We have spiffy new oak stairs to replace the rickety plywood ones that we've had since the project began. It's kind of interesting to step onto a completely solid surface for a change. I'd gotten accustomed to the seasick feelings induced by the old ones--feelings not helped by the fact that as you walked up, you could see straight down through the steps to the floors below. Now they look like nice normal stairs and they don't wobble when you step on them.

This is Ray checking out a digging pit that the backhoe is making. It's for the well diggers to use, if they ever show up. It's been a month of them promising to be there, but we've never seen them. I'm trying to get used to the idea of not having any running water, but I'm holding out hope that they'll eventually show up and dig a well for us.

This is Hannah, and yes, she does have a head. She comes with the finish carpenter every day. Her job is to sleep soundly until it's time to go home. She's a very sweet elderly girl, and I think it's great that she gets to spend all of her time with her human of choice.

One of the unexpected chores associated with building Enslin Manor is Operation Dragonfly Rescue. They keep getting trapped in the house, and I have made it a personal quest to release them. They don't seem to understand that I have their best interests at heart, so I'm not always successful. I do all right, though. I imagine it's pretty amusing to people familiar with my dislike of heights to see me up on a huge ladder, sweeping them gently off the windowsills and out the open windows to freedom.