Another weekend of work, but that's good.

Sunday night. 7:45 PM. And I am bushed.

Came home from work on Friday to find Kent on the ladder putting up siding. I helped him with the last few pieces before our neighbor came over and convinced us to go to the nearby elementary school playground. It was 60 degrees and about an hour of daylight left. He convinced us that we needed some play time.

So we grabbed the frisbee, he brought his skateboard, and off to the school we went. It's just down the street a bit and we relished the ability to walk in sneakers instead of boots and not wear a heavy coat.

Tony took to the smooth concrete on the skateboard, and we started throwing on the field before we decided to up the stakes a bit. We tried to throw the disc between various metal bars on the monkey bars but turned out to be a bad idea. After a few hard hits on the metal bars, the frisbee decided it had had enough. It split. Okay, on to the next game.

Someone left a soccer ball on the field, so we started kicking that around. Man, I haven't done that in a while. Surprised I didn't pull a muscle, but all came out fine. Tony joined us, too, and we just kept it simple. Short, soft passes to each other. After enough of that we used the playground items properly and climbed around like we were nine again. But I'm not, and my hands couldn't take the hanging from those tiny bars. Yowzers, I remember getting callouses right where my hands now hurt. Eh, it was fun anyway.

Getting dark and time to head home. The neighbors were coming over for pizza and midnight madness, so I needed to prepare. It was a fun night with everyone, though low key.

Kent went to work for a bit on Saturday and I took the opportunity to clean the house somewhat thoroughly. Somewhat, because I didn't do the bathrooms. I had meant to but I forgot and then noticed when I brushed my teeth that night. Oh well, it will have to wait. I also got into putting up shelves in the closet downstairs. The framing is open inside the closet so I installed some pieces of wood to make shelves for my canning projects. I canned 27 jars of tomatoes this year and now I have a handy place to store them. The chest freezer, that is full of other veggies I preserved from the fall, is also in this closet so it is my handy place to store my preserved produce. I also put up a bunch of hooks in there too, for hanging our (mostly my) bags.

This is the closet under the steps. I put in shelves between the stud framing. Not unique, I know, but helpful nonetheless.



Sunday was siding again. And boy did we make use of the sunshine. We got out there before 10 AM and continued straight through to sunset. We took a short break for food around 1:30, but the good news is that the whole west side is now done. That was the toughest side because the peak is probably 25-30 feet in the air and we don't really have the best ladders for the job and the ground on that side is super uneven. I don't even want to go into our getups for this because our mothers read this and they don't need to know. Just know that all went well!

That's Kent. Waaaaayyyyy up there on the ladder.



So close.



So only the north-side of the house left to side. Should be done by 2012, right?!

Our Christmas Story

Kent is curiously nostalgic about Christmas. We don't exchange gifts or get into that aspect of it, but he loooovvesssss a tree and decorations and all that. We tried to have a tree once or twice in the old tiny house, but it became too much of a hassle and mess.

Perhaps the tradition was lost on me for all those years without a tree, but when Kent asked this year about a tree, all I could think about was the mess it would bring into our house. Kent still persisted and this past Sunday said he was going to to get a tree. I suggested that we find our old decorations because what good is a tree without the ornaments. You see, we had to put EVERYTHING that was in the garage in one room and one closet while we lived in the old house and built the new one. This means that those ornaments could be buried anywhere. It took some digging but because I love my husband, I found them. We brought them in the house and took to hanging the one string of lights that worked, garland and various items.

I found this fake tree that I have no idea where it came from. Kent had no clue either, so if you recognize it, let us know. It came with tiny ornaments as well. The star is from my mom, I am pretty sure.

This is a box of ornaments that my mom must have sent me years ago. The majority of the ornaments were given to her by her preschool students. She got so many every year. I have many memories of hanging them on our tree growing up.



This is a bendy Santa Claus that Kent has had for as long as I have known him. The antique radio in the background works too.


Kent with the ceramic tree that my grandmother made. She was on a kick for a couple of years of making these things at the senior center. I have to say that this is one Christmas item that I do treasure. The ribbon might be from Nonna too, not sure.



Here is a picture of a closeup of some of those teacher ornaments. The snowflake says 1984 on it. Is that an antique yet?



Artsy photo of some of the truly older bulbs Mom sent.

The Car

I, Lori Gromen, have purchased my first car. Sure, I’ve owned a car before. When my grandpa died in 1996 I inherited his ’84 Chevy Celebrity, and Kent owns cars, of course, but I have never purchased an automobile with my own hard earned cash. That has all changed.

For $500 and cost for title and license, I purchased a 1991 Honda Civic with 118K miles. It's bronze in color, four door, and has a simple radio. Yeah, the back end is a little bashed in but the thing starts when you want it to and doesn’t stop when you don’t want it to, which is more than I can say for that god-forsaken truck we got out back. I got it from a friend who is leaving the country for a couple of years and if he ever comes back to Athens, I might just sell it back to him.

Kent took these pictures yesterday and it was snowing so they didn't turn out all that great.



I need new tires desperately and probably new brakes within a month. But those are the burdens of owning a car. If you want the freedom a car provides, you have to deal with the responsibility of maintenance.

More of the same

Two weeks later and we are still putting up the siding. Only now we are into the "danger zone". With the help of Tim K, Jason W, Charlie C, Tony X, Krista D, Paul T, Tom H, and Jim K (gee I hope I got everyone) we are well into the second floor of the house. Today, neighbor Tony got out his climbing gear and we roped in. It was incredible. We had ropes running through the house and out the windows. We hooked into those and pounded away. We stayed up there while Charlie handed us up the next row of siding. There is the small roof to stand on but it is not that big, somewhat steep and made of metal. The metal makes it a bit slippery too. So we tied off and made a day of it.

Hey Tony, that's one helluva way to hammer a nail.

We can take on the world!

Overall, there are some pretty funny shananingans going on and I wish I could get video or photos from it, but the truth is, we tend to need all hands on deck. So there just isn't a time to get it out. Hence the week and no pictures. But we did bust it out today and made sure we got a few of Tony and I up on the roof.

The end is in sight, and I hope the weather holds out. We have been very lucky lately. Which reminds me, I should check the forecast.

Lookie lookie

We are taking huge steps towards the advancement of our project we like to call our home. It's called siding. And we are finally putting it up. This weekend, we had a few friends over on Sunday to help out with the project. Kent and I had started a bit on Wednesday after work, but were only able to get a few sheets up. But it was a good start in the sense that we were able to get the starter strips up and see how it is to work with this material. We splurged and purchased the guillotine to cut the fibrous cement siding and I think it is going to pay off. As I mentioned in the earlier post, we borrowed some shears and grinder from a friend. The shears will come in handy for cutting around windows and the like, but the guillotine is awesome. No dust. Easy cut. And clean cut too.

Here's Kent and Jim putting up siding on the west facing wall. We started here because it is the least visible side. We figured if we mess up, less likely to see it.



I took this photo from Rick's old bedroom window.




Bye Bye Tyvek. (Okay, so the whole house isn't done. Not even close. But it will look good once it is, and this is a little teaser.)

News to you

Last weekend we had a fundraiser at the farm to celebrate all things farm, fall, and fun. Part of the festivities was a photo booth that featured farm implements and accessories and Kent and had fun taking the photo below. All in all the event was a success in money raised and smiles had.

As for the house, Kent has finished the trim on the inside and outside windows. We are in the process of putting the siding up by finishing the corner trim and other prep work. It was a gorgeous day today and we spent most of it outside working on this prep. We borrowed a saw from a contractor friend that cuts the fibrous cement board that we purchased. I was cutting strips with it for the starter row and let me tell you it is one hell of a dusty, messy job. I was wearing a respirator, safety glasses and ear protection and I still could tell it was entering my body. That stuff is so dusty (and unhealthy) when cut. Luckily, we won't have to deal with that too much. We splurged and bought a guillotine style cutting device that won't be nearly as messy for the majority of the cutting. But because I had to cut them in strips the long way, this was my only option. I tried to breathe in, cut, exhale, cut, breathe in cut, exhale, cut, and so on. I am not partial to this process already.

Other exciting news (this is very exciting for our neighbors) is that we have blinds on almost all of the windows. They are double celled and should provide a bit of insulating value. I got them online from blinds.com and I highly recommend this site. Easy to install and quick. Just a few more to go and the whole house will be done. These things are expensive, so I have to buy a few at a time. My version of the installment plan.

This past weekend was Halloween here in Athens. We played a little frisbee, had some friends spend the night, and kept it pretty chill. The cold nights have enticed me to light the woodstove up, which is nice in a way. I love the ambiance of it, and Kent and I tend to read in the evenings by the fire. Very relaxing. The luster of the fire hasn't been lost yet, and I hope it lasts for a while.

Kent's big news is that he bought an iphone. It is used, so it's not the latest and greatest. I suppose he got a good deal, but I just hope he doesn't become so attached to it. Although, I am glad he got something. His old phone couldn't hold a charge and therefore had to be plugged in when you talked to him. That's not much of a mobile phone.

Happy Halloween.

Quick update

I am waiting for the laundry machine to finish so that I can hang the clothes up to dry. While I wait, I thought I would write a quick update.

Newest news, I guess, is that I, Lori, am working for Americorps VISTA now. It's a one year position and my site is the Good Earth Farm. They are located about a mile from my house on the bike path, so it's an easy commute. The farm grows food for the local food pantries and soup kitchens. They also operate as an educational farm. It is only in it's third year, so things are rapidly expanding. Besides the produce, they also have two dairy cows, a bunch of chickens for eggs, four pigs, bees, and some goats and lambs for fleece. It is quite lovely.

My main task is to get volunteers out to the farm. The farm uses organic and sustainable agricultural methods which means labor intensive. And since it is small scale, there isn't any machinery that would be appropriate to use. Right now, everything is hand dug and hoed.

The house was a bit stagnant for a while because we didn't have any wood to finish the trim. We finally got that, and Kent is working on that. I put in a closet rod and shelves in the mud room to clean that up a bit. We still need to order siding. It's really a matter of time.

Kent is still doing the same old thing. Counseling and counciling.

No big trips planned right now. Too poor and too much to do around here. But that is okay, because there is so much to do here. And it is fall in Athens. Gotta love it.

Time to hang the laundry...