New Years Eve

Nichiha fiber cement siding is on and Everest vinyl siding going on.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Another angle. No mud today.

We had to drive to Huntington today to file for our property tax exemptions. Can't file for the Homestead since we are allowed only one and have one for the Ft. Wayne property. After that property is sold we can file for a Homestead on the farm...as well as an over 65 exemption after Kathy turns 65 (in a few years).

We drove to the cottage from the Auditor's Office and saw Denny walking on the road. We invited him in to see the cottage. We found Rex working on the plumbing. He hopes to have the wiring and plumbing inspected on Monday. The people doing the insulation are anxious to get in and get their work done. Perhaps they can be scheduled in the next week or two.

We were delighted to see the Nichiha siding was on the front of the house and that the Everest siding was going on. Rex had put some electrical outlets on the outside of the house. They can be seen in the photos - one on the front of the house and one over the walk-out basement where a deck will go and where Rex thought we might want an outlet one day.

Our newspaper box had been vandalized. I think we were the only property to lose a mailbox or newspaper box. We hadn't put our mailbox on the post yet but were receiving The Huntington Tab twice weekly in our newspaper box. Kathy wonders how it is that young people find it entertaining to destroy property. Luckily the cottage hasn't been vandalized. Hopefully the vandals will stay on the road. (Note: there is always a possibility that someone going in or out of the driveway ran into the newspaper box and destroyed it.)

The openings you see in the Nichiha siding on the porch are going to have doors. The front porch is not over the basement, so there is space under it where we can store garden tools, hoses, etc. For now we were told that the neighbor's dog, Reagan, has been busy exploring under the porch.

John Battershell, the cabinet maker, will be at the cottage Monday to take measurements so he can begin making our hickory cabinets.

No propane gas yet.

Roger Smith of Smith Trailer Sales in Monroe is anxious to get the camper to his place to repair it. We have to get the rest of our belongings out of it and out from under it and get the damaged portable porch disassembled. Sounds like a lot of work over the next few days! Bonnie says she is leaving the deck behind at the campground, will attempt to salvage part of the portable porch to use on the deck of the cottage, and will have Roger sell the camper at his camper sales on consignment.