Mega :-)

Finished roof....

Through the trees.

And, from the back...again.

We're thrilled with the roofers work!  Great work and a great group of guys.   It's the first time we've ever hired roofing done, and glad we did!  Gawd, we're just getting too old for that piece of construction!

Garage

BEFORE
(after tornado)

AFTER
Ok, the door still isn't that stylin' but unless we wanted to spend
thousands on one, this is it.

Ok, I have to admit...this is not only a new garage door, but we got the first garage door opener in our lives...unless you count Gene and his biceps.  And, being the first, we're having a little trouble figuring it out.  So far, we're blaming the electric safety eye at the bottom because it won't close easily.  It'll come down only so far and then go back up.  And the level it comes down to before returning changes every time.  Even the 'override' button doesn't work.  Gawd.  Those of you who know us know we're techies, but this has us baffled.  The manual?  Puuleezze, an AutoCAD manual is easier to make sense of!  It doesn't make sense even when turned upside down!  Now, that's BAAAD!  Maybe it was the paint fumes...

The garage is all done except for a detail on the front and one along the right side.  But, the painting is done!  We spent all day Sunday painting...while the weather was warm enough for paint to dry!

Gene meets with the electrical contractors today to talk wiring.   Gutters tomorrow.  This week we'll get the last bit of plywood up on the North end of the shop (you can see the space in the top pic). Then we'll move inside to start the floor structure...and the electrical!  YAY!  Oh, yah, and to move those 2 big piles of plywood into dry space...not so 'yay'.

We're so thrilled to have it a dry space!  OMG!

Party on!

Gene and Coleen

Whaaaa? Can this be real?

Ok, here it is folks....roof.  Real live roof!  Not quite done, but come Monday, it will be.  They just have the other side and some details to finish up.  YAY!

Nice skylights!  The furthest one is deeper because it's an opener.
The roofers still have clean up...Monday.

And, can you believe it...WINDOWS!  Yup, Gene and I went out this morning at 8:30, had all 7 windows in by 9:45.  (There's 3 more 4x4 windows on the other side.)  The openings were beautifully square and perfectly sized so the windows slipped right in.

Don't you like the plastic sheeting?  Adds an air of..well, red neck vulnerability, don't you think?  Hey, it's keeping the upstairs dry, sort of, we just couldn't get it to the top to seal it completely.  That wall is low priority right now.

Oh...and we got the new garage door in yesterday.  No pictures yet, because, well, it's nothing short of butt ugly.  Ordered brown, figured if it worked it worked, if it didn't we'd paint it.  I started painting it this afternoon.  Looks a lot better even with the first thin coat on!  Gawd, it was horrible!  The roofers tried to spin it to make it better, but, they weren't convincing.  Their 'spin' capabilities fall short of politicians, but we give them credit for trying.

Next step???...gutters.  Wednesday.  And Gene's going to start laying out the floor system inside the shop tomorrow.

It's taking shape!  Gawd, that roof looks good!

Now, my martini is waiting.  Oh, wait it's not 5 o'clock yet.  Pfffttt...too bad.

Party on!

Coleen

Mountain Chalet?

Some think it looks like a cottage.  But from this view we're thinking more mountain chalet.  We're considering bric-a-brac on the back wall, complete with window boxes under the windows (that will be there eventually) to complete the illusion.  If we can't really live in Oberstdorf, Germany, we can at least pretend!

Do you also notice...the shop roof is papered and has roof jacks sitting on it?  YES!  It's all sheeted and papered.  We're in the dry!  The garage/carport/breezeway is tarped, although in this pic, Gene has it pulled back to paint the new barge rafters.  Now, we're waiting for the roofers to return and put the roofing on.  Depending on the weather it may be a few days or a week.

 You might also notice the very top of the shop wall is still waiting for the last sheet of plywood.  There's a little hole in the truss there, too.  It's waiting for a little window.

Well, now that we're in the dry, everything else will move a little slower.  Gene has a little detail to take care of before the roofers come and then he's going to install a temporary power plug out there.  Right now we've been working on extension cords from the house as when the garage was demo'd the power lines were cut out there.  Ooops.

Here's a couple more pic's of the place yesterday....

All papered and ready to roof!

The windows with window boxes will be in the gable end on the second floor.

Oberstdorf, Germany

Since I referred to our love of Oberstdorf, here's a few photos from our trip, almost exactly one year ago.  Maybe you can see why we almost stayed.  It's a gorgeous little town at the base of the Alps, bordering Austria to the South.

The entire trip was amazing!  Mostly, getting to see Sabine, gad, how we miss her!  And her family.  They are like an extended family!  So, thank you again Seebers for all you did to make our second trip to Germany as stupendous as the first!  We can't wait to return...again.

Looking our over the Alps from our window in the B&B

Downtown Obertsdorf

'bout says it all.

And now...looking down on Obertsdorf

Oberstdorf is in the valley below.  This area is a winter ski mecca and a summer hiking hot spot.  A gondola takes you up to 3 levels.  This is level 2.  Obviously, a popular spot for hang gliders.  It was a beautiful day and we witnessed about 5 or 6 taking off and gliding down.  While the weather was great then, we had to wait until the very last morning to be able to get to the top.  Forty five minutes after we got to the highest level, The Nebelhorn, fog engulfed us.

The town at the base of the mountains

Gene looking out over the valley below.
This is on top of the Nebelhorn

Our self portrait.
We look a little different without our hammers!

Sigh.  You know, forget the shop...I'm going to Germany.  You can all meet us there!  The B&B was a 300 yr. old (or so) working farm house.   Wonderful.  The owners spoke no English, my German is, well marginal at the very least least, but we managed.  I'll make reservations....

Party on!

Coleen

What is it?

Do you know what this is?

Yes, that's right....PLYWOOD ON THE SHOP ROOF!  We've worked ourself to a frenzy getting this ready for today.  Actually, Chuck and Gene had the last barge rafters on by 10:30 yesterday morning.  We still weren't sure we were going to make it until Gene decided that if he cut the overhangs down to 12", he could manage the barge rafters from the inside.  Thus not needing to build a 3 story high scaffold on the outside.  (Barge rafters are the fascia on the gable ends.  Notice they are pre-painted.  I'm not a fan of hanging from the trees to paint them.)

Anyway, they finished this side today and will do the other side tomorrow.  They put the roofing paper on as they went, so it's 'dry'.  We're so looking forward to it being under cover tomorrow.  Then Monday they return to roof the entire project.  Chuck and Gene a still busy finishing details on the garage roof structure.  The breezeway, garage and carport roofs are now totally sheeted.

You might also notice that it's been backfilled.  I forgot to put those pic's up....well, honestly, I can't find the photos.  Ooops.  Maybe because that was my 'melt-down' day.  Watching the cat work in such tight quarters (along the back here) barely missing the truss tails, was more than my nerves could take.  I had to walk away, call a friend and have her help me process my angst.

That's it for today.  Dee and I worked our little tails off today...not.  Watching and second guessing Chuck and Gene in the garage roof working on a detail where the top of the breezeway roof joins it, was exhausting.  Besides, it was cold out...sitting and doing nothing in the cold just drains a person!  Sure, we could go inside in the warm, but what fun would that be?  There's housework in there!  I've had the perfect excuse to ignore, dusting, vacuuming and cooking for almost 2 months now!  Aside from it being obvious, it's been great!

Party on!

Coleen

What a weekend!

Ok, it's been a few days...again.  I'm tired...and what little energy I have is spent on either spreading mulch over the mud or painting or playing support crew.  On occasion I may even clean the kitchen enough to find enough counter space to make a sandwich or try to find the M&M's.  And if Gene's lucky, I may take a shower.

Enough of my whining...

The weekend was filled with mad framing.  On Satruday, Gene's nephew, Brad, and Chuck's nephew (Brad's cousin...are you confused yet?), Jarod came and led a framing frenzy.  The valley connecting the breezeway and garage was framed.  Well, first they set the end truss on the shop and sheeted it, so they could set the breezeway trusses...then they could frame the valley.  Boy, are we grateful for their help!  We'd still be their scratching out heads if it weren't for them!

Brad in orange, looking through the end truss with Jarod comfortably
standing on the 6" wide beam.  They're discussing the in's and out's of quantum mechanics.
Maybe it was their next hunting trips, I dunno.

Chuck and Jarod putting starting the second row of sheeting.
This is the 'sub-wall'.  Primed only to protect it from the coming rains.

Gene's directing the show.  Actually he's cutting and handing the sheets up.

How high can he reach?

Breezeway trusses are set!

YAY!

Sunday

Fast forward to today, Sunday.  Pretend that I actually took pictures of Jarod and Brad framing the valley yesterday.  Actually, there's no good angle to get a good shot.  So, use your imaginations and trust that it's there!

So, today, gawd, what did they do today...oh, yeh...Brad, again, kicked butt and with Gene and Chuck put up the 2x10x20' 'jack rafters' (a rafter between trusses that don't carry the roof, are merely a nailing surface for the roof sheeting.  This is because of the opening created by doubling up the next to last truss with the third to last to allow for the stairway) and floor joists.  It required some tricky climbing, cutting and...well, it was tricky.  It took Chuck, Dee and I to get one of the rafters through the window and up to Brad and Gene.  Ok, here's the pics....

Gene sitting up on the 'rat run' (connecting trusses).  With Brad back at the
double truss.  The peak of the truss, at Gene's head, is 12' off the top of the wall.
This is when they declined lunch because they were afraid they'd lose their breakfast!

Gene hanging on while nailing something. Oh, the ridge beam
which the jack rafter attaches to.  First things first.  Gene wanted down
but I told him, "He that designs it, nails it."

Brad's enjoying the view.

Ok, that's it for photos.  But, suffice it to say, the day had lots of rain and lots of progress!  They actually got one side of the breezeway sheeted with plywood.  Which, of course, required more blue tarp.  We're thinking of investing in a tarp factory.

Hopefully, by the end of the week, we'll have some roofing started....or more tarp.  This time on the shop.

As always, we are so grateful for all the help.  Brad, Jarod you rock.  Dee and Chuck, what can we say, you're a blessing.  Thank you!

Party on!