Arriving late to the job site I catch far off the raising of the first frame of the west wall. Working together like Amish farmers, they accomplish with muscle and hard work the miracle of house building.
Framing did not begin on Monday, December 12, or the following Monday either due to the weather.  The floor joists were started on December 23rd, and the sub-floor was in not long after. The raising of the frame began on Friday, December 30th, on a beautiful but cold clear blue sky day.

Here you see the west wall frame in position and in the foreground the all important burn barrel where I have taken refuge to keep warm.  Leed certification encourages the burning of waste material if possible rather than throwing into the dumpster. It also is a vital source of warmth to workers on a cold day, though these guys were sweating due to the physical labor required to assemble and then raise the frames.

Here you can see the second section of the west wall has been raised. From this you can start to get an idea of how grand the house is going to be.

 The first section of the front wall (the north side of the house) is now in position.

As the sun goes down we see Benito's (or Martine's?) shadow in what will be the front window of the house. Progress, slow but sure. We are hoping to be under roof by the end of next week (second week of January, 2017). Then the next phase begins-working on the inside.