The weather has been generally mild this July. Temperatures have been moderate and so has the rain. We have had very few days in the 80's and only the occasional thunderstorm.               Jane and I have devoted considerable time this summer researching and making decisions for the house. Jane has been painting pine planks with stain samples and setting them out in the sun against the rocks and trees for comparison. She has ordered roofing samples and collected window color chips. I think we have our exterior colors decided. We have been visiting appliance stores and building supplies doing the research for our kitchen and bathrooms.               Meanwhile we have been besieged by construction delays. Summer is the construction season and the economy is looser than it has been in a few years, so unemployment is down and labor is scarce. The excavators have more work than they can handle, and everybody is competing for their attention. Some things cannot be done in the rain, which seems to know just which ones. We are reassured by the fact that our builder also wants a warm dry place to work this winter.               Along with all this busy-ness it is incredibly beautiful. Every morning we wake up mere feet from the lake, which is glassy smooth and frequently blanketed by mist. We enjoy walking and kayaking when the weather cooperates, and I am making progress in my battle with the bulge.               One of the delights of our rustic lifestyle is our outdoor shower. I have tried to capture some of its freedom in this shot taken looking up from within the stall. These pine trees are about 100 feet tall, and seem even taller from directly below.               Some mornings are sunny, although fog, mist, or rainshowers are the norm. On these sunny mornings the cabin glows with warmth. Here Jane is sitting in my "office" reading the morning news.               One of our challenges has been educating the UPS and FedEx drivers. We have had better luck with UPS. Jane made this sign, which sits near the end of our driveway, but we seem to be the only ones who notice it. To be fair, even if a truck stumbles upon our driveway, the driver still has to wander around the construction site down to the lake to find the cabins, which do not look like standard parcel destinations.               It has been our intention that Idle Pine become a gathering place for our extended families. When the house is finished we will have its beds plus the two cabins and the tent. Last weekend we hosted three familes. Laura, Dan, and Maddie stayed in the first cabin, Ferenc and Karen stayed in "ours," Nuna, Dudley, and Antea stayed in the newly completed tent, and Jane and I moved into our van for two days. The weekend was a great success. We had a lobster dinner for all assembled on Saturday afternoon, and communal breakfasts both days.               This week the posts which will support the master bedroom extension and the porch went in, giving an indecation of just how big the completed house will be. The poured foundation is 28' x 50', or 1400 square feet. Adding the bedroom and the porch increases this by about 70%, so the complete footprint is nearly 2400 square feet. About 600 square feet of this is covered porch, so our year-round indoor living area will be about 1800 square feet. There are links to the plans and detailed design discussions on the contents page.

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Here are three series of pictures showing the slow but deliberate progress of construction this month: This shows the placement of beams, floor joists, and subfloor on the foundation. The same series from a slightly different angle. The construction of our new tent platform and the erection of a tent.

(Don't forget the pictures in the right column, near the top)

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