Our Resident Frog

Since I specifically requested no fish for the pond, apparently Mother Nature decided we still needed "something" & sent us a resident frog. He (or she or it) isn't too keen on Eva since she thinks we need to clean the pond "evvyday" 'cause it's dirty (in toddler language that translates to "let's get out the hose & play in the water"). I swear the poor thing tries to hide when he hears her coming!
It's nice to have a pet you don't have to take care of though!

The sky's on fire!

Just a beautiful shot.......

Watersill training video

The watersill is basically the cap that goes over the stone before we start the stucco, well when I pulled together the photos of Tom & Mandy prepping for & installing the sill; they looked so much like instructors that I just had to.........so watch the "Training Video"!
If I got with the modern day world & had an MP3 player I could have even set it to music for you.....but I think you'll get the gist of it.

Check out that corner........precision at it's best......mitered for a custom fit!

Holy Carp!

No that's not a typo-it really is a carp-a 25 pounder! Bob & Judy-(our wonderful neighbors who feed us & ply us with drink) had their family & friends in for the weekend. We were invited to join the festivities.......thank goodness they weren't planning on fish for dinner (Yuck!)! We think this one takes the record of all the carp we've seen caught over the years & it gave Billy quite a fight! (He's the one w/the beard, Bob's the one with the hat.)

Actually it gave Billy almost as much a fight as the umbrella that went in the river when the wind caught it, with the 33# base still attached! I'm not sure how many times Billy went down trying to retrieve it (12-15 maybe?) a couple of times he almost had it but the weight pulled him back down-the water was about 12 ft deep where it went in. Everybody was very helpful-the other neighbors-Susie & Jay let him borrow their snorkeling equipment and almost everybody had helpful hints to yell from the comfort of their patio chairs.
We finally got a really large hook Tom's had for years (we've used it to pull patio furniture out of the river when it blew in-imagine that), Billy & Bob (sounds kinda like the beginning of a country song) tied a rope around that hook-Billy went down one more time & hooked the stand. Bob, along with the sightseers on the deck, (hey, we were drinking & eating appetizers-this was great entertainment!) helped pull it up.
Since we really needed the extra umbrella-the sun was beautiful but brutal-Bob lashed it to the deck (as you can see in the bottom of the 1st pic) & then drove a couple of screws thru the stand to the deck-it wasn't going anywhere now!

Wake Up Call

The phone rang bright & early Saturday morning (our only sleep-in day) & it was our next door neighbor Bob who said "Hey are you looking out on your deck?" What I first wanted to say to him ( like, "NO I was looking at the inside of my eyelids") I didn't, then I thought, well maybe something happened. So I'm walking to the deck with the phone in hand & just stopped, looking at such a beautiful sight! A double rainbow! That wake up call was worth it.

A beautiful double rainbow with a spectacular reflection in the river! So I ran upstairs & took pictures from the balcony-
Tom even noticed the colors in the 2nd rainbow were reversed.....how cool is that?

Ditch Digger

When the fill was brought in for the driveway, it was graded to slope slightly downward toward the garage due to the placement of the original garage's concrete floor. This is not a good thing, especially when it's a heavy rain & all that water wants to sit in front of your garage just waiting for you to unsuspectingly open the garage door so it can all come rushing in! ( Or if you're me & you forget & open the door.) So a trench needed to be dug & a drainage system installed.
While my brother was over he asked Tom if he needed anything else done
& Tom suggested digging the trench. No big deal right?? Well wasn't that darn thing just chuck full of tree roots?!? I think he spent more time swinging an axe than digging. Man he got a workout on that one! Did a heck of a job too!
Don't think he'll freely throw that "hey-you need anything else" phrase around again anytime soon though.

Getting ready to stucco

We've had many, many discussions on how to finish off the front & side of the house above the stone work.... our original plan had been to side it to match the rest of the house. Then we thought same siding only vertical. I didn't think I'd like that with the varied stone lines.
When we were in FL in the spring, Tom really liked the look of the stucco on the houses there. So he came home & started to research stucco applications and pretty much made up his mind that's what he wanted. I wasn't so sure. We were going to have to get the color just right, I didn't want anything blah! He then told me I'd need to decide on a pattern (I guess we're going to stucco)....do you have any idea how many variations of patterns there are????? Hundreds! Then choose a color (only about 50 of those). May I tell you I personally am getting tired of making decisions, so I'm just thinking on it!

In the mean time, my brother is back over lending a helping hand stapling the metal lathe to the tar paper. The beginning of the process to stucco is similar to getting ready to stone, the tar paper, then the metal lathe, then you apply the mortar which adheres to the metal lathe. Actually it's almost the same except you just don't stick any stones in it & you end up with 3 layers of mortar when you're done.
Apparently I'll need to do more than just think about an application pattern & color soon!

The garage

Well we're progressing on the garage, slowly mind you, but we're moving forward. The landing that was cleared, insulated & dry walled, now has a floor. The extra fridge & freezer have been moved out of what will someday be the family room & installed in the garage.
Sure seems like quite a hike now to get to the extra fridge or freezer; I can't tell you how many times we've both walked over to where they used to be & then catch ourselves.
So that's a positive right, if we're moving things out of the family room to their final resting spot? So maybe the family room might be completed by the Holidays???
Hey it's not that funny! It could happen!

Shade garden is done

The shade garden is finished & what a beautiful little oasis we have created here. It may have taken a while, but like everything else it was definitely worth it! There is always a beautiful breeze coming thru the two houses, it's a great spot to just sit & read or listen to the sound of the fountain in the little pond. Now all the garden statues & "stuff" we've been given has a home.Take a moment to click on the collage to enlarge it, it really came out great, if I do say so myself!

More Details

I found these really unique concrete blocks & had them incorporated into the stone work.
The one off the "Martha room" (I'm not giving up hope, I will have that space one day!) is a ladybug, if you look at the pic on the left, you can see it just to the right of the door handle.

For the front I found a really neat metal plaque that says "Live, Love, Laugh", that was inserted into the stone work, along with a funky stone with a little more character. The pic in the upper right gives you an overall view, lower right is just a close up.Then the small concrete block of a bird's nest that says "home" was placed just to the left of the rock.

Awww-isn't that cute???

Those silly little details

Remember back in June when the first corner stone was laid & Mandy diligently used her level to make sure all was straight (remember I'm not the only anal one)...........

See how nice all the rows line up even?????

See how these do not.......just a slight incline, but from the road it sure is noticeable;
sure would not want to be the firm that was hired to install this stone work.....
and it was done to a lawyer's office! OOPS!

Sure glad we got our Mandy!!!

Looking Good!

What a beautiful job!

Yard still needs a little work, but we're getting there!

The Last Stone!

Almost 2 months to the day and the last stone has been placed!
The exterior stoning is done!
(We won''t remind them about the inside just yet.)
I'm sure there were times Tom & Mandy thought they'd never see this day come!