Bluffs across the Gorge

Here's some pics from this past week, colors are changing quick.

1st Signs of Color

Yeehaw, the plumber is just about done. The electrician is working hard and should be done in  a week. The ext. siding is going on, and looks great. Things are really coming together, and with good luck we should be inside within a month. I had my neighbor Tim take out some trees and do some clearing around the house, and it looks so good. He also prepared the hot tub deck area so I can get busy and buy me a tub. I need a soak, and the electrician said he could hook me up before final. I also got a call from Scott Phillips in Parthenon, my big cedar logs are starting to come out of the logging woods and will be on the yard soon. The last week has been spent procuring interior finish material. We are spending too much money, but the opportunity to build a special and uniuqe home is right there in front of us. Hopefully the budget wont get too out of control, but becouse of keeping our costs so low on other parts of the house, we are able to spend more on the interior finish items. Hope everyone enjoys this beautiful day. SYOTMS we hope

Finding Local Lumber Mills

Yesterday was a good day, I needed to find a local mill that would cut my huge cherry logs and then kiln dry and plane them. Lucky for me, I found exactly what I need 10 miles from the house. Buffulo River Hardwoods will kiln dry, plane, and straight line boards up to 24" wide and also sells hardwoods. I also found where to take my logs to be ripped into boards down in Ponca. It is really cool to use local wood, and with some work, you can have a really custom and unique home. Another cool thing is using Dad's 54 yr. old cherry and walnut wood he has been hoarding. Well the place is starting to really come together, and I wont have Scott's services very much longer. Hopefully, he will finish most of the siding before he's gone. I have hired a sheetrock sub, so the last piece of the puzzle is done, now it's time to push, push, push. The weather has been unbelievable, a wonderful fall so far and the leaves are showing signs of turning soon. These great fall days started at the 1st of september, and it has been nice and cool since then. Well, I lost the outhouse race after suffering 2 pulled muscles in my glutius minimis. But it was alot of fun, and Matt got to drive the outhouse in the race. It's been kind of lonely up here lately, it will be nice when folks start showing up at the cabin to enjoy the fall. Til then, take care and, SYOTMS   Roger

I had to make a decision on a couple of big trees that were too close to the house and had bad leans, I hate cutting big trees, but for future safety I did it. This does two things, it opens up the veiw alot and looks great. And , it takes away a little of the treehouse feel. They were also in the hot tub area so taking them out lets me build the decks there. The siding is going on quickly, and looks great. The hvac is done, the electrician is on the job, and the plumber continues to confound me. We are going on 7 weeks on the job and he is not finished. Litigation is not out of the question, but he will not stop the progress of the job. I went to the cabin yesterday and brought some of the wood that my Dad gave me back over. This wood is cherry and walnut that Dad has hauled with him for over 54 years!!!!!!!! Can you beleive it! It is beautiful stuff, I planed down a couple of pieces and wow. It will be so cool to be a part of our new home and it also puts more  salvalged material into the house. I'm going green baby! This past week some color in the forest has started appearing, we might have a better fall than everyone seems to think. It so often is the case, that the sky is not falling, there are 100 yr. floods not perfectly 100 yrs. apart, summers and falls are dry, and we might have a hard winter 2 yrs in a row. This has been the norm for most of my life in the Ozarks and Arkansas, yet now many say this is abnormal. I just dont understand, I guess some people are not happy unless everything is perfect. This next week hold alot of accomplishments, goals are;do more siding, buy rock for exterior, work on exterior door frames, build front deck and shed roof, and get the plumber to finish. I also need to line up a sheetrock sub becouse the interior work is coming up. Everyone enjoy this wonderful fall weather we are having, dont worry, it will rain again. But if it does before the trees turn, it will mute the color. Oh yea, I defend my outhouse races championship today on the square in Harrison, look out Boy Scouts, I take no prisoners. My high performance racing outhouse if

The Need for Guitar Pickin and Kayakin

The weather is wonderful, it is so nice being outside on these beautiful fall days. It is also wonderful to enjoy a fire in the evening on the deck, definately habit forming. The only thing missing for me is the guitar. I tend to really focus obsesively on projects, and this is a big project. There are alot of tunes swimmin in my head, but I just am not commiting the time to develope them. It is also difficult carrying my guitar down to the site, which is where I want to be. But soon enough we will have heat and air and I can leave my guitar down at the house. I do know one thing, the back deck will be one incredible place to play music, and an inspiration to creativity. There are only two things I miss about Little Rock, going out to eat at great restraunts, and getting to play music for folks at differant venues. When I am done with the house, my goal will be to finnaly produce the CD I have needed to do for a long time. I also want to turn this blog into more of a' life and music on the mountain story' and do alot of videos. Another thing I am going to do is PADDLE, I really miss kayaking and want to get in as much as possible before I get too old (70). But, I'm dreaming, and there is still another 4-6 months of hard work before I can start livin large. Anyway, were moving along on the siding and it's time I get busy on the rockwork. It just occured to me the other day that you cant do rockwork in the cold, so I need to get as much done now as I can. This could keep me from finishing in February, not good. I thought I had a man to install the rock, but I received a very bad report of his work so it's not worth risking problems. This means that I may have to do it myself, but first I need to make a selection( I mean Robyn needs to make a selection) and get the rock. Oh well, everything will be cool, and it will all work out. SYOTMS  Roger

Timeline Comes Together

The past 2 weeks have been tough, troubles at the store have demanded that I give my full attention there. Of course that means the house has suffered, but Scott has done a good job keeping things going. Let's see, I got the arched window above the front entry installed, and that's about it for me for the past ten days. But, I have accomplished other things; fireplace chase caps ordered and p/up, plate glass ordered, 1st fire in outdoor fireplace enjoyed, and taken the planer in to be fixed. Scott has been working on doing all the little things to get ready for foam insulation, completing the many things left undone along the way, and has started the siding. Mike the HVAC man has done a great job, working with me to make sure that I get what we want, he has accomadated my every request. Brian the plumber is doing a good job, but is slow as christmas and is driving me crazy. I hate to get mean, but I can and I will. Five weeks is too long for a rough-in plumbing. Next up is the electrician, I think he's going to be good, I've heard alot of good things about him. Septic will begin in the next 2 weeks, after that the mechanics are done until fixtures are installed. Hopefully, I will be able to return to my construction job this week and get things done. The next projects for me are; 1. Exterior door frames built and installed. 2. complete all plate glass frames and install 3. complete the deck railing. 4. build front porch and front deck. 5. build front shed roof. 6. continue siding 7. get some rock work going to beat the cold. This should all take about a month of good work. That would take me to the end of October and  the house would be completely done on the exterior with the exception of the porch and deck ceilings. That would leave me about 3 1/2 months to complete the project within the year timeframe, a do-able goal. The deadline can be extended, but it costs money and more rent to us in our current home. One thing that has the potential to cause me delays is rockwork, which I should have payed more attention to becouse of cold temperature issues. We will be working on the interior before I know it, and I cant wait. SYOTMS      Roger

Begining The Siding