4 January 2016

Chree and I schlepped down to the Rutland DMV office first thing, arriving in time to be first in line.  An hour later we both had a (temporary) Vermont enhanced driver’s license (EDL), a (temporary) registration, and plates (GPM 986) for the Forester.  (Note: an EDL can be used, in lieu of a passport, to drive across the border to/from Canada and Mexico, but supposedly can’t be used to board an airplane.  So, with the EDL, you can drive to Montreal… but can’t fly there.  Our government at work!!!!)  After a quick pit stop back at Kate’s place, we drove into town to meet with a National Bank of Middlebury officer about obtaining a construction loan.  Sean met us there (briefly) to sign on the dotted line as the General Contractor.  Returned to Fern Lake (where the wind chill was – 9°F (yes, that’s a minus sign; Chree was sooooo not thrilled).  At precisely 11:58, when the azimuth of the sun was exactly 180° east of north (i.e., due south), I aligned the weather station so that it reads the wind direction accurately in degrees True… as opposed to degrees Perkins, which it had been doing since installation.  Glen Peck arrived right after lunch and spent a couple of hours helping us to design the lighting scheme for the house.  While in the midst of that discussion, Dennis Senesac from Ryans and Andy Tracy, owner of Boot Hill Metal Benders in Monkton (who Ryans uses for duct work installation), arrived unexpectedly (they were on the schedule for tomorrow morning).  So we quickly finished up thinking about electrical matters and then transitioned to thinking about air conditioning and ventilation matters.  In the afternoon mail, we finally got a bill from Spafford’s for installation of the well pump and associated piping, a job that was done in early July last year.