner was off working the weekend. The dogs had the most fun I think. We also filled a 10 yard dumpster and that took most of Friday to haul the old stuff off the pile and throw away.

Next time we will have hall lights done and the east wall will be wired. That includes the heat and outlets. We should be able to finish the insulation and begin to add the wall coverings and such to that wall.

August 27-28th Summer is fading fast

Three day "vacation" and while still warm, weather was really nice in the morning and evening. The main project was getting the flooring installed in the great room. We had 3 cases and then ended up buying three more to get the floor mostly covered, still need to work on the area around the stove and then we continue down the hall to the front door. That will take 6 feet x 20 feet of tile to complete.

Kids took this picture instead of the electrical work we worked on Sunday. Switches for hall lights, east wall and outdoors was run. We have switches to add in next time. It is possible to have hall lights, bathroom and east wall electrical outlets done on next trip. A small trip under the house will be required. Guess who gets to go?

August 13-14th- rain and no heat

We tried making raspberry pastry, kinda worked. Need better way to cook then the sandwich maker we got, the coating is peeled off and needs to go away. Cast iron only!!



Hank was all weepy on Saturday, must have been the rain. He mentioned that Hunter missed his hotdog and scraps at breakfast adn I did not share them with him.




Ben is testing out the new walls for the bathroom. Not quite private yet. We did get most of the electric installed and are ready to pop in the shower/bath tub unit. Insulation is ready for ceiling and then drywall for that.

We need sink and cabinet still. Running water part is whole nother story as someone will need to crawl under the house to hook it up.



Maria is testing the shower unit. We bought a solar shower for rinsing off after swimming.
With all the rain there was not a lot of solar to warm up the water!!!