Sunday, November 1, 2009

A visit from Mom and Aunt Jane

The barn and deck are complete
and we can finally use our kitchen door.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The north side of the deck.
New storm doors at kitchen and basement.
Pet door in L French door.

Deck from South. Stairs on South side of house.
Pet door can be seen at walk-out.
Fence to be added later.

Entry door and window are to Bonnie's winemaking shop.

We apologize to everyone who has been waiting for an update on the work here at the farm. All of the contracted work has been completed with the exception of the storm door on the front of the cottage. Menard's gave us the wrong door so we had to take it back and exchange it. Mike will be out soon to install it. He also has one more garden post to set. Bonnie is considering her next project which may be the insulating/finishing of her winemaking room.

The barn is great. Both vehicles fit and Bonnie has been installing heavy-duty shelving. We are slowly taking things from the basement to the garage to free up space in the basement, and we are also bringing a few things from the villa to the farm. Will take some interior photos soon.

Bonnie taped lines on the garage floor to make it easier for us to line up the cars when driving them in. Works perfectly.

The deck is wonderful. The two stairways from the deck were made from recycled lumber from our deck at the campground, adding a dose of nostalgia to the project.

After Bonnie's shop is insulated, our next project will be to finish the basement. This may be followed by the last major building project - a master bedroom off the north side of the house.

Bonnie was offered and has accepted a job with DePuy in Warsaw where she will be a scheduler. It is a 6-month contract and begins this Wednesday, November 4th.

Kathy's son, KJ, got snowed in at Laramie WY this past week on a trip from CA to MI.

Bonnie's son, Scott, completed a NCO training program in Ft. Lee VA where he graduated with honors.

Kathy had her yearly evaluation at the library and it looks like she will have a job for another year. She is on vacation this week and is trying to log enough caches to get to 2000. It is certainly do-able.

Kathy's mother finally made it to the farm today, bringing her sister and Kathy's aunt, Jane. We were busy cleaning house for two days...things that we never cleaned when we moved in. The bamboo flooring cleaned up very, very well.

Marquette hid in Little Bear's kennel with Little Bear during most of the visit, while Possum spent several hours hiding under the quilt on the futon in the sleeping loft. Tacumwah had to be shut on the front porch with Little Bear and Marquette because she was making a pest of herself.

Denny's building project is nearing completion for this year. He needs to bring in some more gravel, but the car/camper port looks nice. He used some extra siding he had from the previous building and took the sides all the way to the ground. Next year he will put doors on each end. Will try to get a photo.

Kathy is very pleased with her storm doors. The doors at the front and kitchen have retractable screens which are very cool.