Winter Reprieve

We've had some luck with the weather- as far as laying down stone is concerned. No rain with highs in the 60s to 70s. Of course, the burn ban is continuing because everything is so dry. Wednesday night I had a scare after seeing a plume of "smoke" coming from house site as I was driving up in the early evening. It turned out to be dust from all the rock sawing. I had a little flash of the life of the house as I drove up and was already rebuilding in my mind. Whew!

Johnny's team completed the exterior stonework on the walls and the chimney and have the interior chimney built to six feet in the living area and to the ceiling in the bedroom. I am hoping this means they are in a fast groove. They built for me three insets with ledges on one of the bedroom rock walls where I can put candles. Nice!

Mike's guys have completed staining the wood on the ceilings and most of the windows, and they were out there again on Sunday putting on the satin finish. The final product is really beautiful. Because the fumes were so strong we decided against lighting the first fire in the hearth- something Johnny had given me the go ahead for. Decided I shouldn't blow up the house with the first fire...

I am very happy that David started with us on Wednesday. He finished up the door framing on the main back wall and then moved onto to wrapping the beams over the dining and piano areas. Lalo and his team were right behind him with red mahogany stain. I like the way the dark beams show up against the Ipswich Pine finish on the ceiling.

Tracy, Ashley and I spent a few hours out there yesterday. We had a picnic on the deck, and later we went on an adventure walk down under, following the dry creek beds. We found a few nice fossils and the usual array of driftwood.

Looks like we might make our April 15 deadline, Good Lord willing.