May 2007:  The next few "series" pages are from a month (+) "vacation".  I asked for the month of May off work from my current contract, which actually rounded out to an even 5 weeks.  I wanted to make a strong construction push while the weather was still nice, plus I wanted a break from sitting at a desk all day for the last 9 months.

The footwork for this month started a week or two earlier, when I started scouring eBay and the local Craigslist.org site for deals on doors and windows.  I scored - and I mean scored big.  I love a bargain anyway, but I never expected to pick up so many windows and get such a good deal on exactly the doors I wanted.  Almost every window I found, and both the main entry door and the French patio door had never been installed.  I wanted to avoid the look of a "Hodge Podge Lodge" or "Partridge Family bus".  That's what happens when you put in any window of any size just because it fits.  I was able to buy enough of the same kind of windows to give the place a very intentional appearance, and at a small fraction of wholesale.  I got at least as good, and in some cases better deals than I did on my skylight windows, which were purchased at around half retail.  Below are a few pictures of the endeavor.  First my truck - full to the brim (and then some) of the doors and windows I bought in and around the Minneapolis metro and outskirts.  Next was the awkward process to get those windows and doors up into the structure.  Last is a shot of about half of the items, stored up on the main floor.

Cost:  (1) Entry door w/sidelight and (1) French patio door.  Windows:  (8) Marvin 28x60 casement windows, (1) used Andersen 24x72 casement, (1) Windsor 40x72 double-double hung window, (3) Marvin 16x60 casement windows, (2) identical Marvin 23x63 casement windows.  Total under $2500.  Gas for my truck was another $3,658!

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