Fun times with Family and Friends

I was pretty much on cloud nine this past weekend because we had both kids home for the first time together in well over a year.  Joel Rhein and Katherine flew in from Greenville, SC and Paige and Tanya have been here from California for the past six weeks helping us with everything house related.  What fun we had celebrating Joel's 57th birthday with muffins and mimosas by the lake on Saturday morning!  Grandpa Amidon and Tammy were treated to an inaugural ride down the new road in Paige's Jeep with Tanya right there for moral support as both of them were a tad nervous.  No worries, though.  The MANY loads of Grandpa's mulch held up just fine.

Joel and the girls have been working really hard on landscaping the yard.  Joel Rhein and Katherine added to the property's beauty by presenting Joel with these glorious hydrangea bushes for his birthday.  As an added bonus they planted them as well!

So the friend part of the day came into play when Arielle and Vanessa, Paige's high school pals, joined us to assist in taking a group photo (all three dogs included!) for this year's Christmas card.  I am not going to show you the end result as you will have to wait until December for that, but here are the girls enjoying beverages and breakfast:)

Progress on the exterior of the house continues to thrill me.  Steve and Larry and Dennis have almost completed the siding.  The only thing slowing us down right now is that we ran out of Hardiplank.  Because we decided to angle the ceiling over the outdoor patio we used more siding than initially planned.  Another pallet is on the way.  The plumbers are nearing completion and hopefully the electrician will be finishing up soon as well.  Then it is on to insulation, drywall, and floors!

Roots, Racoon, Rescue Dog, and New Trees!

Although I tried, I could not come up with a suitable "R" word to describe our new Cedar trees... but here they are being planted by Will Olney's crew last Saturday morning.  We had them staggered just off the lakeside stoop on the west side of the house to provide a lovely green barrier.  They will grow just a little bit taller and fill out just a bit more over the years.  Joel and Will have discussed the placement of other shrubs and trees once we get the sidewalks and patios installed.

Last night Joel and I headed up to the house to check on the day's progress and water the cedars.  We brought the dogs as they are now trained on the Invisible Fence.  Although they all love their new yard and home, Sadie, our rescue pit mix, is especially curious.  I can't keep up with her as she explores the house upstairs and downstairs and upstairs and downstairs...

I brought lunch to the girls at around noon yesterday and discovered this guy on the road down to the lake.  He did not startle or attempt to move as I approached, so I retreated and called down to the girls to have them be careful on their way up.  Paige shooed him off the path, but he bared his teeth and got grumpy as he fled, so we are all going to be extra careful for the next few days.

Paige and Tanya are now in their 4th week of road construction, and the results are impressive!  Joel took the day off on Tuesday to help them with some of the heavier lifting.  He also trimmed the lower branches of several trees so that vehicles can pass underneath.  They all worked together to level the land a bit to lessen the pitch at the bottom.  This included digging out multiple tree roots.

Meanwhile, the activity level at the house has been at a fevered pitch.  Yesterday Steve and Larry and Dennis continued siding the back part of the east side.  Mark, our electrician, was up in our bedroom installing outlets, boxes, and wires.  The plumbers showed up to work on the hot and cold tubing.  Hopefully today I will be able to take some progress photos of both the inside and outside and post them tomorrow!

Whose Side are you on, Anyway?

In between rain bursts, Steve has made steady progress on the siding this week.  As they say, though, it takes a village.  When Paige and Tanya couldn't work on the road, they painted molding pieces to stay ahead of Steve....35 long boards in one afternoon!  Joel got up on the roof above our side entrance and painted some molding that did not get a first coat before it went up.  Dennis finished off the lakefront siding by getting all those little pieces around the large windows in place. The long and short of it is that the house is looking so gorgeous!

The road is also progressing nicely.  More mulch was dumped and spread, more land was cleared further down the slope, and most muscle taxing of all, the girls pushed, shoved and kicked (well, kind of!) large cement blocks into place down by the waterfront decking.  These will serve as supports for the road as it makes its final descent towards the water.

So it is not all work up at the house, as if that is not evident by now!  I had a lovely ladies lunch gathering mid week.  Karen was up visiting from Florida.  Jean and Cindy and I always enjoy catching up with her, and when they all requested a tour, one was planned.

Progress Photos

As Steve and Larry and Dennis continue to work on the outside of the house...siding, installing eaves, and placing soffits...the plumbers battle the challenges of an older home as they drill through hard old wood to get the PVC pipes down from the upstairs bathrooms.  We had to change the placement of the sink in the guest bathroom because my original choice sat directly above a huge support beam that could not be breached.  Also, some traps hang down a little too low into the den below posing a potential problem with ceiling height.  I am confident they will figure things out, though!  In the meantime, I have picked up all the sinks and toilets from Lowes, and the claw foot soaking jet tub has been delivered and is set into place.  Mark, our electrician, and I are almost done mapping out where all the light fixtures and cable lines will be placed.  He is bringing in an assistant to finalize all the wiring as the insulation people are just waiting for the go-ahead to do their part.  Paige and Tanya work everyday with Joel Senior to coordinate mulch pick up for the road.  They are doing an amazing job clearing the land, dumping and spreading the mulch, and jumping in on painting trim pieces as needed!!  Lastly, we have had a constant visitor up at the house.  This beautiful Monarch butterfly has helped me paint, overseen the girls during their road construction , and follows Joel wherever he works on the property.  I got the feeling the other day that it is our dear friend Walter coming to check on things.  He passed away several years ago, but he would have loved to have been a part of this renovation.

Deck Success!

Wow, what a morning!  The crane arrived right on time at 10 am.  The Raullis were running a tad late with deck so I decided to take a quick walk up Mullin Hill to keep me occupied.  As I descended, I saw that the crane was set in place and ready to roll as the deck had just arrived.

The crane operator was so smooth and competent.  He was unable to see the actual placement of the deck, so he relied on little hand signals from the guys as he lifted and set first the deck, then a pallet with the floor pieces, then finally the railing.  Paige, Tanya, Cathy, and I watched in awe as the team set all the parts in place then bolted everything in nice and tight then touched up any nicks or scratches.  It was like a dance, a beautiful dance!

Of course we needed to celebrate the installation, so as the day wound down we enjoyed happy hour up on high.  CHEERS!

Prep for the Deck

The big moment is almost here!  Raulli's Iron Works has completed work on our upper decking at their factory.  They delivered the railing yesterday, and the rest comes today with the big install happening at 10 am.  Steve and Larry prepared the lake side of the house by getting the siding in place, then, in the evening, Joel plugged all the little holes and painted the trim work.  Luckily, today has dawned sunny and beautiful so there should be no delays due to weather.  Fingers crossed for a successful delivery.  I am headed up there soon to catch all the action and will post pictures of the final result later today.  I will also post updates and photos of all the interior work which includes plumbing and electrical progress.  Oh, and Paige and Tanya are really making inroads on the road, haha!  More later!

The Road Crew has Arrived!

Paige and her friend Tanya have made the cross country drive from California and are staying with us for six weeks this summer.  Joel has hired them to clear the land going down to the lake and then create an 8 foot wide pathway or road for walkers or vehicles.  Look how much they have accomplished in just 3 days!

Steve and Larry are back with gusto after the Independence Day holiday weekend.  They continue to work on the siding and the soffit area above the side entrance.  Apparently there is a 3 inch difference from one end of the roofline to the other over the main doorway.  They are in the process of removing the metal roof, shimming up the low end, then replacing the aluminum.

Remember these folks from last summer?!  Our friends, Lisa and Michael, were up visiting from Williamsburg and stopped in to see our progress.  We always enjoy catching up with them:)