Winter pups

It's only taken a year, but Jordy will now allow us to put on his fleece jacket before we go out for walkies!!! He's made the connection between the coat and being warm, so much so that he was out there leapin' over logs he was so happy! My little woofs...(Lucy got the jacket that didn't fit Jordy)

More tile work

Here's a better shot where you can see the green line detail in the purple tile backsplash behind the stove
Jordy checks out the pebble tile flooring for the master shower

Master bathroom shower tile is ready to be installed. Color doesn't come through in teh picture so great, but it's a black and green/gold porcelean that looks very natural

Seth shows off the upstairs bathroom tile. I love the little cubby at the end of the tub!

Mom, you're going to LOVE it!! It's teh "beachyist" room in the house.

Here's teh cabinet in the kitchen where our new french door fridge will go.

And our nice maple paneled walk-in pantry!!!

It just keeps getting better and better!!!

On to the kitchen and tiling!

Thanks to Mom and Dad Henderson for coming up with our new kitchen cabinets and helping to install them!

Seth gets into tiling our backsplash behind the stove

And the finished product...it doesn't show up well in the picture, but that's a purple slate we used. Several of the tiles have these cool green accents too.

Fourth row down you can see how we arranged the tiles with the strongest green accent lines...

...and then Jordy thought we had worked enough and it was time to go home and feed him dinner.

Dogpatch - now with heat and sheetrock!

Just in time for the major temperature drop and deep freeze we're getting at night now, we've hooked up the boiler and are running the radiant heating.

I also stacked full the woodshed Seth built so that once the stove is installed, we're ready to warm ourselves by the fire. (And in case you didn't realize, stacking wood is a LOT of work! Thank god Seth does all the splitting!)

The in-laws showed up for the weekend just to remind me how lucky I am to have them as inlaws -- they worked their asses off all weekend helping us hang sheetrock. They are no slackers!
And with sheetrock, the rooms are starting to really come together.
the kitchen....
the dining room...
the master bedroom...
Ok, what did I say about being slackers? Nah, mom jus tsnuck in a well-earned nap in the afternoon sunshine while the men worked on...
And did I mention our grass is coming in?! Foliage is almost all gone now. We're ready for winter!

Dog party weekend

So on to a post NOT about our new house...

This past weekend was Dog Party weekend! Together with friends, family and pack, we celebrated foliage up at Stephen Huneck's Dog Mountain.




And while Mom was up to visit, I had to make her do something fun and silly, so we made her do the Zip Line over at Sugarbush!


A great time was had by all!

And, if you are looking for a pup of your own, Jessie is fostering one that we can vouch for, as he did GREAT at the dog party and the crazy dogfest that was our place this weekend. If you have a big heart and space in your home, Oscar (aka Rudy) would love to hear from you. Email Jessie at zizias@yahoo.com

Here's Oscar with his new best friend, Eli the prancing poodle.

Insulation Day 1

So before we could insulate, Seth and I spent this past weekend putting up hardback foil insulation panels up to create the cavities we'd fill with the insulation filler. All the silver kind of made me feel like I was in an alien communication room.
Then yesterday, the guys came to blow in the NuWool insulation. It's a highly efficient cellulose product made from recycled newspaper.


And Seth was very happy with the first day of insulation work. Next up is the spray-in cellulose in the side walls today. Fun. Messy. Efficient. Warm!

New pics of the palace

Progress...

The chimney grows...
The septic leachfield...
Our front yard...
Now without stumps!

Update from the Dogpatch

Have I said lately that I LOVE our windows -- here seen from the second floor balcony overlooking the great room.



Thanks to Mom and Dad Henderson for coming up last week and helping!


Resting at home after a hard day's work...

Update on the Dogpatch

So when we last left the story of building in the rainiest season on record in Vermont, we still didn't have a roof. Well, that was this week's work...


Downstairs starts to dry out and make for a good breakroom...

John and Seth are working together well and haven't killed each other yet ;-)




Finally, upstairs gets roofed and the bedrooms begin to take shape...


Windows come on Monday so it was time to frame in the home for our wall of windows -- this great room is indeed going to be GREAT!!!


When Seth and I were at the property working yesterday, we got to hea rthe rain and hail bounce off our new roof! Nice change from having everything pour inside. Starting to look like a home. We're VERY psyched!