Spider nests

I was stacking more wood and felt something fuzzy under a piece of wood ... I dropped it fast and checked what it was. There was a mama spider tending her nest. Her body was about the size of my thumb nail ... have no idea what type of spider she is but was fascinated by her structure which was sort of gauzy. Anybody have any idea?

Our friend Jerry Morici from New Jersey came back to check on us again. Last time he came we were still attaching SIPs to the frame timbers. Chris is giving him a computer tour of all the work since.

The front of the garages require an "apron" of cement. Chris lays out the area with some lime in prep for the excavation team's arrival. Then the dirt is removed and shifted around so we get a slight drainage slope, followed by a thick layer of crushed and compacted gravel. Cement will be poured next week.

Ken, the door maker, called us to inspect his finished product. We were thrilled. It is a copy of our ancient front door back in Lahaska; two sided ... wide board diagonals on the outside and classic six panel on the inside. The wood in poplar and it will be painted. I ordered Swedish linseed oil paint from Allbäck.

The middle shows Chris painting inside his workshop in prep for garage door being installed. Yes, the doors finally arrived, but I have to paint them now, so it will take a while before we will be all enclosed.

And finally, the covered porch on the back of the house got a cloak of stone around its pillars to match the front entry. So now the stone work is all done.

The laying of floor boards is progressing. Downstair now. There seems to be acres and acres of floor area. I'm still busy making and pounding in wooded pegs to fill the screw holes. Evan is working in the master bathroom getting ready for tiling.

The last bit of weather proofing was accomplished this past week. The rim-board between the basement and the rest of the house was foamed. Not very exciting, but necessary.

And lastly, a load of Chris' heavy machinery arrived from Pennsylvania and was stowed in one of our two storage spaces in Poncha Springs. This calmed Chris down a good deal ... he needs his machinery nearby, and 2000 miles away just didn't cut it. Yours truly enjoys a well deserved coffee with Chris down by the river ... we are gearing up for another cross country trip to pick up more (hopefully the last load) of workshop paraphernalia back in Pennsylvania. We will be gone for as long as it takes knowing that Evan will handle everything just fine while we are awol.