Stonework continues...

Completed to the flue...

Stone for the first level almost done...

View from top of stairs...

View from loft...

MOVING DAY IS...

FRIDAY DECEMBER 5, 2008

What can I say. We are excited!!! The hired movers are taking all our large furniture to the log home on Friday. On Saturday all our North Country relatives will help us move the smaller items, boxes, clothes and anything the movers did not take.

I'll let you know as we get closer, but our first night in the log home should be Saturday December 6, 2008. We thought about staying there on Friday night, (and may yet)...but for an early start on Saturday I think we will be staying at the Fort!

We will probably be without the computer and TV until the cable hookup happens on Monday. We have it scheduled...we hope it happens!!!

We have heat and hot water!!!

One hot air furnace and instant hot water on demand...We met a great new friend by the name of Charlie who installed this baby. And he has become our furnace guru for eternity!

The hot water on demand is wonderful. Very user friendly...and has the ability to be turned off by the press of a button (for long weekends away or vacations). You can also adjust the water temperature. As we aren't living there yet, we can turn it off when we leave the house at night, and turn it back on the next morning. Within 5 minutes you have all the hot water you need!

Our first Art Work for the walls...

This is a free hand drawing done by Lee...He presented it to us about 10 days ago. Lee's the artist responsible for Pluto and Goofy (those cartoon drawings from back in June on our logs)

We've been trying to find an 8x8 frame ever since. That's a very difficult size to find! Thanks Lee, we will treasure this always!

Chimney interior stonework begins...

Mike laying the hearthstone...

The raised hearth...

The first few courses...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL !!!

Wall switch plates...

This one is at the bottom of the stairs. We think it's really neat...and very appropriate for the cabin.

This was a special Christmas present from my sister about 5 years ago.

And yes, I am a Bear Lover!
Some day I will share with you all my "Bear Tales"...( a compilation of stories about the bears and their excitement leading up to the Christmas Holidays of years past).

Kitchen hanging lights...

None of these chimneys are on yet...

The fear is that some piece of construction material (or even a piece of furniture on moving day) will come thru and bang the glass!

Some of the interior lights

Downstairs hallway

Upstairs landing (without the chimney on)

Upstairs landing with chimney...

Exterior lights...

Side porch

Front door

Garage...

The loft ceiling fan...

It's operated by remote control...

We planned the height so it was easy to replace the bulbs without needing a huge ladder!

Kitchen Faucet...

We didn't have water on the day it was installed, but yesterday I actually used the sink to wash my hands...

*giggle* It's the little things that make it feel like home!

Loft railings installed...

We love the log railings for the loft...

Richard making the height perfect.

We feel much safer now...especially with the 3 dogs who love to play up there!

Light over the Kitchen sink...

This was a "do-over" fixture. Mike installed the original almost a month ago. But, without the glass portion because he wanted to protect the glass from breakage during the cabinet installation.

We came along afterwards to install the glass only to discover they did not fit and there was no fix that was going to correct the problem. They just were not compatible!

We had ordered this light way back in June, but called the company anyway...they were wonderful...but the exact fixture we had ordered was no longer available. This one is a little larger and the glass is a different shade. But they shipped it quickly and sent return merchandise labels to return the old one free of charge.

Doors and latches...

Rick spent the better part of 3 days installing these handles and latches.

This is the Master bedroom door handle.

This is the pantry and it required some creativity from Richard and Lee. The latches were not lining up with the jambs. Much time was spent deciding the best "fix".

Lee won the design contest and Richard executed the design to perfection!!!

The porch rails...

This pic gives you an idea of the size of the porch.

Richard and Mike worked hard on getting the rails to fit. We are going to have 2 entrances to this porch. This is only one section of the rail. There is a second section that will carry the rail another 8 feet to the right. One entrance will be right in front of the door. The other will be from the side of the porch.

Grout Day...

This is the finished chimney... Mike spent most of the day spreading the grout.

I joined Mike on the roof for some up close pics!

We are totally thrilled with the stonework. And can't wait for Mike to start the chimney and hearth for the Schrader Fireplace inside the house.

Chimney days 2 and 3

Little by little Mike laid the stone...

End of day two...just a little bit more to go!

Day 3 and the roof part of the stonework was finished...

except for the grout.

Here's Mike standing next to the chimney. He laid every stone himself and the quality of the work just shines!

Chimney day 1...

Mike started early morning. This was our first glimpse around 11 AM. What we saw we loved!

Mike continued throughout the day...Up and down the ladder all day long. We were exhausted from watching him climb.

By the end of the first day this is what we saw! We were hoping for something truly impressive. This was beyond our wildest dreams.

Painted the side door...

We really did take advantage of the great weather! Four days and we felt great that both the garage overhead doors and the house door got 2 coats of paint. And we think the color matches the windows pretty good!

Sensory Overload...

We arrived last Friday (a week ago now) and there was all sorts of good things going on! I just walked around looking in awe at all sorts of progress. The doors to the rooms, closets, and basement were being installed. The electric panel in the basement was having all its wires numbered and named. We had outside lights working. We had bathroom and kitchen lights working. The garage had electricity...and the garage doors worked like a charm. We had a furnace sitting in the garage (now it's found it's way to the basement). Rick and I picked up our oil tank at the Home Depot and trailered it out to Nicholville. Anyway, every place I looked there was something new to see. It was all very exciting and impressive.

We have begun to move our boxes out to the garage. Only the ones we never opened since we moved. We are beginning to fill up the garage out there as we can't move into the house "quite yet" but it is a good thing to get started. We gave our landlady "one month notice" so we will be in the log home on or before December first!!!

And...we put in an order with Mother Nature for Mike. He badly needed 4 good warm days so he could lay the stone on the outside of the chimney (only the stone for the roof) as he can do the interior stone no matter what weather we are having. We actually feared Mother Nature would say "NO" as we still had snow on the ground...So all you people out there enjoying this nice warm summer weather in November...well... you can all Thank Mike. And I can't wait to show you pics of his creation with the stone for our chimney!

Snow's gone...

Oh yes...back to wonderful warm weather...

And...

Oh yeah...we painted the garage doors!