Day 1 - June 27

Rewind three weeks ....

The first two lovely pictures show the blending of old house and new house :) The second story (with the green asphalt siding, which was under the white aluminum siding) and the floor below it were originally a barn. The black roofed one story additions are our bedroom and the kitchen, both added on by previous owners. the front addition we added on last summer/fall. Some of our neighbors didn't know our long term plan and thought we were finished ... can you imagine what they say about us?


The kids and I headed out around six on a Monday morning to get out of the way of the impending demolition. We headed up to the lake in Western MD, where Mathis told Bard later that week, "there's just so much to do here, that I don't have time to miss you!" Bard had taken the week off from work.

Daring Demo Man deconstructing the second story roof. Temps were in the upper 90's-low 100's. Picture taken by Bard's right hand man, the ever so helpful neighbor boy.




Now that the roof is gone, leaving the house exposed, what better to cool off a scorching day than an hour long thunderstorm, with high winds? Enter "largest tarp know to man," (purchased just for an emergency such as this) and ever so helpful brother-in-law, Rich.

What you don't see between these two pictures is the process of putting on the tarp, which was a herculean task. The trusses you see in the picture above had already been removed before the rain started, which caused the tarp to sag in the middle, creating a (big) bowl full of water. While trying to dump out the water, much of it ended up running down the inside walls of the house. Bard and Rich struggled with the tarp during the entire storm, trying to achieve what you see in the picture below. After bailing out all the water, they were able to secure it in time for the beautiful weather you see below.