Update

I feel rather guilty for not posting since the 23rd. We have been busy but the work has been slow and not easily documented pictorally. Jon has been working on the window trim and the stairs. It is slow work. Ben, the plumber, came back to change the feed line on the boiler so it wouldn't sing. We have to finish some garage work before we can have the dry wall guy come back and put up the dry wall in the garage. Once that is accomplished, Chuck and finish the wiring down there and Ben can hook up the washer. We also have to deal with the run off and the mud. But, it has to dry up a bit before we can do anything. I am off to Washington, DC tomorrow until Sunday. I suspect Jon will continue working and have much to show me when I get home.

CATS

I really did not buy these chairs for the cats.

I think their time at Pussy's Port o' Call helped them to bond.

They never used to like one another.

DAY 121\

Permanent staircase going in.

Painted pine risers; the treads will be either cherry or birch.

St. Patrick's Day and First Day of Spring Dinner

Table for nine.

Corned beef cooking

Irish Soda Bread

Hamlet checking out the new chairs.

Jon, Lindsay, Melissa, and Jacob

Chuck making Black and Tans; Brooke and Trent talking Accounting.

Cheers.

Ready to eat.

Digging in.

Slab o' meat.

Dessert and coffee

Gabby joins the party.

Ollie!

Hamlet not happy with the dog visitors.

Gabby - exhausted.

Ollie - exhausted.

Day 120

Spring in Liberty - mud, mud, and more mud.

The boardwalk keeps my shoes relatively dry when I go to work.

I feel like I am in the old West where the boardwalk is the only way to keep from sinking knee deep in mud.

Day 120

I haven't posted too much this week. The work that has been going on at Liberty Farm has been steady but difficult to document in pictures. Jon has been gathering materials to begin work on a permanent staircase; he has been working outside breaking up the frozen lump of dirt left over from burying the electrical lines; and he has been working on the outside trim. The inside work isn't finished yet but it is at a point where we can leave it for a bit to return to some more important work. Now that the weather has mediated a bit and the snow is melting, it's much more pleasant to be outside. Speaking of snow melting, our driveway is very, very muddy. It crusts over at night when the temperatures go down allowing me to get out quite nicely - even those I bounce around over the ruts. However, when I come home, the sun has had a chance to begin the melting process again and it's mud city once again. If I did not have a four wheel drive, I would not be able to get in and out. We've called about getting some stone in the driveway to help mitigate the mud and ruts but even that will have to wait until a truck can actually in.

Day 119

Jon and Ben installing the kitchen sink.

Jon doing the heavy looking-on.

Ben under the sink.

Clamps on until the silicone dries.

Finished.

Bathroom sink - Faucets in.

Sure is sweet to have the stove hooked up and working.

Day 118

Jon trimming out the front window.

Day 117

Installing the countertop.

Sure is sweet to have a work space.

Sweet!

Making French Onion Soup for supper.

Day 116

A kind of down day for work at Liberty Farm. Jon finished stapling up the reflective foil in the floor. The counter top has been cut and is ready to install. Jon went to Lowe's tonight to pick it up as well as get some more trim for the windows. Tomorrow, we should have a real counter top. By this weekend, we should have the rest of the plumbing completed upstairs. The washer and dryer can't be hooked up until we get the dry wall in the garage.

Day 115

Jon worked on stapling down the reflective foil under the radiant tubes in the floor and primed the trim around the patio door. I unpacked two more boxes of glassware. It all needs to be washed but I am waiting for the dishwasher to be hooked up.

Day 114

Another bonus day!  Freezing rain this morning, so no school. Unfortunately, we are over the five day allowance and will have to make this on up. But, right now, I don't mind because I was glad to have another day to work on the house. I spent most of the day priming and then painting the trim on two windows and three doors.  Jon trimmed out the patio door this afternoon after we went to EBS in Belfast to pick up more trim boards. I unpacked a few boxes of kitchen stuff and realized that I don't need even a third of what was in the boxes. I can envision a HUGE lawn sale this summer, probably at the boy's house. I'll give the kids first dibs. For example, why in the world did I think I needed fourteen sets of placemats and napkins? I guess I just accumulated them over the years. And, going from two full baths to one makes for an over abundance of towels.

Trim painted on bedroom door

Bathroom trim completed. Slipper tub in place awaiting the plumber.

Patio door trimmed out.

Day 113

The oak refrigerator Jon made me many years ago looks like it belongs in this spot.

Closet door on.

Bedroom door on.

I hung prints today. No they are not crooked, my camera angle is. Bedroom right to left: Socrates, Poetry in the garden, Wyeth dog sleeping.

Bedroom right to left: Pop as a baby (in the original antique frame), N.C. Wyeth's illustration of the mermaid, Marcy's photo of Johnny Jump Ups.

Bathroom: Lyn Snow print.

Right to left: Antique map of Rockland Harbor, Anthony Bacon Venti print "The Journey Begins," Bjorn Runquist print "Tenants Harbor Store".

NC Wyeth illustration: Mermaid in the Mist

By door: Montagnard Stilt House print (proceeds from the sale of these prints go to help the Montagnards in Vietnam), over refrigerator: Portland Market print.

Going down the stairs: A print I brought back from Italy almost 20 years ago. I bought it to help me remember the wisteria in Pompeii.

Jon's grandmother created this pressed flower print. After JD cracked the original glass when he was about 10, I had it reframed. It has always resided over a kitchen window.

In my office: Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott, the topic of my master's thesis She continues to inspire me to keep writing.