Where are the bloggings? - VF

We have not blogged for quite a while as there has been so much going on, but I have endeavoured to summarise the happenings and will try to add some more soon. Basically we have not had more than 2 consecutive nights at home (the Berkley estate) since the 9th May and all this living out of suitcases and the associated packing and unpacking is starting to take it's toll. We had hoped to move into the new Bay City estate this month, but alas, with the construction zone as it is (see below), it is rather premature so now we shall try for the week of 17th October. Thanks to all our regular readers who expressed concern as to our well-being via e-mail or checked in with the family to see what the story was! Most updates should appear below so do read on….

Other people we have had through (so far - this was in a 3-week period�) include plumbers, drain-clearers, electricians, a glazier for broken windows, appliance fixing man, pest-control guy (The Bugmeister), landscape architect, bathroom renovation people, wood floor-polishing contractors, floor replacement contractors, delivery people, dumpster delivery (and then removal) guy, the cable TV-advising man as well as this crew from the power company who had to turn off the power for half a day so that the fuse-board could be removed for a while. (And no, everyone does not seem to only visit once, each contractor seems to pay several visits to get each job done�.). In addition to this, most days there are passers-by who ring the doorbell and ask if they can come and have a look at what we are doing. It seems that our house is VERY well known in this city. 

Here are our builders after a VERY grotty day in the basement. For those who read our postings last year, Brent & Brandon are brothers, but now they have reeled in a 3rd brother, Randy on the right, to help as well (and we discovered there are two more if we get really desperate for a speedy completion!). It is likely that they will be with us for 4 to 6 months as we have quite a lot of projects to do. Then around about next May we are likely to start building a garage and if they are lucky they might have the winning bid on it so that would be a few more months that we will all have to continue interacting together! Seriously, they are great and VERY adaptable to our ever-changing plans. 

Here is a picture of one other time we were here in Tawas. We went to the beach nearby and I was quite surprised - the only thing �missing� from what I am used to is waves and surfers. Jamie had said before we were married that Michigan is like New Zealand - there is a north island and a south island (the Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula!), there is water all around (the great lakes) and plenty of beaches. Hmmmmm not quite the same, but I will concede that there are similarities!  

Tawas again

This week we are back in Tawas on Lake Huron again. It is definitely Autumn as it is not nearly so warm as when we were last here (only 3 weeks ago). It is nice to relax and manage the construction zone by phone rather than being in the midst of the noise and dust! I was meant to go down to Bay City today to do the practical part of my Michigan drivers licence but the guy postponed until tomorrow. I forgot the fridge repair man was delivering parts and that the dumpster guy was delivering a dumpster today…. Whoops, I guess I will have to find them tomorrow and pay them then!

Black dust, white dust, grey dust , thick dust everywhere

Finally, finally as of today we have got one room completed! Today Jamie and I removed the radiator cover and I finished cleaning the radiator. This involved removing by vacuum-blowing and then sucking up 3-4cm thick payers of black dust, dusting, scrubbing and then dusting again the radiator itself and then taking the metal cover outside, scrubbing it down with household cleaner and then water-blasting it (power-washing here in the US) so that the black inside became white (quite an amazing transformation). Then after vacuuming the floor (filling 1/3 of the vacuum cleaner canister with dust, carpet balls etc in the process) and dusting all the surfaces, we have one bedroom ready to move things into.
At this point I don’t want to count how many more rooms we have…..

Laundry Plans

When they removed the old lathe and plaster which partially covered the walls and ceiling from the laundry (the laundry only consisted of a concrete floor and two taps ie faucets) and created the mess in a previously-posted photo, the amazing stone and brick basement walls were exposed. So now they are setting out to make the laundry into a feature of the house! Part of it (it was huge) was walled off and will become a pantry and then they will add some cupboards and a bench (counter-top) and have panelled this internal wall with tongue and groove panelling. The old junky falling-apart door to a back entrance is being replaced with a nice 6-panel door that will be a more secure exterior door that we can connect to a security system and the actual back entrance (the red/brown door they are standing beside in the photo above) will eventually become French doors onto a patio... but right now that is rather difficult to imagine ever happening as the scene right now is rather immense.....

Construction zone returns - in a new location - VF

Well, on 23 August we bought the most awesome house! The next morning at 8am our builders arrived…. see previous postings from this time last year… and within another 2 days the beautiful house was a complete mess. It has been a MAJOR construction zone with thick dust everywhere - a combination of 100+ years of dust, soot from the fireplaces and previous pot-belly stove heating systems and of course the type of dust that only the removal of old lathe and plaster walls can generate. Some rooms have 3-5cm of sawdust in parts as the guys work to create a cool interior for us to live in. More to come as I have the energy to write about this traumatic situation….

Hurricane Katrina aftermath - VF

I thought I would post a quick note as several people have e-mailed asking about Jamie's family in Mississippi.

Jamie's brother Jon and his wife Andrea survived the hurricane. Jon had been working at Laurel where he is an ER physician in one of the hospitals there. Andrea evacuated with the 4 dogs and drove for about 30 hours, eventually ending up after a circuitous journey in Jackson, Mississippi where she put the dogs in a kennel and then found accomodation in Indianola. Her brother phoned us last night around midnight and amazingly I managed to get hold of her in her hotel there this morning! She sounds VERY tired. Might have to stay there for a couple more days. Most roads in the gulf area are closed and no-one can get back to the Gulfport/Long Beach area apart from emergency personnel but when Jon finished work on Tuesday he managed to get back to check the house. Miraculously, it is still standing! Some damage to the roof as well as flooding/water damage, but it seems that it is salvageable. Amazing!

Unfortunately, the same is not true for Jamie's mom's house. Apparently, when Jon went to check on it (it is between the beach and the railway line - the area that they were calling on TV 'ground zero') there is nothing left of that section of her street. There are pictures on the local news site http://www.wlox.com including an 'aftermath' slideshow which shows how horrendous this part of the city is. Poor Joan has had a terrible month (see our previous postings on 26 August).