Following moose tracks

There is a cool panoramic setting on our camera. I decided to test it out while on a walk in the woods today. For most of the walk, moose tracks in the snow were followed.

Siding and other progress

 

While a couple of inches of snow fell overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, leading us to have the driveway sanded in anticipation of a delivery of sheetrock for the walls, by late afternoon Wednesday things weren't really bad as you'll see below.

 

 

Notice that they are making good progress with the siding!  We are very pleased with how the different shades of grey and black are working out. Just one more window to have delivered and installed and that is expected before week's end.

 

Here you can see the pipe for the solar panel conduit coming down from the roof next to the wood stove stack/chimney.

 

The electrical breaker box is installed and there is LOTS of wiring throughout the walls and above the ceiling.

 

While it might seem odd that the "Painter" is already at work, he has been very busy painting outside trim black and working on sanding and staining the window and door frames to match the interior wood of the windows.

It is really coming together quite nicely!

House progress and a wonderful view

Roofing was placed on the garage today.  The two north windows in the garage were also installed, as the first photo shows.  Progress has been made on the screened-in patio frame.  On the inside, the electrical work continues.  The electrician said he used over 500 feet of wire just between the breaker box and the kitchen! Kitchens need lots of outlets.

Oh, there are trees and great views up here, right? Here's proof.  Nothing in the picture below is on our property, but I was standing on Hardwood Hermitage when the shot was taken.  I was at the higher part of our eastern lot line.  There's a portion of a really big oak on the left of the photo.  Too bad the acorn didn't fall a foot to the west.  It would have been ours!  The main part of the picture looks toward the Kilkenny Range. Wow, it's great to live in the North Country!

"Whose woods these are I think I know . . ."

This post's title is the first line from a famous poem by Robert Frost.  Below are some pics taken recently.  More celebration of trees, as well as an interesting view of the house from the west.  The house can be seen in the last photo between a big paper birch and one of its own side sprouts.

Which makes me think of the end to another Frost poem:

I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches

 

 

 

Son of a Beech

There's so much excitement about the progress of the house build.  Yet, we don't want to forget about the stars of the show, our trees.  Each walk in the woods provides new objects of wonder, thanks to our arborous friends.  Fagus Grandifolia, the American Beech, exists throughout the property.  Most are relatively young (sons of beeches, we call them), but a few really big ones were found yesterday.  Like Sugar Maple, beech enjoys the shade.  One distinctive feature of the beech is the smooth bark at maturity.  They are easy to identify because of that.  One problem that beeches can develop is a bark disease that creates cankers and weakens the tree.  Beeches have wonderful color in the fall, a striking orange/gold. 

Beech and oak are on the same wing of the tree family.  Both have edible nuts as fruit.  Moose and deer apparently like the small beech nut.

An excellent double-trunked yellow birch was photographed yesterday.  This one will knock your socks off:

Although we named the property for the great hardwoods like oak, maple, and birch, we don't want people to think that we reject the conifers (a.k.a. softwoods).  Here are two photos of some.  This first appears to be a mix of hemlock and fir.  The second shows several white pines (pinus strobus), which can reach towering dimensions.  They are the most plentiful mature softwood on the property:

Roof and windows update

The metal roof was almost completed last week.  They just have the small spot over the kitchen bump out.  All windows but one are also in. 

We really like the black metal roof.  This is the south side that will be graced with solar panels by next spring.

We thought it would be a good idea to have a window in our pantry.  This looks east.

Both exterior doors are in, as well.  This one will lead to the screened in porch on the north side.

Of course, we're still thinking about our wood supply.  The cutting done to make way for the power lines should give us about four cords.  Here's one of them temporarily stacked along the driveway.  We'll cut these four footers in half.  They'll be perfect for the wood boiler.

Roof framed, chimney installed

The crew worked part of Thanksgiving and the day after to finish the roof framing.  The masonry crew completed the chimney and stack for the wood stove, as well. 

As you can see from the first picture, the interior stack is surrounded by cinder block.  The second photo is looking from the entry area toward what will be the hearth and wood stove.

Here's the chimney from the outside.  It was a cold and windy day!

We'll enjoy sitting here in what will be the enclosed porch.  The deck will continue beyond the enclosed part.

Here's another shot of the deck area.

Roof Trusses are going up

The interior walls are complete and the framing crew was installing the roof trusses today.   We stood and watched them lift and nail in several of the trusses.  It is amazing how fast it went!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The electrical wire is run up to the last pole; now it just needs to be run through the buried conduit which runs right in front of the tractor garage (rough area shown below).

 

 

The framing crew will be working some tomorrow (Thanksgiving) to get the roof sheathed and the house closed up.

 

 

What a difference a day makes

The framing crew has been hard at work getting the exterior and interior walls up.    Just from Friday to Saturday, there were significant accomplishments...and by the end of the day Saturday many of the interior walls were up.

Friday looking from East to West.  the 2 small windows are in the master bedroom

 Friday - Guest Room and Guest Bath

Floor of car Garage was poured on Thursday.

 

The Kitchen and Pantry are coming together quite nicely.

We need to figure out what sort of steps/landing we are going to have between the house and garage. Right now, there are 4 steps; we want 1 or 2 at most.  Notice the difference in height because the garage is a slab foundation whereas the house has a crawlspace.

 

Here is the house early Sunday morning.  The crew has the day off.

 

 

From the southwest looking back toward the house

 

 

These are the roof trusses.  They had to set them down the road for a few days while they coordinate a different truck to bring them up to the site.

 

 

 

And, of course we made excellent progress on wood cutting, splitting and stacking this weekend.

 

 

 

Although it got into the 40's, there is still a lot of frost on the ground.

 

We have exterior walls

The framing crew was hard at work today getting the exterior walls up.

I watched them build and stand up the South wall of the kitchen (the bump out part). Here is the "before" view into the Kitchen:

 

And here is the "after" view as the new wall is being stood up

 

 

Here is a view from the west at the new kitchen wall.