Blue By Hue............wasn't that a Linda Ronstadt song ?

 Because a steel frame conducts the outside temperature so much easier than wood, it's necessary to provide some resistance to that thermal flow.

So we're now sheathing the exterior with a foam board to insulate the steel studs.

A helpful side effect is that the interior & exterior spaces now have definition, & you can get a better feel for the eventual size & volume of those spaces.

Eventually, a second, more sturdy sheathing will cover the blue board. And the walls and roof rafters will be sprayed with foam insulation, all the way to the roof decking.

In effect we'll be creating a "thermos bottle" effect to keep our energy bills low.

It costs a bit more to build this way, but I always tell clients that " You can pay now, or pay later, when the power bill arrives."

When all of a sudden, what should appear ????????

Even before actually purchasing the lot, one of my chores was to tidy up it's street frontage, after years of collecting heavy underbrush & tree seedlings. This would give the best existing tree specimens a chance to breathe & receive sunlight.

There was one seemingly nondescript tree that I preserved just because of it's nice shape, though it seemed to be just another tree with green foliage .

But my neighbor, a horticultural enthusiast, identified it to me as a type of pear tree. I was very skeptical of his analysis, but still glad that I had kept it.

A few weeks ago I happily realized that his diagnosis was correct. The once "just another tree" transformed itself with a beautiful fall color that is characteristic of pear trees.

I'm so glad I saved it, even if it never bears fruit.

BTW, all the existing plant life that I did remove found a new purpose as mulch for this area, & will generate excellent new top soil to nourish the flora that remains. That's the way God set up the system.................BRILLIANT !