oneandonlymatt and I were back at Mt. Matt this weekend. We got a little behind earlier this year so we are working on catching up. Our friend, Chad, helped us get a lot of the insulation started in the barn room two weeks ago. We had to stop only because our batteries ran out. So, Matt and I brought extra batteries and got to work.

We left early on Saturday morning. Even though it was going to be a little chilly, we decided that we would camp. When we got to town we stopped at Ingles to get sandwiches and stuff for breakfast. As soon as we got to the land, we got started with the project. It didn't take long to knock out the rest of the wall insulation.

Then we put all the tools away and got out the air mattress and sleeping bag and such. We also had a thermometer in the room to see how the insulation was helping. The floor isn't done at all so a lot of the cold air still comes in there. However, it was much warmer than before insulation.

After we got camp set up, we grabbed a bottle of wine that we brought with us and walked down to our neighbor's house. They live there year round and we want to get to know them. They seemed genuinely thrilled to hang out with us and truth be told, we completely lost track of time and were there for almost three hours. It was about quarter to nine when we realized that we still needed dinner and the tiny town of Marshall "rolls up it's sidewalks" pretty early, as they say. We had forgotten our flashlight so we borrowed one to get back to our barn. I forget how dark it gets without a city around.

We went into Marshall and caught Bacchus Bistro still open for another 45 minutes. The food there is fantastic.

We finally made it back to the barn. We tried to watch the final episode of season one of BBC's Robin Hood but the disc was having issues. So, we put the heater on low and went to bed. It ran out in the middle of the night, but it stayed pretty warm in the room. The next morning the thermometer read 60.

We slept in to about 9:30 and then made some eggs. Then we took down the bed and stuff and started on the ceiling. We decided to do the ceiling with metal flashing. We thought it would be an easy and still rustic solution. It is a barn room that was tacked on to an old barn with no real rhyme or reason and walls are crazy crooked, so rustic is still the best look for it. We did three panels (which puts it at about a third of the way done).

Then we went to the nearby town of Weaverville for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Then we drove home. We didn't get home last night until about 7:30. Then we downloaded that last episode of Robin Hood on iTunes so we could see what we missed.

Here is a link to flickr to check out the latest photos of our progress:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13073825@N07/

We are going back to Asheville this weekend. Hooray. I am so excited. The weekend can never come fast enough.

These are our current plans. I like to make a record so I can see just how different things actually went. Kind of like the weekend we planned to get a ton of stuff done but ended up with a Budget Truck in a ditch.

Anywho, the plan is currently as follows:

I want to leave on Saturday before crack of dawn o'clock. Convincing oneandonlymatt of this time frame will probably not happen. I would be prepared to leave the house by 6am, but I'll be lucky to compromise at 7.

If we leave at 7 we should get up there around 10:30. We can stop and pick up some subway to hold on to for lunch. Then we'll head to the barn and finish up the insulation. The two of us should be able to knock that out pretty quickly. Then we can break for lunch. Then we can start on the ceiling. We are doing silver metal flashing across the ceiling that will eventually be "finished" with batons across the seams. This will give it sort of a rustic industrial look. It is a barn, after all.

Sometime during the day we'll pop in on our Neighbors. They invited us over for some wine the next time we were in town. I wanted to stop by and suggest we get together in the evening if they are avaible. That way we can work on finishing the ceiling. Then we need to go get dinner. I want to go back to Bacchus Bistro in downtown Marshall. Then we'll need to stop at Ingalles to pick up something to eat for breakfast the next morning, assuming we will decide to camp. We are fully expecting to have that be a game time decision. It'll be a little chilly, but we'll have just finished insulating the barn so it will help a bit. I've camped when it has been colder, that is for sure.

I am so looking forward to it!

We had an extremely productive day at Mt. Matt this weekend. Our friend Chad came along and was a huge help. We got most of the barn room insulated. oneandonlymatt and I should be able to knock out the last wall no problem next time. We hope to start on the ceiling cladding as well.

I felt great all weekend. No potential ill effects from my car accident on Friday. I have a theory about it, too. I should have been much more sore based on the actual impact of the Grand Am to the back of a Saturn. However, Asheville in general and more specifically our little mountain has a *lot* of quartz. Cultures have recognized the healing powers of quartz for thousands of years. Perhaps there really is something to it. Or, Mt. Matt is like the island from LOST. I'm not sure which.

On the way home, it snowed. Lots and lots of snow. It is even still on the ground a bit at my house.

( click here for photos of our work and of the snow )