Sophie steals a sandwich and Susan stops by

Ever-so-sweet and innocent Sophie ran up on the porch today while all the guys were eating lunch. She assessed the situation, unsuccessfully tried giving everyone the sad boo-boo face, and carefully waited for the right moment. Jerry set his sandwich on the floor for one second, and just like that it was gone! I owe you one, Jerry.

Susan the Architect showed up unexpectedly for a visit. I am very glad she did because she got to talk to Gordy and clear up a few things that may have slipped through the cracks otherwise. Like cutting the front steps out of the porch so that they are under the roof, not outside the roof with rain dripping on our heads, or ice to clean off... We also discussed removing a few unnecessary walls upstairs to open up the dormer office and the closet crawlspace.

In talking with Susan, it turns out that Gordy caught a few things too, like lining up the kitchen window (after I had him move it) with the one upstairs, and moving other windows a few inches this way or that to make them perfect. As far as I am concerned, all talk is good talk.

Jim the Builder is supposed to stop by tomorrow. I am sure I will get some other things resolved, and probably have to write a few more checks. Things are moving so quickly it feels like we are going to blast through all that loan money before the house gets done...but that is just my fear of writing big checks. So far we have only used our savings and not touched the loan. I am sure that will change tomorrow.

Lester and Sophie say hi

Jersey Girl was missin' the pooches, so we'll add a few pooch pics for her.

They are moving very quickly with raising the roof. I have taken several photos over the last few days, and will try to put together a slideshow for my next update.

We also met Bruce the Plumber for the first time this morning. He seems to think we are better off with radiant floor heat throughout, instead of opting for radiant panels on the second floor. It was Jim the Engineer who suggested the radiant panels...so who do you listen to? I suppose either will be acceptable and efficient.

Measure twice, cut once

Watch out Spielberg! I took the video from the other day and added the latest, from yesterday. The whole first floor is framed—all in seven minutes, 39 seconds. I told the guys I would delete the part where they had to measure twice, cut twice...but it was much more interesting to leave it in. Sorry guys!

The big hole gets filled in tomorrow and they start the second floor next week. The husband and some other family are coming up Friday. They should be starting the roof by then—if all goes well. Enjoy.

All the walls around us

Arrived in time

to take a few pics before the sun went down. This photo was taken from the top of a dirt pile, to get the best angle for you guys, because I care. I do.

Looks like the concrete basement floor is finished, and the first floor framing begun. I am still concerned that they moved the house forward a bit too far, after all my staking efforts, and that I will lose my favorite view from the front porch. But I won't be able to tell for sure until my front porch reappears. Maybe we'll have to make that a wrap-around porch like the one in NJ...