Bunkhouse exterior is finished!

It's almost completely finished on the outside.

Our carpenter emailed more pictures from his cell phone so the quality isn't the best.

Even so, I like this shot that really shows the views and the new snow on the mountain...way up there on top. And I love our old corral fences.

The real house will be way to the right of the bunkhouse.

You can see way to the left (above) a wee bit of the trailer that we have been staying in while out there. It's nice but I will gladly welcome a REAL shower and no more outhouse to share with black widows.

This is the back door.

The south side, plans are to fill the wall on both sides of that window with  old fashioned hollyhocks and they love the climate in Wyoming.

Not the best pictures of the front (facing east). Still a mountain of dirt to deal with next summer.

We chose dark green shingles for the roof, we were going to go with pole barn tin but our carpenter and the lumber yard more or less said we won't like it. Okay, I'll listen to them. I'm happy with this so it all worked out.

Doors will need painting and the font porch needs furniture!

Steve still needs to add brackets on each side of the porch posts but other than that his work is finished outside.

He'll be adding the insulation and sheet rock this winter so that next summer I can get out there and paint the inside. The bathroom will be the first room to be finished!

 I'll need to dig through my older photos in order to keep posting now and then this winter. But next summer I will be back at it in full swing!

Thanks for following along as we build our dream!

I appreciate your comments!

We have windows and doors!

They are really coming along, I wish I was there!

He has the roof on both porches and the doors and windows are all in.

It sort of looks like it's sitting in a hole but it's the slope of the land. The slope has been deceiving for me. The barn is a little lower and the real house will be on this side (south) of the bunkhouse and up a little higher yet.

We lined up all the buildings in a row at the widest part of the property for the views. This way we can see both east and west from all 3 buildings, always. That's where the best views are. To the east are the Big Horn Mountains and to the west is Yellowstone. To the north are the Pryor Mountains in Montana but since the neighbors already have a forest of trees, they pretty much block everything except in winter.

On the other hand, their trees are nice because it brings in a little greenery and most of all... the birds.

Eventually we'll plant a few trees.

Still the remains of that dirt pile out front and it will have to stay that way a little longer.

The shingles are on the roof all ready to go.

(Pictures are a little dark, I think the sun was going down when he took the pictures)

He has the horizontal siding on the gable ends which I really like rather than running the vertical siding all the way up. I think this makes a nice change.

Porch floors are next!

(Actually, they are already done but I'll save those pictures for next week.)

Thanks for stopping!

Porch Roof

Sadly, I am no longer here but our carpenter is taking pictures with his cell phone as it progresses.

His wife has been emailing them once a week.

The roof is ready for shingles and both the front and back porch roof is up.

(Look at that blue sky! Isn't that beautiful!)

Still a lot of dirt to move but the husband can use all of it and then some for fill inside the barn.

It still needs the porch floors but that will come soon.

The windows and doors are now on and I'll see pictures in a day or so.

Next week they'll add the trim around the doors and windows and also the battens on the siding so that it resembles board and batten.

The septic is going in next week along with hooking up the well and burying water to the bunkhouse.

I'm loving this Douglas Fir, I plan to continue using it inside for the flooring and the trim.

It's really hard not to pack up the truck and head back out, I miss Wyoming!

Sunset and the bunkhouse...

The evening before I left Wyoming...

Our fences to the East

And our driveway to the Northwest.

Pryor Mountains in the background, still hazy from the Montana fires.

The concrete is our little bridge over the canal.

This was as far as they were when I left. They had the front porch posts up.

I just received a call from Steve, he was taking pictures for me and will email them.

The front porch roof is on and they are almost ready to put on the shingles. 

I just love that sky...every day it's beautiful!

(That's the husbands pole barn in the background.)

Thanks for stopping!

Fall is here and the porch roof

It is beginning to feel like fall here now. It took a while, I believe it's been a warmer than normal fall.

So I took a short ride and found some fall color

(if only my camera would cooperate with me)

This is the beginning of the porch roof. He will cover the top of the rafters with roofing.

Nice chunky Douglas Fir for everything.

He has one side almost ready and then he still has the other side of the bunkhouse porch roof.

The porch will have a wooden floor eventually.

And tonight as the moon came up over the mountain.

Thanks for stopping!

Forms for the porches and a few cattle...

Forms are ready for the concrete truck Monday morning

There will be a porch all across the front.

Look at that beautiful blue sky, the smoke from the Montana and Idaho fires cleared out yesterday.

A shorter porch along the back side

The guys filling in the trenches that were dug last week.

The dusty trail...

A little cattle drive past our place today...

It's the driest summer on record in Wyoming...

Much prettier view to the east and the mountain as they go on their way...

The roof is on!

Our carpenter, Steve, just as he finished the last sheet of sheathing...

Someone took his ladder...

And my husband to the rescue...

It's so nice to have a roof overhead, even though it's not shingled. Now I can get a better idea of the space. It seems just right and the pitch of the ceiling will be perfect.

We spent yesterday in Cody. Out to lunch at Bubba's Bar-B-Que and then I hit a few antique shops. I found things I like but the price tags were way too steep for me. Although I did find a nice vintage cast iron door stop priced less than it's worth and one that I liked so I grabbed it.

Mr. Dirt Ranch is back at wiring again tonight, glad he's a licensed sparky, saves us a little $$$.

Tomorrow they will finish the walls on this little backroom.

It's finally really feeling like a building!

Thanks Steve!

The mountain of dirt has been knocked down...and I am happy!

They knocked down the dirt mountain outside the window.

It couldn't be helped when they dug the foundation.

Now I can look out the main window and see the view, although there is yet to be a lot of dirt moved around.

(And of course my camera focused on the ladder and not the scenery!)

And I finally got a shot of the front, there will be a porch all across the entire front. The window where you see a ladder, that is the main window from the first picture of this post.

We concentrated the largest windows on the east and west where the best views are.

The man that will put in the septic came by and trenched for the porch posts, it was easier than drilling holes.

The carpenter is using some big 'elephant feet' called Big Foot for the base of the posts. The holes needed to be more than 24" across.

Digging a trench for the back porch posts...

Inside view to the south, I kept that window a little smaller since it's sunny nearly every day here and it will be so bright inside anyway.

My little added on room, this will eventually be storage for my fabric and wool.

The view to the north. 

On the left is a walk through closet that leads to a small bathroom. I wanted a window in the bathroom so this was the best solution for me.

On the right will be a small kitchen where my vintage stove, fridge and yellow formica table will be.

Since we will use this 'bunkhouse' to live in while we build the real house, we still need things like a kitchen and bathroom.

But... since I dye wool and also want to start painting again...the kitchen will serve as a place to do both after this becomes my studio.

We decided we need a window on that north wall of the kitchen, just above the ladder, the vintage stove will be just below the high window. Our awesome carpenter will cut that in next summer.

If you hate snakes....don't look beyond the "stars"

*****************************

The other night I was walking back to the trailer, it was almost dark and I heard that sound...the rattle of a rattlesnake just to my left and ahead.

Out here there are tons of these guys so don't be sore that I shot him!

This IS Wyoming!

Yup, one shot and that was all it took.

(I just happened to be carrying my pistol)

One of the guys nicknamed me Annie Oakley after that.

Prairie Rattlesnake

For those of you who want to know, he measured 25" and has 6 rattles and a button.

Trusses are up!

Progress!

The first trusses, we'll have a vaulted ceiling throughout...

Halfway through...

Almost done!

Interior walls are framed, all trusses are up. They are just reinforcing everything...really well!

Tomorrow someone will be out to auger holes for the 9 porch posts. There is one long porch across the entire front.

This view is of the backside of the bunkhouse, there will be a porch about 2/3rds across back here.

Guess I kind of like porches but with views like this...gotta have porches!

Smoky skies from many fires burning in Montana and Idaho. It looks bad but it does not smell smoky.

It's really moving along now that we have the correct siding. We were all surprised at the poor quality siding that was first sent out, Cowley Lumber found us something 100 times better. Unfortunately that set us back about 1 week.

More to come soon!

The walls are going up and a red sunset

It's starting to look like a building!

I have my very own little mountain right outside my window!

Beautiful red sun last night due to the smoke from Montana's forest fires.

And the night before, our view to the west when it's not cloudy or smoky.

Beautiful Wyoming blue sky and puffy clouds...

Well, I'm here...just where I want to be!

Here's a shot from the highest part of our property looking down on the barn and the old horse corrals. Directly to the right of the barn is the beginning of the 'bunkhouse'. To the right of that (and off the picture a little bit) will be the house.

Up here on the hill I plan to put together the old hand hewn logs from 2 old cabins and reconstruct an old log cabin.

The logs were generously given to us by our good friend Joan.

I love our view to the east of The Big Horn Mountains.

Part of the bunkhouse foundation and Steve's (our carpenter) horse trailer loaded to the max with the materials for the walls.

He'll be back out soon to start and I can't wait!

We spent a couple of hours yesterday making sure the windows will be exactly where I want them. He chalked off all the interior walls and marked the window placements. Is that ever nice to know the windows will be just for the best views.

A view to the north of the Pryor Mountains in Montana with a little rabbit brush (I think it's called) in the foreground. The dark green band are the trees along the Shoshone River.

Back in the days of the old manual cameras I knew exactly where to set my good old Nikon to have both the foreground and the background focused...I still haven't figured out how on the digital cameras...I know I can but it seems such a pain compared to my old camera.

A view last night to the northwest...the Absaroka Mountains in Montana. A little further to the left is Yellowstone Park.

 A few struggling flowers with no rain for all summer.

More to come...very soon!