Fall has Come to The Lodge!

As with most people, life has been busy for us. Somewhere in the one, two shuffle we called moving life got away from us. Well, maybe it was deadlines (at least for me, anyway). So, between a nasty cold and trying to catch up on my school work I haven't had time to post any updates. Some friends have been bugging me about it. So, even though I am still way behind (and running out of semester, I might add) I am posting another update. I hope you enjoy!

Let's see...ah, the girls' bathroom. Well, there's a story. I told you the new toilet had been installed but that the sink had issues. Little did we know! The original sink was on a wall and sometime in the past, someone moved it to the corner. However, he cut corners (hah!), and did not move the pipes. Instead, he decided to just add to the pipes and then hid them behind what looked like a cabinet. Inside the 'cabinet' was a leaky pipe. Dan knew almost from the get-go that the pipe was leaking and would need to be fixed, but what he didn't find out until he tore into the wall further was that the copper pipes inside were twisted and crimped. And, they were not secured. Before the evening was over, Dan had removed the false cabinet, the sink, the corner cabinet that the sink was in and a large portion of the wall. Unfortunately, he doesn't yet have all the parts needed to properly fix everything. That's a project for Monday, I think.

The shower in that bathroom is useable but not without problems. It has worked since before we moved in, but drains slowly. Dan has been working on it, and it has improved, but is still draining more slowly than it should. I should add that in spite of the issues in there, Jen had managed to get one coat of paint on the walls (prior to Dan tearing out everything). Once Dan began working in there, Jen halted the painting project. Can't blame her. Who knows what it will look like when it's actually put back together?

The girls' bathroom in it's current state.

We did manage to get the second coats of paint on the library wall and the diningroom walls. We placed the hutch (and filled it, as you can see), and the grandfather clock (sorry, no photo of that right now). We still need to have the Clock Doc out to tune it up and put it back together, but that will have to wait until nothing else is squeaking for that $200. Probably in January.

As you can see, our new-to-us gas stove is currently sitting in our diningroom (along with the shop vac and the vacuum cleaner, at the moment). That's because our kitchen is not yet equipped to take a gas stove. Maybe before Christmas. Thankfully, until then we are using the little stove from the first floor apartment. It was light enough for Dan and me to haul up the stairs.  :-)

I should add that the light in the diningroom (attached to the fan) does not work. It has electricity, but somewhere in the wiring things went wrong. The fan works, but not the lights. That's why the above photo is so dark. This house is *just a little* short on lighting. We're working on that. The walls in the diningroom are a light moss green.

 Our little stove. But it works!

This is in the library. Our diningroom is too small for our average sized table,

so we moved our dining area over here next to the windows.

We just decided last night to move this light over to the corner by the bookcases.
We love how it shows off the little paintings that came from Dan's parents and the evening it casts such a beautiful glow on that side of the room.

Also in the main kitchen, you might notice that we have more lower cabinets that we did before. That's because I tore out one of the cabinets from the sunset kitchen (the large middle one shown here) and hauled it over. We also moved one of the cabinets over from the other side of this kitchen (where the refrigerator is now) and filled up the gap - displacing a smaller cabinet in the process. But, we know that this arrangement is short term (like maybe 5 years) so no worries!

We haven't had a chance to do much in the master bedroom. The girls' needs have come first. We'll get there eventually, but the room was cleaned and the walls patched before we moved in.

The hole that was on the upper right has been patched.

Right outside our bedroom.

Our deck with Fall colors in the distance.

These trees are on our property down the hill.
The weeds need to go but I love the beautiful reds!

Storm clouds over the valley.
I was standing on our deck when I took the picture this afternoon.

I took this picture while standing in the library today.
Leaves from the dogwood tree are collecting on the little patio just outside.

The dogwood tree.

Standing outside looking in. The foliage is reflected on the library windows.

Next I went out front to capture the beauty of fall on our street.
The large tree/bush on the left is a camellia in full bloom.

Over the top of the house you can see the dogwood I showed earlier.

Farther up the hill you can see our parking area.

Some more color on our street - looking the other direction.
I was standing in front of our parking area when I took this shot.

This is taken from our little courtyard out front - inside the fence (the steps are just to the right of this picture). Anyway, I thought I'd show you the little splash of color here from a smaller Japanese Maple. The larger tree in the middle of the courtyard (behind where I'm standing) has not really turned colors, yet. Too close to the house, I'm thinking. It won't be long, though, I'm sure. I'll do my best to catch it at it's peak and post when it happens.  :-)

I think that's about it for now. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I can post again with more updates. Thanks for reading!

Ownership: Day 50