Thursday September 10, 2026 – Sunday November 3, 2026

Well, it’s been another long stretch between posts. Turns out working pretty much seven days a week keeps us from taking any time off to record our progress. We’re writing this on Nov. 13 from home in NY. We left Maine on Nov. 3 (election day!!) and have been busy unpacking and getting the RV ready for winter since arriving in NY.

We’ve made a lot of progress on the cottage since the last post on September 9.

On Sept. 10, Paul brought in the excavator to dig trenches for the rain gutter drains. Rob had been thinking he might just try and dig them himself. Boy was he glad he had Paul do it with the excavator! That would have been a massive job by hand. As it was, it only took 5 hours to dig the four trenches, lay the pipe and fill everything back in. Thanks Paul and Teresa!

After finishing the rain gutter drains we were finally able to start work inside! The first priority was to get the minisplit installed and working because it gets cold pretty early in the year up here in Maine. Rob framed the attic wall above the kitchen and installed drywall so there would be someplace to mount the inside unit of the minisplit. He then installed the unit and got it working. We bought a system designed for a DIY install and it didn’t require an HVAC contractor for installation. The Mr Cool system went in easily and seems to be working well.

The next step was to install the overhead LED lighting. As the days got shorter, we needed light to keep working inside. This was a big project involving adding “false” purlin beams to the ceiling that provided a place to mount the lights and a hidden channel for wiring to provide power. Sixteen false purlins needed to be created from 4 foot sections of 6×8 beams we had stored away for this purpose. We spent the next month making and installing the beams and lighting.

After completing the lighting installation, it became obvious that the electrical connectors Rob had picked to power the LED strip lights were not up to the job. Touch the connector and the light flickered off. Touch it again and the light came back on. Not good! Rob took the lights and purlin beams all back down. Cut off the connectors and installed new “Wago” clamp connectors. The Wago connectors were much more robust. After re-installing all the beams and lights, everything was working well.

Right around that time, Rob’s brother and sister-in-law came for a visit and we took off for a week to relax and explore the area. Great to see you Ron and Sophie!

After getting the lighting all squared away it was time to start framing up the interior walls. Getting the walls all up went very quickly and made the interior start to look like we might finish someday!

The final step this year was to deal with some leftover beams that we had from last year. Huckle, at Habitat Post and Beam, had brought us some replacement beams due to a few minor issues with some of the beams we had gotten with the original shipment. That left us with three large and heavy 6×8 beams to deal with. We had stored them inside and were constantly moving them from place to place to make room for construction. One of the beams was used for false purlins, but we needed to deal with the remaining two. Last year, Wayne had suggested that his Dad might be able to cut them up using his bandsaw mill so we could use the wood for trim. Rob got in touch with Wayne Sr. and Channon to arrange for that work. We cut up the beams and now have some nice Douglas Fir cut to various dimensions to be used for trim and other projects. Thank you Wayne Sr. and Channon!

Even though we worked pretty much non-stop for the last couple months, we did manage to get out and enjoy the area when running various errands and during downtime at the land.

A view from the back porch:

As always, the kitties kept us amused.