Our frantic pace the past few weeks has slowed this week due to a death in the family, the thanksgiving holiday, and the fact that we have run out of materials and drawings. A flu we picked up at the funeral didn't help either.

Here are the recent photos.

Winter arrived in earnest this week. Our efforts to complete the east wall and close in our building are stopped by a missing cover trim for the sliding door track. I've been corresponding with the building supplier since October about it but haven't gotten it resolved. Their panel supplier apparently shipped a 5th outside corner trim instead of the track cover. The extra outside corner was squashed in shipping and we didn't know why it was here anyway, but nobody else did either. Finally we can't work further until we have the track cover. It fits behind the upper wall panels, is installed first, so the wall panels have to wait for a track cover. Finally, on November 29, I have assurance from the supplier that one is being shipped.

Our race with winter was almost won, and only partly lost. We aren't totally enclosed, but we have a large inside space free from snow, and the remaining wall can probably still be completed despite winter weather. Our fine roof keeps us safe and dry. A heating contractor is meeting us on Tuesday to estimate the heating installation.

Meanwhile it snowed on Sunday night. Monday morning arrived with a blanket of white on our land. More winter weather and more snow is expected this week. We have loaded up all our remaining material piles and moved them into the building. We have the plywood once used for forms that will be subfloor on the storage mezzanine. We have the remaining paneling. We have a few 2x4s and short scrap pieces left over from forms, etc. Monday afternoon we did takeoffs and estimates for framing lumber to frame the interior bedroom, bathroom, and other walls and floor. Then we went shopping. The steel building material piles we once had are now gone. There are lots of materials to buy now.

I thought you might appreciate seeing how our land looks with some snow. This photo looks out the kitchen window.

This is the winter view from the living room window.

This is a view from Brad's study window. This poor little tree has endured lots of scrapes and bumps during construction, and frankly been in the way a lot, but it's still here.

Without much by way of materials to work with we, and needing to refocus from outside work to inside work, we visited our storage units and rounded up some of the tools and equipment that has been in storage. The drill press and table saw were among the first items relocated to the new building. Unfortunately we can't find the legs for the table saw yet, so it's a "floor saw" at present.

Here's a general inside view from the NW corner. We dragged Justin's van indoors to replace the fuel pump that has rendered it immobile for several weeks. It's shocking what GM (and even NAPA) get for a fuel pump.

The box containing the table saw motor also had a bunny. He leapt up on the girt in Coney Hall to watch our progress.

Here is another view of the watching bunny. You an also see the frame for our sliding door. We have modified it slightly and welded it together instead of the screws specified.

Most of this week was spent rounding up materials. We made several trips to Home Depot and bought a pile of electrical fixtures, breaker panel, conduit, etc. We met with a heating contractor to get the heat going. We got some quotes on lumber and ordered a truckload. It was supposed to be delivered Thursday morning but, probably because of heavy snow, finally arrived about 5 PM, an hour after dark. While we waited for the load to arrive we used up what we had left from the concrete forms to frame our first inside wall. This 2x4 wall will hold the wallboard finish in the guest bedroom and support the ceiling and floor of the storage mezzanine. On Thursday afternoon the "high" temperature was around 25 degrees. Over Thursday night snow drifted about 25 feet into the building.

Here again is the missing east wall showing the snow we have received. You can also see the load of lumber that was dumped in our driveway Thursday afternoon. The driver didn't want to bring it into the building because it sometimes lands hard when dumped off the truck, and it might crack the concrete. So I didn't argue and let him dump it in front of the building. I don't want a cracked floor either, and he's got more experience delivering lumber than I do. Now we'll have to carry it all in, one piece at a time.

The good news Friday afternoon was that the missing sliding door track cover was picked up in Spokane by the end of the day. Weather permitting, we can continue installing the insulation and siding on the east wall, making progress toward being weather tight, and maybe even some temporary heat in the building by next week.

Saturday, mid-day, our thermometer broke over 20.

Despite the cold, we finally have track cover we fired up the scissor lift and got on with closing off the snow. By end of the day the paneling had extended to the big door opening.