PB&J Twisp

 After four days of company, we have the place to ourselves again. Though guests didn't stay here -- sister and niece stayed at the Idle A-While Motel in a cute cabin and the Orrs camped along the river at River Bend RV Park -- we had lots of get-togethers here. We said goodbye to Soni and Meredith after goodies at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery on Friday, and Orrs headed back today to do a hike at Washington Pass on their way home after grabbing a bite of lunch at another eatery treasure, the grocery and bakery at Mazama. This morning Bill was not present for an interesting game of Exploding Cats which the Orrs were eager to teach me. Though the draw was "it's kind of like Old Maid", in actuality it was NOTHING  like OM. But it was an experience to be part of the game in which all the Orrs had a different version of the rules😏. The week was not a total loss for progress on the house. In addition to the east half of the upper roof being done by our hired crew, we dug out ...

 As it turns out, the plumbing was NOT done.  Bill finished the septic lines but still had the water lines to do.  That he finished today.  And I finished the wainscoting on the shop.  In the meantime, three Goldens arrived for a visit.  Quinn had what he called Long Covid (since he's had Covid twice, and this time he didn't test positive but the symptoms are related to long term after effects of Covid) and was recouping at home while Jenn and the three kids came to spend 2 nights at Sun Mountain Lodge and catch up on our project.  The day they arrived (Saturday) we did a late afternoon float on the Methow. It was quite serene... that was until I got dumped in a wicked 90 degree bend in the river in my lonnnnng sea kayak (absolutely the wrong craft for this river).  The kids and Jenn floated blissfully through it in their tubes. Today we finished up the tasks mentioned, ordered siding to be here in a month, and are looking forward to tomorrow Wedn...

 Bill spent most of the day in the crawl space on his knees finishing the plumbing. I'm sure there will be leg cramps tonight!😕 He called it "a plumbers nightmare" because there was plumbing pipe from one end of the house to the other. Now you know why plumbing is clustered in most homes (e.g. kitchen backs against bathrooms backs against laundry rooms, etc.).  In the meantime, I took the opportunity during a thunder storm to do laundry in Twisp. That done, I returned to continue my task of putting 3-foot metal wainscoting on the outside walls where snow will accumulate. It took me several 24" panels to figure out the best way to put them together to hide the seams. Tomorrow I have eight panels to redo so the seams are not visible.

 While we wait to hear back from several contractors whom we have reached out to to finish roofing the 8/12 pitch, Bill made progress in the crawl space running the sewer lines.  He then came topside to drill the access holes for water and sewer while  I put a third satin clear coat on the front door.  The temperatures yesterday were in the mid 70s with a light shower in the morning, a nice change from the 100+ degrees the last two weeks. Inspector Cricket checking out the plumbing

 With all the exterior doors and windows in place, the house is now secure. This weekend we finished installing the two big living room windows, the bedroom exterior door and the sliding glass door. The two windows were sale items at Home Depot, and we saw why as it took a lot of fiddling around to get them square in the openings. One was clearly faulty, but no returning them, so Mr. Yankee Ingenuity made them work. This morning we installed the pocket doors for the master suite to the bathroom and the closet.  Afterwards, we sat in the living room and contemplated ceiling fans and lighting. Saturday Bill took himself to the ER in Brewster to have his left elbow checked out. It has been swollen and inflamed for over a week.  At first he thought it was a wasp sting (since both of us have had a couple of those), but there was no sign of a puncture.  As it turns out, he has bursitis, aggravated by impaction. He says it's quite sensitive to touch. Doc's instruction is to...

Taking a break from roof work, we've now gotten 6 windows and 2 doors in place.  The last three portals to be dealt with have heavy inserts, those being the two front room windows and the sliding glass door in the dining room. With Mr. Yankee Ingenuity running the show, there, no doubt, will be creative tools on hand to assist the installations. Front door and bedroom windows

 Bill finished putting the flashing and ridge cap on the mechanical/laundry room roof today. Big relief. Straddling the ridge with knee pads and drilling holes to attach the ridge cap: not his favorite activity so far. Afterwards we got to installing six more windows; three to go plus three exterior doors. Hopefully the last of the roof work... Life-saver roof ladder

Up early this morning to finish the house wrap. We had lots of pieces and scraps left over and I was determined to use them instead of getting another $100 roll. While Bill figured out how he was going to fashion flashing for both ends of the little roof that butt into the garage wall and the house wall, I went to the roof peaks and laid the mesh strip that goes under the ridge cap (to prevent critter access from that portal), which meant straddling across the peak and skooching along on me bum, cutting back the vapor barrier and stapling the mesh in place the full length of the roof.  Electricians arrived while I was up there to install the electric panel and pull wire from down below. And we got three windows installed! Mesh installation over ridge. Patchwork house wrap, and it's DONE! Windows!

 We did finish the west side 4/12 pitch metal and house wrap on the lower part of the house before heading back to Anacortes on Friday the 29th to get out of the heat (over 100 deg. expected through the weekend).  While home we had good connections with the Orrs and Goldens.  The Orrs overnighted Saturday night at our place, and then Sunday we all met at Denny Beach on Lake Washington near the Orrs' house. We enjoyed watching all of them play on the paddle boards while we kept the dogs company under the canopy. Back to Twisp on Monday and we brought the Dakota with us. It's been at the mechanics, post engine install, to work out some performance issues that we reported but the mechanics couldn't duplicate. So after a month of them running tests and scratching their heads, we decided to see if the rest (😏) had improved any of the symptoms.  Before Bill got out of town, it died three times when coming to a stop. That was one of the symptoms they were not able to dupli...