New Year's Resolution

Joey and I want to finish the house in 2011.

Judy and Margaret gave the project a big boost during their Christmas visit. They meticulously measured all of the final pieces needed to finish dry walling the downstairs living room, including a few dozen little pieces to accent the exposed beams of the ceiling. Margaret learned how to wire outlets, snap gypsum board, and find studs.


Judy was in charge of marking openings to be routered, holding heavy pieces of board until they were all screwed in, and the most inglorious job of all- prep and clean-up.



All three of us were outfitted in Joey's work clothes. We joked that I looked like a real Alaskan handy man with my big belly and rainbow suspenders.

Although Judy and Margaret did their lion's share of household chores this "vacation" shoveling walking paths and driveways, splitting and stacking wood, and other Alaskan winter necessities- we were able to take advantage of the short days and get out and have some fun.

We helped a freind Heather rig up her dog-team, went skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, snow machining, and helped Sandra and Loomis process their roadkill moose meat for donation to the local food bank.



All in all...just another typical vacation in Talkeetna.

Happy New Year!

Getting so much nicer all the time

Pat and Laurie Coady hard at work staining siding. They had a great visit to Alaska including hiking, wildlife viewing, and walking on a glacier.



The big event last week: The kitchen is in! It is wild to go from no running water to having a dishwasher- now Joey and I fight over doing dishes.

Crazy Summer

As Joey and my crazy summer winds down we have a number of successes to boast...
4 summits of Denali
Running water in our house
Siding the house
A few successful family visits to Alaska

Please enjoy the photos below of some of the progress on our house.

Long Time No Post

Joey and I have had a lot of successes in the past few weeks.....


We finished plumbing the house.....

We finished dry walling the bathroom and laundry room....


Our friends Seth and Chris helped us finish installing the second floor ceiling and attic door...


I finished tiling the bathroom.....


In not too long we will be finished with the second floor, showering and doing laundry in our own home... you cannot imagine our excitement.

Joe the Plumber and More...

Joey and I are finally back together and in Alaska. We have been quite the flurry of activity working on the house. Some might say we are at the fun part- I think Joey and I would agree there are still many ups and downs. In the last 48-hours we have completed the first stage of plumbing. Joey has created a waste drain and vent stack for all of the fixtures and I have plumbed the water line up to our pressure tank and tied in an outside spigot to run and rejuvenate our well water. It was pure joy when I discovered that all of the copper joints I sweat held...Joey had faith in me but I had a towel and bucket ready when we turned on the pump for the first time. We have now had the well pump running for over 24 hours and have a small pond in our front yard. If we are lucky maybe some swans will find it.


Also...today we sanded the floor of the entire second story. It was high comedy watching Joey and I wrestle the beastly sander. We have primed the floor with a post sanding solvent and have applied three coats of verethane to the bathroom floor. We will put on several more before we go to bed tonight. It is so exciting starting to see some of the finished product of our home. Check out the video of Joey sanding below, needless to say his legs are exhausted.


Our highlight today....seeing each other completely covered in saw dust. Joey had to laugh when he looked at me and said, "At least I now know what you will look like as an old woman." The dust made deep wrinkles on my face and made my hair look gray. Hopefully we will be finished with this house by then.

By the way...Have you seen our bedroom- just a little more trim and verethane and it will be done.

Back to work

Joey just made it back to Alaska. After a few days of shoveling he should be nose back to the grindstone on the house! I will be back in two weeks to join him. Can't wait to move in!

Procrastinating

Awwwww- we are still escaping the harsh Alaska winter. Joey and I are currently in Texas visiting family. We celebrated a terrific New Year's in NYC with my sister.



We depart tomorrow for eastern Idaho where we will live with friends at the base of the Teton mountains and ski and climb for a month before returning home to Alaska.

Happy New Year!