New Roof, and New Paint!!!

So we didn't go with the blue after all...we picked this green and dark brown trim. There is also lattice that goes around the bottom, which we will eventually build frames for. I'm also going to put up window boxes and have a garden, but these are projects that can wait.

It's also nice that we have a new roof--the old one had three layers of old asphalt shingles and was peeling up.

Dad and Tony

Here is my dad talking to Tony. We will miss him and all his cool stories, but Tony & Rosemarie will be back in May.

Welcome to the Work Camp.

My parents are incredible. They drove all the way from their house 4 1/2 hours away to scrape and remove old screens, paint our cottage, and help move a new fridge we got from our neighbors into the kitchen. ALSO, my mom made a cheesecake for my birthday! How great are they???
This was also the last weekend that Rosemarie and Tony were at their cottage before returning to Florida for the winter, so everyone had dinner together in the clubhouse saturday night to say goodbye. Rosemarie made two cute little hats and a baby blanket for our little guy who is on the way, and also two afghans for our cottage! I think they have adopted Mike and I.

Fire Good

THANK GOD the woodstove seems to work without too much danger. Actually, it makes the main room nice and toasty, if you don't mind throwing a few logs on every 1 or 2 hours in the night...though, if we are really going to use it, we need to put in a new chimney. Not too much of an issue this year, but in the future...At the end of October we need to drain the plumbing lines, so from here on out, it will be VERY rustic. Bottled water for drinking, water pulled from the stream for, uh, flushing, and no showers. Kind of like camping, but indoors. Though, we will still have electricity so that's a plus.

chip chip chip...

Finally, we really are done scraping and sanding all the crappy old paint off of our shack. Or, at least, we are sick of doing it so we have decided to be done. Either way, no more scraping. Next weekend, we prime and paint. In the meanwhile, our local handyman Mark is busy ripping off the old roof this week and putting up a new one, which should be all done by the time we are back up there. He is also pouring new footings and building new piers under the center beam of the house, so at least the floor won't collapse and the roof won't cave in over the winter.
My parents are coming down to see our debacle in person, and also to help paint.