May 2009 Progress update

Well...nothing has loaded in order on the blog so it is all backwards. Here is Eric with all of the cedar siding that Ken helped unload. It will soon be on the walls.

Ken unloaded all the wood siding that Eric would soon be putting on the interior walls of the main room.

Here is Cindy in action with all the window parts that she helped to stain and varnish.

We were blessed this day with much help!! Larry and Cindy came all day to help. Larry worked on several electrical projects and Cindy stained and varnished window parts.

Ken came and helped stain and varnish too! We are truly blessed with wonderful family, friends and church family!

A view of the staircase going downstairs. Eric made all of the wood treads for the steps. A huge improvement to the rubbber ones that used to be there. The hardwood landing looks great too.

The South entrance. Eric laid slate ceramic tile. He also cut all the pieces for the railing and stair parts, stained and varnished and installed everything for the stairway. The walls are log siding.

Another view of the South entrance that leads to the main room upstairs and to the basement.

The interior of the South entrance.

another view of the deck of the South entrance.

The main room is all cleaned out and ready to be painted.

Our good friend Cindy donated this Uppercase Living wall expression.

The newly added deck off the South entrance. Still under construction.

The main room ready to be painted.

Out at the Woods!!

Here is a picture of Ava in front of one of the MANY trees that Eric and the kids planted over the past 1.5 years.
The pond is something that we really enjoy with family and friends. I will need to post a "before " picture to see how much it has changes. After having it drug out and made deeper, Eric built a deck and a fishing dock before it filled with water.
Here is a view of the pond from the North side. We have it stocked with Blue Gill and Large Mouth Bass. We all enjoy spending time at the pond swimming, fishing and just relaxing enjoying the beauty of it.
The barn is another great accomplishment. It was in very poor condition and you would be able to look completely through it. Eric put new windows and a door, fixed up horse stalls and reframed the walls. We then had the metal roof and siding installed.
Here is another view of the barn. It houses our two newest additions to "The Woods"....Our Appaloosa "Skipper" and our Missouri Fox Trotter "Allie".

The metal roof!!

A view of the retreat building from the front....the metal is just about done.
A little different view of the building before the finishing pieces were put on.
Our good friend Justin came out and spent his 4th of July finishing the metal roof. Our boys, Frank and Nicholas helped out the entire day as well.
Here is the finished roof as of July 7th, 2008.
Another view of the building and the completed roof. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but it is a hunter green roof. Eventually the building will have wood siding on it.

Overhangs etc....

Here is a view of the front of the retreat building once the overhangs have been added.
Here is a close-up of the main entrance on the East side of the building. We closed the orignal entrance and added these double doors for a new main entrance.

Entrance coverings

Our good friends, Stan Remole and Jeb Kennel, came out for the day to help tear off the old roof from the side entrance and build the new roof and the new entrance on the South side of the retreat building.
Here is Eric on the back hoe removing insulation and roof pieces.
Here is a picture once the roof was torn off.
The workers! I don't know what we would have done without Stan and Jeb that day. They worked so hard and VERY long that day. I don't think the were "done" until around 6:30 pm that evening ..they had started around 7:30am that day.
Here is a picture of the progress they made by mid afternoon.

Working on the roof

In April, the youth group from our church, St. Paul's in Gifford, came out and tore off the roof from the retreat building. The kids did a gret job! Gary Maxwell and Ken Buenting came out to help as well. All help was greatly appreciated! The morning was very productive and by noon the old roof was torn off and it was covered with tar paper. The next step will be to build overhangs around the entire building and roofs over the 3 entrances.