April fools

Here are some photos showing what's new.  There were a few tasks to complete before closing in the downstairs with drywall. 

This shows a place where air is let in to the house to make up for air needed in the wood stove and propane appliances.  The cold air gets sent down the white PVC pipe into a food storage area under part of the floor for free refrigeration.  It'll be interesting to see how that works.

Another convenience is the antenna which you may be able to see on the roof to the right of the chimney.  It looks enough like a flag that it ought to be decorated.  It allows us to get a cellphone signal, but only when the generator is on.  Sometime soon we'll set up a more permanent electrical system, probably a mix of solar and hydro power.


So on to the drywall!  It is a great relief to put drywall up, not just because it makes the walls look like walls, but also because it puts to bed all the goings on within the wall.  I may get a notion to add a switched outlet or something else like that a few months from now, but that'll be just too bad for me.

Why not begin with the most difficult part, the curved wall?

 Getting drywall to bend is goofy work.  Sometimes it goes a lot easier than other times.  I'm learning to bend it very slowly.  These screw clamps worked well.  You can give them a twist every time you walk by and by the end of the day maybe you'll have gotten somewhere.

These openings will look like inset shelves from the main room, but they'll have a hinge on the back so you can peek out from the bedroom.

We've been taking occasional hikes up to the lookouts nearby to measure the progress of Springtime.  The warm March threw off some of the birds, and hornswoggled the maple syrup people.  But other than that things are pretty much on schedule.  Spring is always full of tricks anyway.