Dogs, Frogs, and Two-by-Fours

Bob and Ruth, rank amateurs at carpentry, design and build their lakeside home, from footers to roof.

While building, they live in a tiny rustic cabin near the house site with two children, two dogs, one cat, and as many frogs, snakes, and turtles as the kids can lug home.

On holidays, the cabin bursts with relatives from Bob's rollicking Cornish family. It is so crowded that Bob has to sleep with his nephew under the kitchen table. Ruth's quixotic parents pop in and out as the whim suits them.

The trees in the front yard die; walls get tarred that should be painted; rain pours through the uncovered roof rafters. But the house, despite all, gets built before the heavy snows fall, thanks to dawn to dark hammering and sawing.

All their dreams come true: a spiral staircase, a thirty-foot long balcony, a fountain in the living room, antique roof corbels, a lake view, and the peace of country living all around.