Scott went to the River on Sunday. He mowed the lawn and did more work on the roof. We've decided to strip the entire roof and remove the skylights. I just want to see what is under the shingles and I'm afraid the skylights will leak.

The next day, Scott, Thomas, and I went back. Thomas read while I filled about a third of the dumpster. Then he helped me for a couple hours and we got most of the trash pile in there minus some super heavy beams and window. Then Scott stripped the rest of the roof and down came all the shingles, so it will take one more day to completely eliminate the pile and fill the dumpster. I didn't get a before picture of the pile.

Scott and Thomas went out to the river yesterday to roof the porch. Unfortunately, they ran into a problem they had to deal with. 

Scott had to remove some of the old roofing so he could tie the porch roof into it, but he discovered no flashing had been installed and the roof had rotted. He tore off a lot of the roof to uncover what he needed to repair. He tacked down what ice guard he had to protect from the rain until he could get back.

Scott saw this bright blue bug. It was living in a hole in the fascia that was probably made by a carpenter bee.

Today, they went back and Scott repaired the decking and added ice guard.

Last Sunday, Scott and I went out to the river to work for a bit. He put in the new loft windows, and I burned the brush pile he'd made the last time he was out. 

When he was done with the windows, he helped cut up the brush. Then he mowed our lawn and the neighbor's, while I picked up tree branches and sticks and added them to the fire.

The windows look fantastic.

The brush pile was much bigger in person than it looks in the photos. It took a little over three hours to break it down and burn it.

I started off slowly. I was breaking the branches into fire-pit-size pieces. About 20 minutes in, the tediousness began to get to me, and the size of the things going on the fire started increasing. Pretty soon it was huge pieces, and when Scott came over, we were continuously feeding the fire no matter how tall it got. Now that's a fire. In the end, I swear it was hot enough to melt iron.

Unfortunately, I got a little too close to the fire. I wish I could say I learned my lesson, but people, this happened more than once. PS All of the standing-up hair in the photo broke off. I have nubs now.

A couple days ago Scott went to the river to clean up and get some tools. While there, he got some new ideas about additional windows. He looked at the "cheeks" of the dormer and thought he could squeeze a window in each one. When he measured, it turned out he could fit a 2' x 2' window.

Yesterday, he went back to the house and prepped the window openings, and while he was there, he took down some scrubby trees and trimmed a bunch of branches around the power lines.

The resulting brush pile.

Scott had to go out to Vermillion for work, and on the way, he stopped at the river house and built a step on the porch.

Scott worked at the river continuing the siding until the snow started coming down. He got the bottom part done.

Took a picture in April.

Two days ago, Scott went to the river. The day began cold, warmed up and rained, turned cold again, and snowed with accumulation! But he stayed all day and finished the roof sheathing. He put down ice guard and prepped it for the metal roofing.

The next day it snowed 3 inches in the morning, so he stayed home and did other things. Today, he went out and started the siding on the front of the house. PS no new snow but super cold.

Another cold day. Scott nearly finished the framing for the roof. He's ready to start the sheathing.

A very cold day. Scott made progress on the porch roof and still had energy to enjoy the sunset.

Another cold day. Scott spent it finishing the floor of the porch (ripping and setting that one last floor board and doing the facing boards) and taking apart the front of the house where the roof of the porch will attach.