GETTING THERE

Kitchen cabinets are looking great, and just wait 'till that granite top goes on, it's going to be marvelous.

Handrail is in

The master bathroom's in-wall cabinet

The mantle contrasts nicely with the tile accent

30 YEARS AND GOING STRONG

MAY 19, 2009. IT HAS BEEN, AND STILL IS, ONE GREAT JOURNEY

WINNING THE BATTLE IN MONTANA

We may not be winning the war against the toadflax weed, but we are winning some battles. The wildflower population has visibly increased in the last 3 years as a result of our hand picking and some spraying of the weed. The top 2 pictures are actually flowers in our garden, the others are wildflowers.

BROWN PATCHES IN MONTANA

Our long weekend in Montana was great, but also filled with hard labor; spring cleaning, deck staining, and hardest of all, lumberjack work. The pine beetle infestation is killing many trees, punctuating mountain sides with ominous patches of brown. But this is nature at work, and we can only hope this is part of the balance that will benefit us in some ways in years to come

The new open look of the southwest corner of our house with 15 less trees. We actually think we'll like having the view that was previously blocked by the trees. Notice we still have several dead trees to take down when we go back in July.

Getting rid of this pile took 3 trips to the dump. Mama Linda and I teamed up perfectly; I felled and chopped the trees and she piled them up for hauling. We then hauled them together to the dump

Hard labor can be fun...once in a while, not full-time

Brown patches

CATCHING UP

We've been a little busy, so this posting shows pictures from 5/21/09, the day before we went up to Montana for Memorial Day weekend. This is a potpourri of the latest highlights.

Master bathroom shower getting tiled

Kitchen cabinets-space for the fridge on the left, wall oven cabinet in the center

Guest bedroom closet with sliding doors

Master bedroom walk-in closet (we will need a small stool for Mama Linda to be able to reach the clothes hanging from the top rail)

Fireplace tile accent

Garage heater

Pantry door

Mama Linda inside our awesome pantry

Make believe cooking on the imaginary cooktop

Mama checks out the kitchen cabinet details

Family hike with the Chix

The 'Chix in the Styx' had one of their family hikes. Although not a 'long' hike, it was definitely a scenic hike that made us work to get to the scenery. There was a mountain climb down, but you had to climb that steep mountain back up too, so we all burned a few calories! The group as we get ready to leave and hike out of the canyon. The cute lab is "Tweeter."

The best looking couple around....

Some scenery after we hiked down the canyon.

HARDWOOD, TILE AND VINYL

We are about one month away from moving in and flooring is the name of the game. The hickory wood grain looks great and will look even better after the polyurethane coating.

Vinyl flooring in the basement bathroom

Tile around the jetted tub

Vinyl flooring in the laundry room

The great room is looking, well...great

Latest House Pictures

The front porch is finished, and it is nicer then I imagined. Here it is, although the picture is crooked, the house is really straight.

The inside is painted.

The master bath and guest bath are tiled.

The only problem to deal with now, is how anxious we are waiting for the house to be completed in the next 5 - 6 weeks!

Trip to NY over Mothers Day 2009

Grandma Alice, Tim and Ricky enjoying the deck.

Here is a 'group' shot on Mothers Day, 2009. That is Granma Alice, Jorge, Timmy, and Emma on Tia Linda's lap. In the back ground is Linda M. and Alice. It was a great week end, and we all had a good time.

There was a slight catastrophy as Emma got a splinter and here her mom made an attempt to take it out.

Jorge, Linda, Grandma Alice, Tim and Rick on the deck.

Tia Linda poses with the 'girls.' That is Valerie (Ricky's daughter), Emma (Linda's daughter) and Alexa, Ricky's youngest daughter.

What can you say about Alexa, she is way to adorable for words.

It was a busy and full week end, but we did get to sit a few minutes on the deck and enjoy the nice weather.

Emma, she was so much fun over the week end.

Valery enjoyed her book.

Alexa had to have her ice pop like the other girls, but the truth was, she didn't want it!