Big Things = Busy, Busy!

Well! I'm sorry. We've been SO busy lately! As my pregnant girlfriend recently wailed, "I haven't even had time to cut my toenails!" (And, while my toenails aren't growing like hers are with the extra large dose of naturally-occurring hormones, you get the idea!)

Despite only having three posts so far, I'm loving Mama Pea's 'A Home Grown Journal' blog. Her most recent post - which, for her, may have been just a chit-chatty blurb about her strawberry patch - was a gardening lesson for me as I was reminded about pinching off the runners and blossoms the first year and mulching with this or that.

So, in order to update you, I need to go back in time to one cold morning in April when I went out to do chores. With the mash barrel nearly empty, the resident (chicken house) mouse had not been able to get out once he'd gotten in! While he'd had plenty to eat during the night, I think he was also plenty happy to see me come to rescue him! What a cute little guy! (Hmm, I wonder if he's the one Miss Kitty killed and ate last night?)

This next picture is from the beginning of April, too. Tom installed the only "real" interior door we have in the house: on "his" closet - the one in the utility room. And, even though I love Tom's handmade doors that hang throughout the rest of the house, I have to admit to a new favorite "sound": that of this closet door as the latch snaps into the jamb . . . a feature which none of the other doors have. Unfortunately, the dumb dogs still aren't used to the sound of a door closing IN the house and so tend to bark madly at the "intruder" every time Tom or I close it. (Sigh.)

A little (very little) more house progress took place mid-April when I began painting the sunroom. The first picture here is of the primer (the blue-grey color), and the next picture is of the "real" color - the green. The primer went on SO well, and I got really excited about the whole process.

But then, the green went on fairly poorly. It was gloppy and will DEFINITELY require a second coat. Such a disappointment after the ease with which the primer had been applied. The primer is a different brand than the green paint, and so I don't know if that's causing the difference or, maybe, the age of the paint. We bought the green paint almost two years ago and the primer just last year. But, never having been opened, paint doesn't go "bad" that quickly, does it?

House Progress

Looking back several weeks . . . .

After the hubbub of Christmas and the New Year were over, we installed the cute little Hearthstone wood stove that Tom researched, located, and purchased for us for the sun room. Because of all the windows (hence SUNroom), it is also a cool(er) room. In the summertime, that's a bonus. But, in the winter, having that little stove corkin' away in there in the evenings has turned the room into our most-used nighttime sitting/reading area.

The first picture here is, of course, of Tom doing the initial cutting into the ceiling of the sunroom for the chimney. This second shot is kind of a weird one since it's taken through the window screen (of the guest bedroom looking west). But in it, Tom's making the first cut through our beautiful zinc shingles down to the room below. Then, the next picture is taken from the master bedroom looking north. In it, Tom's clamping the band that secures the chimney cap.


























Back inside for the fourth shot, Tom finishes up the stovepipe installation. And then, finally, Maisy helps us enjoy the first fire in the new woodstove!

So Tired!

Poor Tom's bad back was bothering him last weekend, so he went into the sunroom to lay down flat on the hard floor there. But, when I went to check on him, this is what I found: both he and Maisy sound asleep!

Joke For The Day

Tom borrowed one of Mom & Dad's Suburbans (the back of our pickup is full of rock to supply weight for plowing this winter . . . plus, it's not enclosed) yesterday to run up to Ely to pick up the new Hearthstone woodstove. It's ADORABLE and fits PERFECTLY where it's going to go in the sunroom! Now I can REALLY start getting the furniture properly arranged in there! That room has been the catch-all since we moved in, and we've never really been able to use it. But, watch out, now!

21 February 2007

We've decided to work on (and, thereby, finish) one room at a time. The sensible choice to begin with - since it was the one nearest completion - is the sunroom / 4-season porch. Here is Tom, high atop a ladder, applying the clear sealer (affectionately referred to as Jesus Juice - not our name) to the ceiling shiplap and rafters.

27 January 2007

This past weekend, Tom's brother - who has started a high-end Mr. Fixit business with a friend since taking an early retirement from General Mills - came up to lend a hand on the house. We put his skills to use framing out all the windows (and one door) downstairs. Here he and his friend are working in the sunroom.

20 January 2007

Here is the other end of the sunroom with the French doors that lead out onto the large deck that cantilevers out over the valley. To the left you can see through what will be a doorway (another French door) into the living room. This room will be painted a lush, jungle-like green.

20 January 2007

Here's a view of the sunroom looking north/northeast. Eventually, we will hang a twin bed platform from the rafters along the far end of the room. Just imagine on a hot summertime evening - all the windows open letting the breeze blow through . . . the wind gently swaying the bed back and forth while you listen to the river singing below the ridge and the leaves rustling in the trees above. Ah, yes!

23 December 2006

Two days before hosting Christmas for the first time in the new house, we were frantically trying to get everything done that we could in preparation. Here I am in the sun room with all the furniture shoved into one half of it so that I could wash and wax the side you see me working on. Then, after the wax dried, we moved everything into the clean end of the room and repeated the process!