One side done, but...

The gable ends on the west side of the house are now all shingled. It took a while... 
Now I'm ready to start on the east side. But there's a snag in the shape of this robin sitting on her nest right on top of the beam notch at the peak of the roof line.




Here she is.... as you know if you've been following my blog for a while, I've "evicted" quite a few robins' nests before or after they had eggs in them. But this situation is new. What to do? I need advice folks... shall I barrel ahead and reduce the world's population of robins by one clutch? Or shall I wait until the birds have flown?

BTW for you Brits, this is the American Robin which is much bigger than the European one and a member of the thrush family.

Still shingling...

This shows my slow progress on shingling the upper walls.  Basically it's taken me three days to do the area around the deck door and the window side of the gable end over the living room.
The problem is there are so many angles that almost every piece has to measured and cut before being installed.
Working on a sloping roof adds to the fun!



Tomorrow I start on the other side which might go a bit quicker because there is no window. I hope so because my hips and lower back are saying "hey, you're not a 20 year old anymore you know..."

No complaints though, it's good work and a great place to practice mindfulness...

Gable end #2 shingled

 This is the gable end of the living room. In order to do the shingles we had to install a temporary platform over the "bump out" window. Even then it meant working off ladders on the two ends.
 Having done two, I think I'm ready for the more challenging second floor gable ends. Lots of finicky detail work.  But it's a lot easier for me than for the guys in the old days. I use an air stapler with stainless steel crown staples to attach the shingles. Bang bang and it's done. And for cutting them I have a cordless skilsaw that zips through them like butter. It used to be hammer and nails and a hand saw.

Meanwhile, the drywall finishing is proceeding at a fairly leisurely pace. The wet weather is not helping as the mud takes longer to dry. When it's done I think we will need a bit of a celebration....

Details

 Sometimes the familiar becomes quite special.... this happy pair look like they are sharing secrets about wood chopping adventures. Maybe the axe is coaching the hatchet... Maybe the axe needs a new handle....
 This rusty shackle came from somewhere, I can't remember. But it struck me as quite beautiful sitting there on the weathered plank. Again, it looks like it might have a few stories to tell.
 And here is Gwyneth's freshly painted bottom! I took her to Lund, about 2 hours south of here, on Sunday morning and had her hauled out at Jack's Boatyard. Now she's good to go for another 2 or 3 years. The sail back to Cortes was wonderful with a good wind behind me and the boat all clean... she is still one of my favourite girlfriends!

The sweet smell of cedar shingles...

 What you see is my day's work. I started installing cedar shingles on the kitchen gable end at 8:30am and finished at 4:30pm with a half hour lunch break. Point being... it's slow, painstaking work. Especially in the corners where each shingle must be measured and cut to size. But I enjoyed it! The smell is indeed wonderful and I am so happy to be covering up the white Tyvek! Tomorrow morning I'll finish this section and move on...




Look close at this pic and you'll see my  robin's nest preventer device sitting on top of the "lookout". It's just a scrap of plywood with lots of nails sticking through it. This year we had three robins nesting on these lookouts and we only have four of them. So hopefully this will encourage them to seek other nesting sites!

Starting the Finishing

 Today Mike started the prep work for the "mudding" stage of the drywall finishing. It's a fairly lengthy process involving multiple layers of "mud" with sanding between each application.









It's also a very dusty process so we have masked off the exposed beams to protect them from the sanding dust.

This shot shows the wonderful extra light afforded by the new skylight in the bedroom. 

Back home!

 Got back yesterday to discover great progress... the drywall boarding is almost complete! Mike and Lucas ripped through it last week. Good work guys!

My little trailer stayed warm and dry and it still feels welcoming and comfortable. Not that I won't be happy to give it up when we can move into the house.



 This view is looking into the kitchen from the dining "room" area. The main entrance door is on the left.









Robins and wasps have moved in as if they owned the place. We have three robins nests and six wasps nests. Time for some evictions....