Purlin beams

We went out to check on progress for the house today, and progress is moving rapidly!  They were actually placing the purlin beams for the roof while we were there.  The purlins are huge, and direct support the roof...there is no attic.  

Even though it was a cold and windy day, Lucy still found a place to take a swim!  This is the area of the frost wall for the basement, which is a concrete barrier that goes several feet into the ground. 

The garage is also made of logs.  We originally were just going to put log siding on the garage, but with Katahdin, the log siding is as expensive as real logs, so of course we opted for the real thing.  Hopefully it will help inspire us to keep the garage neat and tidy.

These are some of the interior beams that will be used for support.

The access to the house right now is through a ladder placed up to a window.  As we are talking inside, Lucy shows up.  Sure enough, she had figured out how to climb the ladder, without watching anyone or any teaching.  Poor Gus couldn't quite maneuver it, so Mark half carried him up the ladder.  Both dogs seem to approve of the house so far!

These are the support beams for the catwalk to the loft upstairs.  Nice and breezy right now!

Talking about further plans for building...."the Marks'" are conferencing.

Mark has the cherry picker on site to help place the purlins.  He offered to take us up in it to check out the view.  While I am terrified of heights, I wasn't about to miss out on this opportunity! 

In other wonderful news, the buyer for our house did her final walkthrough today and has signed off on the final repairs that were done.  Closing is set for April 5th, so we have plenty of work ahead of us!

Emery turns One!

For spring break, Mark and I went and spent the week in Simpsonville.  We had a blast!  We luxuriated in the warm spring sun, spent time with Emery and went to see Sara and Ryan's new lake view property that they just bought.  Ryan was in Austria on a business trip for most of our visit, so we did miss spending time with him.  Toby, Whitie and Anna came up for the weekend so we got a chance to see them as well.  Emery's birthday party was on Sunday, which was when the inevitable rainy day finally appeared.  But we still had a great birthday party for Emery and all her playmates.  I shared my camera with Anna while she was there, and we managed to take "several" hundred pictures while we were there (several meaning closer to 1000 than to 100!).  I don't have time to glean through them all right now, so here's the slideshow of what Sara culled out of mine to put on her computer.   Emery is becoming a wonderful toddler and just in the week we were there we watched her change and grow and learn.  We bought her a sand box for her birthday, which she totally enjoyed! Watch for the pictures of her eating the sand!

Spring!

Just when I thought I might not survive this winter, spring is slowly spreading light into St. Louis. We spotted this huge batch of crocuses one afternoon while running errands and I managed to get back there the next afternoon after school.  It was later in the day than I would have liked so the lighting is not ideal, but....they are beautiful anyway!  They apparently grow wild here in places, but I haven't seen any out on the farm yet even though I have in years past.  This park seems to provide huge batches of them every year, so I do get my fill of them while they are here!

Progress!

We went out to the farm again this weekend to check on things.  It looks like a house!  

This picture is taken from the downstairs master looking towards the dining room windows.  The kitchen window is the short one on the left, then the dining room, then the door to the porch.

Here's the view from the great room window.  Lots of sunsets in our future!

I think Lucy does a great job of blending in with the dirt and gravel. 

Here's the house from across the lake.

Here's how the inside corners are finished.

And here's what the corners look like on the outside.