Also known as our private angel: Brother Douglas. Since we doubled the footprint of our house, we needed to double the electrical capacity. This meant replacing the 100 amp service that had been in the wall of the cabin with 200 amp service installed in the basement. The project began last year when Michael ran the wires in the sky so that the basement diggers would not run into hot wires as they excavated under the cabin. This year, new and better wires went back in the ground with the expertise (and I mean expert: Douglas not only is an electrical engineer, he's wired houses before too!) of a person with knowledge.

The first day the guys worked for 11 hours getting electricity in the ground and to the house so that when the power company guys came the next day, all that would need to happen would be to connect the box on the pole to the wires at the top.

Removing the box from the wall, where it was causing problems due to inadequate insulation.

Just like last year, it rained.

Half the battle was not slipping in the mud.

Running wires through conduit; not easily done at some junctions.

The boys won.

They did work well into the night, connecting the old wires to the new. Not pictured: various runs into town for parts. It always happens.

And then the next day Douglas performed a high wire act.

The 100 amp wire came down and the 200 amp went up. The tricky part was raising the wires in the conduit and holding them in place while Douglas secured them to the pole.

I helped hold the ladder. It was the least I could do. Or perhaps the most... Thank you Sister Teresa for letting us have Douglas for the duration. Most of the addition is wired now, just waiting for insulation and wallboard. Plumbing and heating. Siding. There is more than enough to keep us busy, but this was a huge advance toward making the addition a space to live in.