Driveway

Here is the previous post with pics from the driveway before it was poured.

http://tiff-countrylivin.blogspot.com/2009/10/still-under-construction.html

This is as you are coming up the driveway.

This is the opposite view.

And, I always like to add a personal touch to any concrete work done on the house. The basement walls have this on top somewhere (even though the rest of the house sits on top of it).

Next is to pour the driveway all the way to the creek. This will involve about a week of not driving on the concrete. You have to let it cure for at least a week, or it will crack. It should be interesting. :)

Prevent the Spread of Germs!

My sister emailed this to me, and I sent it to my entire school and friends at other schools. I had several colleagues tell me they printed it out, so I thought I would share this with you, too.
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Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital ,Bombay Hospital , Saifee Hospital , Tata Memorial etc..Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).The following message given by him makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat.

In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (except to eat or bathe).

3. * Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, * clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at using a Neti pot to clean nasal cavities, but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5.. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. * Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Quite Fortunate

Often I take for granted the beautiful area surrounding me.

Rigth now the leaves are rapidly changing to beautiful yellows, oranges, and reds. However, this evening has been masked by a mysterious fog.

This is an unzoomed view from my front door. The edge of the pasture is may 50-60 yards(?) away, and by this point I almost could not see it! I shall try to get a picture comparison. We have a lot of Poplar trees, and most of them have lost their leaves! Matthew says they are the first, anyway.

I take for granted the fact that I get to live in a beautiful area. My friend, Andy, reminded me that he and his family will have to travel to see such sites. I merely drive to work and see all the beautiful colors.

Meanwhile... I'm not sure I could handle a place that has snow already... BTW~ Hey, Cuz! How much snow do you have in Montana???

Mustache...

Please choose your favorite mustache. We have Spirit Week next week, and Monday is hat AND mustache day. I have a dorky hat (the bat hat is for character day), but I need help deciding which mustache to wear.

The Bruiser

The Square
The Hero
The Hollywood

The Grandpa

The Sheriff

The Weasel
YOU DECIDE!!

That, my friends, is...

the Moultrie EZ Feeder.

Matthew's dad bought us a feeder to help keep the turkies hanging around and maybe draw some deer into the yard. Don't worry, though, we only plan to take pictures when they show up! It is on a timer, which we have set for 6:00pm and 6:30am. It will throw seed out for 3 seconds. When the turkies start to hang around and eat all the feed, then we'll up the timer to 6 seconds so it throws more seed.

So far the turkies are still doing what they want. But I expect that they'll start to come around more regularly when there are no more acorns on the ground.

Still under construction...

Well folks... just what you've all been waiting for... final house pictures! Haha! So... it's still a work in progress, BUT I thought I would share some recent pics anyway. :)

This is the view as you walk in the door.

As you gaze to your right, you will see the dining area and into the kitchen.

Pan to your left and you will see the granite bar top. We are hoping to get another couple of bar stools. It's a great spot to eat breakfast because you can see the TV and watch the news.


This is the master bedroom. We use the armoire to hide the TV. On a side note: This is not our normal bedspread. This is a quilt that Matthew's nanny had made for us.


This is the "backside" of the kitchen. The top cabinets are really tall!

The view from this side of the kitchen puts you in the back hallway (you can see the corner of the tile that is the kitchen).

All the trim, Matthew and his buddies made from scratch. We had hemlock wood "drying" in the barn for a couple of years. The stair railing was simply purchased at Lowe's unfinished. We stained it to match everything else.

As you traverse to the end of the hall, you hang a right and enter the guest bedroom/office. Matthew bought a desk so he could work on estimates, look at plans, etc. I have yet to decorate this room.

Should you ever sleep over, we have a hide-a-bed. Mom and dad were the first to try it out, and they survived (I'm not 100% sure about their backs, however...)


Next, we have the guest bathroom. I am in need of making some curtains. Actually, no one would ever be able to see you unless they were in a tree or on a ladder.


Now we exit the guest area and travel back up the hallway. I need to hang some pictures...

At the other end of the hall, you can exit onto the back deck.

This is just a view of the stucco. Matthew and some guys finished the basement stucco a few weeks ago.



The most recent project is finishing up the driveway. We put up a retaining wall, which Matthew's brother stained kind of red. We didn't like that as much as we thought, so Matthew is working on putting stucco on the wall.


The driveway was regraded and Matthew's brother formed the turnaround.


We also had our sidewalk poured last week! I was very excited about that because, maybe now we won't track in so much dirt. Although Matthew blames Moldy... Matthew also did a nice job of landscaping out front. We are going to mulch all of it once it's closer to being finished.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of our work in progress. We are entering month three with the couple renting the old house.

Today's project was to seed, lime, & fertilize the places next to the new circular drive. We also spread about 4 bales of straw. I bought more seed and straw today.

It's still all coming together and looking great! I really like what they did with the driveway, and Matthew will be putting stucco on the porch columns soon. I'll try to remember to post pictures of that, too! Hope all is well with all of you out there!