Santa

Seeing as Santa has a soft spot in his heart for workshops, he delivered this a couple days before the big day....(it had to come early as it was too heavy for the reindeer to pull the sleigh filled with this and everybody else's toys.  So, he makes special early deliveries for these larger items.  Or Rudolf is just a wimp!)

Gene's dream table saw.  His old one is almost as old as our marriage, it's held up well, but he finds a new one a necessity.  This one is just too cool! Besides it will save his fingers if/when he has an accident.  The dust collection system on it is magnificent...collecting 99%.  Sweet!  He's a happy camper!

And we finished the upstairs insulation...

Pretty cool!  The 4 skylights and end wall windows add lots of light...even on this dark dreary day.

It's coming down to the wire...we can almost see the end.  We're not sure what we're going to do with ourselves when it's done....aside from the obligatory martini.  Maybe Gene can finish a project or 2 in the house?  He'll finally have the room to cut the materials!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  May your New Year be eventful and fun!

Party on!

More progress, More pictures

Ho-Ho-Ho!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Unfortunately, my energy has been spent elsewhere this month and we didn't get any Christmas cards out this year.  So consider this your holiday greeting!  Merry Christmas!  May Santa be good to you...or be naughty and save Santa the trip.

The last of the framing inspections passed without issues...as did the electrical.  Now, we just have to finish it up and get both finals.  There's still much work to be done.  Siding, soffits, landing out the back door, some sheet rock around the stairs...

Anyway, here's more pics...

The stairs.

South wall upstairs.
Bet you can't guess what we've been doing!

North wall.  Like the little window?  It's mostly for ventilation, but it's a nice little view.
The upstairs looks like it's stuffed in a sleeping bag.

Detail of the railing.  It's 1" wire grid sandwiched between 2x4's.
With a 2x6 cedar cap and bolted to the floor/floor joists.
It's not going anywhere!
My idea, but we designed it on the fly.  We really like it!

Obviously, we have the North wall left to insulate.  First Gene has to put some spacers in to allow for it.  We're getting tired.  Taking more and more nights off.  But with the insulation it's staying warmer in there.   After the North wall and the 3 ceiling bays are finished off, it should stay nice and toasty!  Then I'll bake some cookies and we'll take a nap.

Wishing you all a very merry holiday!  And thank all of you for your help and well wishes on our project!

Party on!

Gene & Coleen

Another day at the Polar Ice Cap

Everybody cold?  Hasn't stopped us...well, maybe a little...or a lot.  We're still out there almost every night.  We come in to thaw and get food...good thing I have a new retainer...keeps my teeth from chattering too bad.

The progress...the stairs are in with the walls around it complete.  I'll get a photo later.  Tonight we got the upstairs rail in.  Looks pretty cool.  It's not quite finished, will do that tomorrow night.  Have some insulation in, also.  Will finish that after we get the last of the framing inspections on Friday.  Yes, we'll be ready for it on Friday!  YAY!  Then we can get on with the process of pushing for the final inspection.

Last week Gene took a day off and Chuck and Dee came over and helped put the plywood up on the end wall.  The previous week, they came over and helped Gene frame it.  Pretty cool...I mean cooooold! I think it was all of 36º this day....

Gene's out there somewhere.
I opted to sleep until noon and watch my soaps
while enjoying chocolate truffles.

The next Saturday, Gene and I spent the morning cleaning out the carport.  My car can now get back into it's home.  Ok, there's still the junk yard on the left...but, rednecks will be rednecks.  (If I didn't spend so much time watching soaps it might get cleaned out.)

Unbelievable.  

I may get more photos this weekend.  Although, Christmas seems to be getting in the way.  I've found it necessary to gain a little sanity by immersing myself in doing some Christmas glittering.  We may even find the time to do some shopping this weekend.  We were going to do some this Thursday evening, after our anniversary dinner.  But we got complimentary tickets to the preview of the new Mission Impossible movie.  We can shop later.  Tom Cruise and a hot BMW is impossible to pass up...we're weak.  (Did you notice that the BMW is 'hot', while Tome Cruise is just...well, plain ol' Tom Cruise?  I'd much rather be cavorting around with a Bimmer!)

Party on!

Coleen