I Can See Clearly Now

It was such a lovely day today, so of course we had the windows open. Unfortunately, the flying insects have returned for the season. I hauled the window screens up from downstairs, and JP sprayed them off with the hose while I washed windows. They are all bright and sparkling for a couple of days at least. There are quite a few that I can't reach though. I'm going to have to try the squeegee with the extension handle for the high ones...some day.

We got the fence up around the orchard today, and the raspberries in the ground. I also planted some more peonies and some hyacinths. So far the deer have left the peonies from last year alone, so I think the new ones are safe, but I've never had hyacinths before. It's always a gamble in the country! Last night I priced steel fencing at Lowe's, maybe I'll have to enclose my flower bed.

For dinner, we made Gyoza...Japanese dumplings. This was the first time I've ever made them, but JP had lots of experience making them with his family. The girls LOVED them...always a gamble there too. For dessert we had baklava left over from our trip to Mr. Gyro's last night. Dinner on Poplar Ridge was quite a cultural experience.

We pulled out the cushions for the deck chairs this evening. What a perfect night to sit on the deck in the evening breeze!

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!

Wearin' O the Greene

J got off work early today, so we scuttled up to Poplar Ridge to meet with the builder. We got a lot accomplished...marked cable and phone outlets, also made some trim decisions and kitchen layout decisions.

We were surprised to see windows! They are almost all in now...we decided to go with casement instead of the double hung. They look great! Here's the view from the drive...

...and from the garage side...

...and this shows the finished retaining wall for our back porch too.

The stairs are in too! L was a bit nervous going down the first time, but soon was running up and down.

The girls had a great time playing in the sawdust.

Here is L wearing her green.

They have done some more framing down stairs as well. This photo is taken from the "Exercise Room" toward the storage/closet and bathroom. The girl's bathroom and the unfinished storage areas have been framed out too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Greene County!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

That is the song I had blaring on the radio this afternoon as SEVEN (count 'em) girls were leaving Poplar Ridge. We actually made 2 trips up the hill today, as we were anticipating the cement truck today to pour the basement floor...thought it might be nice to see them pour a little bit, seeing as our entire house is concrete and we've missed it all so far!

This morning we were able to see the hoses/pipes for radiant heating in the floors of the girls' rooms on one side, and the Exercise Room and extra Bathroom on the other.

They were also laying re bar to prepare for pouring footers for the porch between the house and the garage.

This afternoon, with blue skies above and 70* fresh air blowing on the hill, we returned with friends in time to see them pouring the footers. The cement truck poured into the bucket of a tractor, which in turn dumped the concrete into the footers. Someone had to slop around down in the hole to jiggle the air bubbles out and level it all off.

The floors downstairs are all smooth and neat.

The shingles and siding have arrived. Our builder expects windows and doors next week.

A good end to a good week!

Color Samples

Here I am, wasting time on the computer, when I should be doing school with J! I just wanted to post an idea of the exterior color scheme. So here is an idea:

Keep in mind: 1) The colors are not exact because we are getting our siding, shingles, windows, doors and paint from different companies, not just the one that had the sample. 2) There will be no shutters. 3) The gingerbread on the eaves is tentative...just brainstorming at the moment.

Ta-da!

Happy to be Here

The builder called today and said he had window and shingle samples to bring by later. I offered to meet him at the building site so I could see how things are coming along. They have all the structure framing finished, and have boarded up windows, doors and the stairwell downstairs in order to maximize warmth down there.

L slipped on some ice and fell in the mud. Going out in the cold with her is tenuous at best, and this incident put her over the edge. "I code. I wanna go home!"

Now we need to pick windows. I think this is what we are going with, without the grilles.

We thought for a brief minute that metal prices had come down enough lately to make our metal roof affordable. They have come down, the builder informed me, but are still more expensive than when he gave us a quote last Spring. Bummer. We are interested in these shingles in Hunter Green.

We are supposed to be thinking about exterior doors now. What color are those going to be? We ended up with white garage doors because that was the only color we could get FAST, and we needed to use the garage in a hurry. Do we go with white, green, taupe (like the garage) or some other accent color??? HELP!