Smokeless Fire Pit

Since we had to rebuild the fire pit anyway, we decided to make it smokeless this time around.  I've done a ton of research and settled on a design using a 36" fire ring I found on Amazon.  I had to drill a ton of holes around the top and 8 around the bottom of the ring, but a good quality stepper bit made pretty quick work of it.  I'll get the ring installed in the pit later this week so we can have a fire on Labor Day weekend.
 

Dock Anchors

We have decided to start leaving the dock in the water for the winter.  In order to do that, we needed to start using concrete anchors.  They may get pulled around by the ice, but they are much easier to put back after the thaw.  So we pored a set of 225lb blocks and a set of 150lb blocks.  The 150s were already in the water when this picture was taken.  There will be 2 blocks on each corner of the dock.
 

Landscape Edging & Rock

We finally got the edging run along the grass under the deck today.  We finished both the side facing the lake and under the stairs.  We also hauled a yard of 3/4" rock using 5 gallon buckets down from the driveway and filled in behind the edging.  Once the bottom of the house is skirted in, we will probably bring down another yard and completely fill in under the deck.
 

Granite

The new granite counter tops were installed yesterday!  They managed to get everything cut out of a single slab and there are no seams.  This time around we even had enough granite to make a full size bar above the sink.  The sink base needs a little massaging in order to make the sink slide in under the cabinet, but that should not be too big of a deal.  Next up is paint!
 

Drywall Texture

The drywall texture started today!  He got everything done except for the primary walls in the second bedroom.  The closet in there is done, so is the ceiling.  He even got the loft done.  So with any luck it should be complete on Monday and ready for paint on Tuesday.  It's hard to see in the picture, but it is a skip trowel type texture.
 

T&G and Mud & Tape

There has not been much progress inside for the last couple weeks.  The tongue and groove for the ceiling was white washed and the base cabinets in the kitchen were set, but not much else.  This week we have started seeing more progress though.  The tongue and grove is hung on the ceiling and the mud and tape is done on the walls.  It is finally starting to look like a house again.  Texture should start going on the walls tomorrow!

Boat Lift

I have been keeping an eye out for a boat lift for a long time and I finally found one that I could not pass up.  This is a hydraulic 4000lb lift that we picked up in Seeley Lake, MT for $1100!  It needs a little cleaning and minor repairs, but nothing too serious.  Because we are so close to the end of the season, we're not going to get it in the water this year.  That will give me plenty of time to get it whipped back into shape.