Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The sun coming in through the windows and hitting the yellow was a very bright and cheery vision! This is going to be a super room!! We call it the Mom's room because that is where they will stay when they come...as will Anne, Jill, and anyone else who comes to visit...Ron Selepak thinks this is his room...I think my Mom can take him!
Melissa had a great day too. We flew over her Mom and Dad's house and she could pick it out...recognized her Dad's car. Hoss wore the Hawaiian shirt I gave him for Easter, and that flight jacket came from the Ronald Reagan Library in California. It was 80 degrees today, but he insisted on wearing it and never took it off!! Had to be very, very hot!!
He can't see much over the nose, but he sure enjoyed his first airplane ride!! I bought him his own headset and he did very well with them!! He helped me steer the airplane...he also said he saw his little friend Carter and that Carter was waving back to him...great pair of eyes on my Grandson...;-)! This was taken at Cartersville airport...I picked up the airplane at McCollum, my home field, then flew to Cartersville to get Hoss and his Mom Melissa...we flew over their house, the city, our new house, Lake Allatoona and spent about 40 minutes in the air.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Ah, the garage doors...at first, we didn't like the arched look, and actually seriously thought about changing to square...but they made these mahogany doors to fit perfectly, arched them to they blended exactly as the arch in the doorway is sized and the result is wonderful...they will be stained a deep honey color to match the cedar shakes and front door...decided against any kind of hardware on them as they are so aesthetically wonderful to look at...
The inside of the closet...I wanted only round, Cedar rails, but after talking to several people who do this for a living decided to go with their suggestion as you see it here...mucho room for all sorts of clothes and folded stuff and other stuff I haven't even bought yet but might now that I have the room...I think Macy's is part owner of this closet place,,,
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Little better shot of the house, the community layout and the bridge to Red Top Mountain State Park...the community to the right of RTM Road is Waterside...hi dollar side of the Waterside communities...multi-million dollar houses on that side...beautiful panoramic views of the mountains and Lake Allatoona...we definitely live on the poor side of the tracks...
This is from a point just about over the intersection of I-75 and Red Top Mountain Road...the covered spot in the lower right portion of the picture is a Texaco station, and RTM road goes E to the Lake...You can see the hill where our house is about midway up the picture and middle between the airplane wing strut and window frame. The bridge crossing Lake Allatoona at the top of the picture winds about another mile in the woods to the Ranger Station where you can park and hit the hiking trails (3 of them, ranging from a "walk" for about 1.2 miles to a pretty arduous 5..5 mile hike).
Little different view...now we are over Lake Allatoona, looking back W and a little S to I-75. If you continued across I-75 a 1/4 mile or so you hit U.S. Hwy 41, go S about 2 miles and you are in Emerson, GA...that is the little (1200 people or so) we actually live in (boundary wise). Going right on U.S. Hwy 41 for 3 miles takes you to Cartersville, GA, where I actually lived for 23 years...
This is my first aerial photo of the house...framed between the wing strut and the window...turning left at the intersection takes you into The Village At Waterside...our house is the one on the hi point on the left after entering. We own about half of the hill that fronts the intersecting roads. To the ENE from the house you can see a cove of Lake Allatoona...This was taken from an altitude of about 2500'...never had the window open like this before...it was very, very windy and noisy!!
The airplane I normally fly (a 1978 Grumman Tiger...low-wing, single engine, 4-place aerial hotrod!) is going to go in to the shop for paint, radio and interior work. It will be down for about 4 or 5 weeks, so today I flew with my Instructor and began the check-out process in a Cessna Skyhawk SP, a hi-wing, 4-place airplane. Slower, a little roomier, and more sedate airplane...but it is brand new (only 155 hours on the tach), has a super radio stack, and it was a very stable airplane to fly. Decided to kill 2 birds with one stone, so while near the house my Instructor had the airplane while I tried my novice hand at aerial photography...this is about 5 miles to the SW of Lake Allatoona (yoiu can make it out at about 12 o'clock over the nose)...
Friday, April 08, 2005
Haven't a clue what this is...I know it must have something to do with the hot water heater for the office, but don't know why it is this long...I am hoping they have just forgotten to cut the end off...I assume that is what will happen next...not very attractive...it just sticks out...right there...in the middle of the brick...it's ugly.
Garaga doors and openers are in. The doors are mahogany and will be stained in a like manner and color as the cedar shakes.I admit I am not a mechanically astute guy...cars befuddle me (other than turning the key to start it), and I don't allow myself around tools...so when they asked me if I would like to see the doors, I said, intelligent guy that I am, you can't bring them down as we have no electricity. Of course, all you have to do is bring them down manually....duh!!!!!!!! That is what the red cord is for...it releases the door opener...(no, it's not the starter cord for the opener...what a silly question!).
They have now framed the front porch. There will be a stairway with 2 risers leading up to the front porch...between the brick pillars, we will have built-in benches so you can sit out in the Spring, Fall and (me anyway) Winter and watch the sun go down in the West over the ridgeline...or have a place to set your beer, or lay down after you have set down too many beers (not in the Winter, probably)...
Saturday, April 02, 2005
They started to brick the retaining wall...the weather didn't cooperate much this week or they would have had much more done. It rained Thursday and Friday, and today it started sunny, but quickly turned overcast and windy (I was going to fly this AM to get some aerial pictures, but the wind was gusting to 35 knots...not conducive to light airplanes maintaining right-side up!!).
This is the built-in bookshelf under construction. What is going to change is the vertical spine will be shortened to begin 30" above the cabinet shelf...One foot in from each side will be bookshelves, leaving a space 30" high x 45" wide on the cabinet shelf...lots of room for pictures and other displayables...it is hard to see the details in this picture (or the one of the just started left side bookshelf), but the carpenter who is doing this is doing it from scratch based upon a drawing I gave him...the woodwork is beautiful...he is an artist actually, as well as a mind-reader particularly since he can make East and West from a drawing I made...I can't draw stick men, so you can imagine how difficult it is for him to understand what I meant by my drawing...the panels in the space where the bookshelves will go are the doors to the cabinet.