MORE AND MORE WOOD

Howdy Y'all!

Okay, we admit it, this is a 'tweener blog post. There, we've said it. Got it out of the way, so don't expect much. Mainly a 'tweener because the framers keep adding more wood, and we are sort of marking blog time until the main roof goes up over the Great Room. That marks the next milestone in the project. So hang in there with us and the next few pictures, 'cause the really great stuff hopefully will be out by the weekend. (Well, it better be because Jan and I won't be here next week!)

We keep throwing in landscape pictures because we really love the views. Seriously, why build a house out here if you can't have a great view, and still hide out from your neighbors? This is a shot from the back patio, and if you pretend hard enough, you can visualize where the pool and pool deck will be once all of the lumber is gone. Technically, if we still have enough money left, the pool area will span the width of the picture. (We sort of feel like Clark Griswald in the great National Lampoon flick, "Christmas Vacation".)

Back Patio and Pretend Pool Area

Swinging around to the front, the framers have made great progress in pulling together the defining elements of the front overhang and the front door areas. There is still much more detail to frame, but the character of the front of the house is starting to emerge.

Front Porch 

The following picture of the front door arch looks pretty straightforward until we got above it and realized that the framers had actually framed this arch with about 40 cut pieces of 2x6 inside the arch.

Front Double Door arch 

This is the interior view of the Front Door arch, and the interior niche arches that will bookend the doors on the inside. 

Front Door and side niche arches

Swinging back to the rear of the house, this is a full-on shot of the latest progress. All that remains now is for The Gazelle and his buddies to scale the top section of the Great Room and build the peaked roof! Hopefully, we'll be able to share that epic event with you before the weekend.

Rear view

If you are wondering where the excess cut lumber is going, the guys are accumulating it in two piles. Most of the larger pieces will be stacked for me (and any needy neighbors) as fire pit wood. No sense sending it to the dump when we can enjoy hours around a crackling fire in the evening. You know, s'mores and stuff.

Well, that pretty much sums up our 'tweener post today....

But Wait, There's More....

If you haven't figured it out yet, Texas has, arguably, the best BBQ to be found anywhere in the country. But, if you don't believe us, just check out any reputable BBQ source and you will find the first Top 10 from somewhere in this state. So, we've made it our mission to validate the state's claim to BBQ greatness. The following picture is just one BBQ beef rib from Black's in Lockhart. I can eat a lot of BBQ, but I could barely finish this in one sitting. (BTW, the plate is 12 inches wide.) Enjoy.

One Badass Longhorn!

See y'all later!

- John and Jan -