Brackets in place

So here is a picture I should have taken last week with all the roof frames in place. You'll see there is a rope railing around the roof. The concrete men were here and put that in place in preparation for the concrete pour this week.

Ruby got a new Pogo stick for her birthday and now has a new castle activity.

Andy is getting to cut these window opening bigger with his concrete saw so he had Rex and I working on them to remove the glass and metal frame that were in place. A little hammer drilling, grinding, crow bar, and elbow grease and they are out!

This second window frame removal required moving of the scaffolding and you know how we love to do that.

Andy spent Friday afternoon & Saturday morning up on the scaffolding cutting out more windows. If you look real close youll see him up there.

I started the hot knife and cut down the insulation. I took a break and the hot knife stopped working. That is now 2 hot knives that stopped working.


A picture from the roof looking down the new stairs that go all the way up!

Andy sent Rex up to roof to finish a few things in preparation for the concrete pour this week and we didn't see him for awhile. When I finally went up to check on him I found him asleep in the chimney cut out on the roof. He was there for more than an hour.

This is a picture of the new lower pond from the end looking back.

Sears Construction is now cutting a trail around the entire 20 acres of land. Here is the machine doing the work on the trail.

Here is a picture of where the trail starts. this is near the upper pond. the left road takes you on the trail to the big cracked rock while the right trail takes you to the back of the castle

Here's Ruby hiking up the trail. There is a part in the back that is pretty steep and will make a good sledding hill.

Ruby on the big cracked rock!

I spent Saturday morning trimming out the three crab apple trees on the front driveway. this one is near the upper pond.

This one is as you drive in on your left.

This is at the entrance.

Our friends, The McCarthy family (Dad Dennis, Mom Tracey, Son Graham, & Daughter Shay) came to work for the day on their way through the Adirondacks. Here Rex and Graham are on the upper floor loading cinder blocks on the crane and lowering them to Tracey and I on the ground. We unloaded them and stacked them.

here is Tracey using the guide rope to make sure the crane palette doesn't hit the windows.

the place the cinder blocks use to be on the fourth floor

and the new cinder block pile on the ground with two pretty girls on it!

The McCarthy's dog, Sirus, and Tosh ebcame fast friends. Tosh followed Sirus around and wouldn't leave his side.

The girls hanging out in the window

Andy and Dennis spent most of the day on the scaffolding putting up a guide bar on each side of the great room walls. This would be the bar that the brackets would hook onto. Alot of measurements and calculations were going on every time I came in to check on the progress.

Dennis decided he didn't really like heaights after being on the scaffolding all day.

Here you can see the wood bar across the wall.

We were ready to try and hang first bracket. here is Dennis carrying it over. So strong.

All decks on hand to raise the bracket. We have a pulley system going here on the scaffolding.

and hoist, and pull, and pull...

it's up and now Andy is drilling the bracket into place on the wall. These are the big brackets we stenciled last month. These bracket will hook the large timber together and we'll build the new second floor in the great room on them. The beams will stay exposed as the great room ceiling.

more positioning and drilling.

Success, Andy is happy. His system to place them worked and the first one is in place. The rest will be easy now, according to him.

We continue the celebration at the pool.

and the McCarthy's in the Park Motel chair before they leave after a long days work and head for Old Forge and some hiking. Thank You McCarthys!

Ruby and I left the following morning & drove through Irene and headed home for her 10th birthday sleepover party with friends. Rex and Andy stayed for 2 more days and hung all the brackets on the great room outer wall. Yes, I said Rex and Andy did all that themselves and because they were so busy, we have no pictures, but I will get them this weekend

There are rooms available at the Park Motel if anyone wants to come help this weekend!