In 1983, Mary Lou and I bought our piece of the rock. 30 acres (more or less) of Vermont hillside. It had a camp, with 3 rooms, no water or indoor plumbing, and no heat. We moved in in June.
By the following spring, Conner (no. 1 son) was born. Jacob soon followed. We needed more room (and plumbing!). It was really pretty funny: From the time they were born 'till 1988 when we moved in to the new place, our kids would head straight for the bathroom of any place we visited, and spend an hour or so flushing, and laughing their heads off... They thought it was so wierd to see all that water going down the drain.
Winter 1986-'87 -- I designed a basic Cape. Summer '87 we poured the foundation, raised the walls, and framed in the rafters (nice view of Camel's Hump).
On October 10, we had 10 inches of wet snow... and no roof. Had to shovel the snow off the second floor deck, and down into the basement.
We finially got it closed in about Thanksgiving... and that's the way it stayed over the winter. Mary Lou wanted to paint a huge bow on it because with no windows and with the Tyvek, it looked like a giant Christmas present. We spent the winter installing wiring and plumbing....
.... and the following summer getting siding on. (It's a really good view on a ladder).
We moved in October, 1988. It was anything but finished...but we had plumbing. We have been working on it ever since. We haven't wanted to take out any loans on it, so we work when we have both money and time.... in other words... rarely!
This is a photo from our kitchen into the living area. We've used lots of wood throughout... I like the cherry bars between the kitchen and living room.
