No, we have not fallen off the earth!

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted anything on here! It isn't that the winter has been that busy, just haven't been too motivated to sit down and add progress. At times it seemed progress was just creeping along and it was just a bit frustrating coupled with the dead of a nasty winter keeping us inside so much. Let's see, I left off with New Years, so what kept us going the month of January? We muddled through lots of snow and very cold temps. We continued to hang drywall until we finally had it all up. Poppy got the full bath upstairs and the half bath downstairs, as well as the utility room drywall all taped and mudded, finishing it himself. Then, we finally found a guy who gave us a great quote to come in and finish all the rest! This was very encouraging. The last week of January we flew to Florida, where we helped pack up much of my mom's condo of things she wanted back here in her apartment. The weather wasn't too bad and we enjoyed a little reprieve from winter. She flew back home and we took off the last Friday in January driving her van home loaded to the hilt with lots of stuff. We took a slight detour to go visit Shell & Richard in NC. We drove 12 hours that day and drove right into the "triple threat" as the weather channel called it. The area was being blanketed with snow and ice, as well as wind. We were lucky to even get their home, which is up half way on a mountain highway.

Here you see us the next day driving back towards their place after lunch out for Shell's birthday. There are two good sized hills on this mountain road and they have NO idea what to do with the snow on the roads and have doubly NO idea how to drive on it. Cars littered the roadsides because when they encounter the hills, they STOP at the bottom, allowing no momentum to get up to the top! We had no problem other than the local drivers. Poppy used his typical expertise in driving abilities and we had no problems, but there were quite a few "close calls" and tense moments. It was beautiful once the snow stopped and the sun came out and we had a wonderful visit with the kids, although way too short. We had been scheduled to go see Willie Nelson on Saturday night, but the concert was canceled due to weather, a big disappointment.

This photo shows the hills, which the day before were totally covered with snow and ice...and creeping southerners who can't drive in it!

Once home we geared up to host a Super Bowl party a week later. It was fun, especially watching every one's reaction to the Who's half-time show. You can see above how Carol, a favorite neighbor friend really got into the music! We were disappointed that our Colts did not play well, but it was a great excuse for another party!

The greatest part of February was having Mike come in and finish the drywall. He spent long days taping and mudding all the seams and screw holes. He made it all look so easy and we could quickly tell he was a pro. Poppy picked up quite a few tips that he now uses when finishing drywall. It took three weeks, but there were a few days of heavy snow when he could not come. But, eventually had had it all ready for the Spanish lace ceiling texture. This was quite a process.

In order to protect all the walls from the over-spray, he draped plastic throughout the area where ceilings would be sprayed. This took him one entire day! Looks really funny when he left, sort of like living with the "boy in the plastic bubble" affect.

It took him two days to complete all of this process and each day he left looking like a spotted creature. Here you see him spraying the master bedroom ceiling. This sloppy drywall mud mixture sprayed on to the ceiling and EVERYWHERE else.

When he realized I was taking his photo he stopped long enough to smile and pose. If anyone needs a great drywall man, we can give you Mike's number!

Once he had sprayed on the mud, then he used a big squeegee to knock it down and create the texture. Here he was in the utility room the 2nd day, the last area he had to do. Once he sprayed it he left it sit for a little while. I could hear it "plopping" on the floor and top of covered washer/dryer like big glops. I did not dare enter that room or I would have been covered too.

Mid-February our wonderful neighbors had their annual Caribbean Party one Sat. night. They turned up the heat to high 70's and had island decorations and told all of us to come dressed for the warm "weather." It was a blast as usual and here you see Poppy with Tom & Kent enjoying the freedom of their shorts.

We enjoyed lots of euchre, great food and pina coladas. But, there was not a lot of time for playing and relaxing. Soon it was our turn to get in the new section and resume our progress.

Here was Poppy about a week ago as we began priming the new drywall. We were blessed by some friends who loaned us great scaffolding. Add the 18" roller he bought, it made fairly quick work out of a huge job.

After an entire Friday of painting ceilings, here you see the affect it had on Poppy. Not only his face, but his hands and clothes were covered with paint spots. But, it was a very satisfying evening to see all the progress that was made.

By the end of the weekend, we had all the walls done too. Here he comes downstairs to take a much needed break.

Now we just need to decide on paint colors for all the walls so we can do it all over again with the finish colors. That means we will be setting the scaffolding up one more time in the stairwell for that final coat. Did I mention the ceilings have one coat of primer, then the ceiling white, so he has done them two times! Can you imagine what a pooped Poppy I had on my hands after all of this work? Plus, I do not do much painting. I did help a bit the first day, but after that I was simply the "go for" which has always been my expertise. Now, this weekend he made HUGE progress. Yesterday while I slept all day (me weekend to work 3rd shift) he got the upstairs bath painted the final color! It looks so nice!

Today we hung the light above the vanity and are now ready to find the perfect mirror.

He also got the shower rod up. Things are going to actually be usable!! He has installed the smoke detectors, put trim rings in the can lights and duct grids on the registers and cold air returns of the upstairs ceiling. We will get to laying the Pergo floor in this bathroom soon and it will be about done. It is all so exciting.

One last photo I had to share tonight. We have battled this pesky squirrel all winter as he tried to steal the bird seed from both our feeders. We did everything to prevent him from accessing the feeders. He would even climb the nearby tree, go out on the longest limb and jump on to the top of the other feeder to get his fill. We did a lot of shooing him off when we found him there. But, the other day when all our snow had about melted off I figured he would be back to digging up his nuts in the ground. But, no, he had other ideas. He climbed up the shepherd hook and hung over from the top to pry the seeds out of the little holes in this feeder. What a crazy, hungry and persistent squirrel we have. Yes, winter is about over here on Loon Lake. We had a very early ice off and water is again flowing, bringing the return of the water fowl that we enjoy so much this time of year. We are eagerly awaiting the first sighting of a loon or two. In the mean time, we will continue to finish the new space and plan for changes here in the existing part of the house. Will we ever, ever be totally done??