Windows 2

We had so many gray and rainy days in December, it seemed that the monsoon would never end. Even Christmas day was rainy. Despite all the rain, it took weeks for most of the ice to leave my yard and driveway. The last couple of days have been warmer, but the north side of the JayBee has been too mucky to finish off the roof drip edge. Instead, I thought I would install the door. To that end, I finished installing the housewrap in the ceiling of the entryway.

I missed my moment of opportunity when my Christmas houseguests left before I could get completely ready and ask for their help. So...I decided to install windows instead.

Cutting through the housewrap is a no-turning-back moment.

I tacked the housewrap out of the way on the sides and top of the opening.

Rather than use full plastic windowsills, I decided to use plastic corners...

...and leftover ice and water shield to make my own waterproof windowsill.

I wrapped the housewrap around the sides of the window opening, put a bead of sealant along the top and sides of the opening, and slid the window into place.

Shims on the inside helped me ensure the window was square, level, and plumb.

I finished up with flashing on the outside, and tacking down the housewrap above the window. I will buy some housewrap tape, so I can tape over the diagonal housewrap cuts at the upper corners of the window.

My view of the river from what will be the foot of my bed in the JayBee.

I confirmed that the window opens just fine.

One down! even if it hardly shows.

Also see:
Windows 1
Windows 3
Windows 4


Do you think this sign will keep the plow guy from plowing into my septic pump? It's the biggest one I've tried yet.

Steve tried to take George on his walk; George wasn't having it.

Electric Power 1

After many delays and postponements over many weeks, the electrical contractor and his excavator subcontractor showed up today! I guess they almost canceled again because, when they first got on the road to come here, the freezing rain was bad. Thankfully, at my house the freezing rain held off until after today's work was done.

Today's work was about installing a new pole to carry the electrical service. This required an excavator...

...and a very large, heavy pole.

Every time I looked out a window, the excavator was going this way and that.

The excavator dug a hole off the south corner of the old house.

Then the pole was moved into place...

...and plunked into the hole.

The excavator and electricians went away...

...and the pole remained. (What was once a thick, soft bed of moss in this part of the yard is going to be a sloppy, goopy sea of wet clay next spring.)

What will happen next: After the holidays, the power company will come and move the power line off of the old house and to the pole instead. Then, the electrician will connect the old house to the pole (to restore power to the house), and connect the tiny house to the pole. This will bring power to the tiny house and make it easier to disconnect the power from the old house when I'm ready to tear the house down.

Also see:
Exterior Electrical Trim
Electric Power 2

Roofing 8

We have been having mostly horrendous weather for the last two weeks. Rain, tiny hail pellets, freezing rain, snow, drizzle, around and around, over and over again. On the rare occasion that the sun showed itself, the roof of the JayBee was covered in ice.

Check out this coating of ice that I had to chip off the car...

...and the pile of ice chunks I had to shovel up afterwards.

It stayed cold enough that the river was nearly frozen over.

Today was exciting. The sun was out, the ice was off the roof. Yes!

I got things set up for installing the last piece of drip edge on the southern side of the roof.

Here's the current view from the JayBee's door. It has warmed up enough that the river opened up again.

Took me all day and many more trips up and down the ladders than I will ever admit to, but I got it installed!

Southern drip edge is all done.

Also see:

Roofing 1
Roofing 2
Roofing 3
Roofing 4
Roofing 5
Roofing 6
Roofing 7
Roofing 9
Roofing 10
Roofing 11
Roofing 12
Roofing 13
Roofing 14
Roofing 15
Roofing 16
Roofing 17


Here are some random photos from the last few weeks.

Here's a Where's Waldo moment: Can you find at least four turkeys?

Does anyone else think of the movie The Birds and cringe like I do when near a scene like this?

Before I got the tree skirt on, the cats kept chasing each other around the base of the tree.

Doesn't it seem like the gulls' butts and feet would freeze to the river?

Roofing 7

I thought I might be able to install the drip edge on the dormers, but the snow up there lingers on and, while it's melting, it runs down the valleys--right where I would be working.

During the warmth yesterday, I managed to cut up and move the huge willow branch that fell and froze to the ground during last week's storm. Since it was too close to the driveway and would have gotten in the way of the plow guy, I was glad I could dislodge it. (The branch is to the left of the driveway in the photo below. Also see George sitting in the snow?)

Here's my new procedure for opening up the JayBee entry so I can work. It was quite cold today but, when the sun is out, I can convince myself that it is warmer than it really is.

I decided to work on the drip edge on the west end of the house. From there, I could see that the dormer valleys were still snow-covered.

While I was working on installing drip edge (up the ladder, down the ladder, up the ladder, down the ladder...), Bear decided to climb "his" ladder.

...and, then, climb back down again.

One piece of drip edge installed on the west end...

...and then both done.

Also see:

Roofing 1

Roofing 2

Roofing 3

Roofing 4

Roofing 5

Roofing 6

Roofing 8

Roofing 9

Roofing 10

Roofing 11

Roofing 12

Roofing 13

Roofing 14

Roofing 15

Roofing 16

Roofing 17

George got all wound up and crazy-eyed the other night.