Home project updates...

Stef and myself are still plugging along with renovations to the master suite downstairs.  You may recall this picture from one of our previous posts; mid-deconstruction. 

Here it is thus far.  Walls are now refinished, sanded, primed and painted a light blue.  We stenciled a diamond fleurdelis pattern on the wall where the bed will go.  We'll probably go with a white rod-iron bed setup.  Ledge is painted semi-gloss white.  Wainscoting and trim are starting to go up around the room.

Here you can see an in-room sink outside of the bathroom and walk-in closet.  Doors will be painted white.  Stef is in the midst of refinishing the sink.  Slowly coming along.

Here you can see the door-way (behind the lamp), which leads to the den where the fireplace is.

Annual Ginger Bread Project...

Layout of the Ginger Bread Farm House and Barn.  Card stock cut to size for ginger bread outlines.

Making a ginger-bread roof, grain silo and reindeer.

All the pieces of the farm are complete and cooling waiting for assembly.

Basic structure of the Farm is put together with Royal Icing.  Jolly ranchers are melted down to make windows.

Roofing added to structures.  Red ropes on the barn, and rolos on the roof.  Mike and Ikes on the Farm house, candy-cane porch, hershey kisses on the roof.  Andes Mints on the side of the Silo, redhots on the roof and hershey kisses hidden inside.

Stefanie making peppermint bark.

Pouring the peppermint bark into tile moulds.

Placing the peppermint bark tiles on the roof of the farm house and barn.

Base of the board is covered in royal icing.  Frosted mini-wheats, crushed, and sprinkled in the field to look like furrows of chopped corn.  Stef made a mould of a Truck for the Farm out of peppermint bark.  Reindeer have piped Red royal icing around their necks with gold sugar balls.  9 deer, one with red nose.

Final project.

New dogs...

Freshly minted graduates of doggy behavior reform school. Complete with corrective implements attached.

When we adopted Rusty back in April, we didn't realize he came along with a bit of a stubborness, growling and biting habit when he didn't get his way. It reached a bit of a pinnacle in August when he bit the groomer at Pet Smart and drew blood. Not acceptable. We brought him in to the Vet to see what we should do. The vet could not find any physical/chemical findings wrong with Rusty that might explain his behavior. The vet recommended Kelly, a behavioralist that trains the K-9 units for the NW Ohio area.

We made an appointment to have both Rusty and Tala evaluated by Kelly. We added Tala in because we really hadn't had any training for her before and she did have a bit of a confidence and anxiety problem. After the evaluation, we decided to enroll Rusty and Tala in a 12 day intensive course on appropriate doggy manners. The house was so empty for the 12 days.

Tonight was our first night back with the dogs in our house, and oh boy is it different. When you walk with them on the leash, they no longer pull and they walk at your left side. They stop when you stop, they go where you go. When I left the house to go out front neither dog barked at me while I went out the door. The dogs are no longer allowed to be on the couch now unless invited. No jumping or paws are allowed on the legs. It is much different now the dogs are much more subdued, and pay more attention now to commands.

Tonight we had our first hour long class learning how to use our new dogs. We learned appropriate dog walking technique, and appropriate corrective measures to modify behavior using a choker-chain and leash. You want to achieve correction, not inflict pain. If they exhibit a wrong behavior they get a firm no with a Snap to the leash for correction.

More house projects...

Starting work on redoing the down-stairs master suite and den.


Stef sanding down a wooden ledge that runs the periphery of the room down stairs in preparation for priming and painting. Below the ledge we will put wainscoting and above will be painted. As you can see the previous owners had a unique sense of style and color choice. This room currently stores the treadmill. Also in the picture is a bucket of TSP water that Stef uses to wash the walls and surfaces of the room before we paint.



Picture of part of the Entertainment unit downstairs. It will be repainted with semigloss white to clean it up. It currently is storing a mass of tools that I don't have any room to store elsewhere. What I'm particulary proud of, is that the fireplace is now up and running smoothly; no carbon monoxide or fire alarms going off. Just some finish woodwork left to be done on the unit before painting.

Happy Birthday Erin and Lauren...

I tried to bake you both a giant cupcake shaped cake for your birthdays, but I failed epically. It came together quite nicely, initially. Then I came back to check on it around midnight before going to bed and structural integrity problems had taken hold. I tried to fix it but it just crumbled when I tried to put the cupcake top back on the cupcake bottom. The following is the result.

Happy Birthday.

Just another evening...

Main Bathroom Remodel

You may recall some of my prior posts regarding the main bathroom at the top of the stairs.

Primarily the ill-equipped after-dinner-ware and generally inconvenient placement of sinks/toilets.

Well that needed to change. Note the hole where the toilet use to be, and the new closet flange where the new toilet is going.

A new cabinet and sink spot next to the toilet.

The new cabinet sink and toilet, with new hardware and fixtures. Walls refinished and painted light blue.

New flooring. It's only linoleum, but it looks clean. Also, new trim work.

Curved shower rod.

Camping weekend at Mohican

This time of year the Maples and Oaks really begin to take on their Fall colors in Ohio. With some friends from Stef's work, Jeff and Julie, their children Lauren, Lydia and Anna, and Jeff's Father Dave, we trekked down to Mohican State Park for a Fall camping trip to take in the Reds, Orange and Yellows. Notably, this was Stef's first time camping in a tent, and naturally, she was a bit apprehensive. But all went well. We left early Saturday morning around 6:00a, stopped for breakfast and were at camp setting up tents by about 9:00a.

(Our new tent and camping equipment)

After we setup camp, we went for a hike near Charles' Hill Dam.

(Stef and Julie getting ready for a hike)

(Jeff and Dave getting ready for a hike)

(Lydia, Lauren, Jeff with Anna stopping to breathe in the fresh air)

(Some interestingly colored biology on the side of a log)

(Some exposed Sand stone)

(Lauren and Lydia stop to check out river rocks)

(Mohican River)

After our hike we ate at Malabar Farms Inn and Restaurant. Food was very good. Stef and I are hoping we can plan a trip back there to enjoy a little extended weekend this Winter for some R&R. After lunch we went for a horse ride at a place in Mohican called Equestrian Valley. The equestrian ranch was on 220 acres and had breathtaking views.

(Stef on Horse back)

(Stef and myself at the Equestrian Valley Ranch)

By about 5:30p, with our leg muscles talking to us, we decided to mosy on back to camp to cook up some grub. The ladies prepped some red potatoes with carrots, onions and rosemary, and barbecue chicken with onions which the men cooked over the fire pit.



(Jeff, Anna, myself and Dave cooking Dinner)

We ate our food, warmed ourselves by a toasty fire, and watched the sun set over the lake by our camp site. Quite a nice evening.

We all settled down for a nice cool Fall snooze and listened to the wind blow through the trees. Next morning we stoked the fire, warmed up and went to Mohican Resort for breakfast overlooking pleasantville reservoir.

And that was our camping weekend at Mohican.

More Pond Pictures...

Saw Rusty watching the waterfall and fish swimming around and I couldn't resist taking a photo.

Pond Redo

A couple days before we left town in July to visit family back in San Jose, the pond sprung a leak. Shutting off the pump and filter did not seem to ameliorate the problem, and the hole that was shedding the water from the pond remained elusive. Prior to travel I purchased a popup pool to transfer all the plants and fish into it in order to salvage the biological aspects of the pond.

Upon arriving back from California, I found a few culprit holes, but still not sure if it would present again, we decided to redo the pond.

Before...


Ahhh... That's the problem, they put no underlayment under the rubber lining. No wonder the shards of rock and rubble beneath the pond liner cut through. In this picture the biological filter has been moved between the two alberta spruces. I've dug the pond down to a 2-3' depth for better wintering of the pond. Also, I created a deep end of the pond, where Rusty is, so that the pump will be "distal" to the filter and NEW waterfall setup. : ) Also, but not shown here, was a small tree stump that they were hiding using the waterfall. I ground it down with my chain saw. There can be only one.


Pond bottom raked for sharp rocks, smoothed and stamped. Location for the first layer of rocks to be placed around the ledge outlined and smoothed.


Felt underlayment to prevent sharp objects from puncturing the new rubber liner.


New rubber liner in with water filling. Beginnings of the waterfall cascade between the two spruces.


Rubber lining trimmed, and the first layer of rocks being placed around the ledge.


Building a cascading waterfall. Plumbing in place, attached to the biological filter and leak tested.


Rest of the rocks are placed, water has been chemically treated and pH balanced, and the plants and fish are now back in.

Rusty laying underneath the Spruce on a warm Sunday afternoon watching the fish and waterfall.