March is almost gone and we’re back into the regular building season. The guys from BR Kreider have returned to continue working on the site work front. Most noticeably, they’ve moved most of the boulders from the east side of the building and down to a storage spot for our future use. Here’s the field as cleared:

And here’s the pile of boulders that are awaiting future assignment:

Meanwhile, the landscaping has resumed. Here’s the finished view up Barbara Street:

And we received a couple of big, beautiful Pin Oaks as a donation. We’ve placed them out near the large basin:

They should provide a beautiful view in the years ahead. The guys have also done some more grass seeding around the property.

On the building front, there have been lots of exciting developments. Windows have been installed around the building, including in the dormers. It’s an interesting system. The window frames comes as individual units, and are assembled into a bank of windows:

Here’s the dormer on the north side of the multipurpose room:

And the corresponding dormer in the lobby, under construction:

The glass isn’t in the frames yet, but here’s a trailer loaded with it:

The skylights for the lobby are set to begin this morning. That’ll close up the final, big hole in the roof. In preparation for that, they’ve finished the upper firebox:

And they’ve begun framing up the fireplace structure all the way through the roof:

They’ve also completed the framing for the front entrance. The “missing” walls will be entirely glass, windows and doors:

They’ve also installed the door from the front porch into the multi-purpose room. You’ll notice that the doors are a darker, bronze color that will really stand out from the white trim and siding. That’s a consistent design element throughout the building exterior:

The siding guys have also come out and begun installing the fascia (the white boards that provide the finished edge of the roof):

Here’s a close-up of the boards. They’re actually made out of cement, as is all of our trim and siding. It makes for a straight, flat, durable material:

On the interior, some framing has begun–here’s the wall that separates the nursery (main floor) from the multipurpose room:

And the electricians have been running wires throughout the building. For the multipurpose room, they’ve had the conduit painted so that it blends with the wood. Here’s the pile:

You’ll have to see if you can find where they’ve installed it on Sunday. The HVAC guys from CMC also have been running their systems. In order to run the 4-pipe system they have to drill through the concrete floor. As you might imagine, that’s accomplished with quite a large drill and bit:

Here’s the hole:

And a chunk as removed:

They’ve also uncovered, and begun working on, the mezzanine air handlers:

And this is cool–they’ve suspended an air handler in the mechanical room, about 7′ off the ground. Check out the support structure:

And here are the pumps that will also go in that room:

Here’s a shot that captures many of the mechanical systems–sprinkler, electric, HVAC. There is an ever-increasing panoply of wires, pipes, conduit and other systems spreading throughout our building:

And here’s a final outside shot from last Thursday or Friday morning. The roofers were lifting some materials with their crane, and the fog was hanging low over the valley:

Until next week.