Starting the deck

We were back on the construction site today after my hand surgery yesterday -- second surgery in five weeks; first one didn't work! The first photo here is of the west side with the screened porch. It will tie into the deck which you can see in both photos as it begins to take shape. They are building the deck now so they can use it to move decking more easily to the roof. The workmen are standing on the porch. Cherly is sitting in the Kubota waiting for me to take the photos.

It is hard to get a photo of the "view side" (north) unless we rent a helicopter. All our photos will be below the house from that side.

another view



This is the view from the road coming up to the house. It was taken just below the small "silt pond." The black fences are slit fences that he county requires. We cleared out all the brush to make a pasture -- lots of work left before it will actually be a pasture (maybe in a year or so).

We are headed to Pine Mt. this afternoon and I won't be posting more pics until Tuesday.

Good construction




Our framing sub-contractor is doing very good work. The rafters are 20+ feet long. Ron Carter is on the job every day supervising all the construction. Ron is standing in the loft over the front porch. The "front" of the house actually faces up the mountain. When you drive up the road to the house, we call that the "view" side -- which is actually the back of the house. There will be a deck across the view side connecting the screened porch.

It's a tall building

We knew that we were building a tall house, but standing on the top of the first floor it feels like you are way up in the air. These are some photos from Tuesday's work. The framers left early because of the heat and humidity. No rain for a month, but it is great weather for framing a house -- maybe not for the guys that are actually doing it, but for the property owners, it is good framing weather!
This photo is looking to the east side over our bedroom.

This is the view looking out where the dormer in the west "future" bedroom is.

This is looking into the dining room and kitchen. You can stand where the bar will be and see 80% of the house.

Moving fast

Sorry that I have not posted since Sunday. Everything is moving so fast it is hard to keep up with the progress. Cheryl and I are going to the site in the evenings to clean up and look at the work (inspectors!). We have been busy picking out things for the house i.e. exterior doors yesterday. Cheryl is, of course, is spending a lot of time thinking about how to do the kitchen. The walls of the main floor are up and today they are putting up decking on the I-beams above the first floor. They will start working on the roof framing very soon. They will also go ahead and construct the deck around the view side so they can use it for scaffolding. The house is alreay 23 feet tall before starting to work on the roof framing.
Here is a shot of Cheryl and me standing in front of our bedroom door. The fireplace is just to your left.

First floor going up

This was the way the house looked by Friday when the framing guys left. Five of them are on the job and they are making very good progress. The temp has been over 100 every day, but the guys have worked a full day everyday. The dirt around the house site has been pulverized by the heavy equipment and the drought. There is 3-4 inches of "baby powder" dirt around. Tommy and Tim work for Ron and they are forming for the patio on the view side of the house.
They actually finished the outside walls of the first floor. I took this photo at noon on Friday.
BY THE WAY -- YOU CAN LOOK AT AN ENLARGED PHOTO OF ANY PHOTO ON THE BLOG BY POINTING THE CURSOR ON THE PHOTO AND CLICKING.
Pouring the patio slab. They worked all day on Saturday and didn't finish until dark, so I don't have any finished photos, yet. It is washed pea gravel and it looks great.


little river canyon






It's become tradition to go to Little River Canyon when family is here, but usually when we go, there's water! Not much this time. There was enough, though, for the girls to have a great time and not want to leave. Naomi was slip-sliding everywhere, while Maddie tried to catch fish in a candy wrapper, and Abbey was the explorer. We had a great time, but we missed you all! AJ

Alton and Sherry

Alton and Sherry came for a couple nights. Alton needed a "fix" on the farm. Every time he has come over to work on the farm with me, I have always told him, "When what you are doing stops being fun and starts being work, then it is time to quit!" This is the first time he has told me that his "fun" has become work-- with both of the jobs that I gave him. Take a look at the photos and see how much fun Alton is having. I can't understand why he thinks that this is work.

Cheryl and Sherry came out in their beach clothes and asked what can we do to help you?" They make good job site supervisors. Here they are in their element standing in the doorway of our bedroom closet.
Just so no one will say well what were you doing? Taking pictures only? I have added one action shot of myself.


Hot and dry makes for good framing weather

We had a birthday party for JKAMN tonight -- all five of them since we will not be with them on any of their birthdays. We had vegetables -- peas, corn on the cob, fried okra, cornbread, cabbage, potato salad, stuffed eggs and other trimmings. Wish that JKSD could have been here to share in the meal and good time around the table. The cake is an ice cream one that Nana concocted -- ice cream sandwiches around the outside edge.
Jason and I went out to the house site about dark and most of my pictures did not take but AJ took some today and she will post those later tonight, so you will have a better idea of the progress. The pic above is from the play room looking up and Jason is standing about where the main entrance to the h0use will be. Floor joists were installed today and they will start the floor decking tomorrow. All framing for the basement is completed and now we can finally tell more about the size of rooms and flow through them.
This shot is from the road leading up to the house. The road continues up around behind the house and we will enter the house from the back (or the front or whatever you want to call it. It is going to be very tall!!

I am taking Jason and Kelli to Pine Mt. tomorrow to see IMPACT 360 campus and to meet the staff. Denny and Sherry will come tomorrow evening and stay through the weekend. JKAMN leaves on Friday am for Mimi and Pop's for the night.

Pete is 80! Mimi's reunion





We had a good trip to MS this past weekend celebrating Pop's 80th birthday and Mimi's Downs family reunion at their house. The reunion went well. I don't have any pics of the reunion as AJ took photos, but I do have one from Poplar Springs Church cemetery. Mimi is talking to my cousin, Sandra, from Little Rock. I will post below some pics from Pop's birthday party at Lusco's. It was a lot of fun and I heard Pop say that that was the best time he had in a very long time.


Cayson did the sign. Good job, Cayson!