One Misty, Moisty Morning, When Cloudy was the Weather...

This is the view from the deck this morning. We have had a lot of spectacular views with low-lying clouds and fog lately, as well as some doozies of rain storms. We noticed this sunset up the road on our way home from the Greene Co. Fair last night.

I'm beginning to feel a bit like Mrs. Noah, shut up in the Ark up here on the ridge. (Minus the animals...haven't heard the mice for days and days now!) Much of the soil meant to be lawn is washing down the hill with all the wetness in the past few days. I did notice a few brave sprigs of grass popping up off the porch.

I don't know if it is the weather affecting me or not, but I feel like not all of my brain synapses are connecting lately. I walk around in a daze from one half-finished task to the next. It has been a bit busy here lately. JP's sister and family, along with his mother came to visit for a long weekend last week. The girls were overjoyed to see their cousins, and their cousins were very sweet about playing with them which gave a few of my synapses a rest! Here is everyone except Bro-in-Law (who is taking the picture) on our deck.

JP needed to use up the rest of his vacation/personal days from his '08-'09 work year this week, so he had Monday-Wednesday off. We managed to get most of the pictures hung, and some garage organizing done, but it seems like the projects still overwhelm our time to work on them. You may have noticed that I changed the title of this Blog to "A Home on Poplar Ridge". It is definitely feeling like home, especially since we hung our collage of family photos on the landing wall of the stairs.

The bedrooms are now finished enough to photograph, so here is a shot of the Master Bedroom...

...And this is the Guest Room. We do have a framed print of Monet's Water-Lillies for over the bed, but the frame was broken while in storage, so it needs to be repaired first.

We continue to have critter sitings. The raccoons and mice are rarely seen these days, but the deer, turkeys and other lovely birds have been abundant. Just the other day, JP noticed this Little Brown Bat hanging from the soffit on the porch.

Today I must tackle the pantry. Everything is organized well enough for me, but the rest of the family has trouble finding certain things, and items have mysteriously vanished after recent grocery shopping trips. My parents will also be here soon and need room for their own canned and dry goods. We have a trip to Morgantown planned for later today to resume J's violin lessons after a 2 month break.

When it Rains, it Pours!

It's been raining quite a bit here in our neck of the woods. The downspouts from the gutters and the french drains are now connected to our rain water cistern, which is full and over flowing. (Any one want to bring their gardens over for a drink?) The crew has been alternating between working outside when it is not raining, to working inside or on the porch when it is. Our breezeway between the house and garage is nearly finished, just needs a door on the porch side and then we can fill it up with shoes and coats.

The builder promised to hook up a temporary source of hot water for us on Friday. I was looking forward to finally using the dishwasher and this beautiful shower in my bathroom.

Here's a picture of the entire bathroom, which is basically finished. Might hang a picture in there later...dunno.

We ran the dishwasher on rinse last night before going to bed, as a preview for the next day's dishes. It wasn't long before water was puddling out from underneath. I called Sears again...the first available appointment they had for repairs was NEXT Friday! GRRRR!

JP was the first to try out the new shower this morning. I was happily cooking pancakes when J ran up from downstairs, yelling "It's raining in my room!". Yes indeed-y, it was! Water was running out of air vent in the girls' ceiling..quite a lot of it. It seems that there is some problem with either the shower drain (although we used it when running all of that water to empty the cistern after shocking the well) or the hot water to the shower. **Big sigh!** I'll have to wait a bit longer to use that shower.

The repairman returned with the part to fix my washer on Friday morning. When we brought the dryer in from the garage to hook it up, we found that the plug for it did not fit into the 220 volt outlet that was installed. I had already washed 5 loads of clothes in anticipation of the dryer. JP replaced the plug on the dryer today while I was at the laundromat drying stuff. After emptying the pecans and mouse poo out of the dryer vent, I put the last load in. Ahhh...so nice to have working appliances!

One other little issue we've discovered...we can't reach the second row of windows in the great room to open or close them. We have a doo-hickey, well really a 9 or 10 foot long pole, that we use to close the window on the back wall way up by the ceiling. It's too long to use for the other windows. It's been a bit chilly at night, so, for lack of a better idea, JP put J up on the ledge to close the windows. L thought it looked like great fun and wanted to be up there too! Now they ask to go up every day!

Strawberry picking we will go

Well, our moving date has officially been moved back to the end of June...somewhere around the 25th or 26th. I'm very disappointed, but not surprised. I'm trying to think of the positive aspects of this new revelation, and I've come up with a few:

-J has a couple of extra weeks to practice bike riding on flat ground

-I will now have time to go pick strawberries at Simon's Farm, make jam, and freeze some berries

-I'll have 2 more weeks to be right next door to the Farmer's Market

Today, at the house, they finished laying tile in the Master Bathroom shower.

This crown molding in the Master Bedroom tray ceiling will hold indirect lighting.

The shelving in the Master Bedroom closet is started.

The Library bookshelves are stained and sealed and drying out on the porch.

The pocket doors are installed in the girls' rooms. Look, it can be one room...

...or two!

I signed the girls up for swimming lessons in July. Summer...here we come!

Ghost Blogger

We missed our Saturday morning hike this week due to a Birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese (oh joy, joy!) So we went Sunday instead. L was a fabulous hiker this time, we walked for an hour without complaints. The underbrush is starting to become greener. I have been keeping my eyes peeled for ramps, but haven't seen any yet!

Unfortunately, not much happened at the house between our last visit and the weekend one. Hubby likes to go there and spend hours, walking around, looking and dreaming. I am finding many of the visits painful these days. My true "glass half empty" nature is showing through and instead of noticing what is done, I am seeing what still has to happen.

I still feel like a ghost walking through the house...meaning I can walk through the walls. Here are L and I sitting in the Master Bedroom closet.

We got out some of the toys and let the girls ride bike in the Great Room. This one is soon to become L's, as J's knees hit the handle bars!

Oh...NOW I get it!

The roof is basically on our house, with the exception of the roof over the upstairs deck which will span the space between the "bump outs" in front.

I am finally able to "see" what the house is going to look like. It has taken me a long time because I have a spatial handicap. This is the great room, with cathedral ceilings...changing light bulbs might be a challenge in here!

Under the dropped ceiling will be our dining room and kitchen. Kitchen counters will extend up to the space for the stairs, with the pantry wall taking shape at the far right of this picture.

This is the opening in the wall of my work space. Yes, you heard right: I get my own room again! (Of course, I have to share space with such feminine things as the washer & dryer, freezer, and the coats and boots.) I will, however, have cabinets and a built in desk which looks out over the Great Room through this opening. It will have a pull-down door of some sort.

If you examine this picture closely, you can see that the ceiling in the Master Bedroom is not even. There will be a tray ceiling in this room and the study on the opposite side of the Great Room. This is a nice feature that we forgot to delete during one of our cost-cutting sessions.

Here is a view from the main entrance of the house, with the hip roof completed, and space for a small window for lighting purposes.

It is so exciting to see things looking more like a house and less like a giant white box!