Building a Little House in the Big Woods: October 2009

To our family and friends following this blog to chart the progress of our house, we apologize for the lag in posts. Our lives have been so crazy since the school year started. Noah takes the kids to school in the morning on his way to work, puts in a full day at the University, then heads to the house site to put in as many hours as possible before dark. Mindy picks the kids up in the afternoon, does homework/study time with them, dinner prep, kids eat & go to bed, then she feeds the grown-ups when the men return from the job site. Life is crazy right now.

As for the house, things are going quite nicely. The walls are done. All of the concrete has been poured, the framing is done, the rafters are in. The roof is now in the process of being shingled. We designed the roof with a 12/12 pitch for our snowy winters, and to make the most room in the interior since we are living in that 1/2 story. That steep pitch (45 degrees) makes for a not-so-easy shingling job. Andrew purchased carabiners & harnesses to keep them tethered to the roof while shingling. It has been interesting to see. Unfortunately, Noah came down with the flu this weekend so Mindy took his place at the job site to carry shingles up the ladder to the roof. Writing this entry, she sits in pain as every muscle in her body is screaming from the many trips up and down the ladder with those heavy things. But that beats being up on the steep roof.