IT'S A WRAP

Early November 2007.

Our ace staining crew. They worked for cheeseburgers, onion rings, hot chocolate and beer. Not too bad huh? Brushing against all odds - forecasts of rain and snow - we stained all the deckboards. The entire house was now completely stained and ready for winter. It was a tough road but somehow I knew way in the back of my mind it would get done. Thanks Jim and Cody for all your help, we couldn't have done it without you!

Wanna see all the Fall photos? Click here!

WE HEART STONE!

October 2007.

We used our stone budget for the entire house on just our chimney.

Crazy... yes, but we love stone.


It started out with a small sample patch...


...and grew into this giant, beautiful piece of art!


These three are responsible - Jeff, Bob and Reb.
I can't say enough about what a wonderful job they did (and super nice guys too). It truly is a piece of art and hands down my favorite thing about the cabin. We had planned on using faux cultured stone to keep our budget in check but neither D & I weren't thrilled with using anything fake anywhere. D ran into Jeff and he talked to us about the concept using a 'thinstone' - real stone that's been cut (easy to apply and didn't require any extra footings for weight). We were sold and it's amazing and so worth it!

THE STAIN GAME

October 2007.

Rain, rain, go away!

Murphy's Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

October's objective was to stain, stain, stain. But just because you schedule a vacation to get it done doesn't guarantee that the weather will cooperate. Remember how wet last October was? Well, this year seemed to be following the same pattern. UGH! Soooo the first week was scratched and I rescheduled my time off for the next week. And what did the forecast say for that week? You guessed it, more cold and rain. D and I were never going to get it done at this rate.

We used our time wisely though. With Jim D up to 'referee' we managed to get all the lights placed and ready for wiring. Who knew that lighting placement could make you want to KO your significant other? Then in an amazing two and a half days, D & the newly appointed Grandpa Dave just about wired the entire house. While a lot was getting done inside, the outside was always still in the back of our minds....

...so we called in the cavalry.

Gerard and his crew from Avalanche Log Homes swooped into save the day. They eked out a small string of decent weather days and with all their equipment and experience stained the entire house with 3 coats (2 coats of color and one coat of sealer). After watching all their efforts, D and I realized it would have been impossible for us to do the job on our own in one week with winter on our heels. Believe us, it was worth every penny!

While Gerard and the guys got down to business we jumped as well and stained all the rails and spindles. We couldn't let them have all the fun!

LET'S GO INSIDE

September 2007.

We didn't want to but my work got in the way of our scheduled exterior log and deck staining extravaganza. It was a must to get everything stained before winter but it would have to wait until October now. That made us nervous. So D jumped inside to keep the work rolling. With the help of some very talented and generous firefighter friends we got so much done...

(We're sleeping inside now! See the tent.)

All bow to Super Phy! The heating and cooling was done in about five days or so. We owe him a ton for this one. We now have air and heat. Check out the monster below...

Gary came back and worked with D to configure all the plumbing. They used a new "Pex" tubing instead of copper. It made the process easier and faster.

Everything had to go into the interior walls due to the exterior walls being full log. It wasn't easy and they are jammed packed!

All the hard work was worth it... yee haw!

DECK-DECK-DONE!

Late August 2007.

(D's first chainsaw post)