Demolition

Tiles to match existing floor.

We cannot believe how quickly the renovations are moving now. Demolition, for today, is complete. So complete in fact, that the crew has quit for the day and Larry has them on our pontoon boat fishing. "Oh, he has one," Larry tells me when I call him. "Never mind. He lost it," he then says. I called him after he texted me pictures of the latest lakehouse changes, and asked for my opinion on a tile color.

The crew showed up again this morning and moved our painted cupboard and hat rack out to the shed (garage). Then, they moved the loveseat, kitchen table and chairs.

Last night Larry took all the living room curtains down except from the window behind the television, in case he gets to watch TV in the afternoon. The bright light from that window washes out the picture.

Now all Larry has is a sofa, hassock, table with a lamp; our bed, nightstands and bureau. He didn't mention if my father's bureau has been moved, so I am assuming it still sits in our bedroom. This bureau is the last piece of my parents' bedroom furniture that I kept because it was the perfect size for our small lakehouse bedroom. I gave the rest of the set to my great niece, Hannah. Larry's plan is to stay at the house until Friday. Then the remaining furniture will be moved out as well. After the remaining furniture is gone, Larry will begin sleeping at his brother's house in Chapin, and commute to the house each day.

Back Bedroom

Pumphouse

Unexpected Guest

The pumphouse roof has been removed. The concrete pad outside under the kitchen window is now gone as well. The workers left that part of the pad in front of the door. The two guest bedrooms have been stripped to the rafters and framing. We learned there are trusses in the ceiling, and they found a snakeskin lurking up there. "Why was that up there do you think," I asked my husband. "To eat the mice he said." "Of course," I add. Duh.

To hold our hanging clothes, Larry decided to make a rack on wheels in the shed. He proudly announced it only cost $35 to build. "We couldn't buy one for that price," he adds. I have to agree. It's a beautiful piece. He is a very talented man, and I am grateful for all his talents that save us and our children money. He can fix or make anything. And, he has a Ph.D. in Physics! Braun and brain. I am one blessed woman!

Lastly, he texted me a picture of "Libby's Rose". This is a rose bush that his late sister, Libby, saved a cutting of from a friend, rooted, and I planted with her and her husband, Ed. It only bloomed a single rose once a few months before she died. She never got to see it in person, so when it bloomed, I brought a picture on my phone to her in the hospital. It's real name is a "Confederate Rose". I renamed it for her. We noticed on coming to the lake this trip that there were three buds on the plant. It has finally settled into it's rooted home and grown quite a bit in the past couple of years. It's taken two years to get here, and I hoped it would bloom before I left. Two of the buds bloomed this morning. In the morning, the blossoms are white, and in the afternoon they are pink. It is one of the loveliest plants I have ever seen, and seeing these blooms makes me so happy. I have to believe Libby is smiling down on us now, both because of this rose, but also because we are proceeding with our lakehouse renovations. We just wish she could be here to enjoy it all with us. I sure could use her advice now and again.

While he is out on the boat with the work crew fishing, I peruse the security cameras and tell him, "A big machine just showed up in the yard. They're taking the dumpster away." He tells the crew the dumpster is gone, and a much larger one will be delivered. Sitepack should be coming today or tomorrow before the rains come to level the driveway.

Larry told me that he and Bill, our GC, decided to take out cinder block walls on the gable ends of the kitchen (which was the original cottage). They decided it would be easier building a new roof after completely ripping off the old one if all the walls of the entire house were the same height. "That sounds logical," I add. Once the house is completely empty, more panelling will be removed and ceiling. No mold was found in the back bedrooms to our surprise, and not much mouse/spider poop, which we expected. There were lots of multi-legged little critters crawling around in there though. "Oh goody," I say.

P.S. We have found four, count them four, very deep and large hornet nests in the ground around the property. Poison hasn't hurt them at all. So, the one that they found directly in front of the pumphouse door, that Larry has been walking over repeatedly without incident (incredible!), was dowsed with gasoline and set ablaze. That's the end of the hornets!