Roofing, Siding, and the Fair!

They've got the roofing done (with the exception of some of the trim and ridge pieces), and they've moved on to the siding. 

For the roof, we always knew we wanted metal- it's more expensive but much longer lasting (like, forever) than shingles and it's much more fire safe, which is a legitimate concern, considering it's our primary natural disaster threat. 

We really wanted a dark bluish gray color, but the options available left us with dark gray or this blue that we went with:

We did not come by the decision easily, seeing as the roof will (hopefully) last a long time, and will hopefully not be a color we get sick of. Gray was a little safer, but we liked this blue color with the other finishes/colors we have planned for the house. On sunny days, it looks a lot more blue, but in some light it's perfect as in these cloudy day photos: 

These storm-cloudy skies were kind of the color we were after.

The guys are also busy putting up the siding! We decided on fiber-cement siding in a board and batten style. We were almost convinced to use a composite wood siding product, but at the last minute decided we preferred the fire-resistive nature of the fiber-cement, and it's also virtually maintenance-free, and the cost came out virtually the same as the alternative we were considering. We both really like stucco and would have loved to use that, but it became cost-prohibitive and while it would have made sense with straw bale, it just wasn't as practical with our SIP panels. 

Below the board and batten, which will get painted, we are using a corrugated metal wainscot in dark gray. It's not installed yet, but you can see here where it will start below the siding panels:

This shows the panels up, but no battens on yet. Also, it will get painted but it's going to be kind of a khaki color, lighter but probably not too different from what you see! 

The electrician and plumber have continued to stay busy doing their parts. The ERV system (the ventilation) was delivered, and Todd will soon start installing that. (More on an ERV later.) 

Also....last Friday we took Marlin to the fair! He got to go twice- Aunt Michelle and cousin Abby took him already but it was fun to go again and watch him enjoy the animals and the  rides!

A llama!

And...just when we were getting ready to leave, we saw that they were holding a special event that was drawing a crowd....pig wrestling!!!