The Tent is Back :(

The weekend of April 3, we set up the tent again. No need to try staying inside the cabin with all the work that remains there. The winter winds had blown the big tarp down and it now has a few extra holes and rips. But it still serves to shed most of the sun, wind, and rain. Ahhhh - Home Sweet Home - for the Summer at least.



The weekend of April 10, I decided to take down a dead oak that was within striking distance of the cabin. To ensure a fall away from the cabin, I put a rope about 20+ feet up in the tree and use my truck to put tension on it in the direction I wanted it to fall. To my amazement, good ole Trusty (that is the name of my Trooper) pulled the tree down. Rotten roots but very nice seasoned fire wood.



The next day I built out the window casings so there would be something to nail trim to.






Weekend of April 17 - more window casing work and the occasional time out to admire the beautiful wild azaleas and iris...

Electricity... unconnected

Well, if the walls are wide open, why not put wires in them? That is our thinking. Because someday, we will have electricity, whether it is from the county, the sun, a windmill.... so Russ is wiring. Here's the thing: this cottage has about the same supply as when I bought my house in Atlanta: 60A or something.

He finished and we finished the insulation and I painted the ceiling. Had to be brush. Roller doesn't do well on beadboard. But it's done. Richmond Woods is not a place where I typically look my best. But the ceiling looks great!

Cold February Work

After a long break for bad winter weather, Mardi Gras and so forth, it was back to Richmond Woods (left below) Feb 21 and 28 weekends. There is a lot to do inside the house and the winter storms and previous work had left a big mess (center below). We decided to start by cleaning up inside and out, including stacking useful lumber that was in the house in a protected spot under a tarp (right). We'll need it later.

We took a walk that first weekend to look at a firebreak that had turned up a big rock (left below). Looking in the window with things sort of cleaned up (right).



Russ had already started with some wiring and insulation before Christmas. We continued: Carolyn cut insulation; Russ installed. Unable to paint the ceiling: the paint froze.




Russ initially started with the slap stapler (left below) but after stapling two fingers within two minutes, changed to the more traditional staple gun. It's slower but hurts less.

Last post was: "our tent is gone." We have decided to put it back up again when the weather warms up. No point putting furniture in the house when we have so much inside work to do.

When the wiring and insulation are finished, we need to build out the window and door casings to accomodate the 6" walls. Next is sheetrock on the upper half of wall then pine paneling on the lower half. A little trim work and then an oak floor. Once the wood burning stove is in, we'll be ready for the next frost (say about November).