Yet another change in plans.

Well I am back better late then never. A lot has happened over the past few weeks. Reyna and I took a little vacation last week (the main reason I am a little behind in writing). We went to Block Island, Rhode Island for a friends wedding. It was really beautiful there.

Before we left on vacation I decided the whole ceiling should come down in order to make things a little easier in the long run. The ceiling was full of dirt that had been accumulating for some time, it was a messy job. All that dirt, plaster and lath rained down upon us, boy was I glad I had that hard hat they require at the dump.

Here is my dad helping to clean up the mess I made. He actually asked me to take this picture to show everyone the things I make him do.



After the dust settled and we got things all cleaned up we realized just how nice the old beams were. After a very short discussion we decided to leave the beams exposed. We then began framing the walls. It is going to make our work a lot easier in the long run plus we will have the added benefit of insulation. Hopefully it will help make this house a bit more energy efficient.



We need to run new electric throughout as well as ductwork and plumbing.



This area is where the future kitchen will be.



We also framed out the upstairs walls. Now the debate is which insulation to use, Blow in Cellulose or Spray in foam. Decisions Decisions. Before that can happen though we need to rough in the mechanical and address the windows. I guess I know what I will be doing with my nights for the next few weeks. RESEARCH....

On to our next project.

We decided to separate the utilities for the apartment and the main house. Since our current electrical service was not adequate for that we decided to bring in new service and while we were doing that put it in the ground. The utilities currently come in at one end of the house so we moved them to the middle for several reasons. We did not want to trench in the current location for fear of damaging the root system of our massive 200+ year old oak tree. We also wanted to locate them in a more central location. We decided to bring the cable and telephone in under ground as well.

We marked out a path from the utility pole to about the middle of the house.



We then rented this incredibly cute little backhoe for the day and I got to work.



It took me a better part of the day to do it with the machine I can't imagine if we had to do it by hand.



Here it is 7 hours later



120' long 3' deep and 1' wide



We installed the new wire, all the hardware, and got our inspection. When I returned from my vacation we filled the trench back in and planted some grass. Let's hope that grass is fast growing.



While I was in landscaping mode Reyna and I decided to get a jump on things in preparation for the upcoming celebration. We bought some wonderful plants at our local nurseries and stared planting.



This is just the beginning. They should all have filled out and be blooming just in time for the festivities.



On another note here is a recent photo of our garden. Reyna and I are both very excited and proud of our first garden everything is growing so wonderfully. It won't be long now before we have some fresh veggies. So far we have had lettuce and herbs and they have been great. It sure is nice to be able to walk outside and things for dinner. I cannot wait for some fresh tomatoes.