November,
2005
We have had several snow falls and some rain.
Now it is getting cold,
which has the advantage that the mud is now frozen —
at least until
Spring
(aka Mud Season).
The bad news is that we probably will not get
a chance to do the landscaping at the front
(north)
of the house until
it thaws and dries out
(July or August).
Meanwhile,
work inside the house continues apace,
and inspired this month's
theme music.
A complete version can be downloaded for free
here.
02 Nov 2005
(compare with the Parting Shot below):
Our first real snow came late this year.
Two of the four
furnaces
(four of seven zones)
are turned on to prevent
freezing.
We have had some snow and rain delays on the outside work,
but most of the
critical path
work is inside and has been delayed only by the onset of hunting season.
The high priority things outside are to finish the stucco,
basic drainage,
snow guards,
gutters and a small amount of roofing over two patios.
November is the month to burn slash.
Nov 13,
we burned the
largest of three slash piles created by the removal of
trees to put in the driveway.
Cars are parked
below in case the heat was too intense to drive past.
The
pile was close to the Carriage House,
so we ran hoses
down,
sat up chairs to watch it and roasted brats on it
for lunch.
Pumpkin and Neko had great fun chasing the
rabbits and mice that ran out as the slash burned.
After
about 9 hours the flames were low enough that we could
leave it.
Snow predicted that evening did not arrive,
so
we were up at 3am and 5am when the wind kicked up sparks.
The snow finally arrived on the 14th,
about 5 minutes
after Gary got the snow plow and chains on the truck.
Here is the scene 30 hours later.
On bad days,
people like to work inside.
Today is windy,
cold and snowy,
so the mason works on the fireplace.
The stone is the same as the exterior
and will extend to the wooden
beam at the top of the picture.
The hearth
(not visible under tarp)
is
Ubatuba Granite
from Brazil.
The mantel is a bit weathered now,
but should match the other
timbers once the painters clean it up and put a finish on it.
Meanwhile,
more timbers are being put up throughout the house.
It is difficult to
get good pictures because we don't have a wide-angle lens and because
there so much equipment and so many people are in the way.
By the time
the area is clear,
the sun is down and there is no light.
The View From Space:
Here
is a shot of the Carriage House and Main House site that must have been
taken around mid-day in Fall of 2003,
judging from the Aspens,
the shadows and the state of construction.
The Carriage House can be seen where the drive circles around it up to
the Main House site.
Anyone who wants to see more of the property can navigate to
Google Maps,
search for the address
7001 Bridger Canyon Road, Bozeman, MT,
then click the "satellite" tab and follow our driveway north to the
sites by clicking on the picture,
holding the mouse button down and dragging it around.
(Note: the driveway is actually a bit west of where Google thinks it should be.)
November 8 brought a substantial snowfall to the Bridgers;
some people were so anxious to start the season that they hiked up
Bridger Bowl to get in a few runs.
There is now a 23" base at mid-mountain,
but the lifts are not scheduled to run until December 10.
We have been hearing a different sort of howling lately.
Earlier howls have been more higher pitched yipping howls
(coyotes),
and these were lower,
more dog-like howls.
So it was not a complete surprise to find a front page news story that
our neighbor
reported seeing wolves.
Of course,
Neko and Pumpkin are not amused when the howling starts.
Parting Shot
Main House from Kelly Canyon Road
01 Nov 2005
Telephoto shot taken from about 1 mile away;
click on the picture to see a larger version.
The house is already starting to blend in with the terrain.
