The day after....

Santa was good to all the little children. They all got everything on their wish lists and more! We had a great weekend with Mike and Amy and they were super hosts for the Perzanowski family Christmas. Today we are trying to get the last of our errands done and pick up the van (which needed a new fuel pump). Mike and I are heading back up north tonight if all goes well and Nancy will stay for a couple more days to help with the kids while Laura and Amy go back to work.

Hoping that everyone had a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve

We are in Sterling Heights this morning with Tom. We came down to spend the holidays with the grand kids and their grownups. We have been trying to visit with as many people as we can while down here but our time is limited. We are also picking up some odds and ends for the house that we haven't been able to get in Traverse City.

If we don't get to see you in person we want to wish everyone a Joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Christmas is Coming!!

We were hoping to have our first family Christmas at Wheeler Road but we just weren't fast enough getting all of the work done to get our final inspection. Actually we were hoping for a temporary occupancy before everything was finished but the county makes it too hard to get a temporary occupancy permit. We have been working everyday and we are making progress but now it looks like it will be late in January at best before we are completely done and in.
We have a new phone line into the house and have our phone hooked up so no more walking out to the end of the driveway to make cell phone calls. The new number is 231 334-7684. Call us sometime when you get a chance. we are still enjoying the novelty! (This number is listed as Western Avenue Catering on the Internet so if we get tons of calls for that business we may ask to have the number changed).
We are heading down state on Wednesday to visit the kids and have Christmas at Mike and Amy's house in Romeo. Can't wait to get everyone together and watch Ben turn 7 on Christmas day!!

Here are a few pics...

Our second snow! All of an inch and a half!

Staining and painting, painting and staining!

The camper looks like its wanting to go somewhere. 

Fun with the game camera.

It takes a picture whenever there's movement ahead...

We see lots of deer on the camera but not when we are looking through the windows.

Keep those carrots coming!

Some funny pictures I found while looking for something else.

Jenny and Jessie in Florida a couple of years ago

Some people just can't pass up a Waffle House!

Lovebirds

Mike and Amy before Mike lost part of his fleet. (About forty pounds worth).

12,12,11

December is ticking away so fast.... not enough hours in a day to get as much done as we would want. We are making progress though. With Mike and Tom's help and with our daily tasks we are seeing things coming together. We were hoping to be in before Christmas, but that just won't happen. We are now shooting for some time in January.
We had a great time on Sunday at the Traverse City Opera House for the TC Symphony orchestra's Christmas extravaganza. They put on a fantastic show with Christmas carols and some great singers and music. Afterwords we went with Rick and Melonie Locke to Rick's cousins house for some great appetizers and socializing.
Here are the latest pics from Wheeler Road...

The kitchen is starting to come together.

We have all the film off the windows and the grilles are in.

The hutch side of the kitchen.

Windows in the family room. Can't wait to get that fireplace covered and get a fire roaring!

Today we got over forty degrees and still no snow!

Getting Cold in the North Country!

Winter is marching in with colder temperatures but still no major snow. We have had a few flurries but still no ground cover. I'm counting my blessings since I have enough work to do without having to shovel snow and run a snow blower!

Here are a couple of pictures to show our recent progress...

It's a sure sign of progress when the porta-john is...

LONG GONE!!

We can see through all the windows now since we took the film and stickers off! All the windows are done and the doors will be with one last coat of polyurethane. (We are on the third gallon of Polyurethane!)

All of the interior trim is also finished. This was no small task.

Making Progress at Wheeler Road

Mike came up to help us with the house on Thursday and spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning trimming out all of the windows and putting baseboard up throughout the first floor. The house looks so much more finished inside now and we continue to get the doors and windows stained and varnished so that the second floor baseboard can go up. We hope to get everything finished some time in January so we can get our final inspection by the end of January.
Mike put some apples and carrots out behind the house on Friday to see if the deer would come to them. Everything was gone by Sunday morning. He put more carrots out on Sunday and they were gone again this morning. I put some more out today and next time I check I will bring in the memory card from the game camera to see who is visiting the bait pile.
We haven't had any more snow in the last two weeks, but they are calling for some snowfall this Thursday. Last week was a little above normal with temperatures in the forties. This week we are going to get cooler weather and down into the teens at night for Thursday and Friday. At least I haven't had to deal with snow shoveling along with all the work we need to do inside the house.

The Saturday after.

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it's less than a month until Christmas! The days just roll on by. If only we had a crew of ten we could have the house ready for the Holiday. Unfortunately we can only get so much done every day, but we keep on plugging along.
Tom and Evey came up on Friday and Tom has gotten almost all of the interior doors stained. We are getting the windows ready to stain and Nancy is finishing up all of the painting. We will work on getting the trim package ready to go up on the walls and we will continue tiling bathrooms.
Last night we went into Glen Arbor for the tree lighting ceremony. There were lots of people in town and we sang Christmas carols and watched the tree.

Glen Arbor's official municipal Christmas tree! Aint it grand?

Tom, Evey and Nancy basking in the glow.

There were a lot of people in town for the tree lighting.

Glen Arbor in da moonlight.

A Holiday Emporium!! Art's Tavern

Evey with her cowgirl boots. Fig beet anyone?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great turkey day today (despite the Lions futile effort at dethroning the Packers).

We had a wonderful meal with grandma and grandpa and Wayne, Jeannie and Doug. Good dinner and then cheesecake, apple pie and pumpkin pie.

This afternoon before dinner we took a hike up to the top of Whaleback to get some exercise and to work up an appetite. It was a nice afternoon and the first time Nancy and I made this hike since last winter!

Here are some pictures from the day...

Starting to stain doors and trim. We have a long way to go.

Mike inspired me to do some interior trim work. I put the extension jambs on all the windows.

Finished tile in bathroom #1

This is the trail leading up to the top of Whaleback. All the leaves are on the ground.

The lookout at the top of the bluff.

We saw this tree that was toppled in a windstorm. It looks like its suspended in mid-air!

Leland harbor from the top of Whaleback Mountain.

The last of the greenery.

Overlooking Lake Leelanau.

Nancy walked up on three deer that spooked off of the bluff.

November 21 Already?

Wow, I can't believe it's been that long since I posted to the website. Our lives have gotten pretty monotonous here, all we seem to do is work on the house every day!
We have all of the first floor and much of the second finished painting. Mike came up this past weekend and gave us three days of his expertise in finish carpentry. He got all of the doors hung and cased and put in bases for both of the stand up showers we are putting in. He also got me started on extension jams on the door walls and windows. Little by little things are coming together. All of the kitchen appliances are in and everything but the dishwasher is up and running. We also have two working toilets and a shower, and the washer and dryer are hooked up and running. The electrician and plumber have been doing a little more to get us closer to being able to stay here some nights when we don't want to travel back to Leland for the night. We can't wait for the day that we are in permanently with a final inspection behind us.
Deer hunting is in its second week here and I haven't even loaded a rifle yet! This is the first time in about forty years that I haven't hit the woods in pursuit of the big bucks! It feels weird, but I am OK with taking a year off. There is still a late muzzle loader season near the end of December, so I might go hunting yet. Maybe by that time we will be far enough along with the house that I can justify taking a couple of days off.
I hope this finds everyone doing well, and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

All the leaves are gone... and the sky is gray! California dreaming?

Now that we can see the horizon we see that we are surrounded by hills here.

The camper and the boat are winterized and parked for the snow season. But look! The trailer is ready to be hitched up in case we want to go looking for warmer weather this winter!

Looks like a toilet to some people, but after using Johnny-on-the-spot for the last six months this is what you would call a THRONE!

Kitchen appliances, cabinets and counter top. It's coming together!

Mike got all of the doors hung in a day and a half! That was sixteen doors and casing!!!

Another place to take a rest!

For our next trick... anyone want to stain a trim package?

Happy Thursday!

We had our first snow in the north country today! This morning it was sleet and snow mixed. The snowflakes were round and rolled off of the roof!! Later on we had regular snowflakes, but they melted as soon as they hit the ground. The weatherman is calling for temps in the fifties for Sunday so it doesn't look like ski season any time soon.

The cabinet installer was here this morning and put the kitchen counter tops in. He was delayed for the last two days and finally came today. The counter tops came out beautiful and they left a piece for the island that Mike is going to build for mom.

We have been painting and now have all of the drywall covered. The first floor is finished and thanks to Gary and Bev the second floor is primed with the ceilings finished and we are now painting finish coats in the bedrooms and bathrooms.

We are looking to start tiling a couple more bathrooms and starting to stain the molding to be able to trim out the house. Little by little things are taking shape!!

I'll get some pictures on here next time.
So long for now.

Sunday, Nov. 6

Happy Birthday to Becky! Hope you had a great one and enjoyed your sushi!!

Bev and Gary came to help us this weekend and we all spent the night at the new house! This was a first for Nancy and I! We got a lot of painting done and the upstairs is almost completely primed! The trim package was delivered on Saturday so we have a LOT of staining to do so we can put all the baseboard and casing up. We got our L P gas tank set up on Friday and hooked to the house. The furnace was running. We also ordered a stove, refrigerator and dishwasher on Friday. The fridge and dishwasher are being delivered next Friday and the stove in two weeks. On Tuesday of this week the kitchen countertops are being installed. Little by little we are making progress and if all goes well maybe we can have Christmas dinner at the new house!! (still lots of work to do to make that happen)!

Here are a few pictures from today...

We took Bev and Gary to the Foothills Cafe for breakfast this morning and on the way home went up to the lookout on Miller Hill Road. most leaves are down, but still some color.

You can see our house from the road now through the trees.

The hills are visible in the background since our leaves are down.

I was getting things put away outside since we will probably be getting snow before long.

The hills in the background beyond our back yard. Sorry Mike I don't have any deer pictures for you today.

Halloween Night

We spent Halloween night with Mike in Romeo. Once again Tillson Street came through with the most over the top decorating we have seen. These folks go all out to give the kids a thrill on Halloween and now Pleasant Street is also stepping up to the plate!

Tomorrow we are heading back up north, but we had a nice stay here with the kids and grand kids.

Here are some pictures from Halloween...

The gang in front of Mike's house.

Mike's ghoul in the front yard.

Getting ready for trick or treat.

Neighbors on Pleasant Street gearing up for Halloween.

Ghouls and goblins. Almost every house on Tillson Street was decorated to a large extent!

Tillson Street's festivities.

Going all-out for the kids.

Boo-Hooo!! and Handburgers too!

Tillson Street Manor

Antique Hearse.

Tillson Theatre with spooky images in the window and screaming noises...

A spooky haunted housed.

Tom and Evey