Progress!

As I sit waiting for my hard drive to finish defragging, I realize it's been six months since my last post. I've read that in order to have a successful blog, one must blog frequently (like my brother Adrian). We prioritize at will, I guess.

I'll try and keep this post relatively short as I need to pull out the scythe and do some old-school lawn mowing. Mind you that there's relatively little grass to cut but rather various weeds and young tree and/or seedlings growing vigorously. I want to get them to a height that my reel mower can handle.

For the most part, Christy and I have been working our respective part time jobs (Accounting & PV installations, respectively). On the home front, Christy has been focusing her attention on the garden. Preparing new beds and planting seeds, and seedlings that she's been nurturing since early spring. I've also been working in the garden doing the tilling. Our neighbor, Matt, was kind enough to lend us his tiller. This was our first year using a tiller in the garden. We've been reticent in doing so because, as much as possible, we're trying to minimize our use of fossil fuels (key word being "minimize"). But this year we let the weeds go too long before attacking them. The tiller made quick work of that.

On the cabin front, I finally got started on the siding. We bought a bunch of 6" hemlock from our local lumber mill. We like the look of hemlock and it's known for its longevity. Finally, we can envision no longer seeing a black envelope around the house. The east side that I completed the other day looks really tall with the siding.

For the interior, we asked our friend Chris to come over and help out with sand plastering the rest of the downstairs walls. We bit the bullet and just paid him to do the work in order to get it over and done with. We were tired of waiting and knew he'd do a quicker and better job.

We've gotten in lots of family visiting lately with trips to Charlotte and Durham. Adrian and Keith and the Charlotte crew (Jim, Linda, and Nancy) have all made trips our way this spring. Later this month we'll get to enjoy first-time visits with my sister Claudia and her husband Gino (from Sardinia). In addition, my brother Andre' and his wife Laina, along with their youngest, Caymbrea and Nico, will be joining us from Vegas. And lastly, my oldest daughter, Lindsey and partner Richard, along with their daughters, Adriana and Jeisa, will also be visiting. So, it'll be a sizable family reunion this month that we're all really excited about.

As a bonus surprise, my granddaughter, Adriana will be staying with us for a couple of weeks after her mom heads back home to New Hampshire. This will be a first for all of us. What an experience for Adriana. Two weeks living in cabin in the woods. A contrast in living for certain. I can't wait!

This past April I was asked to be on the board of SustainFloyd. I of course accepted. This is my first time being on a board.

In an upcoming post, I'll blog about Christy's and my experience in Brasil this past February. Meeting my biological father for the first time and getting to know my brothers and nephews. It was an experience of a lifetime.

That's all gang.

Hemlock Siding