We're Baaaack!

We haven't blogged for a couple of months, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy.

Though October and into November, we had been working furiously to get through our final inspection by Dec. 1. We had a couple who wanted to rent our primary home, and that was their target move-in date. It seemed difficult, but doable.

We worked hard at home packing and moving our things. We worked equally hard at the land to get our final inspection.

Then two things happened. About a month before the target date, the couple told us they couldn't afford to rent our house after all. Secondly, our building inspector broke his wrist and was out of work for about six weeks. It was all for the best. Without a final inspection, we couldn't have moved in by the target date. In a way, it was good news. It took the pressure off.

In the meanwhile, we kept working. In the next seven posts, I'll bring you up to date.

One of the first things was to finish the fireplace downstairs. Gerald settled on a rough slate, cutting tall vertical pieces for the face.

Gerald finished the last bit at the end of the day. He clipped this board in place to support the tile above.

When he was done, he worried that the board was blocking the vents in the metal and we might not be able to have a fire.

So he moved the board up, hoping that by anchoring the board on top of the tiles would keep them in place.

But it didn't. The tiles started to slide down into the fireplace opening. There are no pictures of this. You can imagine why. The air was blue as we tried to push the tiles back into position. Eventually, we pulled them all down, scraped them clean and reset them.

We tried to put every tile back as Gerald had so carefully placed it. I thought it looked just as well, but Gerald could tell the difference. He was a little disappointed.

I thought it looked great.