The first dome resting on the piers poured in place while the dome was sitting on the beams (still in place) upon which it was moved to NW 118th Street from SW 59th and Shields. Seth is flying a kite in the foreground. Mom took most of these pictures with her Instamatic camera to document our project.

Seth flying a kite in the then-vacant lots west of ours.

The one that worked. I got two kites like this one at Fisherman's Wharf in SF. The blue one never seemed to fly right.

Mary, Mary Wallace and Randy Hendricks on the north side of the dome.

Seth, his Mom and Randy

Randy, Dad and some farmer (ie Farmer Steve).

Wonder what Dad was thinking as he looked over the dome before starting our building project.

Mary, Steve and Dad studying what to do next after getting the floor and one wall of the kitchen done.

Mary and Steve raised that east wall of the kitchen-to-be by themselves one evening. It was heavier than expected. Jeremy and Seth inspect the work.

Seth and Jeremy looking out from under the edge of the south end of the dome onto the new deck for the kitchen.

Mary and Steve putting up fiber board on the exterior kitchen wall.

Looking through the new window opening in south end of the new kitchen.

Dad and Steve working on the kitchen roof in the late evening while Mary looks on.

Steve and Dad putting up T1-11 siding on the west side of the kitchen.

The lead carpenter takes a rest.

Kitchen roof, siding and windows installed.

Steve demonstrating the operation of the new windows.

In the dusk light, the east kitchen window has been installed.

Looking up into the loft inside the dome.

The east-west wall supporting the front edge of the loft.

The dome interior had been designed for it to serve as a lake cabin, so these doorways and some of the internal walls had to be moved to meet our requirements.

Looking from what would become our living room, through the new kitchen and out the new south window.

Looking north to the opening that was to be the door to the cabin.

Our first neighbor and his child. They moved back to Ohio before we had a chance to get to know them.

We put the skirt around the top of the kitchen and the front porch to tie in the roof line to the siding of the bathroom, where we replaced cedar shake shingles with T1-11 siding.

We did the same on the east side of the kitchen extension. We made the skirt shorter where we planned to add a back porch.

Steve, working on the opening for the window-to-be in the living room-to-be.

Grandmother Harris, Melonie and Greg Herndon, and Aunt Patty Sue visited to see what we were doing on the land I got from Grandmother and Pa-Pa.

Dad, working on the front room window opening.

Mary, checking the particle board that was put down for flooring. It got wet and had to be replaced.

Hard to see, but this is the pile of rain-soaked particle board flooring that had to be torn out and replaced.

New living room casement window.

You can see the second casement window we installed on the east (L) side of the dome, in the boys' room. The original site for the cabin door has not been closed yet.

The old doorway has been closed (the old door is leaning against the house on the right) and Dad and Steve are installing a drip edge over which the bottom edge of shingles will be laid.

Mary inspects the work.

Here, Jeremy and Seth pose in front of the partially shingled shell. Dad built the 'jacks' used to reach the second level of triangles.

Shingling the top of the dome.

More particle board detritus on the new front porch. From the ladder to the flat roof of the kitchen to the top of the dome, where the finishing touches are being applied to the shingles. The metal edging around the flat roof indicates that surface has been sealed already.

Working on a sunburn.

After sealing up the roof, we started work on the new front doorway.

Time for a water break.

Seth looks like he's worked up a thirst for a Braum's limeade.

The boys were already setting up their Hotwheels track.

Mary and Seth take a break on the front porch.

It must have been hot in the loft.

Jeremy mows the field, not yet a yard, on Mom & Dad's lawnmower.

Steve and Dad install the corner post for what will become Mary's upstairs bathroom off the loft bedroom.

First stack of sheetrock to be installed downstairs.

Insulation in the downstairs walls and insulation and sheetrock installed upstairs in the loft.

Sheetrock in the laundry room on the right, and in the kitchen, with the breaker box installed in the south wall.

Gerald and Dad in long sleeves, caps and gloves to install insulation, while Steve covers what they install with sheetrock.

Dad built the kitchen cabinets in the garage at Mom & Dad's house in Mustang.

Steve mostly watched.

And helped load everything for the ride to the dome.

Sheetrock is up, and taping, bedding and texturing have been done. And somebody swept the floor for the cabinet installation.

Looks like Seth was the one helping with the clean-up.

Seth getting the kitchen floor ready for cabinets.

Mary stands in the northeast corner of the kitchen, where the first section of cabinets will be installed.

Bottom cabinets installed on the east wall and upper cabinet shelves hung.

A look at the east wall from the south end of the kitchen.

Dad moved on to installing the bathroom door jambs and cabinets.

Laundry room door jambs and doors have been installed and some of the stiles of the east kitchen cabinets.

Steve, still in his office clothes, working in the downstairs bathroom.

Mary, scoping out her upstairs bathroom, also still in office makeup and attire.

Steve, in office attire, with the bathroom countertop in hand. We would go straight from work to the dome during the week to work there.

Dad, working on the kitchen countertops.

We stained all the woodwork by hand, including the tongue-and-groove ceilings of the downstairs rooms. Sawdust came through the cracks of the tongue-and-groove lumber for years. This is the downstairs bedroom the boys used.

More of the stained ceiling

Our new appliances, yet to be installed.

Steve is doing final sanding on kitchen cabinet doors before they're hung.

Dad used a jig he had made to set the cabinet doors all the same height.

Steve holds a cabinet door in place while Dad installs the hinges.

We made a game of describing faces and creatures in the patterns of the wood grain on the cabinet doors.

With cabinet doors hung and drawers installed, Dad moved on to working on the back door.

There was nothing but an open field out the back door in 1981.

Mary standing proudly by the laundry pantry after staining.

The newly-installed front door

Cabinets and built-in refrigerator enclosure on the west wall of the kitchen

Upstairs bathroom plumbing installed and wood staining completed

Dad thought long and hard about how to design a set of stairs to reach the loft that would meet the building code rise and run requirements, and still fit in the small space we had.

Steve and Mary worked on installing the spring for the storm door. That's Mom and Dad's brown Ford station wagon in the background.

Looks like Mary and Steve are a little doubtful of Dad's design for the staircase.

Steve and Dad install the backsplash for the kitchen cabinets.

Steve painted stripes around parts of the downstairs bedroom and bathroom.

The kitchen already looks lived in.

Appliances installed, mostly.

The window sill was installed after the backsplash went up.

Outside, Steve has started implementing his plan to close in the spaces between the piers around the under side of the dome.

Steve watches while Dad starts installing the staircase to the upstairs loft.

Mary seems satisfied with the weight-bearing capacity of the stairs.

Next, she tests how easy it is to climb them.

Looking downstairs from the loft after the steps have been installed.

Jeremy vacuums the new carpet that has been installed in the loft.

Sliding doors installed in the upstairs bathroom cabinet and backsplash ready to put in place.

Mary wisely insisted we needed a storage shed to hold supplies and went out and ordered one to be delivered; we used it until it was torn down 20+ years later to make room for another project, our sunroom.

After staining the back door, we covered it with black plastic to protect it till we had our porch in place.

With materials delivered for the back porch, Steve and Dad start construction by closing off the edge of the roof overhang to keep out the elements--and, eventually, squirrels.

Steve had good balance back then.

And Dad did too.

As usual, Mary and Steve watch Dad work.

Applying the decking on the roof of the back porch.

Notice the boys' go-cart in the foreground that their grandfather built for them.

Installing the steps up to the back porch. Have George and Nola moved in and planted corn in the field across the street?

Final adjustments to the back porch

Inside, Mom really got into staining the new stairway.

And Mary too.

They seemed to be enjoying their work.

Newly-stained steps to the loft

The view from the living room to the entryway by the front door.

Looking south across the kitchen table and out the back window at the prairie.

Back in Mustang, Steve sands pieces for the railing of the staircase.

That t-shirt was a crayon iron-on project with the kids.

Dad designed and installed the stair railings.

These four photos are Polaroids that Mary thinks were taken by an assessor, perhaps someone from whom we hoped to get a loan for the second dome. This shot is from the southwest, looking northeast, at the front porch and kitchen extension.

This assessor's Polaroid was taken from the southeast corner of the lot, looking northwest.

This assessor's Polaroid was taken from the northeast corner of the lot, looking southwest. Our former neighbors Susan and Phil called our little dome "The Jewel on the Prairie." Pam S sent us a cross-stitch of a dome with the label "Home Sweet Dome."

This assessor's Polaroid was taken at the south of the lot, looking north. Dad built two pairs of steps, one for the front porch and one for the new back porch, using 2" rough cedar.

We hired a friend of a friend to pour the concrete for the driveway and he had his son do the work. And it came out a little rough in places.

Here's the view of the then-new driveway from the street. Someone gave us the mailbox, already on the post, and we just planted it out front. The skirting around the bottom of the dome has been completed in this shot too.

Mary and the boys got me the house numbers for Father's Day, I think.

I wasn't sure what distance the house was supposed to be from the street, so I had it set back farther than code required and we ended up with a very long driveway. This is the view from the house out to the street.

Mary and Steve's cars at home in their places on the drive in front of the house.