Home Makeover Two

Our home makeover is continuing to make slow and steady progress. Here are some progress pictures for one of our egress windows we installed.

This is what a hunk of concrete looks like laying on the ground after it has been cut out and before we figure out how to move it. If you have been to our house before, you know this is under our deck and that made it harder to move.This picture is kind of dark, however it shows Sarah posing with the gaping hole in the wall before we installed the window.

This picture here shows everything nice and pretty as if the window was professionally installed. We like the change the window has made a lot.
This picture here shows myself this morning, May 31, and the progress we have made on the inside thus far. I must give credit to our friend Scott who helps us out in so many ways. He deserves a lot of credit because without him we wouldn't be nearly as far along. We have more pictures of the other egress window and will post those soon.

Orange City Tulip Festival Road Race

Over the weekend Sarah and I were able to be in Orange City for the Tulip Festival. On Saturday morning my father-in-law, Sarah's dad, Ralph Pontier came in 2nd in his age group for the 5K race at a time of 23.48. From what he said, he ran faster than several of his rivals who typically beat him. He also employed a new strategy that shaved some time off. In this picture he is the tall guy with the white head band. Below is a link to see all results. WAY TO GO DAD!http://results.allsportcentral.com/results/results.cfm?EventID=15941

Ch-ch-ch-Chia

There is nothing quite like a Chia Pet to make you smile. My first grade class has been watching our Chia Pet grow for the last 3 weeks. During our plant unit they have also attempted to grow pumpkin plants which haven't grown with quite as much success. This Chia Pet is courtesy of my mother who thought it would be a great "mystery" gift at Christmas. I'm glad I found a great use for it!

14 days and counting until summer break!!

Home Makeover

Our weekend was eventful. Our friend Scott brought over his trencher/backhoe to help with digging a hole to make way for an egress window. That little bitty single pane window will be replaced with a double hung verticle window soon to be put in. As you can see I did this in the morning. The man I hired was to come in the afternoon and cut out four windows in the basement so we could replace all of them with more efficient ones.

He did come around 3:00 p.m. and started cutting. We got three out of four done before his saw broke. As you can see from this picture taken on Mon. it is attached to the side of our house until he returns with the hydraulic motor which broke a seal. The blade measures 24" across and is ran hydraulicly from a 2.3 liter engine. It has diamond tipped blades and mechanically drives up the wall repeatedly to make the 8" cut through the wall. It has a water hose attached when running to keep the dust down.

As expected the water comes flying into the house on the third cut. I am shown doing my best to divert the water down and Chelsie, Scott's girlfriend is cleaning it up.