Mystery of the hunter solved!

So, DH had a call on Friday...it was from the "kid" (not sure how old he is) that had asked (back in October?) permission to bow hunt deer in the ravine on our property. At the time DH had said it was fine. This time he was calling to see if we might have his hunting blind. I don't know why he set it up down by our pond back in November, as it wasn't anywhere near the ravine and I don't think a blind is particularly good for bow hunting anyway, but at least now we know who it belongs to. He hasn't come by to pick it up yet, but plans to. DD and I should have left it in the pond and let him fish it out himself!

So, DH's latest project has been on-going for a while now. He is installing computer monitors and electronic photo frames on the wall in the great room. Here are the first 3 boxes to go in the wall...

He added 2 more openings for the smaller frames...
Here, the 3 monitors are up...
All of the monitors and frames are up on the wall...one of the small frames actually has a photo showing on it! Progress!
All 6 monitors/frames were up and working on Superbowl Sunday...
Speaking of the Superbowl, I had to make a quilt to hang in the entryway by the front door...
And here is a photo of our projector screen when Santonio Holmes caught the football near the end of the game to put the Steelers ahead again!
And the look of disbelief on the face of the Cardinal when Holmes made the touchdown... :-D
And the final score - Go Steelers!!!!

This is the box that arrived on my doorstep yesterday - could it be my birthday present??? I want to play with it (but I have to wait until the 12th)! :-(
Here is Tortellini - out for a walk in the kitchen...
And here is Tortellini trying to bite into a grape tomato. It kept rolling away from him.

After he gave up, I held onto the tomato so he could bite into it. He gobbled it all up after that!

It's looking good...

The electrician and a couple of carpenters were at the house today putting in lights and doorknobs. The cleaning crew was also there making everything look nice. It certainly makes a huge difference to get all the plaster dust off of everything, especially the wood on the stairs and the floors. The wood floors had been given another coat of sealer and they are looking gorgeous. I believe they are doing the final coat on Tuesday or Wednesday.

We came up to the house through the field today so that we could check out what the septic guys have been up to. From the patio side of the house, we could see that the support columns are finished. DH was surprised to see that they were square, as the plans had called for round ones. I like these much better...they still need to be painted. The patio columns match the columns on the front porch (which are almost done).

The bricklayers had finished up the brick over the concrete pad and up to the step near the mudroom door. I'm not sure why they didn't have the brick in there before the pad was poured.
I was also very happy to see the bathroom fixtures installed! And they even work now - the water was connected to both. And judging from the partial roll of toilet paper sitting there, the ones in the powder room have also been broken in. :-D
My fear that the refrigerator was still in the garage because it didn't fit in the space turned out to be unfounded (phew!). It was in place and running, as were all the other appliances in the kitchen...
The fireplace hearth is finished - the triangular pieces were not in place the last time we were out there...
I had taken lightbulbs out to the house today so I could see what the kitchen pendant lights look like when they are lit up, but we found when we got there that someone had put bulbs in them yesterday after I left. I like these better now that they are lit up...
I still like the blue ones too!
DD's window seat looks really nice now that it is clean and shiny! I bought fabric for the back of her window seat pad yesterday so now I can finish making the pad (and she can cover up all that gorgeous, shiny wood with her seat cushion)!

This is the leech field for the septic system...
It looks like they had to cut down about 4 small trees to get the septic system installed...
The septic tanks are now in the ground and connected to the plumbing in the house...
Here is one of the outdoor sconces...

Items completed as of today are marked in green...

septic tank - almost done - probably 1 more day of work
gas lines - still need to be connected by the gas company
furnace
A/C
painting
kitchen - granite, finish work, vent fan, pulls, granite backsplash, appliances
plumbing
electrical - lights/fans, valance lights (probably going in Wednesday or Thursday)
gutters
brick/stone/pillars
driveway - concrete, gravel
grading - rough, topsoil
sewing studio - knobs/pulls, upper crown moulding on cabinets
master bath - grout, finish shower, cabinets, glass doors, baseboard stone, granite
stained woodwork on great room walls
closet shelves/rods
pantry shelves
stain front door
paint garage doors, install gaskets
grab bars on guest tub
shower curtain rods in 2 bathrooms
stairs
fix vanity granite backsplash in kids' bathroom, recess medicine cabinet?
top for windowseat
doors on bookcase shelves in great room
doorknobs
carpet (going in on Monday)
fireplace granite surround

Countdown to move day: 10 days and counting!

The ant hill came alive!

What a flurry of activity at the house today! I stopped by for a quick peek because I was in the area. There were about 10 trucks there and at least 15 guys working on all sorts of things.

I didn't get any photos, but the front porch was being finished, the kitchen details were coming along, the electrician was there to wire the rest of the house, the septic guys were digging more trenches, the plumber was installing the fixtures in the powder room, there was a guy in the master bathroom caulking the trim around the window, and there were a few other guys around that I didn't have time to figure out what they were doing.

The great room floor had been cleaned up and there was blue tape up across the doors to keep people out. There are 2 more coats of finish that need to be applied to the hardwood.

I'm struggling with what tiles to use on the backsplash in the beverage area in the kitchen. There will be a 2" backsplash of the granite along the counter and I'm leaning toward glass tiles of some kind to go above the granite to under the cabinets. I'd love to add some more color to the kitchen in the backsplash. Any thoughts?

Countdown to move day: 11 days and counting!

The septic man cometh!!

Hallelujah! The septic system is going in! We were excited to see the septic man's equipment at the house tonight.
He has been busy digging trenches and holes for the tanks.
The front door has been stained and sealed and the columns have been started. The column bases will have stone on them.
The refrigerator was in the garage (I'm hoping that isn't a sign of it not fitting), but all the other appliances were in place in the kitchen.

The beverage area is almost finished. The glass is in the doors and the ice maker, beverage refrigerator and oven are in place. The faucet has also been installed. I'm not sure why the faucets went in before the granite backsplash - it seems like it will be trickier to install the granite with the faucets in place. The cabinet pulls have also been added.
Here is the main oven, installed under the cooktop...
And the dishwasher is in place...
The main faucet is in...
And it is VERY close to the window trim...we are going to wait until the granite backsplash is installed and then maybe we'll have the window trim cut back a little bit.

The woodwork in the great room has been sealed. It looks much better without all the white dust all over it.
The master bathroom tiler worked today and finished the floor in the shower, the seat in the shower, and the stone baseboard. He will be back tomorrow to grout everything. This is the stone baseboard...
So, thank you to those who voted on the newell post topper. We decided to go with the square topper.
The fireplace mantel has been stained to match the cherry cabinets in the kitchen.

Items completed as of today are marked in green...(I added a couple of items that I had forgotten about.)

septic tank
gas lines - still need to be connected
furnace
A/C
painting
kitchen - granite, finish work, vent fan, pulls, granite backsplash, appliances
plumbing
electrical - lights/fans, valance lights
gutters
brick/stone/pillars
driveway - concrete, gravel
grading - rough, topsoil
sewing studio - knobs/pulls, upper crown moulding on cabinets
master bath - grout, finish shower, cabinets, glass doors, baseboard stone, granite
stained woodwork on great room walls
closet shelves/rods
pantry shelves
stain front door
paint garage doors, install gaskets
grab bars on guest tub
shower curtain rods in 2 bathrooms
stairs
fix vanity granite backsplash in kids' bathroom, recess medicine cabinet?
top for windowseat
doors on bookcase shelves in great room
doorknobs
carpet
fireplace granite surround

So, it turns out that the kitchen granite backsplash has not been templated. The granite fabricators will be there tomorrow to template for them. The carpet is going in on Monday, the master bathroom shower doors will be installed on Tuesday, and the granite in the master bathroom and (hopefully) the kitchen granite backsplash will be installed on Thursday.

Countdown to move day: 12 days and counting!