We're Back!

We are back from our 3 week trip to Europe! We had a really great time doing the whirlwind tour of Spain, France, and Holland. We stayed in some great hotels, ate some good food, and saw some of the most beautiful architecture. But, now we must get back to our Portland lives. We must go to our day jobs, and we must get back to work on our old house.

First up will need to be the back porch railing. It is still only just barely framed. I think this will likely take a couple of weekends. Then, we must do the main stairs. That will take a lot of meticulous finish carpentry. It will likely take more than a month to build and finish. Finally, there is the sunroom stairs and balcony railing. Lots n’ lots n’ lots of work left to do. Oh boy! :-)

More to come...

Hillsdale House Hiatus

As mentioned last time, Jenn and I will be on vacation in Europe for the rest of May. So, we won’t be working on the house during this time, and, as you might expect, won’t be blogging about it either. But, I can assure you that, come the first week in June, we'’ll be hard at work again. We have lots of railings to put up before the house is "‘code"’.

If you are interested, both Jenn and I will be blogging our trip here: http://gandjtrip2005.blogspot.com/ We'’ll try and provide an update whenever we see an internet café.

Before I go, I'’d like to briefly thank everyone who has supported this site. The encouraging and informative comments have been invaluable. I would especially like to thank House Blogs for including me in "the community", Hewn and Hammered for wishing us luck so long ago, and everyone else who has generously included a link to us on their site (I will return the favor). THANKS!



Back soon...

Every Dogwood Has It's Day

Our pink dogwood in our backyard is having a great year, the best since we moved in. The only problem is that it is blocking the view of the house, and blocking some of the view FROM the house. But, Jenn says "don't you dare touch it!" Maybe she'll let me trim it a bit, but only after it's done blooming.

Check out these blooms (click for larger):


We've been too social to work on the house so far this weekend. I'm hoping to work on the railing tomorrow. But, the forecast calls for rain.

Either way, tomorrow is going to have to be the last day we work on the house for a while. Jenn and I have been planning a trip to Europe for the past 4 years. Each year, something happens and we can't go. Well, this year, we managed to rub two nickels together and our respective employers are allowing us 3 weeks off. We hope to see a little of Spain, France, and Holland. We leave this Thursday (May 5th). The joke between us is that we are spending the money we saved by doing this remodel ourselves. Ha!