Oh, Deer!

It is now January and we are settling into our new home. Since our last post we have adopted a very old and over weight beagle; we named him Jake. We also added a kitten to the family; her name is Jinx.

We had Thanksgiving in our new home and were able to fit 14 for dinner. It was nice to be able to host an event at our home. Christmas provided a much needed break for all of us. We have had 4 snow falls so far and 2 snow days. We have not had a full week of school since before Christmas.

Zeke shot a doe back in the fall. One of the pictures above shows the kids helping him grind it into burger. Just this past Saturday he shot the buck, shown above, with his bow. You'll have to ask Zeke for the story about the buck, it is unbelieveable. The following morning on the way to Church, just a hundred yards from the entrance, we witnessed a button buck crossing the road and being struck by an SUV coming from the opposite direction. Zeke dropped us off at church, went home and got the truck, and brought that deer home too. Needless to say, our freezer is full.

We are currently planning projects for the summer ahead. We plan on clearing, gardening, building a chicken coop/wood shed, and getting chickens!

Flooded In...

Almost Done!

As usual, we've been busy. Zeke and I have spent the last month finishing the inside, which is now virtually done. We stained and are currently finishing off the floor in the down stairs. After this weekend we will be waiting on the countertop, electric, plumbing and final inspections. Jeff will be building our back deck this week. Zeke built the hearth for the woodstove and the wall behind it with slate tiles, which look great in our downstairs. We were all back to school this week. The summer flew by, and while we welcome the change of pace it is kind of sad that our building days are coming to an end. We look forward to settling into our new home at the end of the month.

Power!

We're back from the beach! We had a great time and now it's time to get the house done. We now have electricity and water! It's nice not to hear the constant buzz of the generator all day. The walls in the upstairs are all complete (you can see the photo of the upstairs bathroom) and I have begun staining Paul's room. Zeke and Jeff have begun walls in the downstairs. As you can see from the pictures, the siding is now complete, as well as the front porch. The porch is huge! I love it! Zeke and Jeff completed most of the gutters while the kids and I were at the beach. We don't think we will finish in time for school, but we should be in sometime in September (we hope). Paul is sporting his new mohawk hair cut. Hopefully by next week I will have Paul's room complete. If you want to help me sand or stain, give me a call. I sure could use the extra hands!

Steps, Siding and a Roof!

I am posting later in the week because next week I will not be posting at all. The kids and I will be heading to Cape May. Zeke will head down later in the week. This was a big week. The siding is very close to being done and the roof is now complete. The basement steps are now in, as well as all of the windows and 2 of our exterior doors. We think we may be in before school starts, which would be great. This heat this summer has been crazy! Is it me, or is the summer we picked to build the house the hottest one ever?

The room with all the windows is the kitchen/dining room. There is also a picture taken from inside of the kitchen looking into the living room. The picture of Abby shows the basement steps. The video is of Abby and Paul at home. I could not 'turn' the video to be viewed correctly, but I thought it was so cute I had to post it. Be sure to vote on the color of our front door at the bottom of this blog.

Front Porch, Septic and Abby's Room

The septic system is in... and just in time for the rain. It was really perfect timing as far as the weather was concerned. We needed the dry streak in order to have the septic tank and sand mound put in. The day after they finished it rained. Zeke, Jeff and Scott have almost completely finished the front porch. They need to put the siding up across the front of the house before they can finish. The steps and landing also still need to be completed. A few more windows have gone in and as you can see in the pictures, more siding has gone up along the front of the house. Abby is excited to have her wall up seperating her room upstairs. Her closet is also complete, she is only missing doors. This week we hope to have the electrical wires run from the house to the road. Sometime next week we should have electricity! It will be nice to not hear the annoying generator running all day. Scroll to the bottom of our blog to vote on the color of our front door.

It's HOT outside!

Well, there are no new pictures of the inside of the house because we haven't done anything new inside. Zeke completed the trench last week for all of the electrical wiring. Zeke, Jeff and Scott were able to put siding up on one side of the house. The rest of the siding had to wait for the front porch, which had to wait for the basement to be poured, which had to wait for the radiant floor heating to be installed, which was done on Saturday. We have also been waiting for our last delivery of insulation, roofing and kitchen cabinets, which came today. It has been a dry summer, which has made timing on our sand mound work out well. It was started this week, as shown in the picture above. The picture of Sam, Paul and Abby shows them waiting at the stair well on the first floor for the concrete to be poured into the basement. Zeke also built a rock wall next to the basement door. We enjoyed a few days of nicer weather last week and now it is hot! Swimming has been a favorite activity of the kids. Both Abby and Paul have learned to swim underwater in the last 2 weeks. It was so hot today that spray cans of paint were exploding in Jeff's truck. It doesn't look like it is going to cool off any time soon. In the next week or two we are expecting... the siding complete, to finish the front porch, have the transformer installed and wires run to the street, windows and doors and maybe even a roof!