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):

The Library

I have also started the bookshelves in the library, or at least one section. They are floor to ceiling. This looks rough, but should look great when finished.

Some of the porch has been repaired

I cleaned off the side porch and replaced some of the bricks that fell off. We are hoping to get the side porch put back together so people can use it instead of the front porch since the vehicle parking is along the side of the house.

(Okay, so I'm not a professional. I'm sure I'll get lots of practice before we are through here!)

Surprising flowers

We have some flowers that are blooming and add color to our property, they are called Surprise Lily, Magic Lily, or Naked Lady (Latin: Lycoris squamigera). Here's what they look like:

A poor man's coffered ceiling

We have done some work on the house in between trips. Since the drawing room ceiling was wavy (not due to my drywall hanging abilities, but because the floor joists had settled) we decided to solve the problem by painting panels and making a coffered ceiling. This is the poor man's coffered ceiling in three steps. First, start with hardboard ($5-$6 per 4'x8' sheet) cut in half (4'x4' panels) and have a talented person (like Chris) paint on each sheet. Second, hang the panels and coffer the ceiling with inexpensive 1"x3" boards ($1.58 per board). Third, caulk the gaps, add the trim and paint the boards (we have not done step three yet, nor have we finished with all of steps one and two. How can that be? you may ask, easy, this is a work as you go project.) You should get a look similar to this:

(without flash)
(with flash)
Stay tuned, more to come in the future.

Hisashiburi desu ne?

It has been some time since I last posted to my blog. "Why has it been so long you may ask?" "Why not" is the answer. Okay, so that was lame but I do have my reasons. The main reason is that we needed to make a trip to Georgia for personal matters and to work on painting our house in Brunswick that we are trying to sell. Having established that we had great reasons for not working on the house here, lets now do a recap of the trip to Brunswick, Georgia.

We got up early one morning to go to St. Simons Island to watch the sunrise from the beach. We missed the sunrise, but it was still a lot of fun to be back on the beach. Our house is approximately 20 minutes from the beach.

This picture is of the marshes taken from our car as we drove over the Sidney Lanier Bridge in Brunswick. Love those marshes. It's great fun to kayak down the marshes too.

And how about driving down lanes covered with live oak trees? What a great experience.

St. Simons Island has a pier that is used by the locals and others for fishing and crabbing.

A view of the Sidney Lanier bridge from the beach on St. Simons Island. The cool thing about the bridge is that we no longer had to wait for the old drawbridge when ships were passing through, now they can go under the Sidney Lanier without stopping vehicle traffic.

Now on to the beach. The building in the background is the King and Prince Resort. I have never stayed there, but I have eaten there and it was a great place to eat while enjoying a breathtaking view of the ocean.

And as for that ocean, well, here is a little taste of it. (Or should I say, a visual and audio sample since you can't really taste the salt water on a blog.) (PS-it was windy that day so it's hard to hear the ocean because of the wind.) (PSS-the building is the King and Prince Resort.)

(PSSS-If you want to see the house then go to my link: Stately Home in Somersby Pointe.)