Picture of where the house is going to be, before any logging began.

Picture of the Jetta in driveway #1.

Picture of driveway #1 (it became #1 when #2, the final driveway, was cut.)

6.29.2004 - Logging underway

6.30.2004

7.1.2004

7.2.2004

7.4.2004 - Stump burning party

The excavator clearing and stacking logs

Monster brush pile (it ended up a lot bigger yet)

The future house site

Excavation in progress

Looking out the new driveway

The foundation

The concrete pumping truck

The beginnings of the shed

Foundation rebar

Doweling the stupid rebar.  :)

The result of a stupid keyway idea.

The blowout

Doweling complete

$3000 worth of styrofoam.

4 walls on the shed

6 courses done, 2 to go.

Log truck stacking and taking away my logs.

Where everything goes in or out of the house. (Water, sewer, LP, electricity, and future outdoor wood stove)

Walls done, braces going on.

These ladder braces worked fantastically.  Needed more wall braces, though...

Got mud?

Waterproofing installed and sill plate placed.

Radiant tubing installed.  This is the basement bathroom, and part of the utility room and hot tub room.

Here's where all of the tubing goes in and out of the slab.  The big black round thing is the sewage basin.  All of the plumbing for the basement goes into that, then it gets pumped up to the main sewer line, which you can see going through the wall (the 4" black ABS pipe near the window.)

Kristin and the finished sub-floor, sans sheathing.

Doubled-up joists for the stairway.

Screwing and gluing, baby!

After two days of grueling work by Kristin and I, the sub-floor sheathing is screwed and glued.

Ernie (our neighbor) and I putting up the walls.

The first floor walls about 99% done.

First floor framing done, second sub-floor framing done, ready for sub-floor sheathing.

Kristin sitting at the top of the stairs.

Chilling on our new mattresses for the shed bunkbeds.

A spider, RIP, that I found on the back of the house.  Those markings are 2" apart, so you can see he's almost an inch across!

Second sub-floor done, front and back sheathing done, ready for the roof framing.  This picture reminds me of the Alamo...

The picture doesn't really do justice to this funky fluorescent fungus (or something) that was growing around the burn pile whenever it rained.

A close-up of one of the east wall gable windows.  The bottom angle will match the slope of the garage roof.

Plywood gussets for the trusses.  They took me about three days to cut up.

Gable end walls up (Thanks Jan!)  Hell Randy, looks like a barn!

The upper part of the trusses, cut up and ready to be put together.

The lower parts.  BTW, all of these weighed about 2650 pounds, and I lifted each one up at least 4 times.

The jig I used for cutting the I-joist pieces for the trusses.

Putting together the trusses.  <sarcasm> Oh, so much fun! </sarcasm>

Brook and I putting up the trusses.  We did about half of it in rain.

10/19/04 - Snow in the mountains above Sandpoint.

Same day, snow on the runs at Schweitzer.

All the trusses up, main part of the dormers framed.

Truss knuckles

Part of the roof tarped off so I could work in the rain.

The first test of the trusses.  :)  1500 pounds of sheathing boomed up to the roof.

Close-up of the dormer framing.  Damn things....

My temporary helper #2, Brook.  Thanks, Brook!

Mountain climbing?  Nope, house climbing.

Roof and dormer sheathing 'jus bout dun'

The master working in the dark to get the darn overhangs
done so we can get the roof on before the snow flies.

Main parts of the roof got steel panels just two days before the first real snow at the house.

Jack Goodwin, the roofer

Close-up of the all metal pieces involved with doing a dormer

Pitt's well-drilling rig drilling a well

Looking out the west bay window

Dried in and ready for winter!

Picture of the train bridge from the top of the mountain East of the house.

Looking down the river from the top of the mountain East of the house.

Kieran Kuchenbecker and I, March 2006

Deer in the front yard.

Me putting the finishing touches on the garage roof.  Oh what fun. </sarcasm>

Siding partially finished, May 2006

Most of the siding and trim finished, September 2006

Finishing the garage siding and trim, October 2006

Final grade and backfill, November 2006

Cool snow hanging off the shed.

Snow above the back doorknob, March 2007

The snowiest winter I've seen yet.

Halfway through the winter, I got the tractor going again.  That's the last Briggs engine I'll buy...

Snow up to the windows in Audi.

The truck buried.

Alexis smelling the flowers on the (fairly) new deck, May 2007

Front dormer trim is now done, getting really close to finishing the outside, June 2007.

Wild turkeys in the lawn, December 2007.

The snow has started...

And it got deeper...

And deeper...

And deeper...

Where'd the bus go!?

Tiling upstairs bathroom

Building kitchen cabinets

Tiling the kitchen countertops

Cherry fireplace surround with granite top, built by Brian

Small forest fire started from lightning at the edge of our property, Summer 2008

Front door trim finished

Dining room bay window finished

Alexis' room dormer finished

Another view

Master bath vanity built by Brian

Master tub tile work done by Brian

Garage rafters

Main floor bath vanity built by Brian

Kitchen (countertop granite tile, backsplash tile and cabinets built by Brian)

Peninsula in kitchen

Packing the truck

The shed

West side siding finished

The house, finished.

Our last day, after it abruptly stopped raining.

8/12/08 - Goodbye house.  Love ya!