Sorry for the delay in postings – been a bit cloudy and there was not a lot of progress than warranted a photo or commentary.  I decided to move the upstairs (my den) higher up the priority list ( Mizuho is being a good sport about the lack of doors, closets and kitchen drawers) so Mizuho and I painted the two remaining walls – one the same colour as the other two and the 4th wall is painted the same colour as the bedroom walls.  It looks orange but it is more of a terracotta.  The three windows on these walls need only the top and the plinth, and some filling, sanding, and touch ups.

The other side of the den-to-be. The ladder is now removed as the windows over the stairs are now all done.  Have decided to contract out the installation of the fir flooring (seen in the background) and its sanding and finishing.  Will need to make a stair nosing and take out the railings.

This is a view of the area in front of the garage and shop (they are at the right, while there is a parking/turnabout area at the left – back end of the truck is visable).  The plan is to dig a a few feet more into the bank at the rear (some sand is in front of it) and then make a rock retaining wall with the large rocks that are too big to pick up with the bobcat but small enough to shove into place.  A job for next spring.  To the right of the photo you can see some the result of some crushed rock and sand that I am using to build up the driveway about 8″.  I found some steel screens with 2″ holes for which I build a frame and that I am using to screen the rocks and get 2″ minus crushed rock for the driveway.  Photo in a subsequent update.

Today was a delightful +5 and sunny. Got the bobcat’s drive belt tighten up, did some backfilling, and Mizuho painted some more trim. Beautiful sunset.