Front Steps

One of the things I have not liked about the way the cabin is setup is the front steps leading down to the entry.  They lead you to the lake but the front door is actually to the left as you are heading down the steps. To fix it, I decided to add a new side to the bottom step.

I started by drilling into the concrete and driving 3 pieces of 1/2" rebar in as far as I could with some construction adhesive just for good measure.  After setting up the forms and putting some rock in the bottom, it was time to mix and pour.  I'm not the best concrete finisher, but it will do the job.

Lake Side Foundation

The goal for this year to get the load bearing wall removed.  Before we can do that, we need to get some foundation work done.  Today I got the holes dug for the new footers under the piers for the lake side wall.  I had a couple bags of crushed rock, so the first hole has 4" in the bottom already.  Tomorrow I will get the rest of the rock and all the concrete so I can get them pored.

Dock

I logged on to check out the cameras at the lake late this afternoon to find out that the dock was floating again.  So we decided to head up there and get it off the beach and attached to the anchors off shore.  Bring on the warm weather!

Dining Room

Last weekend we took the dry wall down in the living and dining rooms to see what was in the walls.  There was insulation but it had big gaps.  The wiring looked good but it was simply tied into the old wiring.  So this weekend Kelly fixed the insulation and hung the vapor barrier while I ran a new home run for this circuit.  We're going to leave the dry wall off until the trusses are done.

Fence

Its been a couple weeks ago now, but we took down 1 section of the fence and removed a tree from the top of the retaining wall.  The tree was in a terrible spot, it would have ripped the wall apart if we let it continue to grow.  We will take the rest of the fence down but it will likely be a little while.  We are going to concentrate on the inside of the cabin this year.

Snow

I went to the cabin yesterday just to check on a few things and grab some stuff I left up there.  While I was there, I snapped this picture to show just how much snow has fallen.  There is somewhere between 12" and 18" sitting on the top of the dock now.

Dock

Since the weather was so nice over the weekend and the neighbor kids were up at the lake, we decided to go up there so they could all play together.  While they were playing I took the time to move the approach on the dock so it is centered and the deck is flush with the deck on the dock.  Its been bothering me since we put it together over the summer.

Dock

I have been concerned about leaving the doc in the water over the winter for a while now.  I've heard stories about 2 ton concrete blocks being dragged 20 feet down the lake by moving ice sheets from several different neighbors.  My little 16" augers don't stand a chance!  So with the nice weather this weekend, Terry and I went up and dragged the dock up on the beach.

Chimney

After taking down the old chimney, we had to patch the roof and siding.  In the last picture, the siding had been patched but it had not been painted yet.  The roof patch was purely cosmetic, but we had a piece of the siding from the old outhouse that happened to fit.  It's white rather than silver, but at least a portion of the overhang is not missing any longer.

Down Tree

We decided to purchase a set of security cameras to install at the lake so we can keep an eye on things.  When I got there to start installing them, I found that we had a tree fall across the driveway.  It looks like it was rotting away at the base and it finally just gave way.  Luckily it didn't do any damage and it's not very big, so cutting it up will be quick.