Thanksgiving

Below are a few random pictures from Thanksgiving, a day that seemed especially poignant to us this year, given all that we have to be thankful for around our new home. The septic field and all the back yard grading are now in, shown in the first picture, ready for state inspection. Cabinets are being installed, shown in pantry and stacked up ready to install in kitchen. Doors are going up, shown are front closet doors. Stairs and all the interior carpentry finishing work is in progress. The red birch floor is down on the mainfloor, a small uncovered segment is shown below. Meanwhile, outdoors, our carpenty crew is finishing the siding, and the masons are finishing the stone columns that support the porch. Last, but not least, the electricians are doing all the panel wiring, including then new generator, shown in the last picture. The house is now being heated by the geothermal system that is functional. Great to have heat without propane in NE! We are now in the race to the finish, starting our packing at 7 Juniper Lane, which we will vacate after 26.5 years on Jan 15, 2011!

November progress

The first few pictures show some new trees planted to screen the house. Very exciting to see some trees. They are at top of our driveway and along the north side of drive. The masons finished the front porch piers this week except for the granite caps to be placed) and are now working on the piers under the back porch. The picture looking up the driveway shows where the water runoff collects, so we are going to build a small pond there. The picture of the back yard shows the excavation being done to finish the leach field and add a rain garden to collect runnoff water (stones under mulch in circular area close to lake).

The next 5 pictures are indoors. Fireplace is finished (except for hearth stone to be cut) and the plastering is all done. The hardwood floor is in and ready for sanding. In the basement (3rd pic) the trim and doors are almost done. The 4th pic shows the geothermal heating/cooling units, which are now operational pumping water out of one high flow well (we hit 50-80 gallons of water per minute at 150 ft) and pumping back into a second well. The last picture shows the neat plumbing of the 2 well systems, with variable speed pumps, one for geothermal, one for domestic water. Since they are variable speed, only a very small (stainless steel) holding tank is required, instead of the large ones usually associated with wells, and the variable speed pumps are much more energy efficient.

Lots of progress still needed before our move in by Jan 15!