The Webmeister

Two plus years have rolled by since buying this 10 acre lot in High Meadows. One of the stipulations at closing was to have an access road put in to the property. I was really concerned as I have ridded myself of the Jeep from Hell and the new Edge does not have 4 wheel drive. Amazingly enough, a road miraculously appeared about a week ago. It's not much, but gets the job done! Gratuitous pictures of my new chariot included...

It's early October and you can already tell Fall is fast approaching by the cool (under 80) days and even cooler (in the 50's) nights. Some friends of mine had asked "what is the view from your cabin like?", so I decided last weekend to take some new pictures from the deck/porch and around the grounds.

 

The north side of the cabin has changed dramatically since last year after cutting out a lot of trees and putting in the other half of the circle drive. Stephan and I spend the better part of a month installing lattice below the porch, and all that remains is the gate under the deck to access the propane tank. The current project is now to stain everything. Dad got a good start on the lattice, and it's made a lot of difference.

 

So there you go... another album with views from almost every direction so you can see the surroundings. Enjoy!

Mom and Dad put up a thistle feeder a couple of months ago. Since they went back to Florida, I have been refilling the thing, but never saw what had such a voracious appetite. Yesterday, I was out on the deck enjoying another perfect day in the mountains when I happened to spy the critter out of the corner of my eye. I ran inside and grabbed my camera to snag a few pictures.

After a year and a half of leaking doors on the window wall had taken its toll on the hardwood floor, it is finally being replaced. The flooring guy and his helper were out yesterday (yes, on Memorial Day) to tear up all of the old flooring. That means Stephan and I had the dubious task of removing all of the furniture from the Great Room and Dining Room. They managed to get just about all of the old floor torn up, but needed to get more blades for the saw to complete the work. The plan was to pick up the new flooring material this morning and have everything finished today. Luckily, when the flooring and felt was removed we were able to see that the subfloor was still intact (albeit a huge water stain was present). The stain reached into the room about the same distance as the 12' crack in the drywall ceiling in the Home Theater below. Once the flooring is replaced, the drywall crew is supposed to come out and repair that along with the remaining items on the punch list. It will be nice to finally get this saga behind us.

Came up on 5/6 and discovered our neighbors had been doing a little Spring landscaping! The first several pictures in this album are of the 4 purple Rhododendrons they planted on the edge of their lawn between our lots. Since Mom just LOVES Rhododendrons, I decided to buy her a couple for Mother's Day. I picked up a purple one (most common on the Blue Ridge Parkway about a half-mile away), and a beautiful red variety called Lord Robert's. Stephan and I picked a couple of spots off the front porch with indirect sun and shade, and planted them. We haven't had any rain for quite a while, so we were quite happy this last weekend to find the plants thriving in their new habitat.

I have been taking pictures, but haven't had the time to download and post them.

 

Here are a bunch from the month of May. As you can see, we've been busy with your usual Spring-time activities:

I have some pictures of the oak saplings I uncovered while cleaning out the north side of the cabin. Most survived the winter and each week brings more leaves. There was also a large maple on the north side obscured by pines, locust, and all manner of undergrowth. When I cleard this area last year for the second half of the circle drive, I came across this one.

 

I also have pictures of the smaller maple on the south side of the cabin. This one had the top snapped off a couple summers ago, and we weren't sure if it was going to make it or not. Lots of new growth this year. The wild cherry trees are starting to fill in as well. It's amazing what happens when they get some sunlight!

Finally! A beautiful weekend. Time to break out the lawn mower and weed whacker. The grass has turned green again and was in dire need of a haircut.  Still working on getting rid of the stump that currently occupies what will eventually be the firepit.  We're also trimming the bare limbs off the lower part of the pines. We're also cleaning up the branches that cover the ground outside of the lawn. There is a lot of work to do, but we're attacking it a little bit at a time.