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Entries made in June, 2013

June 2013, in Photos

Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Green Mountain National Forest: Grout Pond

Saturday, June 29th, 2013

We're dog-sitting at Jeremy and Hercilia's place this week. It's barely 7AM and their twelve year old german shorthaired pointer, Roscoe, is whimpering from the living room, begging for us to wake up and pay attention to him. Little does he know,...

Our Cottage Foundation, Wing Insulation & Backfilling: Part Seven

Thursday, June 27th, 2013

Yesterday, we removed the form bracing and laid the wing insulation for our cottage's frost-protected foundation. Today, Rick brought his excavator up to the site and helped us back-fill over it. It was an easy job—the whole process took all of t...

Our Cottage Foundation, Finishing the Slab: Part Six

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

After about an hour of chatting, Pete encourages us to put our hurricane straps in before the concrete is too dry. I'm surprised—I assumed it would take ages to reach that stage! Together, Tyler and I climb up the ridge to the house site, and sur...

Our Cottage Foundation, Part Five: Pouring Concrete

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

At long last, the day has arrived—we're pouring the foundation for our cottage! Things kick off bright and early with Rick pulling in at 7AM. He's here to check on us before the cement truck, pump truck, and masons arrive. Right off, he spots th...

Our Cottage Foundation, Part Four: Radiant Heating Installation

Monday, June 24th, 2013

The final major detail in preparing our cottage foundation for concrete is to lay PEX tubing for a radiant heating system. We don't have immediate plans to use it, but at a cost of about $100, it seems foolish to leave such an efficient heating op...

Katherine & Michael Visit

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

In 2010, while we were in Tunisia riding our moped Habib across salt flats and Star Wars sets, we recieved an email from an Australian couple who were following our journal. In the message, Katherine and Michael introduced themselves, and told us ...

Ian & Lizza's Wedding

Sunday, June 16th, 2013

Runnin' from the cold up in New England, I was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band... "Wagon Wheel," by Old Crow Medicine Show Four days ago, as Tyler and I drove out of our muddy, squelching driveway to embark on a 14-hour trek ...

Our Cottage Foundation, Part Three: Adding Reinforcements

Saturday, June 15th, 2013

In order to support point loads from our timber frame posts, the outside edge of our cottage's concrete foundation will be roughly 12" deep, while the central portion will slope up to 6". To create this shape, we filled most of the form with 3/4" ...

Our Cottage Foundation, Part Two: Moisture Barriers

Friday, June 14th, 2013

With our concrete form built, and its interior foam over 6mil plastic installed, we applied two additional moisture barriers. First up, we filled any gaps between our 4'x8' sheets of EPS insulation with minimally expanding foam. The kkkhschhhhh o...

Our Cottage Foundation, Part One: Concrete Forms & Insulation

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

Last month, after we cleared the building site for our cottage, we started work on our foundations. With some instruction from Rick, we built our first-ever concrete form: a wooden frame to contain the frost-protected slab for our house. After me...

Gloom

Wednesday, June 12th, 2013

This morning, like every other morning in recent memory, I awake to the sound of rain splattering on our camper and the chhhhhhhhh of wet leaves on branches that sway in the wind. Outside our 16-by-8 foot travel trailer, the world is wet and lush, ...

Unloading Slate

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013

Now that the Bonettis have headed home, it's time to unload the slate from the back of our heavily-laden truck. It's a laborious process—Tyler sits in the bed of the truck, taking each tile and tapping it lightly with a hammer. We've read that a r...

Our Land, Past & Present: Meeting the Bonettis

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013

We just wanted to say hello. We are the ones that you bought the property from. We have been following your web site to see what you are doing with it. We noticed that you are working on the land now. We hope that you are enjoying the propert...

Weekend Road Trip, Part Three: Visiting Sue & Mark

Saturday, June 1st, 2013

We're about an hour and a half into our road-trip home, headed south on Route 22A in the gorgeous green hills of the Champlain Valley. We're just a few miles from where we disembarked the Fort Ticonderoga ferry two years ago, entering Vermont for ...

Weekend Road Trip, Part Two: Sightseeing with Beth

Saturday, June 1st, 2013

Before Tyler and I hit the road with our slate, Jim tells us that we really must see the nearby Island Line Trail, saying it would be a shame to be this far north and miss the railbed-turned-bikepath that crosses the lake. He also advises us not t...

Weekend Road Trip, Part One: Buying Slate

Saturday, June 1st, 2013

Last night, we stayed up into the wee hours, re-living some of our travels and travails in Vietnam. It's not often that we read our own journal entries—we're usually focused on the present, busily writing new stories. But, I'm having my second an...

Switching to Slate

Saturday, June 1st, 2013

Over the past few months, we have come to the realization that a thatched roof for our cottage just isn't in the cards. We're both in love with the idea, but making it a reality would be a massive undertaking, and right now, neither of us can must...