Caffe Latte & the Wood Furnace

It's hunting season and my husband warned me that working on the house was going to stop until after hunting season. Well, I'm not a hunter, so I'm doing what I can. I had three different companies give me a quote for installation of our heating and cooling system. Hopefully this week, we will be getting that installed. We went Saturday and purchased a wood furnace, which will definitely keep our house warm. But, on those days when Eric is out hunting or we are away for a couple of days, the heat pump will kick on. Our rock back splash in the kitchen has been done for quite some time but, I don't think I ever got a picture of it up.

In October Eric and my dad made a trip to Colorado for a Elk hunting trip. They had a great time. I made a goal that I was going to get the house painted while Eric was gone since he despises painting. My cousin loaned us a sprayer to stain the outside of the house and we still had it. I figured that since I was working alone, spraying was the only way that I would get it all done. I took off work on Thursday, taped all the ceilings off and painted the primer coat. I was out on the farm all alone until 8:30 pm. It was dark and extremely scary. We only have 2 lights in the whole house and none on the outside! Then Friday evening I painted the first coat of color and Saturday I sprayed the second coat. The color is caffe latte and I love it. It's a beautiful color of paint. I'm sure you can't see its true beauty in this picture of the bathroom wall. It was a difficult 3 days but, I got the house painted and Eric was very happy with my efforts.

While I was painting and being too difficult to work with (I was being a brat), Mom was in the basement painting Eric a fall scene on the concrete block wall. Here is stage one. Stage two will consist of deer. Eric loves it so far. We both can't wait to see how it turns out.

Hopefully, it won't be so long until my next post.

Labor Day Weekend

The finished product. I am very proud of Eric for all the work he's been doing. I am very thankful to Grandpa Brantie, Teddy, and mom and dad for all their help!

Mixing the Quick Crete for the Rock Wall

The stairs to our new beautiful front porch!

Eric and Teddy worked all day Saturday and most of Sunday building the porch. They really worked their butts off. Dad helped with the stairs.

The building continues

We finally got a load of material from Lowes, which consisted of OSB and Drywall for inside and the building materials for the front porch. Mom and dad ordered their block from Lowes last week and they might get it next week. They’ve had trucks to break down and drivers in the hospital so it is hard to get a delivery right now.

Thanks to my uncle Basil, we have a beautiful, level front yard. Basil spent most of his younger days on a dozer and now he is up in his years and still has the touch. He did a wonderful job on our yard! We thank him so much and thank God that he is still able to get out and work like in his younger days.

This Saturday Eric and I plan to install this beautiful handmade wood mantel. Eric cut it out himself, sanded it, and varnished it. We plan to hang it on the living room wall, which will be covered with natural creek rock and our, soon to be purchased, flat screen will hang over the mantel. More pictures to come.

Wiring & Insulation

Dad dozing on our yard.

Wiring in the living room.

A dry wall putter - upper....provided by Uncle Boyce.

Installing insulation in the ceiling.

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry. I forgot the digital camera and had to use my phone.

For the past few weeks, Eric has been working diligently on the wiring. He, along with the help of his dad, his grandpa, and my dad, have managed to get the upstairs completely wired for electricity. Plus, last week, Allegheny Power came out and hooked up to the main power pole and ran underground to our house. We are very excited to have power now!

Also, the walls were insulated a couple of weeks ago and this past Saturday, we got insulation in the ceiling. So, our walls are ready for dry wall.....very exciting! Dad has been working a lot on dozing the dirt around the house to make our yard nice and level.

Cedar Stained Siding

To all my followers: Cookout on August 1st, 2009 6:30 pm....come and join us for some food and good times, plus you can check out the house in person!
We wanted the color of cedar and I think we got it. Eric and I are happy with the color. What do you guys think?

This looks dangerous, doesn't it?

This side litterally took about 15 minutes to stain...even with two coats.

This "high side" was the first side that they attempted. It was the hardest and took the longest to do.

This is my cousin, Tiny, he graciously helped us apply the stain to the log siding. With this fancy spayer, it made for a pretty easy job. I can say that b/c I was only gophering and taking pics....but, I'm sure it was a lot easier than brushing or rolling the stain on.

We have absolutely had so much help on our house. My cousin Butch helped us out tremondously on getting the stain.