There's a Kind of Flush..all over the world tonight.

We were singing that ole Herman Hermit's song, with a slight change as we finally have a working toliet at Zelda. With the operational toilet, Lynn and Brent spent Saturday night at Zelda. Yes we worked all day and into the night on Saturday and then put half a day of work on Sunday, before heading back to Gatlinburg.

Attached are photos from all three (3) bathroom floors. Worked accomplished this weekend included, Brent installing the toilet downstairs, Lynn grouting the upstairs hall bathroom floor and Brent prepared the master bath floor and started installing tile. He is using a basket weave pattern for this floor. Lynn cleaned out Zelda and our electrican showed up and will continue to work this week. We are actually planning to have lights, fans, outlet and light switches installed this week.

Hope everyone has a great week and we are already looking forward to our ride over the mountain next weekend. NOT. Once we are at Zelda the work is fun, but as we are starting to see the finished results, we want to finish.

Flushing Is Still A Dream

We followed our familar tire tracks back across the mountains to Kings Mountain, NC, to continue working on Zelda. Taking just a little bit longer than expected, Brent finished the hall upstairs bathroom floor. We did have a few pieces of "vaining" marble which resulted in a few cracked, split and unusable pieces, most of which became so after Brent had cut the pieces. In the end, the floor looks great.

We did purchase a toilet to install in the downstairs bathroom. Brent insists only on purchasing and installing chair height elogated toilets, so that is what was purchased. We did have a few unexpected problems with the final installation (needed a 1/4" spacer), so the toilet installation will be the first item on the list next Saturday. Our dream of pushing the handle for the first flush is just that, still a dream.

We did bring over a couple of beds and stored them in the Murphy Room, so if we have a working toilet, we will spend next Saturday night at Zelda. This will allow us to work a full day and if needed part of the day on Sunday, but it will allow us not to be so rushed on Saturday and we will not have to drive roundtrip about 330 miles. Lynn did clean the two (2) front upstair bedroom floors and finished by mopping both floors. When wet, the 4" wide original pine floors look fantastic, but will require sanding.

Sorry no photos this week of Zelda, but we inlcude a photo of a dogwood tree blooming in our front yard in Gatlinburg. A light rain has just started that brings to mind the song "Smoky Mountain Rain." We are going over to Knoxville this afternoon as both Jennifer and Jessica are being initated into a honors club at UT. We are so proud of both of them for the accomplishments that have acheived in their freshmen year at Tennessee. Wow, Greg and Renee's wedding is now only about nine (9) weeks away and the time is going quickly. We will most likely make a run over to Raliegh within the next few weeks.

We have a shout out to Dave in Franklin, TN, Scott in Casper, Wyoming and Rex in Chattanooga, TN.

Happy Easter

We hope everyone has a Happy Easter and we are thankful that through Jesus Christ we have everlastng life. Contrary to the statements of B.H.O. we know that the USA is still a Christian Nation.

We will be back in Kings Mountain this Saturday to continue work on Zelda. Brent should finish the upstairs bathroom floor and install a working toilet in the downstairs bath.

Upstairs Bathroom Floor

As noted last week, Brent has installed the majority of the marble tile on the floor of the upstairs bathroom. We have had a few questions about the pictures and would like to explain. If you have ever restored or remodeled an old home several things you learn. No floor is level, no wall is straight and 2 x4 are actually 2" x 4" in size.

The toilet closet drain is below the finished floor. The plumbing was performed about one (1) year ago and the flange was installed with an expected finish floor height. Well that did not work out exactly as Brent had to raise the floor about 1/2" higher than expected. We will use a 1/2" closet spacer (or it could be spacers) to bring the flange to the correct height.

The blocking that is shown in picture near the bath tub was used to maintain a tight 1/8" space betwen the tiles and this pushed against the opposite wall. It also served as a dam to keep the thicker mortar in place. Even with leveling the floor, there was still a dip or two and Brent used thicker mortar in spots to keep the tile level, and checked this often with a three (3) foot level and a torpedo level.

We had mentioned that our parents were having bad weather a few weeks ago down in Louisisana. Brent's parents had a 120 foot tree fall in their front yard. As you can see by the pictures it was huge and hard to believe it is only one (1) tree. We are very thankful that no one was injured and blessed that their chuch, Zoar Baptist, has a ministry that has many volunteers that removed the tree. The "chain gang" ministry, dubbed so because of the chain saws, was very instrumental in helping families through out the surronding community during the last bout of hurricanes and bad weather. Thank you to all who serve and support this ministry.

Grout and Tile

Well, we made it back to Kings Mountain today and Lynn grouted the downstairs bathroom, which included the shower basin and the bathroom floor. Brent installed about 90% of the "clearance" marble tile (see previous week post) on the floor in the upstairs bathroom.

We have decided to stay in Gatlinburg next weekend for Easter. Brent is having to take a vacation day on Friday (imagine a company that professes to be Christian based, but does not celebrate Good Friday as a holiday) as the girls are off from UT for Good Friday and we will spend a long weekend together. Only Greg will not be here for Easter, but is working and Raleigh and busy planning for the wedding in late June.

Today is Brent's sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Becky. She is part of the "Renovation Crew" that worked on Zelda back in August and September of 2007. The picture below is of Becky from the archives of Zelda around August 2007 providing a full moon.