Windows on the World

Dear Family and Friends,

We have windows! They are almost all in. The siding is being ordered. The garage and carport are next. The tub is being framed.

We be jammin'!!!

Love,

Em and Marsha

Florida Invades North Carolina!

Dear Family and Friends,

Great visit with Jess and Connor, great progress on the house , we planted yesterday and it's showering today...what could be better?

Jess and Connor flew up for a long weekend April 11-14, celebrating Connor's and Grandma's birthdays. We had a great time. We went to the Asheville Fun Zone on Saturday. Connor rode the hovercraft-bumpercars, real go-karts outside with his Mom, and LaserTag with Mom and his Brevard friend Amy. Mom won 500 million tickets playing "Feeding Frenzy."

On Sunday, we forgot our camera, but had a great day visiting a friend, retired teacher Walter Kluge. Walter is 79 and hiked us into the ground. We rode in the back of a pickup truck- so NC- saw beautiful waterfalls, and shot Walter's .40 caliber black powder rifle. Jess was very accurate- I wonder what target she was visualizing???

The house is jumping forward. The guys finally got the last big porch beam in place. Once that happened, they could quickly get the last roof trusses up and do the porch deck. The outside silhouette of the house is now complete. When the garage trusses arrive next week, they will tie the garage into the house, and we will be ready for chimney and roof shingles. By the end of next week, we should be ready for windows and doors. Once we are "in the dry", then electrical, heating, and plumbing can begin. By May 1st, we will be ready for big jumps forward again.

Marsha and I planted 60 assorted junipers and evergreens on the north bank to stabilize and soften it. We got 6 tons of Tennessee field stone- in a 6 ton pile!- delivered for a dry stack wall. We are going to get the well activated because we are schleping gallons of water from home to spray on these plants daily, which is a losing situation. Mercifully, Mother Nature is cooperating today with soft, soaking showers. Our friend Carol Reiger gave us beautiful plants as an early housewarming present, so they are happy in the ground as well. Southern tradition does not allow you to thank someone for a plant, because then it won't grow. However, publicizing them on the world-wide-web is probably OK.

Speaking of publicity, we'll share this one- http://www.evergreenplantnursery.com/. We got beautiful evergreens from these people in eastern Tennessee at 1/4 the cost of local nurseries. We have expanded our Tennessee circle of trust- the Crasses, stone, and now evergreens.

We hope that all is well with you. Take care.

Love,

Emmett and Marsha

Garage Pad & Porch

Dear Family and Friends,

Our patience has been rewarded. We had a number of days of rain that prevented us from moving forward. But, good weather and progress are upon us. The garage pad and front porch were poured, and they are beautiful. The concrete guys are really good at what they do. You can see the garage pad shining in an overhead shot- it is as smooth as glass. Sawdust will fly out the door of the workshop.

We planted 24 juniper on the hill to start landscaping and erosion control. For fun, we planted a 'Flying Dragon' plant- wicked thorns and gnarlly branches and orange fruit- if you could even get to it. And a quince... and a Red Jade weeping crabapple tree. I am going to start making a dry-stack wall out of Tennessee Field Stone. This does not imply any disloyalty to Geno and the UCONN Women. As a matter of fact, it is well known that the only good things to come out of Tennessee are the Crasses and rocks.

The guys are starting to frame the screened porch. This is amazing. They use a 16' rafter saw- a circular saw with the biggest blade I have ever seen. They use a chain saw blade that is attached to a circular saw. All this for beams that are 10" X 10" X 22' long. These weigh about 800 pounds! And they lift them into the air... carefully. They will be glad when this part of the construction is over. They started the garage today, just to take a break from the beams.

The countertop I am staining is for the kitchen island. The top is highly figured bubinga. It is great.

Jess and Connor are coming to visit tomorrow... we are excited.

We are planning to come up to Connecticut June 2-9, 2008.

We hope to see some of you if you are around.

Take care.

Love,

Em and Marsha