Autumn - Saturday, September 14, 2013

This is the extraordinary view from my bluff looking east towards Canada over Lake Huron. (Clicking on the photos enlarges them.)

The garage door is scheduled to arrive next week (above).

The bedroom, kitchen, and rear porch are near the far end of the house (below). The roof is now finished. The blue wrap is a water repellant layer.

The geothermal pipes enter basement of the house just to the right of the porch and under the kitchen windows. The pipes themselves run about four feet underground from the house all the way to the rear of the pole barn and then back to the house, a distance of over 100 yards to the pole barn. I stood over the pipes to take the above photo.

The vertical window on the left below is in the bedroom. The doorwall and horizontal window open from the kitchen onto the rear porch.

The three photos above show the front of the house which faces east overlooking Lake Huron. The three narrow vertical windows on the extreme left above are in the garage, the gathering room is in the middle, and closest to the camera is the bedroom. The doorwalls and the narrow windows in the gathering room and the bedroom can be opened for cross ventilation.

Last weekend the geothermal pipes were laid and stretch all the way from the house to the pole barn and back. Turning over the soil left a clayey mess that sticks to shoes! Time will fix that - hopefully.

Clair has ordered the porch and chimney stones which should arrive next week. Prepping to protect the metal roof for the outdoor work on the chimney will take at least a day. Brian will be able to inspect the stones as soon as next Wednesday in order to choose the paint color for the siding.

Ron got the septic field for the pole barn fixed and it passed Steve's rigorous inspection. The soil was replaced but left 'rough'. It will settle I was told. Rototilling the soil was not part of the estimate.

Ron and John will deliver clay next week so that the yard around the house can be graded. Perhaps the topsoil will be replaced and the 'lawn' seeded soon after grading.

The siding is here and will arrive next week as well. The soffit wood has arrived and will be stained to show the magnificent xylem patterns in the wood. I'm thinking it will also have to be protected from the elements before or after it is installed. Even the space between the 'grooves' has been carefully chosen to be esthetically pleasing.

Ron went down in the ravine with me and gave me some more ideas on how to help 'heal' the ravine. I may be obsessing about that too much. Ya think?

Last week my southern neighbor arranged to spray (with a chemical approved by the EPA) the phragmites. A second spraying will be scheduled in case the first spraying missed any grass. Finally a controlled burn will further help elilminate any plants.
 
All the workers have been extremely helpful and patient with me telling me what has happened, what is currently happening, and what is about to happen. And they explain "why". This trip we started over a year ago has been amazing. I have a deep appreciation for the skills that have gone into the planning and building of this house so far.