The walls of the dining room are done! Dave finished the cedar tongue and groove this past week. He is moving right into getting the women’s bathroom finished. After that, there will be trim work in the dining room, some doors to be installed, the rest of the kitchen cabinetry, and then the floors (floors in kitchen and bathroom already done).
Given that Dave also does all the outside work and helps keep Lighthouse Trails going along with our staff, everything takes longer than what we hope for and anticipate. But we are optimistic that the inside of the lodge will be finished by the end of the year.
As we mentioned last fall, our beloved dog Jacob succumbed to cancer. We have a new puppy at The Shepherd’s Place. Her name is Esther (see photo below), and she too is a border collie, though she will not be near as big as Jacob. But she’s been a comfort to us in our loss of Jacob.
Here are some photos to show our progress.
As you can see, the walls are finished. The cubby space on the bottom right corner is a small closet to hold firewood. There will be a door there.
This is a good view of looking through the window toward the mountains.
Looking toward the kitchen. The dining room is 30 x 30. You can see the beautiful wood tables which were made by a couple local young men (one of them is Amish). We still need the chairs and hope to get them soon.
This is the plaque hanging over the woodstove, a gift from our friends and co-workers Warren and Joy.
We have about half of the kitchen cabinets installed; plus the main sink and two dishwashers. After the women’s bathroom, we will get the island and the rest of the cabinets in along with the counter. The kitchen is 15 x 20.
Some outside photos. Believe it or not, with all this snow, some of the trees are starting to bud!
Looking up from the creek to the lodge. If you look to the far left, half way down, you can see a little of the “Light” house (where Lighthouse Trails is run and where we live)
The view from the lodge. Those are some of the Rocky Mountains looking north toward Canada here.
Looking down toward the creek. It will be frozen for another month or so.
This is looking down at the area we are going to have the memorial garden.
Deer tracks (we also have at least one wolf around right now, making a nine-day cycle.
Another view of the pass.
I took this one standing in the spot where our small A-framed prayer hut will be built. The window will face the mountains and will be close enough to the creek to hear it in the spring, summer, and fall.
Esther when we first got her.