We give thanks....

The sleeping loft looking S. Windows are on W side of loft in knee wall.

A portion of cathedral ceiling beam will be visible at end of project,

encased in wood of some sort. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

View of Timber Lake from sleeping loft.

Main floor bathroom (under loft) will have a pocket door.
Shower stall will be in SE corner near picture window.

Porch (4-seasons room) with windows not yet cut out.
Dogs and bird will be out here.

South side of cottage with porch added. Not all windows are cut out.
Polly Tribolet in lower left of photo.

Another week of progress on the cottage. We met builder, Mike, at the site today and were pleased that he brought his wife, Polly, along.

The rest of the rafters for the main part of the cottage were up and the porch (4-seasons room) was also framed in and sheeted. Everything was neat and tidy and, as always, we were pleased with the craftsmanship of Mike, Ryan and Adam.

It has been too muddy for Rick Bauer to return to set the septic tank and finish his work. The delay in putting in the septic tank means that the backfill has also not been completed. This will prevent Mike from siding the south side of the cottage due to the uneven terrain.

Our expectations are that the well will be drilled by the end of the week, and Mike anticipates having the house dried in by the end of the week also. This involves putting up the porch rafters and the sheeting for the entire roof. He also hopes to have the windows and exterior doors installed within the next two weeks.

Let's talk about Black Friday. Kathy (thankfully) had to work and Bonnie was working from home (on her vacation) and also researching appliances we still needed to purchase. Sears was having a sale until noon on Kenmore products at 25% off. So off she went to Sears and totally shocked Kathy by purchasing a 40 gal. Kenmore electric Power Miser water heater. Good-bye tankless water heater...for now!

Bonnie also purchased a Kenmore dishwasher that has an extra large capacity. The top shelf can be removed and also raised and lowered.

A Kenmore reverse-osmosis system also got the nod because it could be installed remotely and did not have to go under the kitchen sink.

Bonnie chose a stainless steel Kenmore Elite microwave that is larger than the microwave we currently have and should serve us well. All appliances are Energy-Star Compliant.

The only item that was not purchased was the range hood. Bonnie liked a Broan range hood she found at Menards and will most likely purchase it as well as a Broan bathroom fan for both bathrooms because they have low sones which means they are super quiet. A ceiling fan to hang from the cathedral ceiling also needs to be purchased and we haven't found the right one yet. We will need to do that very soon along with purchasing our lighting and plumbing fixtures.

As a special treat, Bonnie also purchased a Vizio 32" flat screen TV, bringing our flat screen TV total to 3. This new TV will go in the rec room in the basement of the cottage along with Bonnie's home theatre system. We have two older TVs we can now give to Goodwill. One of our favorite TVs is a small Sylvania flat screen with a built in DVD player. It was purchased for the camper and now resides on Blossom Ridge in the front bedroom. It will find a place in the cottage though we aren't certain where since we have a larger Emerson in our living room in Ft. Wayne that may go in the loft. Time will tell.