Brick Wall (No! It's a good thing!)

Our brick is coming along. I promise updated pictures, as these are pretty old, as soon as I get outside in daylight with a camera!

The brick ledge we use is then covered to protect the metal from any water that could possible get behind the bricks.

The wall by the driveway is partly done. The wall will go to the height where the angle starts, above that is a porch column.

The front porch column.

The other column.

The placeholder for our house numbers. That wooden number sign has hung in hundreds of places during construction to help mailmen find our house!

The sand used for making mortar, Jeff has hauled this back and forth many times. Our house has a lot of sand on it!

The mortar mixer and the huge puddles it makes in the driveway. Last week I went to the dentist and when I sat down in the chair I realized the whole toe of my shoe was covered in yellow mortar dust from taking my bike out the driveway. Welcome to life on a construction site!

The Shower Story part 2

So in case you've been dying to find out what happened or how we got the showers into the house, here is an update:

We took the backdoor frame off, and carried them in through the door. I know, boring solution. BUT much more effective!

Jonny and Sandy lift, Jeff is invisible behind the shower/inside.

The shower wasn't super heavy, but it was super awkward.

Jonny tries to unscrew the bar we attached to the bottom in our attempt to take it in through the window.

Uh, oh, looks like we just got stuck! 

Well, we got it inside, now to get it to the bathroom.

Jonny carries one side through the study into the bathroom.

Sandy admires the shower in its new location.

Next problem: the drain holes are right over the trusses. Truss repair coming soon. These showers are making for lots of interesting blogs!

The Great Shower Failure

So... the showers wouldn't fit in the doors. So we tried the upstairs bedroom windows... let's just say the showers are still in the back yard. We couldn't do it, you might guess why as you look at the pictures.

Jeff up on the ladder, getting ready for the shower.

Dave and Jonny look nervously down on the proceedings.

Getting the shower onto the ladder.

Are you ready?

Here we go!

Uh, oh, delay...

As far as we got, before it got back down to the ground!

Our house, the staging ground

Everything space in the new house is used for working on projects these days.

Porch columns that are being painted.

The door to the screen porch is stained.

The front and back door in their staining positions.

The front door in progress.

Jeff's master to-do list.

The workbench gets a lot of use these days.

It is getting colder in the house!

A First and a Last

So maybe not house-related, but this weekend Sarah had a first and a last. Uni's fall play was "Night of the Living Dead" and Sarah had the chance to be a zombie extra in Thursday night's performance. 

Sarah and our neighbor were both extras.

Sarah and some Uni friends who were in the play.

Sarah attacks Maia, hungry for blood.

Sarah's friends who came to the performance.

Jonny said Sarah's zombie walk "wasn't bad."

The last came with the second to last swim meet of the year, as Sarah swam her last 500 Freestyle. Not quite a PR, but close.

Sarah and swim friends await their races.

Ready for the last 500 of her high school career.

One Brick at a Time

Our bricks are supposed to look authentic to the period that the rest of our neighborhood was built, so we got them from Colonial Brick Corp which still makes bricks in the old-fashioned kilns they way they did in the early 20th century. We've had a brick layer here on non-rainy days working on the columns.

Front porte-cochere column.

Other porte-cochere column in progress.

Getting a delivery of bricks.

The front porch column.

The other front porch column.

The bricks, ready to be used.

There are three and a half more front columns and then screen porch columns to finish.

The very front column and stairs.