Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. I haven't posted in a while, as Mom and Dad have let me know. Since the last post we all went on a family cruise to the Caribbean and had a great time. After we got back I was working on the special project, putting together a coffee table book with all the pictures and narrative by Linda and Family, Mike and Jody, and Lori with myself. The link is to the Blurb website, but don't get tempted to buy the book just yet. That is a proof copy, and the final will get posted in a couple of days, hopefully by the 28th. UPDATE: Final copy is now in at the link.
Work on the house has been progressing. The wood was all stained and finished. Currently, the electrician is adding all the fixtures, switches, plugs, and hooking everything up. The plumber has started adding all the appropriate fixtures, and the wood guys are now installing the drawers and cabinet doors with the hinges, sliders, etc. Everything is still very dusty, but since they are still doing some cutting they don't want to clean it all up yet.

Door handles have been mounted and all the doors are up. The stain looks great.


Below is a view from the kitchen to the dining room. Stone will go above the fireplace mantel also. To the right is the hutch, next to the swing doors.



This view is down the hall, dining room left and kitchen right. The drawers are in but the covers need to go on. The midddle cabinets doors will have glass.



Next is the great room. The ceiling is the same stain but at 25% strength. The mantle and columns also, but they came out darker due to the rough cut wood. We were tempted to go with a darker stain and are glad we listened to the painter.







The kitchen faucets compliment the copper sink, and Lori picked some very fancy sconces.




The master bathroom is painted a chocolate brown. The brown brings out the color of the countertops and minimalizes some color differences between the different slabs. In real view, it goes great with the wood and floors as well as the fixtures.






The cabinet work in the mudroom turned out well. This is a closet for coats etc, convenient next to the garage. The sink backsplash fits in nicely. The stone is the same stuff as the floor.






Study above, dining room below





Master bedroom sitting room.

Staining Started

For the last couple of weeks, some finish up work has been done, refining the trim on the woodwork, working on finishing up the heating system, some concrete fill-in in the basement etc. Lori has been working on paint color selection, and met with a color coordinator from Guiry's paint to make selections. She got some interesting ideas and it should look cool.

The floors all were covered with plastic, a lot of taping done, and they have started staining the wood. The initial application is done. There is a second coat, then sanding and fill in of wood defects and covering nail holes, and a final seal is applied to all the wood. The color certainly gives the inside a different look. The initial coat is a little dull looking, but the later coats will enhance the richness.

The color is all the same. Flash and different lighting gives the wood a different hue. Below is the master sitting room fireplace, and below that the bar in the basement. This has granite tops. The legs in front and some of the trim in back of the bar will have black staining for a two tone contrast, as in the kitchen.




The study, and the guest master sitting room fireplace wall. The shelves to the right have a niche for a TV




The entryway stairs. The framing on the wall will hold glass panels and borders the dining room. The plan is to have etched or stained glass eventually..



Teddy is growing fast and now weighs about 30 pounds. He seems "dense", and doesn't look as if he weighs that much. Pretty solid. He now is mostly housebroke, but we have to be aware if he needs to go out as he doesn't have a lot of holding reserves! He also hasn't changed his schedule with us for Daylight Savings, and still gets up at the same time in the morning, 5:30 AM from what was 6:30.

Here's Teddy keeping me company as I get in the last heat of the day from the sun.


He's been going to obedience training, but we aren't as diligent as we should be in keeping up between lessons. It was a lot of stuff for a puppy to learn. Me too.

Lori and Teddy at class.


Max and Teddy get along great and seem to be best buds, although Teddy can get a little too pesky and annoying. I'm glad we have Max to keep him out of our hair at times. Teddy follows Max around everywhere, and we just need to call Max to come to find Teddy. It's handy out at the lot. Max just needs a little attention once in awhile and he's good.





We had 3 dogs for a day. Lori found a large poodle wandering around. Unfortunately, he had no tags. He did have a microchip that wasn't registered. He was a well behaved and obedient dog. I walked him around the neighborhood and I wished he could teach Max how to do that. I haven't been able to convince Max walking on a leash is a lot easier without trying to dislocate my shoulder. Anyways, we put signs up and later that day the owner, who lives about a block away, gave us a call and was greatly relieved we had her dog. He apparently had dug out under a fence. Lori wants them to visit. Te poor dog was rescued from a farm where he was kept outside in a wire cage, just for breeding. His teeth were damaged from trying to chew out. The current owner had given him up, but when she found out how he was treated demanded him back.



I've been getting used to the idea of "President Obama". I am still, however, a little stunned.



Oh brother, does anyone think there is a government office of President Elect.

Better get this stuff in while we still have a 1st Amendment.

Update: OK, I still think it's goofy to have a Seal devoted to it, but "office of pres elect" might be real. See here, here, here, and here.

First Legislation

I'm John A, and I didn't necessarily approve this video, but it's laugh out funny. All my liberal friends (1 or 2 at least) lighten up.

Well, my future is secure

Obama Promises To Stop America's Shitty Jobs From Going Overseas

Obama's First Crisis

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Happy Halloween

Obama Voters

So, if Obama wins, I'll associate anyone who voted for him with these imbeciles. OK, not really, but I'll think that he won by having more imbeciles backing him. These guys are probably too dumb to get to the voting center.

Fireplace Stonework

Additional work's been done since we were last in. Below is the family room/downstairs main fireplace. For now, we'll have the wall above painted, and probably add stone down the line. The hearth stone coloring looks a little lighter than actual, with a lot of dust covering everything right now



The great room fireplace looks great, and we're happy with the stonework around the fireplace itself. The hearth stone turned out well. It's about 3 inches thick and the weighs about 1000 lbs. The first shot below is a view from the kitchen to the great room. Below that Lori helps give it scale.







The mudroom tiling uses the same material for back splash as the flooring, the fossil stone. The granite matches up great, and the listello border is also fossil stone with glass accent. A granite piece will fit across the divider between the sink counter and the dogwash, and across the front of the dogwash.





The counter that tops the divider from the kitchen and great room was custom fit. It turned out nicely and has that thick slab look. We were considering putting corbels underneath, but like it enough the way it is. It should really dress up with stain and waterproofing.

Outside/Inside Stonework