Dahlia House

Dahlia House
Taken in August 2013

Monday, May 22, 2006

Another week has gone by and we have been busy with all sorts of projects. More landscaping, more weed killing and grass watering. Starting to see a little bit of results. We are keeping Rodney busy hauling dirt, rock, sand and barkdust for us! And we are busy spreading it!
Got the last of the beadboard stained for the kitchen ceiling, should be able to get those boards up this week. Also sealed part of the black and white bathroom floor. Did some mudding and taping on the walls in there too. Want to get at least the sink and toilet ready before the wedding! So have to get the floor and the walls finished in those areas.
Colleen was here for the weekend and wanted to help with some jobs, but Brian and I had too much fun playing with the grandkids to do much work. Was nice to have a break!
The new carport came tonight and they had it set up in about an hour and a half. Gees, never saw anything go up so fast in my life! It is supposed to rain for the next week, so guess it will be inside jobs!

Monday, May 15, 2006

Things are really moving along!
Last weekend, Emily and John were here and we got the Gazebo off the trailer. Now it is up in the air on cribbing. Next is to get a foundation down so we can get it on the base.
Ted was here and got the base built for the conservatory. Looks good. Brian and I are going to have to do a little more cement work before Ted comes back and builds the stairs.
Got the area beside the garage all cleaned out and Brian is working to get it all level for the new carport that he just had to have! It will be nice to put all the rolling stock under. (we seemed to accumulate a lot of it) Tractor, lawnmowers, Dr Trimmer etc....
Also got a load of bark dust and started working on creating flower beds and getting it spread around them. Planted a peony and re-planted an evergreen bush. Pulled so many weeds!!!
Still working on trying to get lawn to grow. Put more dirt and seed down and watered it like crazy. It is hot this week, so got to keep it moist.

Oh...one of the most important things we did, was charge the waterlines! We have water to all the new lines now and had only one leak! It was just one Brian forgot to glue! A big relief to have that done for sure!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Well vacation is over and Brian headed back to work yesterday, but boy we got a lot done in a week. We had more top soil delivered and spread some of it...a nice big pile left to work from as we plant bushes and trees and smooth out the rest of the lawn. Put more grass seed down too.
Also went down to the beach and brought up MANY buckets full of rocks to put around the base of the conservatory. Nice rock and it looks great! We will be getting a lot more of it for landscaping. And it's free!!!!
We also got the Gazebo moved back a bit from where it was and now it does not block the view at all. Still need to get it off the trailer...Hopefully soon! Brian smoothed out the area just below it and I planted more grass. Made a run to Longview and picked up all the lumber for the base of the conservatory. Ted will be here soon to build that for us. Cleaned off the back porch and around the base of it. Looking better for sure!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Well a good nights sleep works wonders! Today we had a load of top soil delivered and spread that around the side yard, both of us raking and shoveling to get it even. Then we got out the sprayers and sprayed ant killer, blackberry killer and weed and grass killer. We were trying to massacre everything in sight! Brian mowed and weed-eated the lawn too.
I also finished staining the vanity for the big bathroom upstairs and put base coats on the porch caps. The weather is being good to us, so we are trying to get a lot done outside. More to come tomorrow I hope!

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

We had a two week vacation break but we are back at it. The kids came down both weekends we were gone and got so much done! THANKS! Got the arbor set up, and the yard cleaned up, and even some of the attic cleaned out...ick! And a lot more work done on the stairway. Nice to come home to see progress!
We started today by pouring the cement foundation for the conservatory. It was a HUGE job! We realized when we were about 1/3 done that we did not have enough concrete. So Brian stayed here and kept at it while I made a dash to Astoria to pick up 15 more bags. We ended up using 10 of them for a total of 44 bags! A long day....! Started at 10:30 ended at 7:30. Wonder if we will have the energy to do anything tomorrow???