An ominous-looking sky
[Worldtrippers home] [Mountaintop home]
An ominous-looking sky
מאן טראַוך, גאָט לאַוך.
“Man makes plans
and God laughs”
– Yiddish proverb
We were particularly excited about the weekend of September 22. This would be the first time in several months that Russell’s friend Steve was able to join us. (Steve has had a busy year doing music direction for several theater productions at home.) As it was, Steve didn’t get out of rehearsal until 9:00 pm Friday evening, and he didn’t arrive at our mountain home until 11:30 pm.
(We had also planned to have our sons Cameron and Joss join us; in fact each of them had invited a friend. But scheduling conflicts came up at the last minute, so they stayed at home while Gail and Russell came up.)
We had a very full agenda of activities, not only to take advantage of Steve’s help, but to finish a lot of outdoor activities before the weather turned cold. Much of the house exterior needed staining. We still had to put a roof on our latest gazebo. And of course, we had to go up on the roof and take off the roof cap to check for bats.
We awoke on Saturday morning to find the entire mountain and surrounding valley covered with fog. The fog turned into overcast clouds. And the overcast clouds turned to rain.
The views east and west – as they normally look, and as they looked Saturday morning
On the positive side, we had been looking forward to our first chance to be inside the house, watch it rain outside, and not get cold or wet. On the negative side, all of our exterior work plans were out the window.
Instead, Steve and Gail went around re-installing insulation panels around the inside of the vaulted ceiling. They had been falling out over the years, and they would all need to be restored (along with the vapor barrier plastic) before we could extend the walls up to the vaulted ceiling. It worked better as a two-person job, and Gail and Steve teamed well.
Steve had no problem reaching some of the high scary places that Gail prefers to avoid
Meanwhile, Russell installed the last two interior walls of the upper story. These walls both required strange measurements and cuts – one was a narrrow diagonally-angled corner for the hallway; the other ran into the center pole – so it was a one-person job.
The last two walls of the upper story (in the center of the photo)… finished at last!
The last two walls, viewed from the bottom (showing the diagonal angle cut) and from the top (showing the proximity of the center pole and knee brace)
In the afternoon, the rain cleared just long enough for Gail to do a little bit of staining, while Russell and Steve made their journey up on the roof. The break in the weather was short-lived though, as it soon started raining again.
The weather was better on Sunday morning, allowing Gail and Steve to put a layer of tar paper on the gazebo roof. Russell, meanwhile, began installing joists on the southwest side of the upper story.
Steve and Gail tar-paper the gazebo
Gail also helped Russell install joists
Our agenda didn’t work out the way we had planned, but we were still productive and got a lot done. God may not have laughed, but He certainly had a good chuckle. And on the bright side, we got to experience our first rainy weekend with the house weather-tight.
Gail and Steve relax with all of the comforts of home
