Yipeee!

We got two more loads of gravel yesterday...something to set in the mud.  We've had rain for the past two or three day, I've lost count, but the rest of the week should be great!

An action shot...

The driveway in front of the house looks much, much better!

Yahoooo!  Stu picked up our interior doors this morning!! 

They look great! 

They just need to be stained and hung.

We stopped by to see how our kitchen cabinets are coming along...

They look really nice!

These are most of our doors.

Still lots of work to do, but we are hoping to get them to the house by the end of the week...

 

Football Sunday!

It's a rainy day...so we spent a couple of hours at the house this morning just doing some cleaning inside, now we are spending a nice quiet day eating and watching football...perfect!

Friday, Stu and Jeff were able to finish the rock wall at the front of the house and level off the dirt for the grass.  It looks great!

 We met Jeff and Kate yesterday at the Scots-Irish Festival in Dandridge, which is about half an hour from here.

The 4th annual Dandridge Scots-Irish Festival is an old-time Main Street music festival, held in the historic downtown. On the shores of Loch Douglas and in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, the festival honors the Town's earliest settlers in 1783.

We stopped by to listen to the band, this is Cutthroat Shamrock.

Just in case we got lost...

We skipped the haggis and went for the fish and chips.

 Jeff and Kate went right for dessert with a funnel cake.

The pipe and drum parade.

Jeff, being a Scot, came dressed for the occasion, I've got to get Stu a kilt!

Friday night the concrete sub-contractors showed up (at 5:30) to pressure wash and seal the front porch and courtyard...  They only got the front porch done before it got dark.  It looks really good and clean for a change!

And yesterday morning the trim work for all the windows went up!  Another project to check off the list...Now the windows just need to be cleaned!



Catching Up...

Progress is slowing down a little more than we would like, unfortunately.  We moved the date for our furniture shipment from the 30th of September to the 14th of October. 

We finally have a the permanent door for the guest bedroom, all we need now is a handle, and to finish the siding.

The stairs up to the apartment are done.

Stu has been a roto-tilling machine!

Jeff was back with his Man Machine yesterday moving dirt getting ready for grass.

The front porch and courtyard were to be pressure washed and sealed yesterday, but the compressor broke...  They are supposed to be back today, we'll see. 

Stu and Jeff added two more "steps" to the front porch.

Jeff knocked this rock wrap out in no time yesterday, this would have taken Stu and I days to do!

They did get the propane tank into position and the gas company will be in today to get it all hooked up.  Stu and Jeff are hard at it again today, at this rate, we'll have the outside landscaping done before the inside...

Oh, and we did catch another snake this morning...But I think we've all seen enough pictures of dead, or mostly dead snakes...

Yikes!

Not much to report today, kind of slow at the house...

We did however, catch another snake...  That makes 4 copperheads, this one was still alive, but fortunately very stuck!

Stu and Mike wiggled the kitchen refrigerator into the great room, only because once we put the guest bedroom door on, (which should be tomorrow) we won't have a door big enough to get it through...  That's a whole different story... (that's right, the zebra couch won't fit either...)

We know things can grow here!  We found this growing, I think it's a watermelon...yahoooo!

Rumor has it that our siders will show up tomorrow to finish up a few things...that would be nice!

Weekend Activities

We did have a pretty easy weekend...for us.  We hit the Home Depot yesterday (those trips thankfully are slowing down) for a few things then started at the house this morning...

I planted some woolly thyme in the rock wall, it should cascade down the rocks, in theory...

Stu shoveled his butt off today!  He back filled behind the rock wall, it's starting to get pretty level now.

The plan is at least one more row of rocks, that should bring the level up nicely.

After back filling, Stu started with the tiller that we borrowed from Jeff and Kate.

He went all the way around the house...

Ok, a quick run around the house with updates...

Our great room ceiling fan is up and running.

Work has started on the guest bathroom shower.

Our guest bedroom door has finally arrived!

We have started to bring our plants from the cabin to the house, where they'll get a lot more sun. 

These are all the plants that we brought back with us, they are doing really well!

Boy do Mondays come quick!  We are planning to get some grass in this week along with various other projects done.  Here we go again...

Rock And Roll Part II

Another very productive day yesterday!  Stu and Jeff got a big chunk of the front rock wall done, thanks to the Man Machine AND the men!

And the deck railing is done, just needs the handrails on the stairs now.

  

Jeff returning from a scouting mission...

Our neighbor Gerry had (note I say had) several rock piles down the road that he said we could rummage through for some good rocks... done and done!

Rock Stars!

Ok, now we've got them...where do we put them??

 EEEEEKKKK!  We found these caught in the netting we have on the slope going up the driveway...  It looks like there are three (dead thankfully!) copperhead snakes stuck.  We are never going to get rid of that netting, as a matter of fact, I'd like to put it all around the house too!  I hate snakes!

Alright-- back to work...

I planted some Irish moss around the steps to the front door, can't wait to see it fill in!

Another shot of the new step they put in the other night, we still need one or two smaller ones in front, but that's a great start!

That's about it for the day, and what a day!  Stu and Jeff did a fantastic job and Kate and I made great cheerleaders!