Heat

Dad helped us take down the old bunky and Rachel's dad helped us take down an old fence so we could make a wood shed for the incoming wood stove.
Chris got up on the roof with the last window of good weather and secured the chimney and stove boot.

we got our first load of firewood delivered, 3 bushcords for this winter and some of next.

Rachel, Doron, Fraser and the kids came up to help build the shed and stack the wood

The stove was delivered and certified from the amazing folks at 'Hearth and Leisure wood stoves' and we're now finally in the heat.

Simple little things like defrosting are sooooooo much easier now

windows

the house got all wrapped up with it;s own house k-way and right before the windows arrived, we cut the holes and put on some peel and stick flashing.

this was kind of finicky and almost too cold for it to stick, the windows were super behind schedule but they finally arrived late one friday night and our neighbors helped us unload them off the truck. With Hamish's help, we got them in and Chris started the long finger-numbing work of leveling and flashing.


and now the wind only kind of whistles through!

stairs!!

once again parts of the original house have been re-purposed, the stairs to the old back deck now keep us out of the mud outside the back door, they're almost in the identical position from when we bought the house

chris has been masterminding the stairs up to the second floor so we can safely get the windows up there when delivered, and we can temporarily put away the ladder

the space almost feels bigger with the stairs going in and miraculously they fit perfectly

Maestro Martinz making sure the levels on the level

and as the sun set we went up the stairs for the first time!!!!

the novelty still hasn't worn off

the mess

cleaning house is as hard as building house

all this junk is now gone before the snow flies too deep

Backfillling

Our awesome neighbor Tom came down on his tractor to take home the trailer he'd been lending us all summer (this photo is for all you tractor lovers out there, you know who you are). The trailer was moved in anticipation of the bobcats arrival to backfill
and an action shot of the trailer in motion

a few before and after shots, this is the pile of earth and rocks that needed moving (and a nice side angle of Marvin the golden Olds)

this is where a good chunk of it went, in the pit where we also put the wall we demo'd

and the earth slowly made it around the house till we were all frost protected for the winter

taking down the wall

After deliberation and consultation with Kurt and Haji, we decided to take down one of the basement walls so we could orient our basement stairs better

we did the job in two scull breaking days, parts of the wall were over 20" thick

we wanted to get this done before the backfilling so we could bury all the rubble

the work was painful but definitely the right decision

wrapping the house

working on the house wrap, making sure there are no gaps

the glow of the inside light, comes from the wrap being on on so tight

cozy as a bug, but there'll be no bugs in this fine rug

summer's gone and fall is here, the wrap's on now because the windows are near

finishing up the house wrap, makes us pretty darn hap.
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