September 12, 2006
It only seems fitting to make an entry on this day as it the anniversary of the day we bought Cross
Point Farm. A lot has happened over the past year and yet we still have a long, long way to go.I am
feeling a little sentimental at this moment so I will take this time to recap the last year.
September 12, 2005 we signed the paperwork and I started cutting down the bushes and trees around
the house much to the chagrin of the neighbors and prior family.
October 17, 2005 Julain arrives and starts to remove the mudroom from the original house. Rain was
falling that day as it did almost everyday day that month. During the month of October the house hit
new heights literally as it was jacked up three feet above the ground, the chimneys were dropped and
the basement was dug out.
By November 4th we had a new foundation and on November 11th the house was placed back on to
its new foundation. This was a big day as I took the day off from work to watch it. As November
came to an end Julian and his crew started the kitchen addition and had it completely framed by
December 21st.
December 21st was also the day the house took its first step in changing its appearance as they
started to build the dormers. Two of the dormers went up pretty quickly but the third was delayed as
they rebuilt the chimney. This caused quite the stir among the neighbors as they thought we were only
going to build two dormers, one on the left side and one in the middle ????
January 1st 2006 is when I really started to work on the house as I began to gut the insides. This
project turned out to be my least favorite and perhaps the longest. I screamed and yelled with delight
on February 19th at about 7:00pm when I knocked down the last piece of plaster. I still had a lot of
cleaning up to do but I was happy just the same. During January Julian and his crew also started to
re- roof the barn and by mid- February Julian and his crew were gone for good and it was just me
and the house.
March came and we started to install the windows as well as re-wire the barn basement and open my
workshop for business. It took about two and a half weeks to install all the windows.
During April I worked on re-framing the interior and building the walls in the attic. This is also the
month that we started to wire the house and the rough plumbing went in.
June came and I was up in the attic putting in the new floor. This project along with some other
miscellaneous jobs kept me busy throughout the month.
As July arrived the rain we had experienced all spring was finally gone and I was able to start working
on the outside of the house. During July the plumber got the water running for us just in time for our
Lobster Bake on August 5th. It was great to actually do something up there other than work!
The siding has kept me busy up until this point and should continue to keep me busy until the first hint
of winter.
It has been a busy and sometimes tiring first year but fun and exciting just the same. If asked, yes I
would do it all again only this time I would want to have sold our house and had more money, but hey
who wouldn't want more money? If you have been following this process all along this year or even if
you have just started, thank you for allowing me to share this experience with you and make sure you
get on our mailing list for the open house when it is done.
Whenever that may be :)
September 27, 2006 Day 380
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As another month comes to a close I am forced to plan on the ill comforts of winter. This means no
more outside painting so I need to try and get as much done as possible. I talked with a guy about
painting the dormers for me and he seems to think that he should be able to get this done prior to
mid October, let us hope so.
I spent my last three vacation days along with my two days off last week to work on the front of
the house. While I am pleased with the outcome I wish I could have accomplished more. During
those five days I was able to get two coats of paint on the siding on the back of main house above
the roof line. I also replaced the dentil molding on the top corner which did not pass my inspection
on the first try. I also was able to tear off all the sidng on the front of the house and tyvec it. I
removed the ceiling on the farmer's porch and replaced it with Pattie's help. I removed the old
decking on the porch and replaced that with new cedar decking this too with Pattie's help and I built
four columns for the front porch and finished trim work on three of them as well as one of the
front corners of the house.
All in all, not a bad amount of work for five days, but as always never enough. The next few weeks
will be very important in how close I can come to finishing the front of the house before it is too
late to paint it.
Below is a hidden message see if you can find it.
WE GOT AN OFFER ON OUR BOOTHBAY HOUSE YESTERDAY !!!