Day 69 - Cladding

Day 69 and not a lot of change that is hugely obvious from photos.  The cladding has been started and is probably around a third done at this stage.

 For the most part, things are just progressing slowly but surely.

Insulation has begun appearing in preparation for... insulation.

Color is not final, it'll end up being painted a dark-ish green-ish, though Brie is still considering between a couple of different color options.

Etc, etc.  Cladding should be finished before the builders retire for the Holidays.

Day 61 - Glass Houses

Day 61 and all the windows and doors are in place!  And we were locked out!  Of our own house!

It was okay though, because the garage door doesn't yet exist so all the locked doors didn't make up for the gaping hole in one end of the house.

View from The Usual Spot.

Overview from Mt. Topsoil.

View from the south.  The bare patch is where the drainage field went in.  With any luck it won't be too overgrown by the time we're out there to keep the weeds under control.  That is also the rough area that the raised vegetable beds and herb gardens will be going.  The door right of center leads to the kitchen.

View from South East.  More drainage field.  Also the water tank.

View from North East.  Closest are the two sliding glass doors to the living room.  Main entry is in the center past which are the windows to the dining room and then the 2nd bedroom.

View from drive.  Well sealed lockable shell, if it weren't for the garage door!

Fuse box!

Network Hub!

 Plumbing!

Interior of 2nd bedroom.

Kitchen.  The window on the floor was meant to go in the laundry room, which was just off of the kitchen (left of the kitchen door, just in this photo).  But in the end we moved the laundry into the garage and turned that room into a pantry, removing the need for a window there.  So now we've got a lovely little double glazed window to put... somewhere, someday!

Living room interior.

 View out the living room door.

In addition, we borrowed the work van for the day to transport a couple of loads of the larger trees down.  

Here is the space by the old cow shed next door which we cleared out and rigged up irrigation sprinklers in.

 And here is one of the loads of trees we brought down (most are about 2m/6ft)

Which started to fill the space.  Still a good bit of room, fortunately.  Fortunate because we've got another half dozen loads to come, at the very least.  Some are too big and will have to wait until we can find something with a 3m/9ft clearance.  A couple are bigger still but we'll find a way!

Day 54 - All Wrapped Up

Day 54, the frame is wrapped and for the next couple of days the electrician is putting in all the wiring.

Even though it's just a thin layer of plastic, having the house wrapped makes it a lot more clear where the doors and windows are, and let us get a better feel for views and lighting inside.

Overview from Mt.Topsoil.

View from SouthEast, bedroom windows and kitchen door a bit clearer now.

When the electrician asks you how many power points you want, the correct answer is always "more".

More empty walls filled with wires!  While fiber optic internet is still likely a couple of years away from reaching out there, the house is being pre-wired for it with an ethernet hub in the garage feeding into jacks in all major rooms.  A conduit with a draw line has been laid alongside the normal copper phone wire to pull through fiber when it becomes available.

Sidenote: The Embryonic Orchard

While the house is occupying most of our time and headspace at the moment, there is also the matter of the plants.  At current there are somewhere upwards of 300 fruit trees/shrubs/vines in our backyard here, waiting to be transported to the new property and planted out.  Unfortunately the planting out will mainly have to wait until we have moved in, so that watering can be kept up while they establish in situ (summer will be far too dry to leave them there on their own).  For now we're taking a car or truckload down each weekend when we visit the house sit, and storing them in an area rigged up with shadecloth and timed irrigation.

Under the balcony we keep a number of more shade tolerant plants.  Pictured are Schefflera, Nepenthes, Day lilies, Nasturtium, Kava, Canna lilies, Naranjilla, four species of palm, and several zygocacti.

 Past the balcony is the small walk-in plastichouse used mainly for propagation and overwintering tropical Papaya, Vanilla orchid, and other frost tender fruits.  Past that the concrete is mostly filled with plants, with just a path leading to the backyard. 
Pictured above are Jiaogulan ("Immortality herb"), Loquat, Kiwiberries, Maqui berry, Soapnut, Jakfruit, Orangeberry, Davidson Plum, Kaffir Plum, Japanese Wineberry, Black raspberry, White Raspberry, Feijoa, Redcurrant, three tropical Guava varieties, Mandarin, Stauntonia, Banana, Mountain Pawpaw, several Vasconcella hybrids, Fig, Casimiroa, Cherry, Black Sapote, Rollinia deliciosa, and lots more I can't make out in the photo or recall off the top of my head.

 Another view of the 'jungle path'. 

 Looking back towards the jungle path from the backyard.  To the right are the blueberries in a barrel.  Against the north face of the glasshouse are an espaliered pear, a dwarf pear, and a chinese quince, among other things.

 To the right of the blueberries are the dwarf peach and nectarine, dragonfruit, garlic/shallots/and elephant garlic, bulb pots, succulents and cacti, and feijoa. 

 In the polycarbonate house out in the back yard are numerous seedlings.  Two pineapple varieties in the back corners, lychee, Rose apple, curry leaf, Brasilian cherry, Jaboticaba, Oak-leaved Papaya, Cherimoya, Guavas, Rocoto peppers, Gloriosa lillies, Mayhaw, Muscadines, Gamboge, White Malay Apple, Lemonade Berry, Ice Cream Bean, Guajilote, Otaheite gooseberry, etc.

In the back yard itself is the 10m/30ft berry patch, consisting of red, white, and black raspberries, boysenberries, thornless hybridberries, and an orangeberry groundcover.  Since a sprinkler waters the area several times a week, a multitude of pots have slowly crept in to share the water. 
Several ornamental shrubs (Nandina and others), are pictured, along with wild Pineapple, Yacon, pear, lemon, peach, Kei apple, Wine palm, and Tamarillo.

 The central section of the berry patch includes a Japanese Raisin Tree, Inga bean, three varieties of Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise), Casimiroa, Cherimoya, Buddha's Hand Citron, Limequat, Orangequat, Blue Berried Honeysuckle, Shahtoot Mulberries, Dovyalis tropical apricot, etc.

 The eastern side of the glasshouse has a variety of loquats, Maqui berries, North American Persimmons, North American Paw Paw, Mandarinquat, Redcurrant, Macadamia, Tamarillo, Cherry of the Rio Grande, Pear, Neem tree, Pomegranate, Cherry guavas, etc.

 Southeastern side of the glasshouse has Green Sapote, Lucuma, Weeping Mulberries, and a benchtop of assorted carnivorous plants, primarily Sarracenia varieties.

Inside the glasshoue, to the right are several shelves of Sundews, pitcher plants, and venus fly traps, fronted by and Ombu tree, Vasconcella monoica and goudotiana, voodoo lily, gloriosa lily, etc.

To the left (and in the path) are a Coral tree (Erythrina crista-galli), Brazilian fern tree, Cinnamon tree, Sapodilla, and Chocolate Gardenia.  

The left-hand shelf contains mostly seedlings: Jakfruit, Yellow Jaboticaba, Dwarf Myrtle, Black Sapote, Carob, Chestnut, Brazilian cherry, Sundrop, Araca Boi, Tamarind, African Walnut, Miracle Fruit, Elephant Apple, Blackberry Jam Fruit, Cacao, Red Passionfruit, etc.

So that's the nascent orchard, the raw beginnings of Fruitful Endeavours.  And quite a bit to have to transport!  Not to mention figuring out how, where, and when to get them all into the ground!

On the upside, even in their pots some have begun to be quite productive.  Below is a small handful picked this afternoon while having a walk around the backyard.  Wild strawberries, redcurrant, blue berried honeysuckle, red raspberries, white raspberries, mulberries, and maqui berries.

Day 47 - Roofing

Most of the roof is in place, and the walls are beginning to take shape.

View from NorthEast.

NorthWest view.

 View from Mt. Topsoil

View from South.

Day 40 - Taking Shape

Day 40, and despite the inclement weather we managed to get some decent photos of the quickly-progressing frame.

View from the north.

Overview from the topsoil pile to the SouthWest.  The garage is the area of the house closest to the camera.

Here's a view from north of the house, with Brie and I in for size reference.

View from the NorthEast.  The large opening directly ahead is the 2.7m (9ft) wide sliding glass door facing north out of the living room.

View from the south end of the field.

View from the living room, looking down the hall.  Brie is standing in the entrance to the garage.  Kitchen sink is to the left where the pipe breaches the foundation.

View in from the main entrance, Brie and I standing in the kitchen.

Doorway to the master bedroom.

Brie standing in front of the sliding glass door in the living room.