You see it all the time on HGTV, people looking for neighborhoods with lawns that are always taken care of. Having just had some “landscaping” done, I thought “I wonder what the neighbors think?” Of course, they have been here longer than I have. Well, I think they love the new lawn. Here’s some pictures:
Not sure I captured what it really looked like, this first pic was at 7:41, the sun was completely obscured by the clouds:
Later on, the clouds moved. But the temperature had dropped, which brought some fog in the valley.
Two days before, I had a chance to try out my new lens. The sun was setting behind a large cloud layer, making it look like a mountain range in the distance.
From earlier in the month, the clouds blocked the sun.
Lots of interesting sunsets when it’s clear or cloudy.
Sometimes it isn’t clear. But the results can be just as spectacular.
First snow at the new house. I walked up the hill west of the house to try to get a nice picture, but the snow was coming down too hard, and you could not see the house very well at all. Moved in and took this picture.
Siding was put up today. A fast moving storm ripped through right as I arrived, but everything seemed to weather it just fine.
Here is some fog rising out of the valley right after the storm ended.
Last Thursday was concrete prep, and Friday the concrete floors were poured. It was not possible to get inside and get good pictures. But on Monday, everything was nice and dry. Some additional framing work was also done, as well as the back french doors were put in. Electrical work was done the previous two days, and the outlet in the back is also visible.
This is the view from the inside.
The garage door was also installed.
Floor in the family room.
Framing for the closets and for the 3/4 bathroom in the utility room.
Here’s the basement floor. On hindsight, should have probably used the flash.
Weather has been great for the past few days, great day for putting on shingles.
Saturday, we practiced cutting some limestone. It was time consuming, but towards the end, the stone was breaking where I wanted it to.
The trusses and the dumpster made it up the hill today.
Back and side
From the boys room, you can see the vineyard:
This is the view from the living room window:
It is amazing to see all the work that was done in one day. At 5 pm, the generator showed 8 hours of run time, and the crew had just come back from dinner and ready to keep moving. The crew leader told me that the trusses were supposed to arrive today, but they did not, and that if they had arrived, he would have them up. At least that is what I think he said. He had a very heavy accent, some sort of German derivative.
From the front:
From the back:
Chimney
Family Room
Patio Door
There was a storm moving in, right in front of the sun, made some nice colors. Tried to capture them, but the picture is not as impressive as the real thing.
Backfill was completed, but required another 5 truckloads of gravel. Looks like a lot of it was used in the front of the garage as well, which was not the optimal situation. Should have been modified there instead, which is significantly cheaper. The excavator left a significant amount of material blocking the swale that had been previously cut, so there’s more cleanup needed here. I’m a bit disappointed at the waste of #2 gravel and the way the material was left behind the house. More than one person had warned me about this particular excavator. Last year when I was looking for excavators, I was given their name, but when I called and left a message they never called me back. That turned out to be a good thing.
The generator was placed under a canvas tarp in the garage, since framing starts tomorrow. My nice pile that I used to climb up on is gone, so I don’t have quite the same vantage point as before.
There was a storm moving in to the west. Looked much more imposing in person. Still trying to figure out how to capture that. I went to shutter optimized and set the shutter speed to 1/4000th.
A good bit of the framing lumber was stacked in front. The schedule says the house will be under roof by the weekend, assuming no major delays. There is 40% or higher chance of scattered storms for the rest of the week, so that could impact the schedule as well.
Rich Hill Vineyard 