Holiday Blessings

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with four of our children, three grandchildren, my mother-in-law and some friends. We had a wonderful time, especially playing with the grandchildren. Later as a group we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to view the Christmas lights. I'm not sure why we are attracted to the lights, maybe we are all part moths.  Regardless of the reason for the attraction I do love seeing the lights.  Here are some of my favorite pictures:

If I had one Christmas wish for everyone it would be "Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men."  My we all say like the reformed Ebenezer Scrooge of Charles Dickens novel (A Christmas Carol),  “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”  May we remember the true meaning of Christmas this year and throughout our lives.  Merry Christmas.

Deer Season is upon us

This time of year many hunters brave the cold to enjoy the challenge of deer hunting. With rifle in hand and all bundled up for protection against the cold bitterness of winter, they trudge through the brown fields of weeds and tall grass (sometimes snow covered) in search of their prized trophey. Well for those of you who find this annual event a relaxing sport I have a suggestion, one that allows you to remain in total warmth without walking or trudging through mud, snow and weeds. I perfected this technique on November 20th. Although I do not have pictures of the prized trophey, I do have pictures of the results of my technique and here they are:

Our grandson Kanoa refers to this as "Grandpa Richard's smashed black car", and so it is.  This event reminds me of some of the lyrics of "I Fought The Law" which go as follows: "I fought the law and the ... law won".  In this case the deer definitely won.  I'm not sure what became of the deer, since we did not see any sign of it the following day. Chris (my wife) said that she noticed that the deer was sitting up and moving its head right after the accident. As for me, the person who even hates to run over those small frogs in Georgia who hop suicidally on the roads after a heavy rainfall, I hope that the doe survived.  The real blessing is that neither one of us were injured.  Typically a collision with a large deer results in injury or death.  As Chris so appropriately put it while we were eating dinner at a local restaurant following the accident, "It is nice to be able to see my husband and reach out and touch his hand."  I am grateful that we were protected and that I can see my wife and touch her hand.

As for the car, it is in the repair shop right now.

A suggestion of a friend

A friend asked what it would take to complete the upstairs bathroom. That was about two months ago. Well out of necessity we needed to get the upstairs bathroom up and running before our trip out west for Thanksgiving. so here it is:

Thank you Russ for the suggestion; and Russ, Richard and Chris for the help.

Changes in weather

It's amazing what a change twenty-three days can bring in regards to the weather. As of the time of my post on November 15 the sun was shinning and work could be done outside. No coats were required, in fact, one could wear a short sleeve shirt like Elders Johnson and Whitworth. But now....today it is 7 degrees with a wind chill factor of 6 degrees. It looks like a winter wonderland.

To recite the lyrics of a popular Christmas song:

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,

But the fire is so delightful, (well we don't have a fire)

And since we've no place to go,

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

And so it is this December 11th of 2009.

Super Heros

In life there are many kinds of super heros, you know the person who arrives in the nick of time to save the day. Super Heros like
Superman and.....................................Dudley Do-Right

            

Well, friday I had two super heros arrive to save the day. If you think restoration is all fun and games, then I have a bridge in NY I am willing to sell you. Just when I felt overwhelmed two missionaries (Elders Johnson and Whitworth) arrived to offer some help. I put them to work on laying core bricks for the front porch.

Thank you Elders, your service was greatly appreciated.

A Special Gift

I am sure you are familar with the adage: "It's the early bird who catches the worm". Well sometimes you need to get up early to enjoy the beauty of the dawning of a new day. Chris did just that, and then she shared the picture with me. I am grateful for her love.

Ah, we've found gold!!!

By the way this is post number 4 of 4 that I have posted today, so if you don't scroll through the other posts you will miss alot.

After living in Washington State (the Evergreen State where everything remains green all year long-including the rooftops of houses because of the moss); New Mexico (the Enchanged State where we were enchanted by the fact that trees are an endangered species); and Georgia (the well I don't know what it is state-but it is green all year long) it is nice to find gold in the fall.

The downside, leaves are all over the ground. Well you have to take the bad with the good.

Close, but not completed

Have you ever felt like you were part of a Neverending Story? I have. Everyday it seems the same, get up; eat; work; eat; go to bed; and then start all over again the next day. Okay, maybe my life is the restoration version of Groundhog Day! I'm grateful to friends who when they visit comment on how much we have accomplished. To us it seems like baby steps, yet they think that we have made giant strides.

So lately we have spent some time on trying to finish the drawing room. Oh what will we do if we actually finish one room, 100% complete! I would be shocked and amazed (pronounced shock-ed and amaz-ed). Here is what we have completed so far:

Some minor trimwork is left on the panels and then I need to put a second coat of paint on the beams of the coffered ceiling. Chris also made window drapes for the drawing room. They are made out of "warm windows". That is a type of fabric, not windows that we found that are warm.

I am grateful for my talented wife.

Oh where oh where has my sheetrock gone?

Is there ever an end to sheetrock work? Someone asked me how many sheets I think I have used so far. That would have been a great tally to maintain, but I didn't. Sooooo, I have tried to figure out how many sheets. I had two loads of 100 sheets per load delivered and have transported by truck around 63 sheets that I can remember, so at least the tally would be 260 eight foot sheets and 3 ten foot sheets. I'm sure the count is higher, but the more important question is where did it all go? We still have sheetrock to purchase and hang. It seems that it disappears in a blackhole of some sort. There's a Hollywood theme for a "B" rated movie, The Invasion of the Blackhole that eats sheetrock.

Anyway, we have started to do some of the work in the parlor. Ah yes the parlor, the last room on the first floor that had no work done in it. The ceiling is hung and two of the walls have sheetrock. I will have to do some work on the interior bricks before we can hang sheetrock on the remaining two wall. Argh, more brick work!


We have also started to work on the alcove off the tower chamber. Remember the tower chamber? It was our second bedroom. (You can look through past posts for the tower chamber.) The alcove, which I referred to as a small sitting room will soon be the location of a queen size sleigh bed. Why use the alcove instead of the tower chamber for the location of the bed? Because of $$$'s. Okay, I'm sure that answer made absolutely no sense, so I will explain. It is a smaller room, easier to heat and cool. Today everthing is about $$$'s, and the more we spend on heating/cooling the less we have for other things. So as winter sets in this will more than likely become the winter bedroom, with the tower chamber being a nice place to site and relax.

No we have not gone on vacation

I'm sure some of you have asked "R U There?" or "R U Three?" (from Muppets from Space). If you haven't seen the movie then you probably don't know what I am talking about. But We R Here, and we have been working on the house. As the temperatures have cooled off we have concentrated more on the inside. However, some outside work has taken place such as more brickwork on the side and front porch.

This is what the side porch looked like when we got here. (I have been working on the side porch.)
And now it looks like this:

And as for the front porch, Brother Miller started to repair some of the bricks, which required some of the bricks to be taken down and put back up.

Thanks

We would like to thank the Rotary Club and the Lions Club for inviting us to talk about the restoration of the "Hall" house. Your kindness, generosity and support has been greatly appreciated. Thanks for welcoming us into the community.

Star Date 09062009

Well I had to think of some catchy title for all of the Trekkie fans who may be following my blog. Okay so I took the Trekkie test and this was my result:

Test Score:

trekkiness: 107
The Trekkie Testranks me as a(n) Commander
What does it mean?
You know Trek, and you love it. You may not dress up in uniform every day, but you're dedicated to your series, or two, and happy with being entertained by it.

For your test taking skills, here is a graphic to share:

Well, maybe I'm a trekkie at heart. Anyway, here is an update of our adventure in restoration. The side porch which needed some major help is looking a bit better nowadays. (I do need to clean those bricks.)

Just notice how straight the bricks appear. However, remember looks can be deceiving. As soon as I get the bricks back on I can start on putting up the columns for the porch cover.

We also have our two year old granddaughter (Araya) staying with us so we needed to get the drywall up in the servant's stairwell.

And as with all projects there are last minute changes that we have made. In particular the bookshelves in the library have gone through many design phases but we have now settled on the look that we wanted.

Columns!!! The house in Georgia had four 18' columns outside and four 9' columns inside so when I found these solid wood columns out in a covered area in our backyard I couldn't resist in refinishing them and incorporating them into the library design. It's a slow process but worth the effort.

And yes, we have a ceiling fan to cool off the room and provide light.

Just so you know, the ceiling medallion is not lighted but the flash from the camera makes it look that way. Remember, I told you looks can be deceiving.

Brickwork on the side porch

We had some help with the brickwork on the side porch. Elders Pehrson and Howard and our daughter Camille helped to clean the bricks so that I could use them.

(Pictured: Elder Howard and Camille cleaning bricks.)

The cleaning technique for soft mortar is simple: rub two bricks together to get the mortar off.

(Pictured: Camille demonstrating the cleaning technique.)

The technique for stubborn mortar requires more force, usually a chisel and hammer.

(Pictured: Elder Pehrson with hammer and chisel.)

I of course did the tuck point on one of the bases for the columns that will support the upper part of the porch.

Cleopatra ("Cleo" for short)

Last night I discovered a bat flying around the parlor, so of course I dealt with it denying Akuto the opportunity to take care of it. I should mention that he was watching it fly around the parlor. This morning we discovered another bat on the kitchen floor. I'm not sure which one of the cats caught the bat, but I would assume that it was Akuto training Cleo on how to protect the home from intruders.

You have met Akuto (the bat cat):


Now meet Cleo (the bat cat in training):