Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Friday, November 17, 2006



Over the past two weeks most of the interior electrical work has been done. We have wires here, there, and everywhere! Before the workers begin sheetrocking, I 'd like to take photos of the walls just in case we ever need to make a repair or remember what's behind the drywall. Now the exterior doors are installed, including the trimwork. Our circle drive has been graded again and has a nice layer of gravel ... this will help hold it together during the winter; with all the rain we've had, things were getting pretty soupy. With the electritcal workers we have another mess of wood shavings, etc. Monday I met with the builder and the lighting supplier to place the final order. Dh will hopefully be pleased with the choices and locations of outlets. He's coming up in a few more weeks and should see a gigantic change as we had just barely poured the concrete footings on his last visit.

I ordered two of the foreground chandeliers for our foyer.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

With the exception of the front steps leading to the porch, the framers are finished ... they even cleaned up their MESS inside. There were empty pop and coffee containers everywhere, along with tons of sawdust (no, not the pooch)! The piece of machinery in front of the garage windows is being used to build a basalt rock retaining wall for the porch step landing. There will be the same rocks used in the back for a low... but rather long retaining wall. The interior walls are marked for the whole-house vacuum system. Thursday and Friday the actual electric and gas meters were installed on the outside garage wall. ... I guess this coming week more electrical and duct work will be done and probably the beginning of sheet rocking the inside walls. This picture was taken Thursday when we had a light dusting of snow. Since then, the temps have warmed up and our snow has turned to rain. We've dubbed our home the Mangy Moose Lodge!