The day starts on a jarring note.  Neighbor Anna, a few doors up the street, had called me last week, claiming that two of her tires were punctured by roofing nails from our garage.  So we meet this morning and have an energetic discussion which ends in locked horns.  She insists upon $200, while I offer $150.  It’s possible our de-roofing the garage set the stage, but not that clear, since Mekonnen (neighbor to the north) had his house reroofed in the past year.

The internal framing has begun, and looks very solid, like this section of the future mudroom.

Then I meet with Caleb, querying him closely about ‘surprises’ of the unpleasant sort revealed as the walls have been opened up.  There have been a couple: asbestos-wrapped ducts and a second layer of plaster which will obstruct efforts to put in fiberglass batts (both visible in the picture below), but nothing major, thankfully.

In any case, watching the geothermal drilling is far more rewarding—a petite red machine, and two guys slapping the pipes on as the bit works quickly through St. Peter’s sandstone.  Apparently there were a couple hard limestone layers on the way down to 200 feet.  Two holes down, third one in progress, one to go.

On the way home, I stop in at Shaw-Stewart, a building supply company, to search for alternatives to Andersen doors—partly find something cheaper, partly to develop a little negotiating leverage with Andersen.   Most of the doors look cheaply finished, in material and paint. But they are relatively inexpensive.