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.

House in Progress!!

Beautiful weather today, and a chance to go out to the farm and check on progress on the house.  I haven't been there since before Christmas, but these are pictures that Mark took back on January 30th.  There was lots of snow, a foundation, and the forms in place to pour the foundation for the garage.  Lots of concrete work goin' on!  Here's what we call the front of the house, the part that is facing the pond.

Here's the forms in place for the foundation for the detached garage.

Basement foundation from inside.

There has been lots of progress when we went out today, and it is starting to look like a house!  Here is the front again.

Here's the basement.  The slab was just poured the day before.

Here's the foundation for the garage.  The builder has been unable to pour the slab for the garage because all the local quarries are out of stone!  It has been such a rough winter that the stone has been bought by the governments to fill in potholes, and the builder has been unable to get any.  The garage isn't nearly as critical as the house, so we aren't too concerned.

 They had a first row of logs in place, and were placing the second row while we were there.  Here's what the corner joints look like.  The logs have to be routed for all electrical wiring as they are put in place, so it is a slow process. 

Here's the rest of the first shipment of logs, all waiting to be properly placed in position on the house.  Just like lincoln logs!

The logs are numbered and are put in place by number.  The logs are actually cut in Maine, and the house is pieced together in Maine, then taken back apart.  Each log is stamped with its appropriate number, placed on the truck and delivered to the home site.  We can't wait to go back next week and see what other progress has been made!  In the meantime, we have an open house tomorrow and next weekend.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

Missouri Botanical Gardens Orchid Show

Last weekend the weather was AWFUL, as it has been for entirely too many days this winter, and we were itching to get outside.  It looked like it was the perfect day to spend some time at the Botanical Gardens' Orchid Show.   The Missouri Botanical Gardens are beautiful, and over 150 years old, with some incredible specimen trees.  But this day we spent inside with hundreds, probably thousands of orchids.  They smelled heavenly, they looked gorgeous, and I could have happily pitched a tent and stayed for days.  Mark patiently waited while I indulged myself, going through the exhibition twice:  once with my regular camera lens, and once with my telephoto lens.  I took over 240 pictures, and no, I don't know what I'll do with them all, but....I am thrilled to have them!  Have I said lately how much I love digital photography in general, and my camera and lenses in particular?!  I am so spoiled! I tried not to include too many in this blog post, but...orchids are amazing!!!

After going through the Orchid Show, we went through the Climatron.  It is a huge geodesic dome greenhouse, with a tropical climate inside.  A great place to be when it is raining and 34 degrees outside!  Here are some of its warm blooded residents, enjoying themselves.

These are the amazing Amazon poison frogs...beautiful, but not to be touched!

After this, we had lunch at Blueberry Hill, played a couple of rounds of darts (I finally beat Mark!), then went home and relaxed.

Eagle Watching 2010

Mark and I decided to spend another Sunday out hunting for eagles....hunting with a camera, that is!  We headed up to the Chain of Rocks bridge, which is supposed to be a great site for eagle watching.  This bridge was originally part of the historic Route 66 highway, although it has been closed to car traffic for many years.  These days it is part of the rails to trails campaign, and a walking bridge across the Mississippi River.  The bridge is also known for having a 22 degree angle in the middle of the bridge, which somehow allowed for boat traffic underneath.  The bridge is fairly picturesque in itself and we enjoyed walking across it, although we only spotted one eagle from the bridge.  This is a shot from near the beginning of the bridge.

These are some sort of river houses?/bridge keepers? that are actually on the Mississippi.  We had no clue of their history, origin or purpose, and couldn't find any information on them.  They are cute though!

This is a picture of the angle in the bridge as best as I could photograph it, while being actually on it.

The state line on the bridge in the middle of the Mississippi.

The eagle that we spotted while on the bridge.

Next we headed up towards Alton and Grafton, Illinois, which are the eagle watching towns to visit on the river.  This guy was on the way into town, just posing for the crowds who were gathering below!

I'm still fascinated by the icicles that form on the rock outcroppings when it gets cold.  I make Mark stop the car so that I could photograph these.

Our best eagle watching of the day came as we were heading back into town.  We spotted these two birds again just hanging out and creating photo ops for the worthy humans below.  They are such beautiful creatures!