My alarm clock did not go off this morning—for the second day in a row—so I was a little late getting to the property. It was a beautiful, clear day, but very cold, hitting as low as 36° on the drive up. At the site, my car thermometer read 37°, but by mid-afternoon it was up to 67°—a 30 degree swing.

Here is a photo I took from down below. The OSB (oriented strand board) really shines in the daylight and once we get the Tyvek on, it will really glow. I will be relieved to get the house plastered and a little more invisible.

I went into the barn and there were my corbels—lined up like little soldiers, or Easter Island gods, or chess pieces, or—the list of similes goes on. Anyway, they looked terrific.

The painters had done some more sanding on them with their amazing sanders and then finished them with the same clear, matte finish that we are using on all the interior pine.

I love the way this finish is just invisible—as if the wood is still raw. You can see the difference in color with the more conventional finish on the exterior of the front door. We had to use an exterior finish on that side of the door because it will be on the outside (duh) but the inside is done like the corbels.

The painter told me today that the matte finish was kind of hard to get. I really appreciate his hunting it down, though, because the wood inside the house will look so much better than it would otherwise.

Here we are in the kitchen and family room. You will notice that the swimming pool that was in the kitchen two weeks ago has all dried up.

Meanwhile, Kai is taking a call from another sub.

The roofers were here today sanding the rafters on the carport. When I took this picture, they had completed this half, but finished the rest of it by the end of the day. They will let it dry for a few more days and then Sunday or Monday put a coat of sealer on it.

I had thought the posts for the carport seemed so massive until they put the beams and rafters up. Now the posts seem rather flimsy to be holding up all that roof.

I was complaining to the painter today about the appearance of the pressure-treated posts, which had to be pressure treated because they are set in concrete. He suggested that we just stain them the same color as the barn. I thought that was a great idea and told him to go ahead.

All the excess lumber has been cleared away to give the roofers access. Kai got all the scraps loaded in the green dump trailer and took them away. The few that are left will be loaded in tomorrow.

Abe came up to do a final walk-through on the cottage and check the progress on the house. As we walked over to the house, I was struck by how very glad I was that we had changed the height of the front wall and how much better I like it than I would have liked the original design.