Hello again. After reading our last update entry, I better tell you that Andrew's still breathing. Luckily, he never did get hauled off the roof while I went to town for bread. So, with that mystery solved, on we go to the homesteading adventure. The chimney's done and the roof's on, at least mostly. This spring Andrew has to add the soffits and also the eaves troughing to complete it. Aaaaaa ha ha ha, who are we kidding. Those soffits might never get done. With a million other projects on the go, anything that is finishing work will have to wait, that's just the way it goes. I remember reading an article in a homesteading magazine called Backwoods. It stated, more than likely, one could plan to live forever in what you build first, simply because you will have many other important projects that need doing first. Things like sheds, chicken coops, rabbit hutch, garden, not to mention, wiring, waterlines etc. I was rather smug and thought to myself, "we'll have lots of time to get things done". Well, reality has knocked and, as we are finding out, this is oh so true. Things take time, a lot more time than planned. And, with a crew of 2, things get done at a pretty slow pace. But hey, isn't that what country life is all about?

I'd like to get everyone up to date with where we are in construction of our cabin, so we'll start where we left off... It was somewhere around here in our story, so these next pictures are of insulating. That plywood on the wall covers the north door, as it was cold outside, around -17. In the middle is the yet to be installed black wood stove, the boxes are for the chimney pieces, there's windows to put in yet, & an old clawfoot bathtub I picked up at a local farm auction. Oh that was fun. It was wet, cold & snowy that day, but a few of us hardy folks still couldn't resist attending. If you've never gone to a farm auction, I highly recommend it. There are great items you can pick up for good prices, like my tub. The price started at $50 but no hands went up so they dropped it to $25, well that got me going! My head nodded several times in what seemed to be only a couple of seconds long "bidding war", and it was mine. Whew! oh the excitement! You can't believe the adrenalin rush one gets the first time one bids, ha ha. Your heart beats faster, and you sweat as you intensely make eye contact with the auctioneer's assistant. You nod at him, he hollars an inaudible sound to the auctioneer on the microphone, and it's your bid. At first things really fly then.... it slows a bit, and you could hear a pin drop, nobody moves... The other bidder thinks awhile, then danged if they don't go again and I have to make another nod... silence ensues, going once, twice, sold to the pretty lady in the blue jacket, POOF! (I'm back to reality now :0)...sold to bidder #86, me! It was a great buy, even if the price was no lower than in an antique shop, but I know where it came from and will now have a piece of local history to boast about.

This will be the living room in future.

This will be the dining room with a window and door on the south side.

This is the north west side that will have the stairway to the attic. The stairs will be where the ladder is. To the left is the living room. And the kitchen will be where the bath tub is. This is the main floor which is almost done insulating, as well as the ceiling. We decided to insulate it too, as it was much easier than insulating the attic ceiling, at the time.

When it warmed up a bit, we applied the house wrap. It's good sturdy stuff and will keep the drafts out as we contiue to insulate. Meanwhile, I'm dropping hints that it sure would be warmer inside if the wood stove were hooked up...

Andrew's applying tape to keep the house wrap from blowing around. Makes for a good sleep... And me, who's always curious about things, asks "what's that wooden" ladder-looking" piece for? Well, to put in the wood stove he will need a way to get to the peak of the roof. This is an extension piece Andrew made that will fit onto the metal ladder. That way, the roof won't get scratched when he installs the chimney. What a great idea, and I'm impressed once again.

Inspector Sissy is looking out the door, is this a good thing? Oh yes it was, there was a squirrel out there that she went racing off to see. Whew, for a minute there, I though we might be written up for a building code infraction... (Just a note on that. It is better to build to code for when/if one needs to put the property up for sale. Basically, if it's not up to code, no mortgage...)

Attic with chimney passing through. Yes, it finally happened, will we be able to light a fire in the stove soon? (That's insulation and empty chimney boxes up there for now.)

No fire yet... Right now the stove is being used as our tool bench.

Insulating is all done on the main floor. We really didn't mind it with just the poly covering the insulation, but we then thought of the two dogs we leave inside the cabin when we go to town. That would put me over the edge if we came back to a fluffy white floor so to speak, instead of the white walls we now have. Neeeever under estimate what a dog is thinking, hence, the pile of plywood to go onto the walls next.

This is the first snowfall, almost had that roof done. We have some windows to install yet so just put the wrap over the openings until the windows go in. That way it will be a bit less drafty working inside.

With the cold and snow arrival, we figured it would be a good time to work on that chimney.

Starting to look like a cabin now with the chimney, finished roof, windows & the fancy house wrap as siding.

Moment of truth, light a fire, put the lid on, will we have a wood stove to cook & heat the cabin with? Notice the coveralls for warmth.

Say a little prayer....

And the coveralls are off, we have heat in the cabin, very cozy indeed. Now we can work longer in the evening putting up the plywood on the walls.

One more look at the stove in action....

and it's back to applying the plywood. Andrew is using a cordless power drill, that makes it a one man job.

The walls are done in this corner, the ceiling is getting done, and it's starting to look pretty good in here.

We used coleman lanterns to light the cabin at night. They really gave off lots of light, and odor too. The fuel salesman gave us a word of warning, always have the building well vented, as they can be dangerous otherwise. They are really meant for outdoor use, but we did keep the doorways open and it was fine.

There's the stack of plywood, ready to put on the walls. Hey, doesn't he look like he's up to something? :0)

Oh, no, not the Village People dance routine! Remember them? They had a few hits waaay back in the 80's I believe. He's actually getting ready to cut plywood, but I had that flashback and wonder if you had the same one.

Here's a closeup of the stove and the west & south walls insulated.

The dogs watching the plywood go up around them.

Isn't she gorgeous. I've always loved the warmth of a wood stove so am very happy to have our own now. This is the way we will be cooking & heating our 900 sq.ft. cabin this winter. There's those dogs again, keeping an eye on things still.