Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year for 2010.  We had a great year in 2009 as we made significant progress on Zelda and we welcomed two (2) new members into our family during the year.

We will be back working at Zelda for the first week in 2010 and then we expect to be moving to Maryland.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours. 

Brent returned home from Zelda late Tuesday night.  Big surprise, but the trim carpenter called and he will not be able to start work until after Christmas.

We expect to be back working at Zelda before the New Year and will update.

Snowed All Night

We arrived safely in Gatlinburg on Saturday around 4:00 pm and could not get up the driveway due to the snow.  It continued to snow most of the night and this morning on taking Cookie for her bathroom break, we discovered we have about eight (8) inches of snow on the ground.  We can not see Mt. LeConte this morning but we are hopeful the sun will come out to help clear the driveway.  We have a southern exposure driveway and any sun will help aid Brent in clearing the driveway in order to get the car up the hill.

Brent will be heading back to Zelda on Monday to meet up with the trim carpenter on Tuesday.  We can only hope we do not get any more snow.

Cookie is ready to go and play in the snow.

ICE-ICE BABY

We woke up this morning at Zelda to a scene right out of the move A Christmas Story when the character Ralphie looked out of his window on Christmas morning.  We cleaned the inside of the house a bit, loaded the Pilot and headed on our journey back over the mountains to Gatlinburg.  All the roads in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee were closed so we were forced to travel I-26 North to nearly Johnson City, TN (near the Virgina boarder) and then south on I-81 towards Knoxville. 

A trip the usually takes about three (3) hours took us about seven (7) hours today.  There were hundreds of vehicles off the road and in some cases blocking a lane and a lot of trees on the interstate that had fallen due to the weight of the snow.  Traffic was heavy and slow and we were bombared from time to time with light and then heavy snow.

Below are two (2) pictures of the marble floor in the foyer against the stairway and freshly painted coat closet door.  We think it looks great and will only improve as the baseboard is installed.

Sleet & Ice Hit Kings Mountain Today

Our trim carpenter called this morning and was unable to make it to Zelda to start work because of the sleet and snow coming down in Shelby, NC.  The bad weather did not arrive at Zelda till midmorning and did not hit a high intensity until mid afternoon.  We currenlty have about three (3) inches of sleet and ice on the ground and roads.  I just heard the snow plow drive down the road so it looks like a trip to get pizza is back on the agenda.

Wednesday we drove to Charlotte, NC and obtain a new front door with side lights at the Habitat for Humanity Store.  That will be the first item that we have the trim carpenter install once he arrives on site.  Brent has installed about 90% of the black marble in the foyer.  He did not install the last three (3) feet to the door incase there is damage to the subfloor and new framing is required.  Lynn has grouted on the tile and it looks great.  Jennifer has painted the hall closet door, the refurbished fireplace mantle for the keeping room and trim pieces.  Jessica  has attacked the stairway and has been painting some of the steps and risers. 

Here is a picture of Lynn installing the grout between the marble.  It was like black ink.

We also have put down the frame work for the hearth in the keeping room and the girls painted the fireplace mantel which be installed in the master bedroom sitting area.  Our electrican has showed up the past few days, including today, and is almost finished installing the undercabinet lighting.

Below are more pictures of the marble foyer, Cookie helping to spread the grout and Jennifer painting the foyer coat closet door (the door beneath the stairs).

Marble Flooring Started in Foyer

We drove back to Zelda from Renee and Greg's late Monday night. Brent got an early start on Tuesday and began laying the marble flooring in the foyer. He got about 65 sf or 1/3 of the tile down on Tuesday. It looks great and we can hardly wait till it is finished.

The first picture shows Brent installing the first couple pieces of marble.

Our proposed trim carpenter came by Zelda this morning and will start work on Friday. He is going to install all the downstairs crown molding, baseboard, window trim, doors (including the front door) and the wood flooring.

Lynn and the girls continued with touch up painting, painting the spindles and caulking the upstairs bedrooms and master bathroom. Cookie watch the children in the school across the street and slept on the pile of wood flooring.

The next pictures show progress of the marble tile during the day.

Foyer Floor Backerboard Complete

With the girls finished with exams and out for the fall semester, we headed back to Zelda in two (2) vehicles on Thursday evening. Friday, the girls did some touch-up painting in the rooms and Brent continued with putting down the backerboard in the foyer and prepared some areas of the floor for the wood flooring to be installed. In the dining room, there was an area near the wall where he had to install some wood to match the same height of the subfloor. Brent also planned on meeting the person to install the wood floor and trim out the downstairs, but he never showed at the house.


Backer board placed on the floor in the foyer.



On Saturday, we finished installing all the backerboard in the foyer, so now we may begin the installation of the black marble. We also got all the remaining crown molding at Lowes (about 300 lf) and the girls applied two (2) finish coats to all the molding. Brent was able to contact our potential trim contractor and he agreed to meet us on Tuesday. Lynn continued with the stairs and we also hooked up the gas to the dining room fireplace. Around 6 pm we finished work and headed over to Raleigh, NC to Renee and Greg's house.




Jessica painting the spindels and the stairway.


The dining room fireplace lit. Our stray cat "Socks"


Lynn falling through a chair after eating a "heavy" lunch. More of the backerboard in foyer.



The girls painting crown molding and another picture of the stairway in the foyer.

Not Back At Zelda Today

Brent got back from his trip to DC late Tuesday night. Instead of heading back to Zelda on Wednesday, we headed into Knoxville and went to a couple of building salvage stores. We found a front door unit for Zelda. Because we were not in the truck, we did not purchase but there are quite a few of them in the building.

Brent is heading back over the mountains in the morning and Lynn will follow later in the day with the girls. Jessica has one (1) more final exam at UT while Jennifer finished all of her exams today. We will then travel over to Raleigh to see Greg and Renee on Saturday.

The Snow Arrived This Morning in Gatlinburg

So far we have not received the predicted six (6) inches of snow but so far we have received about three (3) inches up on the mountain in Gatlinburg. We can not see Mt. LeConte from the house, because of the cloud cover which makes us suspect that it is getting pounded by snow and highway 441 between Cherokee and Gatlinburg is closed. When we passed through Newfound Gap yesterday, there was no snow but frozen fog.

Cookie has enjoyed playing in the snow and a couple of pictures of the house, the yard and some unknown characters are shown as the snow continues. We should be back at Zelda on Wednesday.

December at Zelda

We were unable to get back to Zelda until Tuesday, December 1st. Our nephew had car trouble in Cherokee, NC on Monday and we returned home with him that afternoon. We did get some work done this week despite it being a short week. We had to leave mid-morning on Friday to avoid the road closure over the mountains with the forecast of six inches of snow.

With the short work week, we did work to 10:00 pm and 9:30 pm each night. Brent finished installing the gas line for the dining room fireplace and installed the fireplace mantel. The area around the firebox still needs to have the marble installed and this fireplace will be complete. He also completed work on adding detail work to one of the original plain mantel to dress it up and it will go in our keeping room. In the master bedroom sitting room, he framed in a hearth over the old coal chute and it is now ready to install the tile. We also were able to install about six (6) sheets of backer board in the foyer for the marble tile.

Lynn continued to work on the stair case and has actually started painting the handrail and spindles. The handrail is being painted black and the spindles are being painted white. We also plan on painted the stair treads black and the risers white.

We planned on meeting with a potential carpenter to complete the trim work and install the downstairs wood flooring, but he had car trouble this morning. We plan to meet with him on Wednesday or Thursday next week. Brent has an interview in Washington DC on Tuesday so we will not be going back to Zelda till Wednesday.

We have befriended a stay black cat with four white paws and are calling it "Socks". He or she has slowly been coming closer and finally Brent was able to pet the cat, and it has actually jumped into his lap. We have splurged and purchased a couple of bags of dry cat food at the dollar store.