Merry Christmas 2016!

Merry Christmas, everyone! (or happy whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year, of course!)

Yes, work has stalled (again) on the JayBee. Too busy getting the old house patched together enough to survive another winter, getting ready for the holidays, blah, blah, blah. I will get back at it after the holidays, though.

The day before a big winter storm, I got up on the old rood and patched it as best I could. I always love this view of the JayBee; it looks like a dollhouse.

I may not be living in the JayBee yet, but I love to see it decked out for the holidays...

Wintertime supermoon.

Christmas Kitty.

Ho ho ho! See you in the new year.

You Know You're Taking Too Long to Build Your House When...

... you have not moved in yet and things are starting to break.

Remember my very nice Andersen door?

The door itself is fine--so far. The problem is with the threshold.

At first glance, that looks fine too. Let's zoom in...

See the long crack along the inside edge of the threshold? Yikes! I was thinking the threshold was pretty much indestructible. After all, it's thick, hard plastic--and it's a threshold! Isn't it built to withstand the pounding that thresholds sustain on a daily basis? Apparently not. Or maybe it needs the flooring installed next to it to support it and, of course, that hasn't happened yet. In any case, I guess I better figure out an effective repair before a whole strip of the threshold completely breaks off. Epoxy maybe?

You Know You're Taking Too Long to Build Your House When...

... people who are following your blog posts about the process point out that they have been following your blog for not just a couple of years, but many.  (See comments at the bottom of this post.)

Exterior--DONE!!!

It stopped raining today. (We've had tons of rain!) When the sun was out, there were moments it felt warm. When the sun disappeared, the wind felt bitter cold.

I applied the caulk around the last two south-side windows. This means the exterior is done! Even though more exterior work will have to be done when the house gets moved to its eventual foundation (namely the skirting/weatherproofing around the base), I still feel that this is a momentous milestone. Although the caulk is largely invisible to others, completing this step feels more significant to me than stapling up the last shingle. Even though it took me forever, I enjoyed shingling the house. I really dislike applying caulk, however. Having it now done... worthy of a dance party!

All the recent rain has pounded most of the remaining leaves off the trees, which opens up some views of the river.

Exterior Finishing Touches

We have had lots of rain recently. It helps make up for the lack of rain during the spring and summer seasons, but it's been getting in the way of my finishing up the exterior of the JayBee. After a pounding rain last weekend, I opened my door to see this: close to a hundred pears on the ground. Added to what I'd already collected, they helped me make a few gallons of pear sauce. Yummy!

It was blustery today but not raining, so I got the caulk applied around the upper loft window on the west end of the JayBee.

Since the lower window was already done, the west end is now completely done!

Then, I applied the caulk to the upper loft window on the east end.

The east end is now completely done!

All that's left to do: apply the caulk to these two south-side windows. May the weather hold...

On an entirely different note, I also recently installed this grab bar in the JayBee's shower.

Putt, putt, putting along...

Warm Day!

I thought today was going to be a re-set day--cleaning out the JayBee to get ready for the next phase of building, putting away shingle-related stuff, etc. But, once I got out there and realized how incredibly warm it was (mid 70s!), I knew I had to use the warm day for other things.

When I first built the front steps, I only stained the top cedar boards. I left the pressure-treated structural boards alone--to weather before I stained them. Well, today was the day! I disassembled the three sections, and started staining.

In process...

I even re-stained the tops, complete with the gritty stuff that keeps them from getting too slippery when wet.

Done!
(Yes, it won't be long before I have to move the steps out of the way of the plow guy. <sigh>)

Staining the steps took me longer than I'd anticipated (doesn't everything?!). Even so, I still managed to get the caulk applied around the lower east-end window. Four more windows to go.

On a different note, I think I have enough pears now to make some pear sauce.

There are still over a hundred pears in the tree. All too high to reach, I have to wait for them to hit the ground.

North Wall is Done! (Siding 15)

Yesterday, I applied the caulk between the north window and the window trim. It took me hours, and I was barely okay with the results. I have tried a half dozen different ways of applying caulk, and I still don't have a method that works smoothly. <sigh>

After that, I installed the two rows of partial shingles above the air exchanger.

I spent most of this morning setting up my final ladder arrangements. Now that I know that some of you are focusing on my hair-raising ladder setups, note that this time, I used some boards to help ensure that the position of the closest ladder did not shift.

First, I cut these boards...

Then, I propped them between the ladder and the wall.

It was worth taking the time to get the ladders set up just so because they were quite stable--and I could just reach the gable peak! I installed another row of shingles.

And then, another row.

Finally, the. last. row. of. shingles. Woo hoo! Took me until sundown, but it's done! Worth doing a jig, or having a party, don't you think?

These are all the shingles I have left over.

I also have these partial pieces of shingles left. I guess I will throw these away and save only the full shingles.

Amazing--how close I came to running out!

Once the north wall was done, I climbed the hillside (risking ticks, poison ivy, and thorns, and sliding around on acorns and clay) to take a set of pictures.

I would like to be able to say that the exterior of the JayBee is completely done--but <sigh> not yet. Once I apply caulk around five more windows, then the exterior will be done.

Also see:
Siding (North Wall) 1
Siding (North Wall) 2
Siding (North Wall) 3
Siding (North Wall) 4
Siding (North Wall) 5
Siding (North Wall) 6
Siding (North Wall) 7
Siding (North Wall) 8
Siding (North Wall) 9
Siding (North Wall) 10
Siding (North Wall) 11
Siding (North Wall) 12
Siding (North Wall) 13
Siding (North Wall) 14


Gorgeous supermoon rising over the river tonight--one night before full.