real snow

This is what the barn looked like last night as I pulled away after tucking the horses into to bed for the night. We were in for a snowy evening and I am so blessed to know that my animals have such a great home to live in!!!

Winter "officially" begins tomorrow (did you know that it is also the shortest day of the year... after that, the daylight begin to increase!!!) But, seeing the snow that greeted us this morning... I think it came just a day early.... although, big storm predicted for tomorrow too...

welcome winter... might as well give it up and get used to the idea that you are here to visit!!!!

up on the housetop.....

"reindeer paws.. out jumps good ol' Santa Claus..." Well, dear Santa better not be planning on stopping on our roof top... because "we ain't got one!!!" However, the rafters arrived last week, and the guys, got them to the top of the house, and have begun to assemble them!!!

One thing I have always known about building, is be flexible, and "everything" is a guess... so, the idea that we would have a "weather tight building" by Christmas was the "guess"... and due to weather (mostly) we now are working on the the "flexible" part, and maybe will have a roof by the New Year. "weather tight" will follow.

I really don't know how the guys do it some days. The wind can really whistle across that field, and then to be two stories up....well, it's more than I care to do!!! The "nice thing" is, when the generator is running (no electricity yet!!!)... the barn is up and running, and the tack room is heated. At lunchtime, the guys come to the tack room to warm up and have a little break from the weather. It's the best that I can offer at the moment!!!









It won't be Santa that gets credit for being the first "up on the housetop"...

it's Eric!!!!

NOT in time for Santa.....

Since we don't have a rooftop for Santa to land the sleigh on... I guess it's ok that we don't have the chimney done either!!! But the masons are keeping up with the builders, and it looks like they will both be to the top about the same time. The cocoon that was built in the cellar has now grown to the first floor. While Ken, Buzz and Eric work out in the weather, the masons work in t-shirts inside!!! But, keeping materials warm to build the chimney is a must!!!




An interesting way to "bake the bricks"!!! and it's a great way to keep the space toasty warm....

Up she goes, and getting very close to where the mantel will be installed. Ed and I chose a piece of "blue stone" for the mantel... I should have pictures next week to show it in place.
Not too long after I got this shot, the masons had to wrap it up for the day... our generator decided to be very naughty and quit running!!!! what a pain!!! because without it's power, nothing electrical can work. I am so very glad it didn't decide to do this during the power outage, but we will have to figure out what is going on with it.... and I think next week, we will begin to bug CMP again... we just need that last little hook up and all of this will be so much easier!!!!









Now, the chimney is being built with a woodstove in mind. I would have loved to have a fireplace, but sadly... they're aren't practical anymore. Because I had to "give up the fireplace" idea, I was very fussy about the type of woodstove we got. I wanted one that had a nice open front to show "lots of fire"... I also saw one at a client's house that was made of soapstone. The wonderful warm heat that little stove gave off was amazing, so when we went stove shopping I was drawn to the soapstone stoves.

After looking them over very carefully.. we picked this one out. It's a bit hard to tell in the photo, but it's actually a grey-blue color... and look at that door... I will certainly be able to see "plenty of fire"... We bought the stove a few weeks ago, but I didn't have my camera with me.. so, when we went to the woodstove shop on Thursday to have some questions answered for the mason... I brought my camera and took these photos of the floor model... now.. Chris.. you know what our stove looks like!!!!