Howell Cabin

    Saturday Siggy & Jon assembled the big chandelier.       Siggy's day started with a bear-shaped pancake at Sunset Cafe, which he was pretty pleased with.    Jon rode the elevator to the top floor, the 29 foot level, to hang the chandelier.   Siggy looked on from the 15 foot level, where he was filling nail holes.       Siggy and Jon built the scaffolding for installing the balcony chandeliers. We also added a bit of sealant and re-tested the lower shower pan. It passed the test. We need to add a layer of membrane to be certain the fix lasts. Sunday Jeremy flew over the cabin on his way home from a New York adventure in his Cardinal. Christina and Siggy fixed sunken outlets (where the drywall guys cut too big a hole). They installed switches and a fixture in the utility closet on the route to the big chandelier. Siggy built the little chandeliers and Jon hung them. Siggy assembled the glass and bulbs on the big chandelier. ...

 We needed to install a new hatch door for the crawlspace. We had a huge opening for installing the HVAC equipment. We made a new door with a smaller people-hatch in it so it would be easy to enter the crawlspace without lifting an 80 pound panel. Siggy planted this dead tree. We re-routed the dehumidifier hose to the indoor drain. We replaced the gasket in our main floor shower pan and re-tested it. It failed. Sunday   We checked the upstairs shower pan, and it passed just fine. Whew.       Siggy drilled a hole in the crawlspace hatch to act as a handle.     Christina removed masking tape that Jon had left on the wall far too long. Siobhan filled nail holes with putty and showed Jon how to do the same. Here we're at the 23-foot level, hiding holes in windows where you couldn't have seen them anyway. But we know.   Siggy split some firewood into kindling just in time for the burn ban.   Christina tackled more masking tape detail work.  ...

 On Saturday, Siggy and Jon worked on oiling more collar ties. Christina applied more finish to window trims. Siobhan puttied nail holes. Then Jon & Christina worked on getting the drain gaskets sealed in the showers. It was frustrating.    This salamander was hanging around our little cabin. On Sunday, we did more battle with the shower drain gaskets. Finally we were pretty sure we had the downstairs gasket sealed. We plugged the drainpipe and Christina added four buckets of water. Turns out we hadn't yet succeeded.   Siobhan kept at the nail holes. One of our outlet branches stopped working. Jon tracked it down to an overheated joint in one of the outlet boxes that failed. Here's hoping we seal the showers next week!