This week even I'm impressed....

Another week, another shingle, but this week something a little different.  Mr. M cracked on with the little dormers, the sides were done already...

So onto the fronts.  Hexagonals, honeycomb, whatever you fancy calling them they look amazing, and yes, I am impressed...

I am so enamored with them I have requested them elsewhere, but that was met with a firm "no", they do take a while.  So he just has the front and back walls to complete, then we will be fully buttoned up!

He is back on the ground and in his happy place...

That's all folks!

Some work was done this week.....

Main job to get completed before the wet weather arrives (when will that be?) is to get the dormers all covered up, then all the high up, outside work, will be done.

We decided to do something different on the sides of the dormers, not shingles, we thought it would give a nice contrast.  The bonus is that tongue and groove goes up much quicker, and is much easier for Mr. M when he is hanging off of the roof.

First the big dormer, one side at a time.....

The big dormer is now all finished up, ready for the wind and rain!

And then onto the little dormers, corner posts and sides - tick!

The week got off to a slow start due to a couple days fishing, it was worth it though as the freezer got topped up and Mr. M caught a corker, 24lb green ling, he was pretty chuffed with his days work.....

Annnnd so....

we are back, we had lots of fun with our guests, near perfect weather, lots of walking, talking and eating, what's not to love!

 It wasn't all play, we had quite a few days of work in amongst the vacation, so Mr M was able to crack on and get some stuff finished.  First off he finished off the shingles on the other end wall...

Added the diamond to the top....

And then he added an additional touch of fancy! a gable pediment.  The curve was cut out of 2 x 12 cedar....

Fitted in place with mortise and tenon joints

And then treated with timber oil.....

And voila, something fancy to for the eye to peruse....

He also built and painted the window frame for the big dormer window...

Fitted it in place, guests were useful helpers....

Made and added the corner posts...

And started shingling....

And finished shingling the front face.....

Mr M has been busy! this week he also went over to the valley to collect a big pile of cedar and pine tongue and groove .  This is going to be used for the vaulted ceiling and the back porch, but also the sides of the dormers, a bit of contrast to the shingles.

So with cost savings in mind, off he went to bulk buy...

And staining has begun ready for dormer placement shortly, ahem..... fishing trips and dentist dependent...

Not just Mr. M who has been busy, the garden continues to give back.  We had a great season of beans, I am still picking zucchinis, tomatoes, carrots, beets....

 

 

I've tipped my last potato bins, plenty of spuds and some of them are huge...

My "fall" garden is looking good, we have enjoyed 1, yes 1, day of proper rain and the peas are full of flowers and pods, just waiting for them to fatten up

And my cauliflowers might eventually fulfill their purpose in life, along with their weedy friends...

And finally a shout out to my little chicken Barb, she provided many a double yoker for my Dad's breakfast! cluck, cluck, cluck....

 

 

Be warned, last blog for a month....

But before we sign off for a bit here's what we've up to.  Bath got plumbed in..

Drain hole got installed...

Passed inspection...

Running water....

Toilet installed....

And all complete... we aren't planning to keep the wood paneled wall behind the toilet!! Just incase you thought we had lost our minds!

Once the bathroom was all systems go he was back to the shingles, curved window frame complete and installed, tick, v.g….

And shingles on the way up...

Plan is to get this wall finished off this week then we are on hollibobs.  We've got some very important guests arriving so we are taking a well earned break, we'll be back in a month.

Flags are out...

Spit, polish, bath and a haircut and we're ready for the grand arrival!

From Grand Designs to Changing rooms...

Like I mentioned last week, shingling is "on hold" as gears have been switched this week.  First job Mr. M did a spot of painting as he wants to have the window frame ready to go as soon as he is back on it.  The curve was cut out of a piece of 2x10 piece of wood...

Two pieces were cut out and will be notched together to make a complete curve...

And painting...

Next job was rather a dusty one, but Mr. M got to use a big boys toy! digging the trench for the water line...

A huge chainsaw, incredibly dangerous looking type machine that isn't for girls, cuts through the dirt (or in the case of dirt at the end of a dry summer = dust) creates about a 3 inch wide, 16 inch trench, from the pumphouse all the way up to the garden...

With a detour into the house...

And you lay the pipe that will run the water, plus a piece of tracer wire...

Hook up the house....

And hopefully next week we will have running water in our house....

So that we can lie in this...

Yes, we have a bath....

 

Sitting in its wooden frame, and on a bed of mortar....

So, what's the rush with the bathroom? well we have guests arriving shortly, and so Mr. M and me will be "temporarily" moving into our new house.  Having a bathroom with a shower, toilet and hot water was one of my requests...

 

Now we are in an episode of "changing rooms" and this weekend was spent turning this room into something habitable....

It's amazing what some cardboard on the walls will do...

 

And cardboard has lots of interesting features already built in.....


Like a bathroom peep hole (not a feature we will be keeping in the house real)…

Another thing we won't be keeping in the house real, is this rather rustic door handle, a Mr. M special, may work for a barn...

 

 

The good news is that our VIP guests have bedroom and bathrooms already assembled and ready to go, ours is a WIP but it's going to be fun getting it finished...