Last Days of Summer

Looks like one last week of 90 deg. temps, then the highs for friday and saturday are only supposed to be in the upper 70's. Like every year, once september roles around, the weather starts to cool off fast. Todays will probably be our last swim in the river for the season, so I think we will just spend the whole afternoon there. The weather in August has been awesome, cool temps, rain!, and great cool nights just perfect for deck fires and hot tubbing. Another awesome thing about this August is the amount of shooting stars I have seen. Some of these sightings have been spectacular, with long tracks thru the sky trailing long tails of stardust. I wonder why I see so many great shooting stars, but it's not much of a mystery, I spend almost every night outside in one of the least polluted night skies in America. Rock Masons and gutter guys are supposed to be working today, but you never know, it's a holiday and they might figure that out and stay home. I will do a couple hours of work before heading to the river, or so I thought, just got back from checking jobsite and both are working. Makes it hard to get something done myself, just too much in the way. Guess I'll have to go to the river, dang. The end is near, and the next 3 weeks will be a marathon race to get as much done as possible before moving in. It is so cool seeing the details and finishes that were so carefully thought thru, and planned, come into reality.  Everything looks just right, and even though Robyn and I have battled at times, we seem to have struck the perfect balance on every issue. Hope you think so too.

Last Pieces Fall into Place

Bingo, I scored on finding some wide cherry lumber in Atkins, Ark., and my last worry about material is solved. It's more expensive than what I have been paying, but less waste, and I have to have it to finish the house. The cherry paneling in the Awesome room is looking sooo good, I was concerned that I had made a mistake trying to do custom cherry paneling in such a big room, but it's perfect. To tell the truth, Lost Valley Canoe has been a great resource on info about local mills and who to call to find out where to go for sawmills and kilns. Thanks guys! So much is happening so fast that it's hard to keep up on the blog, that and I am working so many more hours. I'm kinda worn out from the push already, but there is still 3 weeks to go.

cabinets are in, rockwork has started on the inside, all power problems are solved, 3 weeks until granite installed, 2 weeks until arrival of glass vanity top, plumber coming to hook up main into house and finish all other plumbing, rock work on exterior complete, carpet will be installed in 1 week, interior doors are 1/2 complete, gutters will be completed on tuesday, fans in awesome room installed, plenty of walnut and cherry to finish all trim details,  and finally, wide cherry lumber to complete the awesome room has been found. The only thing missing is the incredible amount of work involved to put all that material up. It will be close, and there will be incomplete items, but I still believe we can do it. Here are some pics of the latest progress. Later, RJ