Isla Anne Frys was born on November 30, 2009 at 10:45am. The proud parents, Michelle and Justin, told us the birth was "a piece of cake."
Isla weighed in at 6lb 15oz, and 20.5 inches. Michelle is doing great and plans on coming home on Wednesday morning.
Here are some of the large rocks that we gave to Champion Hills for an erosion project. We kept over 15 for landscaping, and still have around 30+ to move around our site. This is part of the rock we hit when we started digging for the foundation.
On Thursday, our windows arrived. The French Doors are still in manufacturing and should arrive at the end of October. The plumber has started his rough-in, the heating & air conditioning group starts this coming Monday, and the electrician starts the following week.
Weather has been cool and damp. Long range forecast is for more rain. This has been the wettest year they have had in western NC in the past five years.
We have had two dry and cool days. Mom and I have worked the past two evenings vacuuming up the water on the main and lower levels. In the lower level alone we vacuumed over 200 gallons of water up. Tomorrow, the framers should have the entire roof up and taped. This is a new taping system (offered by 3M) and is getting good reviews in the construction industry.
Next week the plumber and heating contractor start their rough in work. This is scheduled to last thru October. There will not be much to post, unless we start to backfill around the house. Due to the large amount of rain in the past week (over 8 inches), my large topsoil pile was reduced over four feet. It's washed down the hill! We are meeting tomorrow at the job site to discuss what to do.
After two straight weeks of rain, only limited progress to report. There was a break in the weather today, so the crew was back working on the roof. Based on the radar, a large storm system is moving into the area around dinner time. Just what we need: move water in the lower level. This morning there was over an inch, with no where to go, since the drains in the lower level are not functioning. Once the framers get the subroof on, the plumber starts to rough everything in on both levels.
Another problem we face is drainage around the house. The whole area is saturated and we are getting some erosion. The contractor is going to backfill, once we get a few dry days. The extended forecast shows another seven (7) days of rain.
Here is a picture of the couple that Camille and I teamed up with this past Monday. Brian and Valerie Fitzgerald are from the Chicago area and have lived here for the past several years. Brian is one of the better golfers at the Club, with a handicap of 4. On Monday, everyone contributed in the scramble, but Camille putted extremely well. Brian and I did not have to putt very often, since Camille or Valerie sank some long putts!!
The results speak for themselves: Overall Champions for 2009
Not bad, considering there were over 100 golfers participating. The handicap committee is now giving us static over our handicaps, since Mom and I have won three times this summer. We must play better under pressure !!
After a good rainstorm yesterday, the framing crew worked Saturday for four (4) hours. Some of the joists are up and most of the walls in the lower level are complete. By next weekend we should see the outline of the house taking place.
The framing crew, four (4) spanish speakers, showed up at the house at 8:15am. We went down at 5:10pm this evening and they were still working! This is something that we are not use to. Individuals who work a full day. The general contractor estimates that this crew will have the entire house framed, roof on, and ready for windows in less than four weeks.
Camille played in her first Member-Member Tournament and she and her partner won the overall championship. They competed against 21 teams, using a Stableford scoring system (points for par, birdie, eagle, etc.) and had the highest point total after two days of play.
This past week I played in my first Member-Member golf tournament. This is the largest tournament the club has and ran from Thursday evening thru Sunday evening. Since I signed up late, I did not have a partner (2 man best ball format). The person the club paired me with got a stiff neck and packed out at the last minute. I met my new partner on Thursday evening at a pre-start dinner & drinks event. We played five (5) nine hole matches within our flight. On Sunday afternoon when we completed our fifth match, we were told that we won our flight and had to go to a shootout to determine the overall club champion. We lasted two playoff holes and ended up fourth overall (out of 36 teams), but first in our flight. I also got closet to the pin award for one of the par 3's, a 165 yard hole. My shot on Saturday ended up 26 inches from the pin. Too bad it did not go in !!
Here is picture of my partner and I at the awards dinner on Sunday evening.
Progress on the house has been good. The plumber has installed the drainage pipes in the lower level, the hot/cold water and drainage pipes in the kitchen and powder room, and installed a radon mitigation system under all of the concrete slab areas.
We are still forming walls in part of the house and plan on pouring these at the end of this week. If we have good weather, the garage area, kitchen area, and lower level concrete slabs will be poured on Friday or Monday. We are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather.
This has been a rather slow week for the company putting in the footers. I was with the contractor on Tuesday morning when he met with the people doing the work. The excavator did not clear all of the rock where the footings are to be placed. They are doing most of the rock breaking by using a pick axe and lots of manual labor. There is one ledge of rock that still remains in the way. Mom and I will take our tools down this weekend and see if we can break it up. This should save hours of labor.
We look forward to leaving for David's wedding on Tuesday. Maybe when we come back we will see some progress.
Mom and I played in the July 4th Mixed Golf Tournament today. Based on our team handicap, we were assigned to the fourth flight. There were three other flights of golfers, comprising 32 teams.
The results are in: We won our flight !! Mom sunk a 35 foot putt on our last hole to give us a birdie and that was the stroke we needed to move into first.
Here are some pictures of us at the first hole. The couple we played with is Gloria and Alan Wasserman. A great couple from the New Jersey area who we met last fall.
The footings were started this week. I think the main contractor hired the turtle crew. They work about 2-3 hours a day, but always have time for a long lunch hour. The forms are suppose to be ready for concrete early next week.
