One Thing Leads To Another

You're looking at the new sliding glass door, downstairs, hooked up the the pulley system Mason built that nearly killed us both as we hauled it upstairs.

The new wall on the north end of the cabin only highlighted how terrible the south wall was, so summons the crowbar!! And while we're at it, out with the old crappy door and in with a cheap-but-good-enough-for-cabin-life sliding glass door that pours natural light into the loft. Can't wait for the reading season, winter, when I snuggle up with a book on the chair or bed up there!

But first, how do two reasonably strong people get a 180-pound, 6-foot-wide door up to a loft in a cabin? Mason to the rescue! He rigged up a pulley system, but Nan's upper body strength didn't live up to expectations. For 45 minutes, Mason lifted the door from the living room -- Russian-weightlifter style -- while I cinched up the pulley rope. I still can't believe we did it, though we felt the success in our muscles for the next few days.

For a couple of days, we had a pretty big hole in our wall, but give us a few more days, and we'll have the "after" photos for you.

Yes, that's a big hole in the side of our house (bedroom).

So, while Mason's been busy tearing down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev, I've been pampering my plants. The veggie garden now sports nine tomato plants, a 10-foot-wide watermelon plant, an eggplant, lots of herbs, some peppers and maybe 15 stalks of corn. Today, Mason dug a water line out the the garden area; he's clearly motivated by the first batch of pickled jalapenos he's enjoyed.

This week we plan to build a gate to the garden, which won't be finished until spring. For now we're using bird netting to keep out the deer and the bunnies. So far, so good.

My cherry tomatoes.

The underside of my Sum and Substance hosta.

What a Difference!

The new wall!

The painted ceiling.

Check another big project off the To-Do List, which is an awfully long list, I might add. This one entailed finishing painting the ceiling (which we started about ... oh, six months ago), and then rebuilding the upper north wall of the cabin. Ever since we moved in more than three years ago, the wall was a major eyesore, with exposed insulation, crappy wallboard and a fine nest of cobwebs.

Today, check out those trimmed windows!! Check out last week's photo and check out the difference in how much more light bounces into the room. Massive improvement, thanks mostly to Mason.

Next up: The upstairs wall on the south side. That will mean a new sliding glass door out to the deck and new siding on the inside. Yup, the fun never ends.

In the meantime, we've also been awfully busy out in the yard, growing vegetables and installing an outdoor shower. More on that tomorrow ...