Amazing progress!

 Well, it was this guy's birthday this past week and his parents took him to a  Boston Bruins game to celebrate... I couldn't be more thrilled for him (even though he's not wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey....) but, honouring his birthday is pretty good....  Happy Birthday, Ben!!!

Unbelievable night at the Boston Bruins game tonight! For Ben's birthday he wanted to see his favorite goalie, fellow Alaska boy, Jeremy Swayman. During warmups he held up his signs and some amazing girls helped him and they were rewarded with a warmup puck! It was amazing. I cried. Watched the game on the edge of our seats and were so excited for the win! As the team was getting off the ice, Swayman handed his stick over, pointed at Ben and made sure he got it!!! I ugly cried again. The people around us were amazing and so excited for him. Walking back to the hotel, Ben let everyone know that he got Swayman's stick and everyone was just so excited for him. I am still in shock and just can't believe it. I don't think we'll ever be able to top this birthday. Sometimes it's pretty amazing to "ugly cry".

Jim was working on the pantry at the end of last week, and over the weekend, he got all the sheetrock installed and the mudding and taping... It hasn't been painted yet, but with the can organizer in there, it's pretty amazing.  I am thrilled at how many times I know I have a certain product, but can't find it in the cupboards... This is going to keep me a little more organized...  Organization is not my strong suit...  Giggle.

We've been having a little problem with our water, or should I say, the pipes carrying the water into our house.  The pipes were installed years ago, but it was just this year that we started having issues - we could hear the water running constantly.  So, we hired a guy to look into the problem.  First, code for Kane County says that lines need to be put 4 feet under ground on a bed of gravel... These lines were put in 24 inches in the ground and there was no gravel.  During the winter at some point, the lines broke.  The guy who actually installed the lines said that he thought it was just a crack.. nope... totally exploded.

We hired a guy to come help fix the issue - not the original guy.  He checked what was left and said that it was the cheapest, crappiest product available.. and, small wonder it exploded.  

So, we had the whole thing dug up and even further checked the line going into the house... same problem exists.... not buried far enough down, no gravel, crappy product.  So, with all we have to do in the next couple of weeks, we are going to have to totally drain the system for the winter, and do a complete repair in the spring... sigh....

My supervisor jokes with me about not buying a dog... he says with all that has gone wrong this past year between hospital stays and surgeries, house issues and cabin issues... to make sure we don't ever buy a dog... because it would probably add to the problems and die.... So, just to let you know - we're not buying a dog.... or a cat.

And, the septic system is being revamped. We had a guy come out last year to finish the septic system... the tank went in a couple of years ago, but the lines were not put in... Well, the guy last year kind of walked away from the job... We didn't know why... This year, we found out why.... The lines that he put in were all going uphill from the house... and, the reason was because there is a layer of rock that they didn't want to spent the extra time breaking through so they could lay the lines... Uhuh... Jim and I were talking and we would have gladly paid the extra money to have the job done properly instead of just having them walk away... Anyways, this guy has dug deeper into the ground and is busting up the rock beneath, and laying the pipes so they actually run DOWNHILL instead of uphill... (I'm not an engineer, but even I know... stuff flows downhill... )  (There... wasn't I being nice?)  Giggle

Actually, I would messed my pants if I saw Jim balancing our backhoe between two ditches...

But, this guy apparently is a pro... I can barely parallel park my car let alone balance heavy machinery...

We are coming down to the final rows of the ceiling in the great room... Little by little, it's getting finished...  and then, we can pull the scaffolding out of the great room.

They're getting closer and closer and closer to the ridge beam!!!

And, the work continues on the septic system.  It looks like the trenches were dug to about 6 or 7 feet and amazingly, they are running in the right direction....

This would make an amazing maze for Hallowe'en... the only problem is... I don't want to be the person to dig it and pay for it.... Giggle.

And, the guys ran out of finished planks for the ceiling, so they had to revert to planing more wood....

..and then coating it with Varathane...

...and letting it dry.... ready for installation.

And, it's coming along nicely...

As you can see, we are really close to completely finishing the roof...

...and closer...

The guys had to take a break from installing ceiling planks to refill the insulation after it has settled down... this is kind of time consuming and annoying... but, we want to make sure there are no cold spots in the place.

..down to the last little bit....

..and this is where the installation had to stop... So little left to finish... We hope in the next week or so, the weather will be nice enough to work.  The rainy weather stopped the septic from being finished because everything got so muddy.  Hopefully, that will get finished this next week also.

Jim decided to do a little finish work on the floor in the kitchen.  Because it's raw wood, there are always little imperfections and anomalies so, a little cosmetic work needs to be completed.  Here's the before....

...and, here's the after.  It looks lovely....

And, here's the reason the work at the cabin had to stop...  Ben has a side gig as a dj and he had a wedding to work on Sunday afternoon.... With the cold weather, (like in the high 20 and 30's at night) it was freezing cold for an outside wedding.  Personally, I would have planned an inside venue, but different strokes I guess.  Ben had to brave the wet and cold conditions with a blanket or a towel or something over his head and shoulders just to survive.... Not this cowgirl...

With that, this edition has concluded, we've made amazing progress this week, and of course, the adventure continues.

Love, Jim and Cheri

"Anyone can love you in the sunlight; it's who loves you in the storm that you should be choosing."