INSULATION AND SHEETROCK!!!

We got the building inspector's approval for insulation a week ago, and the first few sections went into the living room as a test.  I was with Jim this past weekend, and we, rather, Jim decided we should attack the main floor bathroom.. So, the insulation portion of this project began... and it's hard work!!!  I learned lots, didn't participate a lot, but learned lots.... like the difference between R13, R19 and R20...  Uhuh...  Here's Jim making the first cuts in the long bats of insulation for the bathroom...and this is R20...  Jim's was rockin' with the "Pink Panther" all day...

 

And, the first piece is going up beside the shower....

    His job was to position it, tack it into place at the top of the wall and then my job....

... was to staple it down to the bottom and behind the toilet...  Only problem is... my body doesn't quite move in a contorted way... but, I tried...

Jim is a billion times better at this job than I am... I told him I was more support staff instead of contract labor.  But I love the air powered staple gun!

The insulation got put in, stapled down, and taped... and, I'm incredibly stoked about it.

Moving on from picture of our bathroom and toilet......

Friday night, I asked Jim what he wanted for dinner, and he wanted steaks... So, steaks it was...  He grilled them on the BBQ and they were amazingly delicious.

..baked some potatoes and put a salad with it and it was a wonderful dinner...  See, I'm better in the support staff position!

It was a little frosty over night...  I took this picture at about 10 in the morning, and it was finally warming up to the point that you didn't have to have a sweater on... It was frigid over night and I was soo glad we have an electric blanket on the bed.  I swear it must have gotten down to 50!

Jim pulled out the telescope on Friday... it's been in a box for years... The stars were so incredibly beautiful when we got there on Thursday night, he decided a closer look and it was a good idea...  There was no moon in the sky, and the stars looked so incredibly bright next to the ink black sky...

I was talking to my youngest brother on Friday, and he was saying he was on an airplane flying over Alberta and it looks really brown... so, I took these two pictures to show him what I was hovering over... everything is beautiful and lovely to look at.  This is the view from the back of the cabin...

And, this is the side view...

Here's a little more of the insulation process....

...making sure there is no cold coming in around my sunflowers.

And, this is what the bathroom looked like after it was insulated, and the mirror and lights were put back up temporarily until the sheet rock and tile comes.

Here's another view... We're making progress.

Now, this is the first piece of sheetrock to go up (it took me a couple of minutes to remember exactly what gyprock is called here in the States... It's always been gyprock, and when I write this blog, Jim looks at it, and changes it before publication....  so, I'm one ahead of him this time..) ....The ceiling has to be done first I'm told.  We are not allowed to sheetrock on any outside wall until we get the county building inspection done...  And, that is not going to happen until Monday.  So a non-insulated ceiling part under the loft is OK.  It looks curved in the photo, but that's only the camera lens.

I did find the faucet handles for the main floor shower, however.  Had to call the plumber because I didn't know what guts he had installed behind the wall... but, we got it figured out, and he told me to go with MOEN... He says that MOEN fits just about anything, and it's easier to fix if there's a problem.

For fun, I put some pumpkins out for the fall season... I'm not a very "decorating/crafty" kind of person... Last year, I put out a real pumpkin and let the squirrels and chipmunks do the decorating on it for me... They did a great job eating it!

When I got to the cabin, neatly tucked to the side of my bedroom night stand was this beautiful collection...  In one of the weeks I wasn't at the cabin, Jim found this for me, knowing I would love it.  I'm one of these old ladies that always keeps a hankie in my pocket, so he knew I would love this...  so pretty... He won't tell me where he got it from, and it's driving me crazy...  grrrr.  Thanks to Jim for being such a sweet heart... I think I'll keep him...

I told Jim that I love the idea of an old lady, with a delicate little hanky poked up her sleeve... They are so delicate and beautiful... Can you tell I'm a fan?

It just hit me... I think Jim bought me this beautiful little hanky art to sit on my end table, to make up for the big a$$ed fish he has over the bed....  I knew there had to be a reason....  Giggle.

We are having the rock guy show up in October to set the ceramic in the bathroom, so we did a final inventory on tile that we would need... Found out, we were 12 pieces short!  So, I went online to buy extra, and yep... not only are they out of stock, but discontinued.  I searched Lowe's all over Utah, Nevada and California, and finally found ONE store who had a few pieces left over, so I bought them... Thank goodness.... We are having them shipped in this week.  

And, Monday, Jim called the inspector about getting a one room insulation inspection so that the rock guy can come and install the tile... The inspector came out on Monday and passed the insulation inspection in the bathroom, so, now we have to get sheetrock up before the ceramic tile guy comes...  It's so difficult to get subs to come do work, we didn't want to lose our opportunity and have to send him away... So, now, it looks like it's a go!  The ceramics guy is the same person that did our rock hearth!

Hockey season is underway again.  We got this picture of our Ben who lives in Alaska.  He is wearing Jim's 1963ish hockey jersey from New Toronto....just a few years ago!  Makes us smile and warms hearts... I think this is going to be the last year any of our 4 grandkids will be wearing the jersey...(I'll have to get him a Leaf's practice jersey to wear!)... I can't believe Jim used to be this small... but, sure he was definitely this cute!

And, hockey is HARD work!!!  Just ask our Ben!

And, my blog book from last year is finally completed and printed... and added to the rest of the collection.  I didn't think this blog was going to go on for so many years, but really am glad we have a record of all the ups and downs...  Smart idea for anybody with such a project....

With that, the adventure continues...

Love, Jim and Cheri

"When you marry, you marry the whole person - not just the parts above the waterline.  You get both the silk, sails and the barnacles...."

..Finally Starting To Cool Down... a bit...

We've had so much progress in the cabin over the last couple of weeks...  A lot of electrical work was completed, and, this is the final picture... The lights were put on the deck, and the look at night is spectacular! Just remember, this is only one side of the deck... there's a whole other side with the same beautiful effect...

Here's a picture of the deck, without the cover of trees, but it's just as beautiful.  

The boys have been busy doing a little repair work that was not completed by the framer.... so many holes and spaces..  If you follow along on the blog, you'll know we have had a problem with birds getting into the cabin, and then departing this life on the living room floor.  Well, that issue was dealt with - no possible way for them to get in any longer!  What was found was a bird's nest at the peak of the prow, with a bird in the nest that didn't make it to the living room floor... Uhuh... It looks messy, but it does the trick and will be all covered up with insulation and sheetrock...

Here's a little more fix-it that was completed...

Yup... and a little more...

I always ask Jim to take pictures for me...(telling the truth... I haven't been at the cabin since May...long story)...  But, Jim was telling me that he and Ben were filling the open spaces in the walls to stop the birds, and he took this picture.  I didn't think he would take a picture of Ben's butt, but it is . . . what it is.. He said there was no other shot he could get...  So, here it is.... Ben's butt...

The waterproofing on the main level shower is done, and now the issue is to find faucets that I like.  I first of all had to find out what brand of faucets I was supposed to get.  This is the only pictures that Jim sent me, and they didn't have a brand listed anywhere on them.  So, I had to get a hold of our original plumber, and he said to buy MOEN.  So, the search is on.  

At least, I think I got what would look nice.  I had to order them online because there wasn't anything in the store - Home Depot or Lowe's that I liked.  But, I found some I liked and ordered them... Just waiting on delivery.  I sure would like it if they were like Amazon Prime and showed up next day!!!  If Amazon can have next day delivery, why can't Home Depot???

Over the winter, my one hummingbird feeder shattered, and this spring, I found that my 2nd hummingbird feeder was leaking like crazy.  So, Jim, replaced the leaky one with a brand new feeder and filled it.  Now, in the morning, we have little visitors buzzing around.  

The work on the electrics continues.  Here's an outlet on the outside of the cabin being installed.  I am sure glad Jim knows this stuff... I sure don't...  If it were up to me, we'd be living in the dark...

Jim was hoping to put the metal roofing up on the deck this weekend... But, this happened...  Somehow, Mother Nature did not get the message for sunny weather...

I personally think it looks wonderfully romantic...  

We had this water cube in the loft for years... then it was moved down to the deck, and this past weekend, it was moved off, out of the way.  We bought this boom truck, and I swear, it has been used for roofing, and moving in a refrigerator and a wood burning stove and a plethora of other things.  Now, it's moving a water cube!!

Ben's job was to install the under the sink, outlet for the dishwasher and the garbage disposal..  During one of his jobs, he got something in his eye, and had to go to the emergency room... they told him that he scratched his cornea.  Poor thing was in terrible pain... But... the outlet got installed.  I feel bad for him.

Jim and Ben were both working on installing the circuit for the can lights in the loft and ran into a little bit of a problem.  They couldn't seem to get it working correctly.  Jim was telling me the issue they were having, and I told him to call my brother up in Toronto... He's an electrical engineer and I figured he would know this stuff.  Jim "wouldn't ask for directions" so I called my brother and explained the problem.  He sent me this picture and said it was really easy...  I think I didn't explain the issue well enough.. My brother was a sweetie and sent an instruction picture to Jim....  This is what he sent after I explained the issue... Jim said there were a lot of other things going on and it was a lot more complicated.

This is what Jim sent back to me and to my brother... with this, I am 100% I didn't explain it correctly.  Giggle.  After doing and undoing their work several times, they finally got the can lights in the loft working, but the ceiling fan in the great room stopped working.  Jim thinks they blew up the motor controller...  Back to the drawing board...

We had the county building inspector come out on Friday - inspecting the electrical system.  He was saying to Jim that he felt it really has taken us a LONG time to get this cabin finished.  Jim explained that he only works weekends on the cabin for 7 months out of the year, and with that the total number of days a year he can work on it is under 60.  The inspector said that the average house only takes 130 days to complete.  When Jim asked how may people were on these crews that can pull off the 130 days, and he said there were about 3 - 4 people working on them.  Jim then said... I am only one person.  We now have Ben helping out which has made a big difference, but for the first 5 years, there was just Jim.  The inspector then said, "Well, you've come a long way!"   Um... pretty much... And, we PASSED the electrical inspection so we can now insulate!!!

And, guess what got started!!!INSULATION!!!

 

 

I saw this sign and thought of all the adventures Jim and I have had over the last 16 years.  I don't know if I realized it was going to be this way when he asked me, "Will you marry me"... I think he should have completed the sentence with, "Will you marry me, and we're going to have an amazing, crazy, heartbreaking experience... but, trust me! It'll be memorable"...  

And, I probably would have still said YES!  Still love this nut something stupid.

And, with that, the adventure continues.  Love, Jim and Cheri

"The quandary in life is you're halfway through before you realize it's a do it yourself project"