House building journal - Part 2

As we neared the end of our second year with our house on the market and wanting to get going on our new project, we made the decision to start construction of the new barn/workshop and the little guesthouse. Should our buyer suddenly appear we might have only 6 weeks or so to move and with 2 dogs and a cat, a lot of stuff and a workshop full of tools, finding a temporary place would not be easy. This seemed like the perfect solution.

The plans for the barn/workshop were dusted off and we began lining up good people to work alongside Frits. Finally we were moving forward, and it felt good. First the barn and then the cabin.

Several years prior, Frits had removed an old barn from another property we owned and had painstakingly numbered every board and beam before storing it. Our son had thoughts of reconstructing it as a cabin but it had never happened. Now we had the basic structure for a guesthouse that could serve us well as accommodations until the new house could be built.

We began the barn in May of that year. The site had been cleared of large rocks but there was still grading to do. Time to bring in the big equipment. Big was an understatement! Frits stands just under 6'4" and I'm no small fry but we were both overshadowed by this digger.

The foundation was poured and construction begun.

Almost finished on the outside but still work to be done on the inside.

In the meantime interest was heating up for the Stowe house. One family had been back multiple times but were not quite ready to pull the trigger. Now that we were committed to building the cabin, why not plan to move in early and offer the other house for rent? It seemed like a practical plan at the time. If our potential buyers tried it out for the winter surely they would love it and a sale would ensue. The papers were signed for a 6 month lease beginning December 1.

All of a sudden time was of the essence. It was now October and we had been cruising all summer keeping up the care and maintenance of the Stowe house, handling rentals and cleaning the current guesthouse, working full-time in real estate for me and the building at the new property for Frits. The cabin foundation was just about ready so now we were going to need a roof over our head before the winter snow arrived.

Always optimistic, we pushed on knowing that even if we were going to have to 'rough it' for a while it was our choice. We were soon to find out just how much 'roughing it' we were going to do.