8 October 2014

Kevin and Brian got here just after 7.  They installed the east- and south-facing skylights and the rain diverter over the garage people door.  Then they put all the pans on the east side of the house roof by their mid-afternoon quitting time.  Most of the day I spent cutting / splitting / stacking firewood, getting to just about the halfway point of filling the north end.  Jimmy arrived at 1:30 and worked until 6 on the west-side retaining wall.  What he’s done so far looks FABULOUS!  Unfortunately, every time he grabbed the huge rock I wanted to use for the cave, the rock moved him instead of vice versa.  (By rough measurement, that rock weighs about 11½ tons.)  However, a “small” rock (on the surface) that I thought Jimmy might use in the wall turned out to be a 4½ ton monster that he was able to slide uphill into place to form one side of the cave.  Building stone walls is SO MUCH FUN!!!!  Sean came by for a beer for an hour to check on progress, talk about a few minor outstanding issues, and cogitate about continuing the house build next summer / fall / winter.