East Bedroom

 The last pictures with the rug and built-in bed still installed. Andrew is trying to figure out how to get the bed out. There were lag bolts, nails, and screws holding it in and together. Eventually the reciprocating saw got involved.

 The rug is gone! I think I removed about 1,000 staples that were holding the pad down. The blisters on my hands were worth it though!

The plastic barrier did not last long. Once we turned the box fan on there was quit a draft and it pulled it down. I think the rest of the house still remained mostly dust-free.

 It's hard to find good help these days.

All of the stains and paint came out easily this time. The bare wood looks great and is ready for polyurethane.

The floor is done! We just have a few more finish touches to do. The baseboard molding is in the bedroom now, and we have cut all of the pieces for the hallway, but we are waiting to paint before we install those.

Private Balloon Festival

The Thursday before the local balloon festival we had our own private preview. From what we could see, the balloon took off and landed in the field below our house. A balloon ride is still on my bucket list.

Memorial Day 2011

Just a few pictures of Mia-the-photogenic-cat and one of birds attacking each other over the pond.

Skunk kits

These are our new neighbors. I have yet to see the mom, but there are 4 or 5 kits.

Arbor & Gate Part II

 One arbor/gate down... one to go. But first, I need to move that rock wall out of the way.

 Andrew's Christmas gift, a pickax, on her maiden voyage.

 As an Industrial Engineer, I should have know probability was going to catch up with us at some point. It was the eighth out of eight posts that we hit a rock.

 Trouble smashed the crocuses on her way to the catnip.

 Sorry for the detour, but I had to capture the last one still standing.

 Finally, someone took a picture of me! I look like such a professional in my mechanics' gloves.

 This is as far as we got on Saturday.

 I took the wall apart while Andrew rebuilt it.

 We made one trip to the  town highway department to get some compost to fill in the newly expanded garden. We'll have to make another trip to fill in the rest.

 Here's the mostly finished product. In addition to another load of compost, we need six more boards for the sides of the front arbor.

Time to plant some morning glories and clematis.

Arbor & Gate Part I

 I wanted to capture the "before" images before we got too far.

 Can you find the cat in this picture?

 Andrew used many of his power tools. What a great project!

 I don't know where we'd be without our 6' level.

 Can you find the cat in this picture?

 The inspiration for this project came form This Old House magazine. We skipped the bench and added our own gate design instead.

 This was as far as we made it on Sunday.

  Preview of what it will look like. (The gate is just resting on the arbor.)

 During the week we finished the final touches.