Winter Daze

Mike and the girls are here with us this weekend and we are getting a lot of work done in the house. The final trim work is being completed and we are trying to get ready for our final inspection. We also had two other visitors this weekend. First Jeremy Olsen came by to talk to Mike about wedding plans and then on Friday night old man winter showed up and dumped another six or seven inches of snow on us!

It is really starting to look like an up-north winter here, but the temperatures have remained fairly on the mild side. Day time temperatures are usually in the high thirties or low forties.

Here  are a few pictures...

Natalie sledding on Friday. We had a beautiful sunny day with warm winter temperatures. 

Jeremy and Hannah.

The girls sledding in the backyard with Sarah the wonder dog.

Saturday morning with a new batch of fluffy white snow.

Snow blowers and shovels did the trick!

In winters snowy grip!

Pictures and Update

We are making a run at getting this puppy wrapped up! The bathrooms are all done now and the electrician and plumber are finishing their work on Monday and Tuesday. Final electrical inspection on Tuesday. We are about half way through getting the hardwood flooring installed and on Wednesday are getting the basement walls insulated (part of the new 2009 energy code!). Mike is coming up on Thursday to finish trimming out the stairs and put in the island he built for the kitchen. He always gets us a giant step forward when he is here. Carpeting is scheduled to be installed on the 30th.

Nancy's whirlpool tub. This was the last bathroom we tiled.

The shower in the last bathroom has a wall box for shampoo and soap.

The tub area in bathroom #3

Tub in bathroom #1 on the first floor.

Shower in bathroom #2

The bedroom above the garage.

Flooring going in in the family room

Entrance hallway with the stair rail Mike built.

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January 19th Already!!

We have been busy moving along on the house, but the calendar goes faster than we do!
We have all of the bathrooms done now and are moving on to hardwood flooring. The carpeting is ordered and scheduled to be installed on the 30th or 31st. We are hoping that we can get our final inspection right after that. The electrician and plumber were here this week and each has a half day of work next week to finish up. All the lights and outlets and all of the toilets and sinks except one are now functioning.

We have been starting to contend with the snow lately and have about a foot on the ground now. We had to snow blow the driveway twice this week. It is finally starting to look like an up-north winter.

The Snow is Coming!

We are supposed to get six to nine inches of new snow in the next day and a half. Just in time for Becky and Dave and the kids to come up. They are planning to get here tomorrow.

Mike and Amy and the girls made it to Florida yesterday and boarded their cruise ship this morning. They will be on the cruise for a couple of days, then at Disney World for a couple more. They are taking a winter break before Amy gets loaded down with tax season.

Nancy and I are finishing the tile work in the last bathroom this week and are planning on starting the hardwood flooring next week. The plumber and electrician are scheduled to complete their work next week. We are still hoping to be done by the end of the month.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Weekend News

We had visitors from downstate this weekend. Tom and Evey came up and spent two nights with us on Wheeler Road.
I have been dreading building the fireplace here since I have never done stonework before. I was worried that I would do a poor job and regret it later on. The masons charged us a small fortune to put the stone up on the exterior of the house and I didn't want to spend the big bucks to have them do the interior. I was thinking of a project Tom could help us with and the stonework seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I thought he would enjoy doing it since he has always had an artistic flair. So last week I bought the materials and prepped the fireplace for the stone work.

Tom made a template of the fireplace and laid out the stones on Saturday morning. I worked on baseboard in the upstairs bathrooms and after lunch we started. We put stone up until ten o'clock Saturday evening, but following Tom's pattern and ideas we got the thing put together. We were amazed how well it looked! This morning we grouted the joints between the stones and smoothed the mortar after it had a chance to set up. I am so thrilled with how well it turned out! I don't think it could have gone any better. Tom's ideas helped to balance the stones from side to side and the final result is a joy to behold. I wish all of our projects turned out this well!

 This is the fireplace opening on Friday morning.

I added a layer of plywood on the facing then a layer of cement board. To build up the hearth a layer of cement board then a row of blocks and another layer of cement board.

It's now ready for finishing.

Tom made a template then selected and laid out stones to create a pattern that would fit.

After all the stones were cemented up things were looking good!

Sunday morning we grouted the joints and cleaned them up.

This is some tile work from the past week. One last bathroom to do this week!

My buddy Evey getting ready to play in the snow!

January 5

We now have four bathrooms ready for final plumbing. We have the vanities and back splashes set and tile done. Today we bought tile for the final bathroom and will be starting it on Monday. Once it is tiled and the vanity in place the plumbers can do all of the finish plumbing and we will be ready for carpet installation!!

Little by little we are getting closer to moving in!. This weekend Tom is coming up and we hope to get the fireplace finished so that the wood burner can get completed. After that it is that last bathroom and hardwood flooring. Onward HO!

Big Snow No Show!

They keep calling for all this big snow and so far we haven't seen it. Now we are supposed to get another blizzard tonight with up to twenty inches of snow. BRING IT ON!!

Nancy and I are hunkered down at the house again tonight. I thought it would be easier to dig out than to dig in in the morning in case we do get a big snow. Anyway we are tiling the fourth bathroom and will get it done tomorrow. Here are some pictures of Mike's artistry...

Mike trimmed out the stairs and added the railing. All of the caps were made from oak veneered plywood and built up from scratch.

Trim from plywood and capped with rabbet molding.

The closet doors were hung and trimmed out withh 1x2 extension jambs behind the casing.

Mike had all of the windows trimmed out the last time he was here.

This is my computer station and office at Wheeler Road. Pretty soon we hope to have all of the hardwood flooring on the floor where it belongs.

Happy New Year to All !!

Happy 2012 to everyone! Hope that all of you made it through the new year's festivities without incident!!

We went to Houghton Lake to ring in the new year with Bev and Gary Clark. We played cards and watched Dick Clark do his annual thing. And wasn't Lady Gaga just great! Makes you want to Gag.

Any way we had a good time and this afternoon visited Dennis and Maria Sullivan in St. Helen before coming back to Wheeler Rd. They are doing well and it was great to see them after so long.

We drove back home from their place in a blizzard! We are getting our first major snow event of the winter. They are calling for ten to fifteen inches of snow depending where you are and strong winds. We had a long drive since the roads were so bad between Roscommon and Kalkaska. Then when we got west of Traverse City it was snowing so hard that I could only drive about twenty miles per hour since you couldn't see through the snow. The best I could do was to keep the truck between the ditches! We finally got back to the house and are going to hunker down here for the night.
I'm going to get some pictures of all the beautiful woodwork Mike did here during the week and I will get the pictures on the blog as soon as I can. (By the way, this is the first blog from the Wheeler Road house since we now have internet service along with our land line)!  (231) 334-7684.

Wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous new year with many good surprises!!