The porch continues with 6 inch cedar posts.



A view from the front.



A view from the second set of stairs.




The satellite company placed the dish and wired the house for reception. We moved the TV from the Airstream to the house and now we watch television inside. We're using the only electrical outlet installed for the construction workers.



The furniture is from our camping equipment, one of the Airstream couches and a futon I bought at a yard sale. The two blue Queen Anne chairs are from my old living room set (taken out of the garage). They're about 25 years old and are falling apart, but we keep them for Flint and Echo. It keeps them off the good furniture. The first night we watched TV we sat in the blue chairs. Richard got up to close the door and Echo hopped right into "her" chair.

If you can't run with the big dogs...STAY ON THE PORCH!

Okay - maybe that's not quite right LOL.

This is my new cedar porch. Everyone disagrees with me on choosing cedar. Too soft, will get scuffed, distressed marks, etc. Yeah, I know. I told them I want my porch to acquire the patina of an old style saloon floor.

Gerrie suggested I place spittoons around...LOL. Maybe I will. Filled with petunias, of course.

Its not quite finished yet. There will be six cedar posts across the front. We'll probably install some kind of railing later. Richard will be watersealing it to protect against moisture and sun damage. The can of waterseal claims that it will also slow the gray of aged cedar, too. That's good because I want to retain the lovely honey golden red of the cedar as long as I can.

Richard put the locks and doorknob on the front door yesterday. He put the back lock and doorknob on today. When the contractors were putting the siding on it was raining and the material got wet and muddy. So his next job this morning was to clean the siding on the front of the house.



New door and clean house!




Another view with the dogs trotting around the yard.

My job was less photogenic. I cleaned up yard scrap and then climbed into the garage over boxes and found all the camping equipment for our trip to Ohio. I also straightened up the garage and got some things out - the windchimes and my clay pot fountain. I set the fountain in the yard but its not operational yet. The windchimes are on the hummingbird feeder staff for now.

My next task is to go wash clothes and the sleeping bags.

And today, one of the HVAC representatives is out to give an estimate on air conditioning and heating units.

The contractor finished the porch trim and edging.



A close up shot of the porch ceiling.




The distant shot of the porch trim edging.

In all the houses we've lived in one of the things Richard and I never experienced is an ice dam on our roof. We have, however, seen massive damage in and on our neighbors homes from ice dams. An ice dam is when snow falls, then rain or sleet and then it freezes into ice. Its usually followed by more snow and freezing, building up thick sheets of ice under snow. Both the weight and the melting of the ice can cause damage. Structural and foundation damage happen from the weight. Water damage happens when the melting ice finds cracks, seeps beneath roof shingles into framing and on interior walls and floors. The roofing industry has a simple solution for this problem. A special underlayment membrane that goes completely around the edge of the roof enhancing water-shedding capabilities. Although where we live usually only gets a few inches of snow a year occasionally, like last year, we get enough to form ice dams. So, Richard and I chose to pay a little extra money and have the underlayment membrane installed to prevent future damage. The roofers assured us we wouldn't be sorry!



The shiny black underlayment membrane is visible up the sides of the roof. It was also installed front and back under the felt and shingles already applied. It was so hot that the membrane immediately adhered to the roof.



Almost complete. The ridge vent hasn't been installed yet. The foam pieces on the right roof are there to aid the roofers in keeping balance and not damaging shingles. They walk on the foam as they exert pressure with tools rather than the newly shingled roof.



Another view of the shingled roof.

We ordered the shingles last week in addition to the membrane, felt, ridge vents and ridge cap. We decided to use a ridge vent rather than fans or other means of venting the attic. In all the houses we've lived in we've seen many styles and many were somewhat ineffictive - better than nothing, but ridge vents are a huge improvment.



The shingle truck positioning the conveyor belt.



Shingles ride the conveyor to the roof.



All stacked and ready to apply!