More guest workers . . .

Karen and Mark returned for a June visit on the 9th!  Mark again, helped Greg tremendously.  They worked on the vent from the microwave, which was a big job!  Okay, they did play golf one day : - )  Karen and Linda went to the Indian River Women's Club Spring Luncheon and Silent Auction.

 

Both Karen and Mark stained the railings to our new stairway off the deck.  Mark also repaired the numerous porcupine chewing marks on the front porch.

 

 

It was a job that desperately needed doing, because the logs turn dark, if left unstained.

Thanks, Karen and Mark!!!

 

 

 

Karen and Mark headed downstate on the 13th, the same day that Greg's sister, Jill arrived!  Jill helped out at Silverleaf for two days.  She did a lot of wonderful jobs, including staining and varnishing the poles for the safely railings, pulling down the ugly black plastic that has been across the back yard for two years, helping Greg with the fillers for the stairs and washing windows, just to name a few!  Thanks, Jill! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light Fixtures

We have to have all of the light fixtures in, or put plates over the wires, in order to receive our temporary Certificate of Occupancy.  We are almost there!  This is the foyer fixture.

 

This is the fixture over the kitchen sink.

 

 

 

These are two of the three mini-pendants over the kitchen counter/bar area.

 

 

This is the large pendant that will be over the jigsaw puzzle table.  Still a work in progress!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sand, stain, varnish, sand, varnish!

With the hardwood floor installation looming, we got busy with all the sanding, staining and varnishing needed on anything immovable in the great room, dining room and loft.  That included the tall wall, which Greg got busy on.  What a pain to move that 32-foot extension ladder numerous times!  Not to mention trying to stain and varnish from it  : - )

 

 

In the meantime, I worked on the railings, the 3/4 logs on the corners of the great room, and on the edges of the ceiling.  I also spent 7 hours sanding the BIG TREE in the kitchen, before I stained and varnished it. 

 

 

As of today, the 16th of June, the sanding, staining and varnishing of the immovable objects is finally done, including the two big overhead logs, that we thought would be such fun to have for decorative purposes!  We still have plenty of doors and windows and trim to stain, however!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then . . .

The hardwood for the floors was delivered on Thursday, May 23rd. 

 

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that in the meantime, a VERY bad porcupine had decided to chew on the front porch!  All the trees in the forest, and he wants to chew on OUR LOGS!!

 

So, we took care of him.  It actually took a couple of different concoctions before we found one that worked, but we seem to have gotten rid of him for now!!  The one that worked had putrefied eggs in it.  Lovely, huh?  Good thing the smell went away when it dried. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching up . . .

I am way behind with the blog, so I am going to attempt to catch up tonight, beginning with a visit from our friend, Dennis Smith, from Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  Dennis came to fish and and to help out with Silverleaf.  He arrived on May 13th.  He and Greg golfed one day, but mostly he worked very hard up at Silverleaf, sanding and staining the loft railings.  He and Greg also played lumberjack one day and cleared some of the roads of the numerous trees that had fallen during a snow and ice storm in January.  He barely had time to fish, he worked so hard on the house!  Thanks, Dennis! 

Our friends Karen and Mark Clemons arrived on May 17th, as Dennis was leaving.  Mark helped Greg hang seven (7!!!) regular doors, a pocket door and two closet doors!  They made huge progress.  They also took one day off to golf. 

 

We also had great fun hunting and finding (and eating) morel mushrooms, and we went to the National Morel Festival in Boyne City on Sunday, May 19th.