June 1-7, 2002
June 10-14, 2002
June 17-21, 2002
June 24-28, 2002

Week 19 - June 17- June 21, 2002

June 22...Sorry we have been neglecting the website a little bit to work on the house, but we are back now after visiting the house last week. The week consisted of pouring concrete footings for the front deck. After finding out that nobody is anxious to work on such a small project, we decided that Judd and I could pour the small amount of concrete needed. So, we had my neighbor across the street bring over his backhoe and dig the holes in the correct place, ordered the concrete and even framed an approach to the garage and a step out of the basement patio doors just in case there was some material left over. What I have decided from this exercise is that there is nothing about concrete work that I find fun. Jan on the other hand seemed to enjoy it. (See pictures below.)
What I didn't realize is that Jan had a plan....Every evening after we would work, she and I would drive through the campsites by the lake and smell the campfires. This particular day, Jan decided that we should make our own campfire and roast marshmallows. Of course, when we went to the store they were out of marshmallows so we gave up on that. Later in the day, Chris' wife (from across the street who happened to be in the store when Jan went looking for the marshmallows) sent her son over on a motorcycle to bring Jan the marshmallows she had been waiting for all week.
The next day, Judd and I started on the back deck. This would allow the electricians access to the house through the dining room doors. Unfortunately, about noon, Judd had to leave, so it was left for Jan and me to finish. The least attractive job so far was pouring concrete, but digging the post holes in the hardened clay ran a close second. Jan was worn out after helping with the deck, but at least she could still raise her arms the next day which is more that I could say for me. Anyway, the job got done and we were able to finish the deck to a point it started to look somewhat like we expected. We finished just about sunset and noticed we even have a nice sunset view from the back of the house and looking through the house and out the front windows. The next day, our cultured stone arrived. We were able to talk Chris into bringing over the backhoe one more time to unload the stone. We hope to have the guy that lays the stone (stonelayer? stoner? mason?) come over in the next couple of weeks to build the fireplace and chimney.
June 22...Saturday came quickly and we flew the baron to Tulsa to practice my commute to Houston. I left the airplane in Tulsa and we flew home on Continental. Next Wednesday we will be back to start on the front deck and have the central vacuum system installed.
<< Go to Previous Week's Entry
Go to Next Week's Entry >>