The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Ed is finally finishing up the electrical wiring this week. He's really tired of it too. He's been working on in one form or another since the end of November, with a multitude of interruptions. He just keeps reminding himself of how much money he's saved by doing most of it by himself. Now he's starting to gear himself up for the central vacuum system, the alarm system, and the structured cable. The structured cable is bundled wires for all the things we think we need in this modern world. ...satellite, phone, computer, stereo, games, and a million things I don't even understand. Who knew there was a scanner thingie you can put in your pantry to scan bar codes so your computer will make a grocery list for you? Well, there is!
  In the meantime, I've been playing with paint chips. As of this moment (all subject to change) the paint list looks like this:

 

Sherwin Williams Paint

Biscuit 6112 Ceilings

Interactive Cream 6113 Guest Bedroom walls

Bagel 6114 Living room, Dining room

Tatami Tan 6116 Foyer, stairwell

Sensational Sand 6094 Guest baths, craft bath

Crabby Apple 7592 Kitchen, Living room accent

Downing Earth 2820 Family room, powder room, Craft room

Quicksilver 6245 Ceiling East bedroom

Mild Blue 6533 Walls East Bedroom

Jubilee 6248 Bath East Bedroom

   In keeping with the flavor of the Arts and Crafts period, most of the rooms will be some form of earth tone. Crabby Apple is a dark red, deeper than a brick red, and far far away from pinks. Then in the upstairs bedroom, I'll step out of the box and use a very light blue, with a dark grey for the bathroom. Or.....the whole color scheme could change in a flash. 

   We took advantage of some dry weather and beautiful sunshine to plant some new little trees and take out an old one.  It bothers me to take out a living tree, especially a fruit tree, but this apple tree was leaning like a drunken sailor and gave no fruit. The blossoms in the spring were spectacular but other than that it had no redeeming value. Having said that, I thanked the tree, apologized profusely and gave the signal to rip it out. It was surprising how little root structure there was.  Ed cut the apple wood up for BBQ and smoker wood. 

   

 We also planted the three trees we bought in November. The larger center tree is a dogwood. I may need to screen it for the deer for a few years. We'll see. the other two smaller trees are Japanese maples. 

  So things are moving along nicely. Ed is really glad to be done with the electrical work. He is looking forward to finishing the in-wall stuff. We think we'll be ready for insulation in four to six weeks. That'll change the look!