Trees and flowers and things

Here are some new pictures of what we've been doing around the house. This weekend we planted 2 apple trees. Here's Gary with the help. Here's Alex with his cousin Alex (gets confusing sometimes!!!) and Alex's (our Alex) girlfriend, Tabitha. We planted a Macintosh tree and a Honey Crisp.

Here's the garden under the dining room window. The Azalea is blooming nicely. We added two types of hosta and a bleeding heart. Of course by the time we actually got the bleeding heart into the ground, it was done blooming. The plants in back of the azalea are waiting to be put into the ground in a different area. Just have to finish working the ground and getting it ready for plants. (which means digging up a LOT of rocks!!!!)

I've also been finding a lot of wild flowers around our house that we didn't see at Mom  and Dad's. Here is a Purple Trillium. It's also called Red Trillium or Wake-robin.

Here is a Jack-in-the-Pulpit. It was hard to get a good picture of it since it was hidden in the hosta. I'm really surprised that I actually found it in the first place. It was just a lucky accident. 

Here are a couple of different butterflies that are around. They really like these purple flowers that are all over our yard. I've looked up the name but can't remember it right now.

And here is a Columbine that I found the other day. There are some other flowers I've found but they are so small I can't really get a good picture of them. 

I've been using all the field guides I bought for classes in college. My wildflower guide, bird guide and butterfly guide. I'm having fun finding out what we have around our house. 

I put up a small raised bed garden. It's only about 4'x4'. I have tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and I thought I'd try mini eggplant this year. I might try putting some lettuce in but I don't know if it will get too hot for it now. 

We still have a lot of work to do outside with the landscaping but I am starting to see what it can look like in a couple of years. It's hard because you want to do it all now but it is just not possible. We still have some projects that will take some time. Like the rock wall along the property line between our yard and the neighbors. We have a bumper crop of rocks so it will be no problem getting enough to make the wall. (and I'm sure we'll have a bumper crop again next year!!!) This will give us something interesting to plant flowers against and we will also be able to tell where our property line is when the wooden stakes Habitat used have disappeared.  

I'd better stop here and get off the computer and get some other stuff done today!

What We've Been Doing

It's been a while since I've posted. We've been busy around the house, especially this spring. Blogger has changed how they upload pictures so these aren't in the order I wanted them but I don't feel like trying to change them now. 

Here is the little garden underneath the dining room window. The azalea was given to us by some friends last year. We picked up the granite pavers a couple weeks ago to line the area. We found a local place where the pavers were a lot less than at Home Depot. Still need to finish putting them in. We picked up a couple of small hosta to put in here. Just waiting for some warmer days to put them in. It's been chillier lately.

We decided to put in a couple maple trees.  Gary dug a couple little ones up from a different part of our property. The bottom maple we put between the two pine stumps. We cut the pine trees down last summer. We didn't want a yard full of pine needles. The tree in the top picture is sort of in the middle of the yard between the house and the apple tree.  We'll see if they survive.

This is what my basement sewing room looks like now. Gary and Alex put up the frame work for the walls. We couldn't just attach sheet rock to the styrofoam insulation panels. Alex helped run the wires for the outlets and wired the outlets up. It will be nice not to have to run an extension cord from the washer and dryer area to run all my stuff.  Gary has been mudding the walls. Wish they would dry faster. Once Gary is done, I will be able to paint the walls. We have lots of green paint left from painting the upstairs so I will be using that. Alex also helped put up the light fixture.

Gary also planted three new blueberry bushes. Two of them look like they will make it. The third one I'm not sure if it will make it or not. I planted three little lilac shoots last fall. These were from a lilac at my parents house that Gary and Kara gave me for Mother's Day a while ago. Each shoot was only about 6 inches tall. I didn't know if they would survive the winter or not. I thought i might have moved them a little too late last fall. But they are doing good and getting lots of leaves. Hopefully they will start getting a little taller.

We have to keep reminding ourselves as we plant new stuff to remember that everything won't always be this small and not to plant too much stuff or it will all be too crowded later. We have a couple of people who are ready to give us lots of plants from their gardens. Last year we just weren't ready to plant a lot of stuff. We were busy getting rid of trees and trying to pick up all the rocks and stuff that were left over from construction.

Hall's Brook During Irene

I meant to get these pictures up a long time ago. I can't believe it's been over a month since hurricane Irene hit. Our house was fine and in no chance of getting flooded but Halls Brook was running 6-7 feet above normal. I'm really surprised that the road running along the brook didn't flood. The water came right up to the edge but never ran over the road. For comparison, this is a picture of the brook running under the bridge normally.


This picture is of the brook as you are walking along the road from our driveway towards the bridge. Where you see the white water, is where the brook usually runs. All the water closer to us is from the flood.

My pictures are a little out of order. This picture was taken just after the bridge, looking towards a big rock that you can walk out on from the road.

This picture shows how close the water was to the road. In the lower right hand corner you can see part of the road and how the water comes right up to it.


Here is a picture taken from the road looking over the bridge. Since the bridge is so old (it's been unused for who knows how long.) I wasn't about to walk onto it. I could just see it collapsing with me on it! Usually to get to the trees on the other side you would have to walk up a pretty big bank.


This is the opening from the road that we usually climb down to get to the brook. You can see how the water was right up to the road.


This is the big rock I mentioned earlier that you can climb out on and look down at the brook.


And finally, a picture of the water running under the bridge. I wish I could have gotten better pictures, but Alex an I were staying well away from the edge! One wrong slip and that would have been the end.

In the house with all the windows closed, Alex and I kept hearing this loud booming noise coming from the brook. When we went down we finally figured out it was the way the water was hitting one area of the bridge, it was making this noise.

Seeing this was really amazing. We were grateful that we survived Irene with no damage unlike a lot of people!

Back to bread making.

Update

Today was the day. We signed the papers and the house is officially ours!!! We are still painting doors and have some little things to finish up. We have been taking boxes and stuff over that will fit in our cars. We have October 31 - November 6 off of work and will do the majority of the moving then. Hopefully by moving over a couple of weeks we won't be so stressed out and will have things a little more organized. One can hope can't she???? Better get to bed. Early day at work tomorrow but just wanted to update everyone.
No new pictures since everything pretty much looks the same as the last time.

Clean Up Day

Don't have any new pictures right now. Everything that is being done is stuff that doesn't really show up in a picture. The foam board insulation is all up in the basement. I have all the window trim and baseboard in the kitchen, livingroom and diningroom painted. Gary is on vacation this week so a lot more painting will get done. We are very close to being done. This Saturday is the last volunteer work day and is clean-up day. If anyone would like to come out and help, we could use your help. If you have rakes or shovels, you can bring those to help clean up and level out the yard. We have lots of machinery ruts.
I can't belive how far we have some since April 30th. I can't believe we will soon be in a house of our own!!!

a Little of This and a Little of That

Here's a picture of the front of the house with the new front steps and railings.

In the close-up you can see that the porch light is up. We also have a doorbell.

Lights were put in the bedroom closets and shelves. Here's a picture just for you Kara of your bedroom closet.

The hall linen closet. The bathroom linen closet also has shelves like these.
The faucets are in and the water is running. The dishwasher is all hooked up.

Here is the stove.

These are the lights we picked out for the kitchen, livingroom hall and bedrooms. The dining room light is different and not up yet. The bathroom light isn't up yet either. All the lights were donated by the NH Electric Co-op.

Here's the bathroom sink and potty. Faucets are all installed here too. And, no there isn't a huge light streak going down the drawers, it's just how the flash made them look.
Been busy getting all the trim and baseboard ready to paint. Spent a lot of time sanding today. Debbie started painting some of the doors today since we didn't need to prep them

Counter Top

I finally figured out how to download pictures to Mom's laptop. Here are some pictures of the kitchen with the countertop. I'll have to try and get over tomorrow and take some now that the stove and fridge are in. Gary and I put the knobs on the cabinet the other day.



A close-up of the counter top. The color is a little off but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

The permanent steps were built for our entry porch on Friday. They look really nice. Gary has been working on getting the baseboards and window and door casings just how he wants. I'm just waiting till he gets to a point so I can start painting. I don't know what was done on Saturday, I haven't been back yet to see. There is a lot of little stuff to do and finish so it will take a little while and there is not a lot to take picures of. I will take what I can to keep everyone updated now that I know how to download onto mom's computer.

When I'm not working on the house or at the bakery, I'm sorting and trying to get things packed here at mom and dad's house.