Sign, Sign, everywhere a Sign ... and a dog

When I was digging my many mailbox holes, Bob found a place to rest and tucked himself in between the signs on our property. There have been others, but Wes, Rock-On Excavation and the Strid Brothers still seem OK with associated themselves with our house. We certainly feel good associating with them and the many others that have helped.

Getting ready to put in the mailbox

I went to dig a hole to put the mail box in. Nothing below the surface is easy on our land. I dug about 20 test holes and hit ledge at six inches on every one. Finally, I moved to the other side of the driveway and crafted a hole between rocks. I'm not sure this is going to work as I think the mailbox post will need to navigate a few twists and turns to get two feet below the surface. Well, here I am, the simple man again, this time with his mailbox. I figure it may be easier to just come out here and hold it every afternoon and wait for the mailman (actual mail woman) than trying to dig a proper hole without blasting.

Septic System

Kim, Wes and Lee don't agree with me, but I'm still thinking we over-engineered the Septic System.

We have stairs

We're really starting to move along now. Jack Kinney came by Sunday and installed the stairs.

They are White Oak and we can now go up and down floors without a ladder.

Actually, Kim told me not to use them, and then when I turned around, you know who was staring down laughing at me.  Leave it to Bob to be the first one up the stairs to the loft.

Kim is up at the crack of dawn

Kim bounced out of bed in the morning and took a picture of the sunrise. Much better than the one I took a few week back.

First night in the new house

Well we slept in the house on Saturday instead of the barn. After all, we had heat and light. Still outdoor plumbing, but we're moving up in the world. Bob seems to be first to bed. Sorry about the eyes, I only have 'Red Eye' correction, not 'Yellow Eye'.

OMG ... Lights!

Well, simple things please simple people. At least six weeks ago, the power company came to hook us up. You remember the story ... new lines pulled, tapping into 'street power' ... a transformer big enough to support all of South Kent ... etc. Well, the day finally came to connect this engineering masterpiece and we had a sleet storm. That was a few weeks and more than one phone call to CL&P ago, but this last week, we finally got power. It's the simple things in life I guess, but Kim and I actually danced with delight. Bob and Brie did as well ... and that was weird ... I never really pictured them as a couple.

Here's a shot of the second floor attic in the barn all lit up.

Here we see the barn at night. We left the lights so we could see them when we got back from Suzi and Ed's house where we went for dinner.

BI

Is it just me, or does there seems to be some sign of natural forces aligning on our property.

View from the back

Bob and I took a walk in the woods behind the house. Well, it was more of a climb really.  At one point I had to pull Bob up over a ledge and at another he had to push me. Later I saw him out back hammering pitons into the ledge and hear him mumbling something about getting some carabiners and climbing rope for 'next time'. I think he's still hurting from the tumble he took a month ago when he hobbled to a house five miles away to ask to use their phone.

Anyway, I digress. Here's a shot of the house from down the hill.

Kitchen Ceiling

The Strid Brothers are almost done with the ceiling in the Kitchen. Smooth side out ... or the opposite of what the walls in the Great Room will be.

Propane Tank

Well, we're now almost the proud owners of a 320 LB in ground propane tank. I say almost because Bantam Fuel were nice enough to drop it off before we actually signed a contract. Once it's hooked up next week, Lee will backfill and finish with the fill until spring. We'll also be ready to hook up the Stove and Dryer.

Bantam also loaned us a 150 LB tank so we can operate a propane heater in the basement to keep the house warm for the contractors until we have heat, and we can't get heat until the floors are in and sanded. That's because the particle from sanding floors and sheet rock voids the warranty on just about everything electronic.

Doors and windows ...

Some of the exterior doors arrived and were installed this week. This is the Mud Room entrance door in the front of the house, and you can see that Rich Strid has now finished the siding around it. Wes picked out some really nice exterior doors and Kim and I picked out one, that will lead to the screened in porch.

Here's a close up showing how Two Brothers framed the stone around the windows. This is in the front of the house on the lower North side. We decided last minute to ask Two Brothers to do the stonework around the entire house. We were going to wait until the spring just from a cash flow perspective, but Two Brothers and Kim, worked out some sort of agreement that took 2 days and lots of chatter.

Other views ...

Here are a couple of pictures from some different angles. First, a view of the North side from taken from down the slope and through a couple of trees.

Now here's a view of the back of the house. I had to keep walking backwards to take the shot, always making sure I didn't do what Robbie did a few weeks back, and take a tumble down the side of the hill!

Taping has started ...

Saturday, there was a taper there from Laval's sheetrocking team and he got a first coat on the master bedroom, closet, den, and master bath. We think that the sheetrocking and taping will be done this week. Then it's on to painting and then we really start the inside. Things are moving, but Wes reminded me that at this point, the schedule is the schedule. I'm still thinking the family Christmas is in Kent, although now, it may without a few things like Kitchen Counters, Sinks, etc. No matter, with heat, electricity and our family sitting around a roaring fire, all will be good.

Kitchen ceiling & Great Room walls

Kim did some research and after Wes saw the lumber as well, we arrived at using 1 x 6 shiplap siding for the ceiling in the kitchen. Here's a shot of it at the lumber yard, and we're looking at the 'smooth' side. That's what we'll face the ceiling with, which will then make the smooth side in the entrance way.

We also decided to use similar, but random width, siding for the Great Room walls. They will vary in widths of 6, 8 and 10 inch, will also be shiplap and on on the walls, we'll have the rough side out as in this picture.