Critters

  The birds have loved the pool Mom and I found along the side of the road.

 Between that and their pond, they have not lacked any entertainment!

Gerard is less actively enjoying his summer.  

*sigh* It's so challenging to find a cool, shady spot these days.

Roscoe, meanwhile, is our fearless defender.

He loves the porch-half that we now have cleared off!

But not as much as he loves Grandpa!

And speaking of critters...

...we enjoyed lots of company last weekend!

Cheers! (and thanks to everybody who traveled!!)

BBQ

Mickey transformed an old metal barrel into a barbecue grill.

It was very dramatic to watch the sparks fly as he cut out the door!

Add some paint, a grate, and legs...

It performed admirably (as did the griller) for hot dogs, smoked ham and chicken barbecue!

The path to the house

Mickey has done a beautiful job crafting the walkway to our house, with the stone pathway and plants along each side.

Our friend Todd likes it too!

Power!

Today was the big day that Mickey mounted the solar panel on the ground mount he has been building for it!  It is built so that the angle can be adjusted a bit to track the angle of the sun.  It's not hooked up yet, but we're getting closer!

Stove

We are now proud owners of a Regency F2400 wood stove!

The first fire.

Smoke coming out of the chimney!! (although not too much, it burns quite cleanly)

It doesn't take much to get a good fire going!

A great place to keep warm.

We've dressed up the hearth a bit too, with all this moving business.

Such a cozy addition to our home!

The Kitchen Sink

framing the bar

screwing plywood to the top

white oak paneling (left over from the flooring)

The cat is not amused.

more paneling

lots of figuring

cabinets framed and stained

hardiebacker attached

framing stained, including what I (Sarah) call the flying buttresses

sink and faucet ready to go!

tiled and sink installed!

maple and oak trim the table-top

A real live kitchen table!

Water!

We installed our simplepump mostly simply.  It has a cylinder 110 feet down (or so), and is set up to pump by hand.  Some day we may add a DC motor to the top of the pump.  We love having no electrical parts down in the well!

Then Mickey fitted an attachment.

A valve for the pipe that will eventually run to the house.

And a boiler valve for water to be taken off directly at the well.

We love having our own water! It's a pretty good workout too.

Then, to my great surprise, I came home from work one day to find the water line run to the house!  Huzzah!  Now we are in business for real.

Meanwhile, Mickey has also been working on the destinations of our water, such as the bathroom sink and vanity! (Hopefully the bathroom sink will be a more common destination than the vanity.)

Faucet installed.

With an outlet for a switch for a light fixture that will hang over the vanity.

Wall!

Wall and ceiling!!!

He has also begun framing for the utility sink.

Now all we need is to fill up the cistern...