Landscaping…The John Deere X300R

Sam and I picked up our new lawn tractor on Saturday morning and delivered it to the “L” Shaped house. We bought a John Deere X300R from our new friends at Scharber & Sons in Rogers MN. This model features an integrated rear bagging system that allows you to cut right to the edge on either side of the 42” mower deck. For those of you interested in how the bagging system works check out this YouTube video.

The photo below shows Helen at the controls as she navigates around the garage apron…

And finally…Sam all ready to mow the lawn!

A rock named…“Ann”

So…what exactly are our friends Andy and Kevin doing back at the “L” Shaped House on a Friday night.

They're fixing the new sod on the edge of the driveway…of course!

Thank You…Andy and Kevin…I appreciate you guys stepping up like this!!!

Why? you ask…

Another “trailblazer”  (don’t know who) decided to back straight down an 18 foot wide drive that has a wonderful gentle curve  half way down the hill leaving a pathetically inadequate “patch” job in their wake.

Really!

 

Andy, Kevin, and I decided a 4000 lb  boulder placed just inside the curve on the right might provide just the kind of incentive necessary to keep our wayward travelers on course. A Photoshop version of this idea is shown in the image below.  I think it will be effective and look good too!

  

A little curious about the name?

Look closely at the right front tire of this driver backing down the hill…The rock has her name on it!

Hearth and Stones…(evening report)

I stopped by on my way home tonight to check in with Matt as he builds the cultured stone fireplace front. The photo below shows his progress at about 6 pm.

It looks really nice!

Fireplace…Hearth and stones (day 2)

Matt Sletten is working hard to get the Eldorado Stone installed around the fireplace in the living room. This series of photos shows the progress as of about noon today. In the first we see a long shot from the corner by the stairs with the beginnings of the cultured stone installed on the bottom right of the fireplace. Matt has cultured stones laid out on the floor as he works to find the right combination of pieces as he works his way up and around the fireplace. We are using mostly stones from the Mesa Verde color but have one box of Sierra available to “lighten-up” things a little if we want...

The next two photos show close up shots of the cultured stone going up on the front corner of the fireplace. The first shows how the stone is going to “return” to the sheet rock wall under the mantel. The second shows how the stones will overlap the sheet metal front of the fireplace assembly leaving about 1” of metal exposed. This photo also shows the nice contrast between the Eldorado cultured stone and the Indiana limestone hearth.

Carpentry…Porches (day 2)

The crew from Solid Construction was back today working on the front porch. The first photo shows the beginnings of the Azek decking installation on the East end of the porch. I’m getting much more comfortable with the Brownstone colored decking as we start to see more it on the porch. The second photo shows the East end of the front porch with the stairs nearly complete and the decorative lattice installed.

Wildlife…Mosquito control

Here is a welcome sight on Cottage Lane…The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District truck parked right out front and one of their workers wading around in the pond across the street taking samples. Our many trips to North Dakota have taught us how frightening a summer evening without these good around folks can be!

Heating & A/C…Day 12

John DoBrava  (American Air Systems) and Curt Colstrom (Wire-Rite) got together to wire the two thermostats and the air exchange control at the “L” Shaped House this morning. The photo below shows the Honeywell thermostat in the back hallway on the first floor up and running. The Broan air exchange controller is shown mounted just above the thermostat on the same wall. The air exchange control can be programmed much like the heating thermostat to provide varying amounts of fresh air to the house.

Fireplace…Hearth and stones

Matt Sletten was back yesterday to start the stone work around the living room fireplace. The photo below shows the fireplace just minutes after Matt and I slid the hearth into place. We placed a few of the Eldorado Stone cultured stones around the front side of the fireplace surround to get an idea of how it might look. I’m really excited to see this last element of the decorating plan come to life!

Carpentry…Porches (day 1)

The Solid Construction crew is working on the front porch at the “L” Shaped House this morning. The first photo shows the front side of the house with the decorative lattice installed almost all the way across the porch. The Solid crew was busy planning their next moves as Sam and I arrived around noon and plan to have most of the front porch complete by tomorrow night.

The next two photos shows the end of the front porch as the Solid crew begins building the stairs. The 5’ stair treads are centered on the the end of the porch and are made from the same Azek material as the decking. The staircase will include newels and a hand rail that will be integrated into the railing system all around the porch. We agonized over the decking color for quite a while before selecting Brownstone from the Azek color palette. I think it is going to become a nice lighter shade of brown as it weathers.

Carpentry…Final push (day 2)

The Solid Construction guys spent the day (yesterday) working on doors throughout the “L” Shaped House. The panoramic photo below shows the front corner of the living after they installed the side lights in the front wall and the two divided light doors leading into the music room. It’s really nice to see this space with all of the sunlight spilling in through the “wall of glass” on the front wall.

The next photo shows the fireplace wall in the living room with the divided light doors to the music room installed. This space is looking more and more like the Photoshop sketch we worked from as we selected the individual elements of the fireplace.

The last photo shows the French doors leading to the front porch from the living room after the Solid Construction crew installed the “side lights” on each end. We chose to build the “wall of glass” using a Simpson exterior patio door framed in the center with non-operating door panels on each end. This approach was not only less expensive than a four panel door assembly but also allowed for better framing support of the lamination beam in the front wall of the living room.