When there’s no 1/4 open floor or 45 degree ceiling, things can go a little quicker;
In one day we closed the ceiling in the downstairs bedroom.

Like in the great room, the sheetrock still needs a coat of paint,
but that’s something I can do by myself, after my helping crew of three is gone.
Tomorrow the downstairs bathroom is next.

Below some action shots from the previous days, closing the great room ceiling.

With a team effort, the sheetrock plates in the great room are now all in place:

It’s not that there is no progress, but more that I’m too busy to post about it.
The roof in the great room is coming along well; hopefully tomorrow all sheetrock boards will be in place.
I will post some pictures soon.

When it’s cold and not raining, it helps to have a fire pit.
It’s outside on the deck and help to make the deck more enjoyable during less warm months like these.

The mesh on top prevents large pieces falling onto the deck, so it’s pretty safe to use.
And I have three big boxes of scrap wood that can be used for it for the coming weeks.

Using sheetrock 1/4″ for the ceiling was something I was hoping would work.
Today we (My sister Petra and brother Arne arrived yesterday) tried, and luckily it does:

Putting up 8×4 boards is really impossible without help, but with 3 it’s easy.

Except for a little strip at the back and the window, now all walls and ceilings are insulated and covered.
It looks cosy and will be easy to cool/ heat as it’s less cubic feet. When all strips are in and the beams are stained it will look nice.

Today the electric fireplace arrived, so there is at least a little bit more heating capacity.
Don’t expect miracles from it, it’s still only a 1500W heater, but it looks warmer;

Together with Mr. Cool in turbo mode, and the Honeywell heater, it should be bearable.

Back in Amsterdam, I’m about five minutes away from the Amsterdam forest, which is a sizeable park with an abundance of biking and hiking trails,
perfectly suited for running. In Texas, there are trails, but they’re not so easy to find. Today I did find one, after some searching.
It beats running on the shoulder of highways, as there is always cars passing by at great speed, greatly reducing the fun of running.
This trail I actually ran in the other direction a few years back, starting at the Blue Hole in Wimberley, a natural springs, popular in summer time.

The trail itself is clearly marked and some sections are concrete slabs. The only downside is that the trail is too short for a marathon runner like me. 4 miles simply is too short.
But it took a few miles before I found it, and it’s not a loop, so I ended up running 10 miles, which is ok for a weekend run. Circumstances were nice; blue skies, 70 (21C) so I ran in shorts and a short sleeved shirt, something I can never do in Amsterdam early December.
I went there taking the backroad, which brings you across the river;

It’s usually passable, although it’s a tad slippery, so I did get a little adrenaline shot as the truck almost decided to go straight here instead of following the left turn.
2 years back, this river was up 20 ft higher, and not even a tank could have crossed it then.

Another cold front will hit the Texas Hill Country soon, so temperatures that were up to 72 (22C) for the last days,
will drop to  37  (3C) tomorrow night. But this time I’m prepared:

Shiner had a Texas Cold Front six pack on sale: three different beers for a cold front;
Shiner Frost, Morello Dark Cherry and Candied Pecan Porter.
Nothing can go wrong now. Especially If I also get the electrical fireplace delivered on Tuesday.

True U2 fans like myself will recognise the above post title. For those that don’t:

U2 – Ultra Violet (Light My Way) – YouTube

Since days are shorter here too now (it’s dark by 6 and sunrise around 7) I decided to put the lights I got in April to light up the driveway:

Hopefully I won’t flatten them with my truck pulling out 🙂
Other than that it was an electric day: added 3 power outlets and now have a lamp above the door outside,
which I don’t have on yet, as I’m a smart lightbulb short (Some would argue that I have always been a few lightbulbs short,
but that’s an entirely different story).

Today I installed the rain shower in the downstairs bathroom, right next to the tub.
The picture below shows the pex lines coming in, the valve and the top connection where the shower is connected.

Like most good ideas, it was a good idea in theory; making the tiled floor run down t0 a drain point,
so that a rain shower could be mounted to the wall next to the tub.
So I used normal hardy backer board for the largest part, and 1/4″ thinner hardy backer board for the drain area,
and used an aluminium ruler to make the slope from the thick hardy backer board to the thinner board using thinset
thus creating a slope down. So far, so good. In theory. In practise, the entire floor slopes down the wrong direction,
and the only level part is the part that was supposed to be sloped down.

So the problem I now have to solve is that the water runs down from tile row three,
all the way to the other side of the bathroom.
What I’m thinking to try first is put a barrier line of transparent silicon kit to form an invisible shower pan.
It will only need to be like a quarter inch tall, and if I put it in the grout, you would not see it.
If that doesn’t work I will have to create a shower pan using a small strip of tile.
But that would not look as nice and might be something you bump into with your toes.
So I will try the silicon kit tomorrow, after the floor has dried.