If you’ve been following along then you know we fell quite a bit behind schedule over the summer as we were stuck in permitting for 10 weeks.  We gained back about half of that through very quick foundation and framing work, leaving us maybe 5-6 weeks behind where we expected.  Unfortunately, we expected to be able to have September to put on the roof and exterior insulation. Instead we were finally able to get started in mid-October.  We made good progress on the insulation, and so were able to turn things over to the brickmasons before November.  We also got started on the roof, getting things covered over in tarpaper to keep the worst of the water out.

But this is Central Illinois, and the seasons wait for no man (or woman, for that matter.)  Last Tuesday we claimed a warm(ish) day and got back to shingling our way up the roof.  Even with a late start working on other tasks we were able to get about 1/3 of the roof on in 4 hours or so.  After that it was to turn cold and so we figured we’d just have to be opportunistic based on the weather.

We got snow last week, and then sharp cold on the weekend.  Lows around 20 and highs barely cracking freezing.  Even with a new propane heater (thanks for the tank loan, Brad!) its still hard to work in the house in those conditions.  It has yet to get over 40 this week and they are calling for 6″ of snow tonight, then more this weekend.  Its not supposed to get anywhere reasonable until, absolutely inconveniently, Thanksgiving Day next week*.  Winter has fallen like the curtain at the end of our play.

Our masons are supremely confident that warmer weather will return.  They’ve seen this many times and know that the weather shifts from week to week and even day to day.  They’re right, of course, as a lifetime living here has taught me, but that doesn’t make me feel any warmer about it in the meantime!

 

*-For those of you keeping score, we were in fact roofing our garage in the snow last year during Thanksgiving break.