Rock On

Last week I traveled up to Springfield, VT to have a look at some soapstone slabs. We are considering using soapstone for our kitchen countertops. This slab is quite green as opposed to the others that I saw that were grey and nearly blsck. Am leaning toward the green with light veining.

Autumn Gold

Fall is in the air. Check out the shadows and
the gold on them thar hills. The winter sun will be setting early on this little farm. Guess I'll be getting my barn chores done earlier rather than later and then walking into a kitchen warmed by our new/old Glenwood kitchen range. Way back when our Windsor, MA house was just in the planning stages we stopped for gas just off the Taconic Parkway and I spotted a second hand shop just next door to the gas station. There was a rusty old cast iron cook stove on the porch and we bought it ....on the spot! And, we never looked back! After a couple of calls we managed to borrow a trailer to cart it back to our apartment in Pittsfield. It would up in our basement where we spent many hours removing the rust, cleaning the broken pieces of firebrick out of the firebox and sending off the trim to be re nickeled at Royal Plating Co. now long out of business.
When we sold the house we left the stove behind. What a mistake. Anyhow, we found another Glenwood range this past winter and bought it pretty much the same way that we bought the first one. Love at first sight! This one came from the Love Barn north of Belfast , ME. The kids collected it for us on a return trip from Holden, ME. Can't wait til we have it in the new kitchen.

It's a steamy September morning. I'm just in from the barn where the crew is enjoying a lovely bale of Mike Darling's second cutting. As I was picking the area under the overhang I couldn't help but congratulate myself on investing in a Nelson Waterer. It's only been in service since the end of June but it has already paid for itself in my book. No more algae coated water troughs, just a lovely stainless bowl that is a breeze to clean.

On Sunday the winter's hay arrived. 608 bales in all and I must say that it is always a good feeling to know that the loft is full. A few weeks back Mike injured his knee so the troops rallied to help with hay. Dicky, Mike's brother in law, apparently ran the baler at warp speed which may account in some way for the weight of the bales?? The 'gorillas' were John , Brady & Tyler Rose, John Darling and a couple others that I didn't know. They managed to consume gallons of iced tea and thanks to Syd we had plenty of mint! He went back to the old farm and gathered a generous bunch,

This is a picture of the house progress from last week. Much has been done since then. The garage is in situ, the trusses arrived yesterday afternoon. The screen porch is under construction and the porch flooring has been delivered. More pictures soon.

Last evening after the hammer bangers had left I went out with a tape to try to layout the placement of the kitchen sink, dishwasher and cooktop. Managed to rescue a few scraps of plywood of an appropriate size and used them to represent the appliances. I think I'm close.

Dog Days

This entire week has been H, H & H ! Progress on the house has been terrific. Early

in the week the plywood went up on the roof and then the tar paper sheathing was added.

Ceremonial Pine Bough

At the end on a pretty long day! Everything fit!!! Dave and Neil are disconnecting the slings from the crane cables.

Last of all Neil attaches the traditional pine bough to the frame. It's official!

Raise the Roof !!

On Tuesday morning Dave Dentz showed up with his crane and the timber framers arrived to finish raising the frame. The 'second story' was assembled on the ground with the help of the crane. It took a while to get the top rectangle together and then to get the straps in the proper place so that when it was lifted it would be level.
Next the started adding the posts and braces.... eight posts in all.

Finally ready to lift the structure up to the second floor.

Phew!!! We are about to find out if eveything fits!

It's a Frame Up

Finally back following the move from Northwest Hill Rd.   It was indeed the move from Hell.  In truth it was such a horror I'd just as soon not relive it by 'telling the tale'. 'Himself' left for Boston on the 29th of June for hip replacement surgery. I finished up removing from the house all the odds and ends that the movers left behind.  The kids helped by loading up the bed of the truck and parked it in the indoor arena where it remains, still loaded.  I immediately came down with a mean case of bronchitis that knocked me to my knees. Fortunately I was beyond the worst of it by the time FSS arrived home on Thursday.  Something called a Z Pac of antibiotics made all the difference.Meanwhile Dale McLenithan had dug the foundation hole for the house and the foundation  had been poured, forms removed, drainage placed around the perifery of the foundation and finally backfilled in preparation for the timber frame.  Jeremy Broadwell's crew got everything ready in the basement for the plumbers to lay the tubing for radient heat and Grady and Jennings came on Tuesday to pour the floor.  By Wednesday afternoon the decking over the basement was complete and ready for Dave Bowman and Neil Godden, our timber framers to arrive, unload the timbers and assemble some bits and pieces in preparation for the 'raising' on Friday. 

Neil and Dave arrived around 8:30 and the crane showed up shortly after.  The first two bents went up pretty quickly....much faster with a crane than with 'man power' but certainly not as pretty to watch.

I had to leave for a couple of hours and snapped this last shot of them putting the fourth bent in place.   By the time I got back the weather had deteriorated and all progress had halted in anticipation of thunderstorms.
The crane left to go back to CT and the crew left for Cummington and Goshen.  The plan is that they will be back on Monday or Tuesday, which ever day looks to be lightning free, to finish up the frame.