As we say goodbye to 2007 I am compelled to look back at a very busy and exciting year. 2007 was a year
that I would not care to repeat, yet I am glad I experienced it. With that thought in mind here is a review of
the year Two Thousand and Seven AD.
January 2007 greeted us with the sale contract on our house in Boothbay Harbor being pulled and the hope
of ever selling our home and moving on looking dimmer and dimmer as the housing market continued to
slow and decline. Still I continued to put up siding on the north side of the house. The weather was mild for
the early part of January and this helped me continue my work on the house. Also during this month we
opened up the stairway from the second floor to the third floor and once again I was pulling down plaster,
swearing I would never do this again!
February arrived as did a new re negotiated offer on our house finally with some hope in the future we
started to prepare the house for sheetrock. The electricians finished the rough wiring, the plumbers finished
the rough plumbing and I strapped the ceilings and built the final interior walls over the next two months.
March 30th arrived and we finally closed on our Boothbay Harbor property and with new energy and cash
in hand we headed towards the path of no return.
April 2nd arrived along with the insulators and by the 9th of April the sheetrockers arrived. On the 21st the
first of many coats of paint landed on the walls. During this month I had taken some vacation time to get
some extra work done however we ended up having a huge storm with flooding and power outages and I
spent the whole time driving between homes with a generator pumping out basements. This is also when
our Rooster took his fall from his perch and landed 60 feet below on the ground.
May arrived and the time left to finish the house was slipping away. The kitchen floor was installed and the
tile work for the bathrooms started. The furnance arrived so we could have hot water and we finally had
lights. Things were looking BRIGHT!
The first of June came and along with it came cooler weather, rain and the realization that we only had 15
days left to finish up this house and pack up the other house. The rain kept the floors from drying as
quickly as they were supposed to and suddenly the time frame started to feel real tight.
June 15th arrived (a day we thought we would never see) and with me at Cross Point Farm along with the
electricians, the plumber, the propane and furnance guy, the counter top people, the cabinet people, the
shower door guys, and the security system people all working to have the house running by 5:00 that night.
Pattie was back in Boothbay Harbor with the kids, a few friends and the movers. We all met around 1:00
and finally around 7:00PM everyone was gone except for a couple of friends and we sat back on the porch
surrounded by boxes and had a beer and a smile.
August came and we finally found someone to paint the dormers and we had the triumphant return of our
Rooster back on his perch on top of the cupola on the big barn. We also had our Lobster bake with Steak
our first event at the house since moving in.
September and October arrived with the arrival of fall weather and we finally got our heating system
installed and working ( not without a leak though). I also built the bookcase for the music library and
started working on the trim work for the first floor.
During November we installed a generator and have not lost power since! We also finally got the
woodstove hooked up and started to enjoy some warm fires. Speaking of warm we had our first
Thanksgiving Dinner at the farm.
December came along with the end of the year as it always does and we got our wrought iron railing
installed and crown molding put up in three rooms as well as finished the trimwork on the first floor. We
were also able to get the fireplace surround done in time to hang the stockings for Christmas and of course
we enjoyed our first Christmas in our new old home.
Yes as I said in the beginning it was an exciting year and a busy year. As we look into the New Year we
hope to finish phase one of the project and have a little time to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Then
after a little rest who knows ?????