Doing some drilling.

The boys began drilling the water well today. Mother Earth was playing hard to get - when I left 

the site at 4 PM, they were down over 450 ft and still only yielding 4 GPM. Hopefully they'll strike a subterranean river soon!

Creepy "slurry" that was discharged from the well bore as the bit made it's way down through clay soil, sandy gravel, and then deep granite bedrock. This stuff looked otherworldly, like something dreamed up by HP Lovecraft or Steven King.

Clearing some of the granite slurry from the well bore.

Random picture of Eli napping from earlier in the day.  Note totally choice "carpeting" in the rental shack.

Leave the divining rod at home

The well drillers arrived, in their wild Cousteau-esque rig. With a bit of weather luck, we'll tap Mother Earth tomorrow (12.07) and the agua will flow.

Ahh, the staircase.  It is going to finish out sooooo nicely.

Powder room toilet drain LOL.

Storage closet #2 in bonus room.

Storage closet #1 in bonus room.

Hey, we have a little staircase into the bonus room now!  Woot!

Guest bath toilet drain LOL.

The drill rig, from upstairs.

Frame for soaking tub...which will be a Mirabelle Edenton in 60x36 dimensions...

Nice relaxing view while bathing.

Here's the framed opening for the attic pull-down stairs/hatch.  The attic is huge, but other than the two furnaces, we likely won't put anything up there.  Other than R-38 blown insulation, I mean.

Kind of scary, this thing is.  But essential.

The right side of the home is a favorite; so much going on, so many facets.

Can't see it very clearly, but the screened porch ceiling framing is complete; nice little peak at about 12 ft.

All kinds of things going on.

In addition to the windows going in, the electricians began their installations on Thu 12.05. It has been very rainy and gloomy, so the pics are mostly interior details.
Edit: I guess I should have mentioned that I completed the electrical & appliance walk-through with Mark & Elizabeth last Saturday, 11.30.  During that fun-filled (really!  I love this stuff) 2.5 hours, we pinpointed the location of every light fixture, ceiling fan, switch, and receptacle that will be installed, and finalized all related details.  What a blast!

Three-gang switchbox for the master bedroom.

Windows 2013 LOL

Random receptacle in the master bedroom wall, looking down the staircase.  Once the sheetrock is in, this view will be gone forever!

Master bathroom, looking up toward the box from which a terrific-looking chandelier will eventually hang.

The transoms over these large front-facing windows in the library really complete the look.

Beautiful even in the gloom!

Through the looking glass...

Windows installed yesterday (12.02) and today. Now it looks more like a house than an empty shell! Doors are coming soon, too. And all of the trades will begin roughing in their stuff this week (plumbing, electrical, AV/networking, and HVAC).

Framing: Final stages.

Wicked cold today, but the guys accomplished a lot...Including stairs! Sure beats climbing the ladder.

One of the closets in the bonus room.

The other closet, abutting the closet of the 3rd bedroom.

Yaaay, stairs!!

Yaaaay, stairs!!

Yaaaay, winder stairs!!  Love 'em.  Crappy blurry pic tho.

Four room openings on the 1st floor were furred down to 8ft from the 9ft header to allow for better balance between the casing and crown molding.  Wait 'til you see the casing!

Our little house in the big woods.

Shingles installed!

A while back we had the opportunity to choose the shingles for our new home.  30 year architectural.  We decided that the Owens Corning Oakridge "Driftwood" product would be perfect on this house.  Today, November 25th, the shingles were insalled.  We think they look great!

It's a very nice looking product!

Looking down at the screen porch roof where it meets the roof outside the family room.

In other news, the framers had to make a few adjustments to the master bathroom and neighboring spaces in order to center the windows with the gable above.

All good.

More snaps, from 11.23.

Screened porch roof detail.

The master bump-out views.

Corner of the wrap-around porch, from above.  It'll be finished with a standing seam metal roof.

Stick-built and loving it.

Long view, from about lot #20.  Oscar just ahead, and Eli waaaay down range.

Osckie got a big ol' butt (oh yeah!)

A shot from about halfway to the back of the back yard.

A shot from about three quarters of the way back in the back yard.