What a beautiful day today! Blue sky and sunny about 60 degrees! Quiet--only a woodpecker in the distance and an occasional birdcall, and the trickling of water finding its way from snow banks to the lake. This was taken from the deck--the ice on the lake is just beginning to melt. The firepit and stairs have made their debut.
Even the deck is almost clear! We actually ate lunch on the deck today--it was warmer than in the house!
Sixteen foot ceiling boards drying after their second coat of polyeurethane. We finished the second coat on about 50 boards--we're about 2/3 done!
Mud time in New York! Dad's footprint! Squishy, gooshy, mud--a pig would love it!
Our neighbor kept us snowblowed throught the winter, so it was the first section to melt. Now we have a muddy path to the garage, but it will also be the first part to dry out.
The house hasn't changed over the winter. The porch and deck wintered very well. The siding did pretty well, except for the deckside where the branch broke 3 panels--ugh! We haven't even finished building and we have repairs to make...
Footprint in the snow along the path to the house.
North side of the house. All the snow that fell off the roof really packed down. I can walk on it without falling through. It is going to take some pretty warm days to melt all of this snow. It's still about 3 feet deep and solid.
Dad carrying in the 16 foot ceiling boards. He padded his shoulder with a towel--it made him look really buff! Ha, ha!
Ceiling boards are 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 feet long. We moved the rest of them into the house so we can finish polying them this week before we leave for Florida.
Yay! All the ceiling boards are now in the house! In fact, all the wood that Kim, Chris, Mel and Brandon loaded into the garage is now in the house! Once the ceiling is up, all that wood will be used! No doubt you are wondering about all the other wood in the picture...yep, it's leftover! Beams and floorboards...oh, and a few are unused--for baseboards. On the left are boxes of extra siding materials.
A branch partly caught in ice. Notice all the bubbles in the ice.
More bubbles...
Thin ice.
Shoreline.
Some green popping through the ground! Hello Springtime!
I decided we needed to have a little fun at the lake instead of just working...although the work is fun to us, too. The day was gorgeous and not too cold, the ice thick and the snow soft--perfect for cross country skiing across the lake, so we took about an hour trip. 
By the time we got back, dusk was beginning to fall. We're almost back home. There's the house nestled in the snow. I like how the house sort of blends in with the trees. It's not a perfect camouflage, especially with the deck, but I like it. Even though it is sided, it fits into the natural setting. It looks pretty welcoming, doesn't it? Too bad we don't have heating yet! That should happen in the spring/summer this year, so we'll be set for next winter! (Well, I've tried to get this to separate into paragraphs to match the pictures, but it isn't working...maybe the next one will work better...I'm still learning!)
