The week in pictures

Here we have a rare photo of Dawn working. (Rare because she's always behind the camera, not rare because she's never working!)

The plumbers decided that with the new high-efficiency boiler, we needed a metal flue liner. Unfortunately, they brought one just a little too big, and it wouldn't fit in the chimney.

Mike is done with the outside trim. (There was a lot more that needed to be replaced than we thought.) Now he can start on the summer kitchen, which doesn't involve nearly as many ladders.

Frank the chimney sweep -- whose motto is "soot loose and fancy free" -- said the chimneys hadn't been cleaned in fifty or sixty years. As if to prove his point, he found a full can of Raid c. 1978 in one of the chimneys. If anyone had lit a fire, that would have been ugly.

The plumbers pulled all of the old iron pipes from the basement, and then laid down all new plastic ones. Dawn, who doesn't know a thing about plumbing, thinks that metal is good and plastic is bad. I, who also doesn't know a thing about plumbing, think she may be right.

Dawn snapped this picture of a chipmunk watching the curious proceedings.

And finally, Dawn took this photo to take to the sprinkler appeals board. Nothing has been done to it yet, but I just thought it was a cool picture. This place is going to be amazing when we're finished.