function follows form, and starts to catch up with it

this week's activity ended up getting in two days rather than four.  even so, some decent progress was made on Wednesday -- it's just taken me a couple of days to get around to chronicling it here. 

the place has actually been a bit of a Potemkin village:  front doors and windows were in place but not completely working as such.  from the inside this effect is heightened by the W wall still being open to its framing. 

with the installation of the keeper the doors now work like doors, which is to say one can secure them from the outside as well as from within and thereby use them for ingress when the place has been unattended and secured.  this is a substantial improvement in the liveability of the cottage.  until this was done I had been getting by with a piece of wood across the interior, slipped behind the hinge pins on both sides. 

improvised bar

the window work didn't get quite as far along but is showing promise.  the N window now has its pulleys and sash weights in place, but there wasn't enough time for the last of its guide strips to be installed and the S window is still tacked in place. 

sash weight hangs in its pocket. 
note resemblance to an 18th or early 19th c. artillery projectile.

even so the windows are properly counterbalanced and when raised or lowered the weights make a very satisfying rumbling sound as they rise and fall inside the pocket.  it's the little things that make it all worthwhile ... 

it will be good to get them done so the wall can be insulated and closed up.  until then the S window is still making use of good ol' West Virginia adaptive technology to hold its curtain rod in place. 

more adaptive technology

also accomplished on Wednesday was the fabrication and installation of the N wall cap piece between the lower and upper exterior sections. 

N wall with cap piece installed

so all in all things are starting to look pretty good around here.  over the weekend I mean to clear out the wallboard + styrofoam rubble from the inside base of the N wall.