Windows and skylights! We picked out the doors yesturday, so they are next. And the roof is on!

Well, as you can see, the roof and porch are going on. We are just back from our aniversary trip to the coast, (30 years!) and took these pictures this afternoon. The roofers are coming this week to put on the shingles, etc, so it will soon be "topped out and dryed in" as our contractor has told us. I put in my kitchen cabinet order and have picked out tubs and faucets and sinks. There are still too many choices and it can be exausting, but we are thankful for the opportunity to have this adventure and get to live out in the country. Happy birthday to Jeremiah and to Rachael, who have each had their special day this week!

17 degrees in the Mouselands this morning! Poor Max didn't think it was prudent to go out when we left for work. Anyway, work continues , now on the roof.

The trusses are up and we can't believe how high the vaulted living room is. The guys had to cut short their work day on Monday due to snow flurries! Today it only got to 36 degrees for the high. A little chilly!

The top 2 pictures are looking from the master bedroom thru the wall into the kitchen, and then into the living room in the top right one. The bottem picture is looking from the master bath towards the garage.

The crew has been here working all week on the framing! It is so great to come home and find so much more done. I walked around, imagining all the walls and fixtures in and trying to decide how to decorate. We are tweaking the design of the mud room and are having ongoing discussions about the vaulted ceiling. I think the trusses are next, so it wont be long for the roof to get on.
My daffidills are coming up along the lane, right on schedule! Only six more weeks of winter!

Can you believe it! We have walls up! At lease the framing.And the shop is done except for the big garage doors, which will be installed on Thusday. I put in my order for kitchen cabinets, and we have ordered the flooring and pedestal sinks. Next we have to decide on lights. David wants big florescent lights and I want pendant lights and recessed lights in the kitchen. Sigh. There are so many choices!

This is the one sunny day we have had since Thanksgiving, it seems! I have certainly had my fill of dark rainy days.
Here is all that has been done on the construction. The shop has the roof and windows in, and is scheduled to get the concrete floor poured this week. Then they can put on the two big garage doors, and the siding, along with the wiring and lights. David plans to put a wood stove right away as well. He has 2 or 3 stacks of wood he cut when cleaning up the low limbs of the big trees. Our contractor has promised us that the shop will be done by the end of January. The house is getting a slow start. They have put up the Post and Beam for the floor, as you can see from the pictures. The big round cement pads are the pilings for the wrap-a-round porch. David says the beams are around 4x10 or something like that. Looks fairly sturdy! Now we are waiting for the plumber, and heat duct guy to get their part done. Then the builders can start putting up the framing for the walls.
I realized it was time to put in for my vacation in July, at work. I hope the house will be done by then! We are so looking to getting in the house, but also looking forward to going fishing up at Crescent Lake this summer! Well, spring is around the corner, as my daffidills I planted up the lane are showing green shoots up 4-6 inches. I can't wait for more sunshine. Hope to see you all sometime this year!

Merry Christmas to you all! It has been so cold here this week- only 20 to 35 degrees. But no snow, just frost. We have the trusses being delivered on Monday , soon the shop will be completed. We are thankful to God for His provision thru this process. We have learned lots of patience! I have been working on the most important room of the house- planning the kitchen. It is fun to pick out cabinets and colors and try to visulize how we will use the space. We have the pellet stove ordered, it will take a few monthes to get it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a lovely holiday and now on to Christmas! Well, I have been coming to terms with living in the trailer for the duration! Finally we have the foundation in. I am so excited!. You can see the shop foundation in the first picture and the house foundation in the other two. After going to work in the dark and returning in the dark, we finally saw it in the daylight this last weekend. We are supposed to get a load of lumber this next Tuesday, and then maybe we will start seeing progress. I have windows picked out and need to get an appointment with the kitchen planner. I will be glad to have a house by the next summer at this rate.
We have just come back from Myrtle Point and Florence , where we saw our family and friends. David has spent the morning today planting trees. We recieved two madrone trees from our dental hygenist, and half a dozen little fir trees, a dozen or so raspberry starts and butterfly bushes from Curley. I also had a sweetgum and some arbervita shrubs in pots. We had an arborist come out and give us advice about the big 200 yr old fir trees. We have tried to keep the excavation and building away from the limb line as much as possible.
David is snoozing now, with the football game is one, while we cook a turkey on the barbeque. The only thing about going somewhere else for Thanksgiving is no leftovers!

Well, we have broken ground! The excavator was here yesterday to dig out the house site and is finishing up the shop site today. He has covered up the septic and is burying the culvert to re-route the irragation ditch. Tomorrow he will bring in rock and get the driveway cutout and everything rocked in before the rains start. Margie , our contractor, has the foundation crew scheduled and they hope to pour foundation this next week. Max the cat has taken for the hills, untill the contractors dog is gone. Meanwhile lumbar prices continue to go down! We are thankful for God's hand on us and this process. Patience is a virtue. Of course, the satillite dish being installed today will help David's spirits!

Well, here it is almost the middle of October and we still don't have our building permits yet. David is busy working on a pump house before the weather gets bad. We have lovely cool sunny days , and the trees are spectacular with oranges,reds and yellows. We are all set for winter, tho, with our trailer moved and hooked up to power,phone and internet and well. Margie, our contractor, tells me that lumber prices have gone down as well. So it's all good.

Above is the view from my trailer dining table.

Fall is here, with the Oregon countryside turning brown and gold with touches of red viny maples. We have the septic half installed, awaiting final approval. The temporary circuit box and post is up and phone is wired into it. The power company is supposed to bring the power accross the road tomorrow and turn on our power. We are so excited! We will then move the trailor over by the temp post and plug into power and phone. We anticipate the building permits any day now and are hoping to break ground soon. We have been out On The Property for 2 monthes now! We have already had our first frost with temp down to 29 degrees in the morning! We still have tomatoes, but are on the tail end of them. Max the cat has been prowing the Mouse Fields on a regular basis and bringing us offerings, and the deer have made nightly forays to sample David's blueberry bushes, and the fallen apples from our old apple trees we discovered. Button spends her days sleeping or looking for mice and barking at all the strangers who keep driving in and disrupting her home.
Our little oak and maple trees we planted are turning lovely orange and red, and we have tucked in 300 daffidill bulbs waiting for spring!