Some subtle whimsy

After all the fuss about the swooped roof, it seems to have worked out pretty well. Several people (including Jim the Builder) have commented that they like the "presence" of the house, that they can see it from the road and it looks great. The woman who owns the horse farm across the street said she was mowing down by the lake and could see the house from there. And the architect commented that it is "sited well".

I replaced Jerry's stolen sandwich with some grilled chicken. I am not sure if he shared it with the other guys or not.

Way before yesterday

Since we bought our land up here, I have been wanting to take some photos of the Herkimer Cemetery that is just a few hundred feet from the edge of our property. Our 22 acres was once a part of a much larger Herkimer Farm, going back to the time of the Revolutionary War. I need to do some more research, but I am pretty sure it was owned by a brother of General Herkimer, and stayed in the family for years after.

Since I have no paying work to do today, I finally wandered over. This poor little cemetery is landlocked by other people's property, so you have to trespass to get there...that and you have to climb a very steep little hill.

On my list of things to do when we move up here, is to contact the owners of the cemetery, the town's historical society, and see if we can't raise some money to clean it up a bit.

Treasures from yesterday

Chicken finally made it to the grill. The second pic pretty much sums up the weather pattern: blue skies, looks like rain, blue skies... You can also see the new house behind the shed, to the right. This is the view from the backyard of the Dump. I will miss this view, but I think the new ones from the house will make up for it.

Dinner tonight, with Lester's help, was grilled chicken (finally) with some of my goodies from the Farmer's Market yesterday: yellow tomatoes and raw milk feta, blue potatoes with fresh onion and garlic, and my new $1 wine glass (with cheap white wine). Wrong color for both taters and tamaters, but YUM!

Even wilder creek today

We got a whole lotta rain last night and this morning. I never did get to grill my dinner last night, and just since I took this photo and started this post, it has clouded up and started raining again. I've been trying since Friday to grill that chicken...

I went with the dogs to the creek around noon, and we could barely cross it at our usual spot. I had to help Sophie back across as she was getting swept sideways. I finally saw the creek from the upstairs window in the new house, probably because the water was so much higher than usual.

I tried to find my way back to where The Husband wants the dock to go, but only got about halfway there. At least I think I have a better idea how to direct Scott to where we want it.

And I spent a couple of hours moving stakes again. I think I finally have the garage in the best location. If you click on the photo here (or any of them) you can see it larger. In the large version you will see my pathetic attempt at architectural drawing. The view is pasted together from 2 different spots on the front porch, so it's not exactly correct. I drew on top of it what I think the garage will look like (thin red lines). And, if you look to the left of the garage and the Magic Barn (you can ONLY see this in the large version, and barely there) I pointed out my huge lake view for all you naysayers.

I can see it even if you can't! And that's all that matters, isn't it?

The creek is wild today

Maybe there was more rain north and west of here last night, because the creek is running wild.

This morning I went into Cooperstown to the Farmers Market for some peaches, tomatoes, blue potatoes, and my favorite from there: Painted Goat cheese. Today I got their raw goat's milk feta, haven't tried that yet.

I left 2 peaches for the architect for bothering her about picking up a siding sample on a Saturday. Turns out she had plenty of peaches and was freezing them for winter pies, but she was happy for the 2 unfrozen ones to eat. Then I took the sample to the hardware store to compare it to the roof shingle colors. Harvard Slate looks MUCH better in person than on the website, so that will be the color for this little house. Note to IKO: Take some better photos of your shingle colors and replace the awful samples you have on your website and in your brochure. Maybe it's just me...far too picky...

And Fly Creek was having a town yard sale today, so I hit a few places and came back with 2 nice wine glasses for $2, and some homemade strawberry jam for $4. I'm on a low budget during this building project.

The rain seems to have stopped. Maybe I'll be able to get the grill going for dinner tonight.

We have a roof

They finished sheathing most of the roof today, just before the rain came in. I was going to make a little movie of the end-of-Friday roofing progress, but I was interrupted by Jim the Builder coming down the driveway. The dogs don't seem to understand they need to yield to moving vehicles, so I had to end the film and direct them away from the truck.

They finished all the roof (minus shingles) except for the "whimsy", the curved roof on the dormer. It will be more of a challenge to frame this little swoopy roof, but I think well worth the effort.

I did write a few big checks today, and a few more will come next week. The excavator is due to put in the septic, and finish some grading. Jim also promised to repair the dock and have Scott drag it back to the creek for us. My job is to find the spot where The Husband wants it to go...that won't be easy!

And I have an appointment on Tuesday with a designer at the bath showroom in Oneonta. Between the 2 baths and the kitchen, I have to start making some decisions as to what is going on. Also need to pick the roof color before Monday. Whaddya think: Harvard Slate or Dual Black?

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.

New back porch

Perfect fer sittin' and watchin' the sun go down.

Just got in tonight. I don't have any real work to keep me busy, so I plan to work on all of the house plans to make sure everything is properly translated from architect to builder, to crew, to plumber, electrician, etc.

Our new electric pole was also installed since we left on Sunday. Only a matter of days before we have electric out there, and they can eliminate the noisy generator. And Steve, my Verizon hero, dropped off some wire for me so they can run it out to the house in the trench with the electric and the water line.

Lester's Flat: The sequel

I now have a new version of iMovie that is much more fun to play with, but it erases whatever knowledge I had of the old version. So this is a mystery all over again! I have no idea how to save this to the blog in the right format, but I wanted to put something up here so I could show it off in work today. Be patient with Speilberg, Jr., here (ha!). I'll keep playing with it...but this is all I can do today. The soundtrack will have to wait for another day.

The rain never came today

So it's still hot and steamy here. I think we can blame Hurricane Bill, stalled off the coast, probably named after my brother!

We took another drive today, so I never finished my slideshow of the growing house. We are going home tomorrow, so the slideshow won't get done till Monday.

We went to see Cousin Chris's new bull calf, Bullwinkle. We found Bullwinkle, but not Chris.

Then we went to the Herkimer County Fair...expensive but interesting. The best part was watching the youngsters showing their winning lambs and sheep, with an occasional goat or calf in there just to annoy the judges.

Then we stopped on the way back to get some raw milk and fresh eggs to bring home as a gift to Debbie who has been caring for the cats. (sorry, J, don't forget those cats and farm animals!).

Perfectly framed. Here comes the rain again.

Jim the Builder heard I was bad-mouthing him on the blog for messing up the dock and the trees. I told him all was right with the world, and I would give him some praise to make up for it. Jim, you and the guys are truly doing an excellent job...keep up the good work! Everyone who sees how fast this house is growing up from the ground is very impressed.

I am working on a slideshow of all that happened this week, but since I am also doing some real work (the kind that pays for this project) the slideshow will have to wait for tomorrow.

The steamy temps are supposed to leave us after a rainy Friday. Then we're supposed to go back to some less humid weather. Right now the guys are out there working in the pouring rain...again!