Labour day weekend

When we got home from the cabin, the first picture Brianne sent me was this beautiful evening shot from our deck...  It looks so calming and serene... the epitome of relaxation.  Thank you Brianne.,.,

Up first this week- guess what got installed?????   Jim and Ben worked feverishly on Thursday and most of Friday trying to get the  water heater and shower put together before Brianne and her family showed up on Friday evening... They didn't quite make the deadline, but by Saturday evening, it was up and running.. I couldn't find where we put the shower curtain rod, but we made due with a regular curtain rod.  I'll be purchasing one this next week... But, what we improvised worked perfectly!

Although Brianne was the first to try out the shower, I was the first to have my picture taken in it... giggle..  

It's still a little rudimentary, but it works amazingly well!  I am absolutely thrilled.  I sent a picture to my brother Eldon and he says the shower head looks like something from NASA.. Giggle.  It actually has six jets that spray water on your body, a regular faucet to fill the tub, a regular shower head thing and a waterfall up top... It's amazing...

And, here's two days work in the basement... between setting up the hot water heater, programming it  and getting the propane lit, and then the water lines, and a structure around the bathroom for a little bit of privacy, it took a while...Soooo well worth it... 
And, all this is going to be hidden inside a wall.... sad...

When Jim went to take a shower, he took this picture, and when he showed it to me he said, "I think she moved in...."  Giggle..  The surround is a temporary fix right now, - it's eventually going to be tiled, but until then, this will do... And, I purposefully bought a surround with a ledge to put all the "stuff" on..  Apparently, Brianne appreciated it!  

I don't know when the sink is going into this bathroom, and quite frankly, I don't care... a shower with hot water is celestial...

And, our security cameras are now totally set up and recording.  We have eight cameras around the house, including the doorbell...so, I am quite sure we will be able to stop any burgulars... I hope.  

These next picture are how they show on Jim's cell phone...

And, this picture shows how they look on the monitor upstairs...  I think we're covered..

The next HUGE project was getting the jacuzzi filled and working... We started by getting a 275 gallon cube of water... We have only a certain number of gallons we can use each month according to our HOA... and that's another story...  So, we started with a 275 gallon cube of ice cold water.... And, I mean, ice cold...

And, we dumped it into the jacuzzi, and then filled the rest of it up with the hose at the cabin..

And, we have some very anxious and impatient patrons waiting....  Giggle.  As the jacuzzi filled up, Coy got out because the water was extremely cold.  Brianne stayed in, until she couldn't feel her legs any longer.  It was over 100 degrees outside, so I am sure the cold water was a relief...

We ran into a little problem trying to connect the jacuzzi to the electrical system on the house... Every time we connected, it threw a breaker; the power was completely out in the whole cabin and we couldn't figure out why... I think between Jim and Lowell, the problem has been solved and will be corrected this next weekend... Apparently, a jacuzzi is not wired the same way as the house is... We'll figure it out!

Jim and Ben pulled out the four wheelers for the kids and they had a kick driving around the mountain.  They told me they saw lots of deer and turkeys...  

And, putting a 15 year old on a four wheeler and letting him loose on his is a little bit of bliss apparently.  Chance seemed to like it...

And, family get togethers always involve, of course, lots of food...  Our 12' table has always been in the corner of the room... Usually, it's just Jim and I, and we eat dinner in the living room, or at the island, but with the extra people, Brianne cleared off the table and picked up all the construction stuff in the living room, and made it more of a home.  I so appreciate it, more than she knows.  Such a help...  And, it was fantastic to have family at our table.  Mississippi pot roast was especially delicious and the company was just as fantastic.

Here's the living room after Brianne worked her magic.. Yes, there is still scaffolding in the living room but, just ignore that!!... There's also a dishwasher in the living room, but we'll just move forward on that one..

On Monday, Jim and Ben were working on the deck, and they needed Ben to go up in the bucket truck to work on the railings and balusters.  Jim got Ben about 30 feet up in the air, and the bucket truck ran out of gas... Giggle.. Ben was suspended in the air. I think he was thinking about rappelling down, but thank goodness, Jim found a little bit of gas and got the truck started back up, and the bucket back down to earth... giggle.  Ben was a good sport about it, even though I was laughing...

And, before I forget, we found another little visitor in the cushions of the couch...  I showed Coy and Chance and they thought he was cute.  We couldn't seem to catch him, so we put out some live traps so see if he could be relocated.  Before we left, he still wasn't caught, so, we'll have to see what happens during the next week...  This guy actually had a tail so I know it's not the original chipmunk we had.

And, Chance is proving to be an amazing worker.  He an Lowell put in so many hours working on the brickwork around the jacuzzi...  And, it looks amazing.  He pays a lot of attention to detail and does beautiful work.

This is how it looked just before we filled it with water... It's looking amazing.  I had this idea what I wanted the area brick to look like, and with the antique bricks, it's exactly what I wanted..... very old world antique....

Here's Lowell flattening the ground so that the bricks lay flat next to each other.  

Coy loaded the wheel barrow with bricks and Chance pushed them over to the where the jacuzzi is.  Coy isn't quite strong enough yet to push it, but he does a decent job loading it.

and, Lowell, working to flatten out the ground.  It was 103 degrees... so hot...but, the guys worked hard and tirelessly to get the job done.

And, this is what it looked like at the end of the day... It's beautiful.  Thank you, guys... You are amazing.

These hangers are for the railing balusters on the deck.  We bought them, and then I told Jim that I would prefer that they are black instead of silver... So, he powder coated all of them black... I like them a whole lot more...

And, here's our Coy Boy... He loves wearing my leather gloves to work on the bricks.  This picture cracks me up.. Coy is looking so cute on the deck, and Chance is in the background holding up a shovel like he's going to throw it at Coy.  Giggle...

And, here's Lowell and Bri.  I love this picture... such a cute couple... they can accomplish anything together...  We are so glad they found each other... I am not going to go as far as saying "they complete each other" because I hate that saying... But, they are good together...  This mama's heart is happy..

And, as always, the adventure continues.

Love, Jim and Cheri