November 2005 - Hard to believe, but true... Construction of the Cuckoo's Nest is done.  Well, there's still a lot to do on our behalf - painting, landscaping and all sorts of other finish work.  (Does the work on a house ever end?)  But for now, the builder has completed all of their work and the Nest is finally the vacation home we've been hoping for.

In chronological order, here's how the project unfolded:

October 2003 - Bill & Glenn meet with realtor Bill Payne of McKean Real Estate in Barryville, NY, who shows them several parcels of land in the Delaware River Highlands area.  Their favorite is an acre lot located directly on 50-acre Montgomery Lake in Yulan, NY.

December 2003 - Egged on by their realtor, Bill & Glenn make a low but reckless offer on the property, as they know darn well they can't possibly afford the land if the bid goes through.  Of course this means the seller says yes.  So Glenn and Bill (a.k.a. Clam and Beer) ask Tim & Diana if they'd be interested in joining them in the purchase and eventually build a vacation home on the property.  Tim & Diana join in, sight unseen.

March 2004 - Closing on the land completes.  Knowing that all vacation homes have a name, Diana comes up with "The Cuckoo's Nest," which sticks immediately.

May 2004 - Bored on a Saturday afternoon, Bill and Glenn tour the factory of Westchester Modular Homes in Wingdale, NY.  They are impressed by the build quality and vow to never confuse "modular house" and "manufactured home" again.

June 2004 - Glenn and Bill have a preliminary meeting with Debbie Wasylyk of Quality Crafted Homes in Narrowsburg, NY, the local builder for Westchester Modular.

November 6, 2004 - Contracts are signed with Quality Crafted.  Ground-breaking could begin possibly as early as January of '05 if the good weather holds.

January 1, 2005 - The weather holds... until the end of December and then the snow falls.  And falls.  And falls...

January 13, 2005 - Official closing on the construction.  Bill and Glenn leave for Maui the same day, hoping that progress will be made while they are away.  Silly optimists.

April 16, 2005 - Ground-breaking officially commences with the clearing of trees on the lot at 7am.  The neighbors are (thankfully) already awake.  Work continues on grading the lot and digging the foundation hole.  Yes, the infamous shed will be eventually leveled.

April 20, 2005 - Diana's Birthday is marked by the pouring of the foundation footers.

April 22, 2005 - The foundation wall forms are in place.

April 26, 2005 - After a brief rain delay, the foundation walls are poured.

April 30, 2005 - Diana and Glenn take a field trip to The All Granite and Marble Co. in Ridgefield Park, NJ, with the sole purpose of picking a granite slab for the kitchen countertops.  After looking at most of the 700 colors in stock (which are located outside in the pouring rain) they settle on an amazing piece of variegated green granite and giggle like idiots the whole way home.

May 4, 2005 - The foundation floor is poured and sill plates are added.  The foundation is now ready to receive the modules.

May 20, 2005; 8:00am - The two modules which will make up the first floor are delivered.

May 23, 2005; 4:00pm - The Cuckoo's Nest is born!

To see how we got from the modules to this point, click on "Set Day" above.

May 28, 2005 - The exterior siding is near completion.  Work has also been done over the past week on the plumbing.

For photos of the progress of the inside of the house, click on "Interior" above.

June 25, 2005 - A shot taken from the kayak while out paddling on the lake... the basement glass doors and triangle-shaped windows have been added in the past week.

July 20, 2005... a day that will live in infamy.  Yep, the project has slowed to a near halt and we're deep in that nightmarish portion of the new construction process.  A variance request from the town is pushed off another three weeks because the Zoning Board's Secretary has abandoned her job, and none of the necessary paperwork was filed.  Some of the digging for our septic system (shown here) begins in the wrong spot.  Said digging also sends the neighbors into orbit.  And we're not sure if we'll ever be able to get electrical service to our site as no one can locate proof of an existing easement.

August 10, 2005 - FINALLY some progress and good news... our variance request has been approved by the town and construction of the deck and front porch / outdoor room can commence.  Also, work picks up inside after a six week lag... see "Interior" photos above.

September 16, 2005 - A huge step forward... after much ado, the Cuckoo's Nest is finally electrified.  YAY!

September 17, 2005 - Did we say progress was being made?  We did.  Although work on the deck and front porch didn't start until just recently, there has been noticeable work done on the interior, including installation of the flooring, granite countertops, bathroom fixtures and lighting. 

We've even managed to get in to do some painting.  (Check out the "interior photos" tab above.)  Will we make our September 19 cut-off date?  Hmmmm...

The lake side of the house, showing the deck so far... note the outdoor shower on the left-hand side of the house.

September 27, 2005 - Nope, we didn't make the 19th... but we were darn close.  An inspection for the Certificate of Occupancy takes place at 11:00am today... a good news/bad news situation.  The bad news is that we didn't pass.  The good news is that it's only a few minor details holding us up.  Recap: we're almost there!  Work is wrapping up on the front porch (at right) and the deck.  The lattice deck railing (below) looks better than any of us had anticipated.  Inside, our painter has finished up and the living room finally doesn't look like a workshop.  There will be a long list of small things to be adjusted, but we're dangerously close to being able to actually use the place.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - THIS JUST IN:

We got our CO!  Wooo HOOOO!  (This is especially good news considering we have furniture deliveries set for Friday and Saturday.)

November 3, 2005 - Well, we dropped off the final check with our builder today, so we can officially say that construction is done.  Of course, there are still many projects to be done and finish work - painting, landscaping (as you see), etc. - to complete, but the Nest is more than livable and finally starting to feel like the getaway we all envisioned.  To say that it was a long, difficult process would be an understatement, but all four of us agree that it was more than worth it.