Lowell's Blog
Updates from the road

It’s almost party time. Mom’s family partying many years ago!

Construction report…

Yes, we’re making progress and Yes there’s only 3 weeks to finish. We’re beginning to think we can do it… Yes We Can…

Right.. I stand in a doorway from the living room to the dinning room and kitchen that has been boarded up since the 2nd week of the project. Last Sunday was the grand reopening 🙂

Since the last update we’ve finished installing windows, the outside house siding and the back deck. The roofing contractor has completed everything including our little garage. Inside we’ve finished: plumbing, electrical, insulation, drywall, painting finished in the kitchen area, Kitchen cabinets/counter tops installed and some of the oak flooring is down.. Now you know why you haven’t heard from us in a while. We’ve been busy!! Not since we built our house in Mexico have we worked this hard and we have to say it’s still a labor of love, especially as things begin to come together. Our work is bearing fruit at this stage.

Many thanks to JD and Rex for taking pity on us and lending a hand from time to time. My Uncle Loran continues to be a great help and has done all the electrical work. Reverend Steve came and did our drywall on a tight schedule along with his church duties and has taken a personal interest in helping us get the project finished. He’s a hard worker and has made a big impact. Frankie and I move from project to project. She has been painting inside for 3 days now and is beginning to organize the new kitchen. Mom is more help now since most of the dusty projects are over. She brings us meals along with my aunts. Each day things are finished making it more like a finished project.

Our challenges at the moment are to get the kitchen operational so we can move the temporary kitchen out of our bedroom. After we complete our bedroom expansion and bath we will move to that room from Mom’s bedroom and she can move from the condo to here. If we can get that done then we’re golden..

Some sacrifices have been made. We’ve not visited many of our relatives. We had to turn down a weeklong sailing trip from New York City to Annapolis with our Australian friends (that was hard to swallow) and we’ve not done any site seeing.

Here’s some photos

New Kitchen on the first night the cabinets are installed

Frankie and Mom checkout the view of the kitchen from the living room

Frankie rushing to get paint on the ceiling and walls because cabinets will arrive later in the morning

Windows, Siding & roof complete. Rex helping with the decking & Neely

Composite decking with no maintenance. Rex wearing his honky tonk tee shirt and overalls. Mom inspects.

Our morning sunrises are inspirational

Labor Day fog didn’t burn off until noon. By the way we have not run AC for 2 weeks now.. Highs 80, Lows 50. Great weather for working.. We’re very lucky.

Frankie’s photo of our old tree and the horses lounging together.

On our way for supplies we stopped by a steam engine tractor festival.

Cousin Jay has his tractor running a log slitter to make fuel for the tractors

I get a lessen on how to operate the tractor as well as a nose full of smoke.

That’s it for now..

Until the next update from Gallatin… Take care…
Lowell, Frankie & Neely