499 DAYS...

The view from where our cottage now sits.

Staking out the footprint in Jan 2010.

After 499 days our cottage is finally done! We began the journey when we pulled the building permit between Christmas and New Year's 2009.
The project was originally projected to take 2-3 months--and here we are nearly 17 months later and we finally have the final building inspection done.

I was talking to my son Chad earlier tonight and I said it was almost like having a really long and difficult pregnancy and finally giving birth. He said, "Yeah, and changing doctors along the way."

Pouring basement walls,..

At any rate, we have a few things to finish up ourselves, but when you own a house there is always just one more project, but as far as the officials are concerned, we are good to go. And that makes me very happy.

Very.

So, for your viewing enjoyment, some photos of our 17 month journey.

basement floor and some plumbing in.

During this time our lives did not stand still. In no particular order...

Our first two grandchildren, Elinor and Allison were born, Bob and I were vendors at 5 state homeschool conventions, we had several picnics at the farm, one 4th of July picnic, the Packers won the Superbowl, Kari has served all but 2 weeks of her 1  year Americorps service, Dusty graduated from University of KY with an Accounting degree, Bob got a job promotion, we took untold trips, I made thousands of bars of soap and we had a great Applesauce Day in October, making and canning the most applesauce we ever have.

Framing under way.

For those of you who have followed our saga and have given us encouragement, Bob and I thank you. We are blessed to have this cottage that we will eventually retire to, but in the meantime we will spend as much time there as we are able to.

Take care,
Jill

Bob checking out the framing.

Plywood and house wrap going on.

Loft framed in.

Mist rising over the KY river one morning while I was waiting for some workmen to come.

Wall in living room--I love the octagon window.

Adding the Bay Window with window seat, roof on.

Bay window done, windows in.

Wrap around deck going on.

Working on deck--this was July 2010

Work on deck progresses.

Wood stove in place-hearth built. [This was too small, so it had to be re-done later and duct work had to be moved after the new hearth was built. Two steps forward, one step back. ------Upper photo: Kari caulking windows on Thanksgiving break.

Oak and Poplar staircase completed.

Kitchen tile.

Heat Pump.

Slate and oak hearth for wood stove.

Exterior completed.

Upstairs bath completed.

Jason and Noel installing stove pipe on one of the coldest days of the year.  They had to build scaffolding first.

Living room about done.----Top photo:  Bob putting up Shaker pegs while balancing precariously on the ledge by the steps.

My closet doors.

My adorable kitchen is complete.

Living room with a nice fire, see deck when you look out the windows.

Me painting Shaker pegs and peg rails.

Bedroom doors go out to the deck.

Bob and I custom build the pantry under the steps.

Bob and I build in bookshelves in the basement.

Another pantry shot.

Me trying out the window seat.

Final grading done, Bob putting gutters underground.

The hardest working man I know.After nearly 36 years of marriage, I know more than ever that Bob is my best friend and soul mate. We have the same hopes and dreams. I love this shot--strong and romantic-- all at the same time.

Bird Free Zone...

Our wood stove has a shiny new insulated stovepipe that goes up and through the roof and extends above the ridge of the roof. The pipe has a shiny cap on it to keep out rain and birds but it has small exhaust holes [more like slots] to let out the smoke.

But, even though the exhaust holes are small, nasty black Grackles [icky black Starling-like birds] decided to try to get in there to make a nest. Who would have thought?

A couple of weeks ago I came into the cottage and saw that the glass of the stove  was all messy. That was weird because I had cleaned it the last time I was out. So, I open the door to clean it again, and there was a very large, dead, Grackle in the stove. Apparently it squeezed in through one of the holes and then got caught in the pipe and couldn't get out. It eventually fell into the stove and died there. The messy glass was from the bird flapping around and doing birdy-doo at the same time. GROSS!

Oh, and I could hear another one flapping around in the pipe, which sounded creepy and was very unsettling--those claws scratching the inside of the pipe was like something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

I felt bad, but I picked  up the dead one and tossed it into the weeds. The next week there were two dead birds in the stove. I wasn't freaked out or sad, I just put on a glove and tossed them both over the balcony into the weeds. The next week there was another.

This past Monday, while Bob and I were in the living room, one squeezed through the slot/holes, tumbled down the pipe, fell into the stove and was hopping around looking at us through the glass.

That was creepy. I figured I would just go outside so I didn't have to look at it and then toss it out next week after it expired [Can you see I am becoming hard-hearted?]. Bob, however, had other plans. He waited until the bird wasn't paying attention, and then put on the fire glove, threw the door open and in a flash reached in and pulled it out. I opened the door to the outside and he tossed the bird off the balcony and into freedom.

So, as you can imagine, we decided something had to be done. Cliff, our contractor, came to the rescue [again!] and made our stovepipe bird-proof.

See the nice wire inserted at the top of the stove pipe? That should do the trick.

I thought about making some allegory connection to this story about sin sneaking in through tiny cracks and then stinking up your life [or wood stove, as the case may be], or the value of not always getting what you want, or of fools rushing in...you get the idea. But, they all seemed kind of corny.

So, none of that. Just a thank you to Bob for saving one birdy life [even if I hate those Grackles with their beady-reptilian eyes] and a thank you to Cliff for constructing scaffolding and making our stove bird free.

Take care,
Jill

Cottage finally graded...

This  has been a long time coming. We, like most of the country, have broken all records for most rain in a month. Violent storms have beaten down not only this month, but for a few months.

It has been raining, and raining and raining. This means it has been impossible to get the final grading done, so it was impossible to plant grass, put in the underground gutter drainage and basically to finish the cottage up.

So, yesterday was the big day. We wanted to be out there so the little problems we wanted addressed, were done right. We headed out around 9:00 am  and you can see we finished at sunset. Bob was finishing up the underground gutter drainage as the sun set.

We wanted to get it done, so we could seed the whole yard surrounding the cottage at the same time.

We were surprised to see that we had a marvelous store of great top soil--Dale, the grader, knew where to look.  Look at that nice black dirt. When he finished he dug up an nice pile of it and set it aside, so I can make some awesome flower/vegetable beds.





Here he is spreading the dirt over the clay soil. You can see Bob's tractor-cut path going over to the nut grove behind the little dozer.

We were excited as he worked taking down the big pile of dirt that was next to the basement deck.

What took Bob [and I helped a bit] 2-3 days to shovel out in order to make the deck [not all day, but over a course of a few days] he spread out in a matter of minutes.








 
 While Dale's assistant continued to use the Bobcat, Dale worked on the driveway. I should have taken a before shot, but I didn't.

It was in REALLY bad shape after all the gulley-washing storms we have had this past month or so.

But, not only did he put down cement-like gravel, he widened the whole driveway so Bob can mow down the edges of it with the tractor. He also made a nice little juncture at the bottom so we can go down the hill and turn right to go to the road, or left to go to the barn.

Before this, we could not go to the barn from the house on the driveway because at the bottom of the hill, there was nothing but a small wall of rock on the left and it prevented us from making that turn.

When we came up from the barn, we could not go to the house unless we drove on a grassy path. I have a genetic defect which prevents me from backing up without hitting something--I think I must have gotten it from my mom, because my dad was an amazing backer-upper.  Because of the flaw, if I come from the barn and want to go to the house, I have to go out to the road and drive down to the neighbor's house and turn around there.

So you can see how much this grading job meant to me.

  After a rather long day, the back of the house was done and spread with our home-grown black topsoil.

                                                                                 
 Here is the view from the right front.

And the left front, with Bob working on putting the gutter drainage underground. I plan to make a rain garden or something where the gutters drain out. Gail suggested a bog garden, so I will have to do some research to see what would be most practical. 

  I bought this awesome new whirly-type seeder. I remember my Dad having one and thought it would be much easier to use than one you hold and have to crank a million times.

I was right.

This went fast and was so easy and no tired hand. I put in rye, silver vetch and fescue. Between them all we should have some grass and some great roots to prevent erosion.

 Here Bob is getting the pipe ready to lay in the trench he dug.

The next photo shows him digging a bit more to get the slope right.

 After this, we cleaned up the tools and then we headed for home.  It felt good to get the seed in. Hopefully it will take root and not be caught in another violent storm and end up at the bottom of the hill.

It was a great day!

Take care,
Jill