Stucco

A spell of fine, fair weather means that we can get the stucco finishing work done around the windows & doors in the exterior dormer spaces. I believe this is the last step before painting the exterior. We'll keep our fingers crossed for clear weather!

Hiatus

Work is at a total standstill on the dome, because....

...it's hunting season! D'oh! I should have anticipated that we wouldn't see anyone this week. Next week should mark a return to actual activity.

Attic & Front Door

Clearly we have hit one of those lulls common in building, when nothing much seems to be happening because everything that actually is happening seems too trivial to photograph. There's still a bunch of little things that have to be done before drywall, but the main thing going in right now is the second-floor ceiling. We'll have some storage space up in the attic, but it will be only partly useable because the dome curve is flattening out pretty sharply by the time you get that high up. Still, a good spot to stash those boxes of seasonal decorations & the like.

The other big development: We have a front door! It is an unfinished wood double door, actually; it will be finished with a medium-oak stain, making it darker than it looks here. I have no idea why Mike looks so grumpy in the picture. Perhaps he is contemplating all the painting/staining/finishing work looming in the near future.

Hot, hot, hot

Seems like everything going in right now is a heating appliance of some variety. First, the water heater is now situated in the corner of the utility room in the basement (although not hooked up yet, obviously.)


Next is the heating/AC unit, which wound up in the workshop, actually (it was too big for the closet in which it was supposed to go... Oh well, I just have to live with some extra storage in the rec room.) The ducting & vents are all in place; you can see some of the vents in the second-floor bedrooms here.


Finally, we took delivery of our new woodstove today from Dillon Heating & Cooling in Odessa. Highest recommendation, BTW! They were very helpful & were happy to keep our stove on their showroom floor for a couple of extra months until we were ready for it. We got a Jøtul F3CB stove, which is not huge (as you can see) but should be perfect for zone heating on the first floor family-room area. Plus I can cook on the stovetop in a pinch. (Pinch is here defined as a power outage.) I think it's an adorable little stove, just the right size for a cozy little fire. Wayne, one of the owners of Dillon H&C, mentioned that the demand for stoves has grown so much that there is a fairly hefty wait for some models these days. Seems more & more people are turning to wood/corn/pellet stoves as a way of offsetting ridiculously high heating-fuel costs. Woo, am I glad we put our order in early.

Autumn Leaves

Here is a pretty shot Mike took of the dome while pulled over on the highway. He was chatting with a couple of guys that are building a house here on the lot facing the highway (it's the lot kitty-corner to the dome lot; it backs up to our second lot) -- he had actually met them a while back & had offered to show them the dome sometime. They took him up on the offer today & took the tour; they were quite pleased to get a chance to see the inside. Apparently we're the talk of several neighboring towns... all the contractors & builders know about the crazy dome that's going in, and everyone wants to get a peek at it. I have a feeling we'll get some random doorbell rings once we're moved in.