And Now We Have the First Layer of Sheathing!

While I went off to Della's Birthday/Frackelton Summer Party with Vanessa, Lawson and Avery (which by the way was awesome to have most of the family under one roof), Dad and Drew worked on sheathing the stair tower. I was so amazed when I got home! It is such a cool space inside and the way the pitch of the roof is so much shorter on the entry side, really makes it seem less formidable and more welcoming. Next, we will work on building the "ladder" for the roof overhang so we can get the Weathershield on and we will be waterproof! Then, we can put in the windows and door and then get the exterior insulation on. We are having a bit of a battle with ourselves as to when to punch the hole through the Lodge wall. In a way it is like a "carrot" hanging just out of reach which pushes us. On the other hand, I am just so darned excited to see how much we can open up that wall and start using it to get to the Pub, I almost can't bear to wait. Stay tuned for what we decide!

The Glen Hosta Garden Is Carved Out of the Pines

Although it doesn't photograph particularly well yet with its unmulched beds and barren paths, the Glen Garden will provide a happy home for all my 2014 hosta purchases and allow me room to expand in the future either by dividing my own plants or purchasing new ones. We took down about a dozen pines with two more slated for winter felling once the perennials have died back. We limbed up a half dozen others to allow some dappled sunshine to penetrate through the high branches of the pines we left standing. The soil in this area may have once been cultivated as it seems very good, but I still added some Plant Tone when I set in the new plants. A vacation trip to Ossippee Trails Nursery provided a couple new astilbes which make great companion plants to the hostas. Eric left four stumps just high enough to make benches from the great slabs of wood that Barry had given us. It will be a fun garden room as it provides such a nice view of all the other gardens and the Lodge itself. We left sufficiently wide paths for the mower as we anticipate the paths greening up with a combination of weeds and grass as all the other areas in which we have allowed the sunshine to enter have done. It is quite surprising how fast it fills in without any seed being scattered by me. The paths connect up with the paths to the Witch Walk and the back of the Hydrangea garden. Note in the second picture how I have encouraged my new plants to look toward their more established plants to encourage them to grow big and strong!

Framing the Stair Tower

We began framing with the thought that the roof would be standard cape style with the two side walls being 12 foot tall each. The amount of slope which this allowed was not as much as we would have liked given that we are getting older and the snow loads could be a problem which we would have to address with a ladder.So, we noted that a saltbox roof profile would not only solve the pitch problem, but would allow us to keep both the existing windows in the upstairs. The eight foot wall on the front would give a much more welcoming look to the entrance than the daunting twelve foot wall. We will install a full view door and on the back wall there will be a two foot wide by six foot tall double-hung window which allows for a view clear through the structure to the screenhouse. A six foot by six foot two window, double-hung unit will go in the end wall providing a huge view of the woods out back to both the Pub and the upstairs. We were so lucky to find this unit at the Westbrook Restore. It is a brand new unit, Paradigm, panes between the glasses for easy washing, and we purchased it for $400. We had gotten a quote from Lowe's for a unit with a rounded top, which was our original plan when we were going to have a cape style roof, for $3,000. That would definitely have completely blown our budget and quite frankly not a figure we felt justified in spending on a single window. Now with the saltbox roof style, I don't think I would have liked the rounded top unit anyway. 

Foundation Is In!

Randy got the foundation all poured before the big rain came. It caused a moat around the new stair tower which is tempting to keep. Imagine the granddaughters playing princess and Lawson being their knight in shining armor! All we need do is install the drawbridge! The height of the back wall would be perfect for role playing Rapunzel. Randy did a great job as he had done on the main Lodge foundation. We are so thankful that he was able to fit this relatively small job into his busy schedule. 

Stair Tower Foundation Is Dug

Tom Hartford is the excavator who now works with Randy McClintick since Larry Hallowell has retired. He also does a lot of work digging graves for both humans and animals. I found it interesting that I had never really given a thought to what may happen when something like a horse or a pet goat dies, but now I know. We had asked if the foundation might be able to be done before our July vacation, since we knew that would be our largest block of time to get started on it. They were wonderful to work with that request as well as go along with our relaxed construction philosophies. It was so exciting to see the project get started. I already can imagine the quick trip between the pub and upstairs and how much easier that will make things. No more snow on our meals when I make the trip all out and around the Lodge like last year, being careful not to slip on the ice and snow underfoot.