Roof, beams, and 1st picnic

So you can see the plywood for the roof is almost done... and you can see the start of the main entry porch as well...
Roadside view, but the other side... you can also see the framing for the mandatory trapezoidal windows on the side
This is the lake side... you can see the shed roof which will be over the screened in porch...
A peek inside the house... the beams are in and you can see where the temp support is being removed...
A full view from the lake side...
And we also took advantage of the nice weather and Sara prepared a great picnic (which was our 1st full meal together at Malinka Montreux :-)

Rafters, beams, and new outdoor furniture

We took an impromptu trip to Lancaster over the weekend to get some furniture for our decks... we picked up two folding adirondak chairs with footstools, a cafe table, and two cafe stools while we were there... we looked around the city and then decided on furniture at Peaceful Valley Amish Furniture. We are pleased, although it took some creativity to get everything in the truck :-).

View from the lake... you can see things really taking shape now...
View from the roadside... you can see the dormer coming in over the front door...
Sara inspecting the interior... she's standing in the area which will be the laundry room and closet for the master suite. You can see the rafters and beams coming in as well.
A view of the north side of the house. The window in the concrete is where the storage room (aka bedroom 3) will be... And a view of the south side of the house... there will be trapezoidal windows on this side (in the opening)...

More progress... beams are being set...

The interior beams are being set...
A view of the master bedroom (from right to left - tall window, then a double door to the bedroom, and finally a double door to the hot tub & master bath). On the lower level is my home office (or the Shickshinny GO for our P&G friends :-) )

A view of the interior beams... and my favorite feature - the very large main entry door that Sara is standing in (one of the things I loved about houses in Russia was gigantic entry doors).

A look from the lake...

... and from the street....

More logs... beginnings of a radiant floor...

Stopped by the property this evening... here's a few updates... more log courses in place...
The view from the lake is slowly taking shape...
The basis for the radiant floor on the lower lever is in place...
A view of our bedroom (the opening on the front leads to the deck facing the lake)...
And more of the deck... the opening on the right is from the bedroom to the deck, and the next opening is from the hot tub / bathroom to the deck...

The deck is in... the dock is in... the ducks are hanging out...

We were very pleasantly surprised when we got to the lake tonight to find that the lakeside deck and dock are in... There is still a railing to go on the deck.... and stone in the middle of the deck which is where the firepit will go... And Sara, of course, now talks to the ducks as well... the ducks wanted SunChips... but we only had Tostitos... but we did learn the ducks know the sound of a snack food bag opening...

Logs are getting stacked

More good progress... you can see the logs getting stacked...
This is the view through the soon-to-be kitchen doors...
Looking from the roadside entry straight through to the lake side view...
View of the house from Main Road... The windows that you see on the right will be the dining room and billiards room.
Lake side view, but from across the lake.

Floor joists are in, plywood for upper floor is down, backfilling started

The floor joists are in, the plywood on the upper floor is laid... and backfilling started.

Floor drain pipes are in (Sara is standing in the garage pointing towards the media room...

View from near the road...

A picture of the progress from across the lake...
And we are anxious to get moved in... so we put in some chairs and a fire pit near the shore :-)

Why we chose this property...

Hopefully these pictures will give you some insight into why we are building in Shickshinny... Sara got into the water today (the water was quite warm) although the lake bottom is rocky and hard to walk on... so looks like we will need some water socks :-)
There's always wildlife around... these ducks have been there every day for the past couple days... we are expecting to attract many more animals once we actually move in...
The geese are nice - thankfully they are staying off our property though!

More progress - floor joists are almost done....

You can see things starting to take shape now... the garage doors are shown here... and the floor joists are being put in.
When we were at the site... looked like they were about 75% complete w/ the joists... you can see the windows and door for Michael's office in this picture.
Sara with the happy look... and you can now start to see Michael's view from his home office.

We have a mailbox!

OK - so a small milestone - but Sara and I put in the mailbox today... we have "test letters" on their way to determine if the service is working properly before we start processing all those fun change-of-address forms for our mail.

More progress - foundation is poured

We stopped by the lake tonight... more good progress. Foundation is poured. I guess the forms will come down on Friday or Monday.


And it is looking like a real job site now - heavy equipment and a Job Johnny.

And the water is plenty warm...

Info on the town of Shickshinny

In case you'd like to learn a little more on the demographics of Shickshinny, PA.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Shickshinny-Pennsylvania.html

Footers are in

Sara and I stopped by the lake tonight... more good progress. Footers are completely in... gravel fill is in. Now they go to lower level concrete walls.


Also getting an idea of what the view from my home office will be :-) minus the drainage pipe of course...

Ground has been broken

Just wanted to let folks know that ground has been broken for our new home on Lake Shickshinny. Sara and I stopped by the site on Friday, June 6 and were pleasantly surprised to see that a hole was in the ground and the masonry contractor was ready to start pouring footers on Monday, June 9.

So what's in a name?

So in case you were wondering... we are calling our new home Malinka Montreux... it combines a couple elements from our last 4 years into something semi meaningful... and since we consider this our retirement home (of course we will move again, but we have no plans of selling this property).

Malinka = Russian for "small" or "little" (Малинка)
Montreux = small town in Switzerland on the shore of Lake Geneva

Malinka represents our time of living and working in Russia, which is where the idea for this property came from... where we spent lots of time going through ideas and from where we traveled quite a bit to learn some of the things / styles we like.

Montreux represents memories of a wonderful music / jazz festival held every summer in Montreux Switzerland. For us... Montreux is more about water, relaxation, sun, beautiful scenary, good food and drink, and an eclectic and very diverse crowd.