06/02/09 The sun has finally found its way to Oregon and along with the sun comes LANDSCAPING!!!  Kass has been working hard getting the yard laid out and started building flower beds, pathways and having Rick carry heavy rocks for retaining walls. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will actually have a yard for the first time in 5 years.  Still trying to get our refinance to go through, who would have thought it would have been so complicated. A funny thing happened on the way home from the plant nursery this past weekend.  Rick, myself and the nurseryman heaved a huge rhododendron into our truck ( about 8ft wide and 6ft tall) strapped it in, paid for it and headed down the road, about a mile from the place my tie down strap broke and the Rhody went flying out of the back of the truck onto the 2 lane highway blocking our lane of traffic. A nice gentleman about 4 cars back hopped out and helped us load it back into the truck and we were on our way again. (It seemed much lighter the second time we loaded it..<S>) It had a few bumps and bruises but no major damage thankfully! It is now in its new home at the front of the house.

04/08/09 We finally got the frist coat of paint on the entire house, nothing like a deadline to force you to get something done!  Luckily the weather cooperated this weekend and with the help of Kass's brother Kevin, her kids and her dad we got it done! This summer we will have to put the second coat on but that is for another day.  Rick was able to complete the subfloor on the upper deck (walk-out roof?) and so now the lower deck will stay dry (hopefully.)  We put a railing in front of both doors on the upper deck so no one can walk out there, until we get the actual railing completed.

03/15/09  After a week of fairly good weather, Kass got most of the house primed.  On Friday, her son Rick came out and they painted most of the front of the house.   Big Rick taped & primed the windows on the back of the house and the Living Room windows as well as finishing the primer on the chimney chase.  During the week he also cut the door trim for the Living Room door to the deck, and finished the trim under the Spare Room window as well.  Kass' dad Fred came out and installed the lights across the front of the house except for the corner we hadn't primed yet as there was nothing to stand on to get to it.  Kass took care of that this week and her son put in the final light as well.  Using a ladder bolted to the tractor (another of Fred's inventions) Kass painted the West wall of the house too on Friday.  Now the entire house has one coat of primer on it, and a little over half of the house is painted!  We're hoping to find more siding to do the deck railing with but if not we will use plywood until we can find some.  The railing needs to be complete in order to refinance.  Getting SO close!

03/05/09  Can we say sore muscles?  Kass spent the day climbing up and down ladders repairing the soffit and prepping the east wall for primer, its about a 25-30ft climb UP to the top. She managed to get the soffit repaired, the chimney chase closed in, added a missing eave board and got the whole east wall prepped for primer. She was even able to prime most of the wall!  She is feeling it today, who says you need to go to a gym!!!

02/19/09 We found out yesterday that we MUST have at least a coat of primer on the house before we can refinance, along with the railing finished on the lower deck. So, yesterday afternoon Kass got out her paint scraper for the drill and went to town on the front of the house, she finished the lower level and then we started priming!

02/15/09  Over the last two weekends Rick, Kass, and Kass' dad Fred Kirchhofer have put up the beams for the second story deck, and installed almost all of the deck joists.  On the 15th Rick & Kass also repaired the door between the Living Room and the deck as well.  We are expecting a call from an assessor to come appraise our property for the consolidation loan. 

02/05/09  Kass worked the last couple of days framing the deck railing for the lower deck.  With the help of her dad, she finished it today.  Now we need to either get siding or plywood for the outside to "close" it in to make it "code". There will be a 5 ft stairway on the side of the deck and a six foot one on the front of the deck. As soon as we get enough "man power" we will set the beams for the upper deck. Any one have any extra "muscle power"?  Fred is working on a Boom for the front of the tractor to help lift the beams up to the top of the post, until then we will continue working on other projects and general clean up around the place awaiting the arrival of the home appraiser.

02/01/09  This weekend we resumed work on the front deck, putting up all the posts across the front of the deck, and the ledger board across the front of the house.  Kass' dad Fred Kirchhofer came out to help and her son Rick Close and his friend Brian Shanniak also came out to help, and all it cost was Big Rick making a large dish of spicy beef and rice, which incapacitated the two boys for the duration of the superbowl.  Rick & Kass spent the remainder of the day cleaning up the yard and loading up garbage to haul away.   Last week we found out we had been pre-approved on our refinance loan and have an appraiser coming to look over the property soon.  Hopefully we can finish up enough little projects to make things look very nice for them.

01/18/09  Friday we submitted paperwork to refinance all our bills and consolidate our debt at a lower rate and lower overall monthly payment.  In the meantime, we are cleaning up everything trying to finish off every little project we can before the appraiser comes by to assess our property.  We removed most of the debris from the collapsed barn and hauled off just about all of the moldy and smoldering hay, restacked most of the lumber we were able to save and braced up the remaining portion of the roof on the old barn to cover what hay is left.  We also put up the scaffolding on the deck and repaired the siding & trim outside of the upstairs Bathroom and Jayden's room. We almost repaired all the boards on the eaves as well but darkness fell before we quite finished that project.   Kass managed to complete the trim around the stairs on the Back Porch. transplant a shrub into the rock planter we put in at the bottom of the stairs there and with her dad & son chipping in, we cleaned up a lot of the property as well.  The weather is supposed to stay clear for the next week (fingers crossed) so we shall see what we can get done.

01/10/09  Just a quick update on the Guest Room with furnished pictures of the room.  We began dismantling the barn that collapsed and have plans for a new barn that will allow us better parking by the farm house.  Silver lining in that storm cloud?

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