Uneventful drive home. We delivered the Mooney to the new mechanic at Siler City airport for it's annual inspection and chatted with Richard a bit.
I found out from Lindy next door that Richard had been featured in the local newpaper (The Chatham News/Record)! I don't take the paper anymore so I missed the print copy of it. But we found the article online. Here are the photos I snapped from the article. Cool.
Last day - just finishing up the project.
I'm pretty pleased with the result! We'll paint the uprights white to match after the pressure-treated wood has a chance to dry/cure.
I think Mom will enjoy this for years to come!
Work continues!
A little table saw work!
Early morning - time for the sheathing.
And up it goes!
Group effort with the sheathing.
Conner and Mom sorting out some nails to make it easier for those nailing.
Teresa and Conner nailing the sheating!
Eddie and Duane doing the tedious shingle nailing.
Big/Little Eddie mounting the ceiling fan.
And in the early evening, Mom is out to enjoy the progress so far!
Progress on the porch!
This morning Tyler and Aaron came over to lend muscle! (My camera had dust on it so the photo is a bit fuzzy.)
Getting the 6x6" posts ready.
Setting the first upright post on the new footing.
And preparing to lift the big 6x6x16' beam.
Up it goes!
Really glad to have Aaron and Tyler to do the tall/heavy lifting!
Bridget and Peyton visiting. Ashlee and the girls were here as well but I didn't manage to snap a photo.
The girls were all busy in the morning getting ready for the 80th birthday party in the evening.
Tyler hammering away.
And Eddie getting in some stapling.
And that's where we called it quits for the day.
Up to the party at Keith and Denise's. A great gathering to celebrate Mom's 80th birthday.
Work continues on the b-day present. The siding had to be removed to attach the new roof to the house.
Mom kept busy mowing the grass and hunting for tools for us to use. Beautiful early fall day!
I know it doesn't look like much progress, but the ledger boards are all set up and flashing installed. (Keith is not just propped up there, he's holding pressure on the ladder so Duane can drill in the screws)
Concrete anchor bolts are drilled and glued in place with special glue. Ready for the major assembly tomorrow!
We've arrived to get started on Mom's 80th birthday present!
Getting ready to pour concrete for a footing.
Footing complete
Doing some more preliminary measuring. We'll get started with the actual construction tomorrow.
Up to Keith and Denise's house for the evening. Fun meal with Mom, nice fire later. Chilly in these thar hills!
We prepped the final area of the dirt for seed.
A couple of hours later - all seeded and covered with straw. We've got a few days of cool rain forecast - perfect grass-growing weather.
I was filthy!! Black dust all over - a muddy stream down the shower drain. Glad that's done!
First thing in the morning I had an appointment for my routine mammogram.....no photos of that, haha!!! Fun to see the UNC helicopter at it's home base rather than over at the airport for fuel.
Keith and Denise sent us home with a trunk full of fresh veg.
A LOT of okra! We had it fried for dinner - but still lots left.
Time to make some pickled okra. I love this stuff as an easy unique appetizer for happy hours on the boat. Added spices to sterilized jars.
Packed tight with raw okra pods.
Sealed up with a boiling solution of vinegar, salt, water and a bit of sugar.
Processed in boiling water for 15 minutes.
You can see the before/after color. 12 pints. Yum!
We took a little flight to practice some instrument approaches in the morning.....uneventful - the best kind of flight!
And we packed up and drove up to the mountains for a quick visit. (Decided not to fly since the return flight weather looked stormy). Next weekend is Mom's 80th!!! birthday - so the kids are a get-together to build her a little porch cover over her patio. Some measurements and planning needed to be done ahead of time.
But there was time for visiting with Mom and Denise.
A tour of the garden was given - the greenhouse is ready for some fall/winter experimenting!
And always fun to peek at Mills River (which is a creek by our standards now).
And the main event for the weekend was the McCraw family reunion. This year there were outside tables provide on a lovely fall mountain day.
As usual, wonderful spoonfuls to taste as many items as I could.
Fun seeing the usual suspects that we see every year or so plus a few we hadn't seen in years.
A pleasant visit and an uneventful drive back home.
