Journal of Progress--November 9-22, 2020

 Now that cold weather is upon us, a lot of effort is spent just keeping the house warm.  Our progress on working on the house seems very slow and there doesn't seem to be much to report.

American Gold Finches have been visiting our bird feeder.  They are so pretty.

Sunsets can be really pretty here.  We're so glad that we oriented the house the way we did to take advantage of the beauty of the area.

Barbara found a place to put this gift from her sister.  The calendar is mostly a birthday calendar.  With 10 children, 10 in-law sons and daughters, 44 grandchildren (plus two on the way), four honorary grandchildren keeping track of birthdays is significant.

Don discovered a problem in hanging the balcony. The wall studs are not where they appear to be from the placement of siding nails. After much thought and prayers, he decided to attach the balcony to wooden cleats which each span two or three studs. Here he is painting the cleats he has already made.

Our neighbor Dan is helping Don mount a balcony bracket to some of the cleats.

Hauling in more firewood

Splitting a too big piece, using a double-bitted axe and wooden club. Don's hands never come near the sharp edge.

Don's boss gave him three pickup loads of logs no longer needed by the motion picture studio. With no sawmill or chainsaw, Don has to use his Sawzall to cut stove-length pieces. Takes about four times as long as a chainsaw, but still is lots less work than a handsaw.

The fire marshal says our wood pile is too close to the house. We are moving it by the simple expedient of hauling it into the house to burn, one wood-carrier at a time. Meanwhile, Don has started building a new woodpile in a better location.