In case you had been thinking that the Olin vacation home has been swallowed up by the forest as a reason for no recent posting, this should quell any such thoughts. Christopher, our appointed blogger, is now in Guyana, South America. So the duty finally fell to "Mountain Man" to try to match his creative postings.
Dorothea and Jon did go up in November, 2008 to finish work required for the final inspection, which led to a first mortgage loan at a better rate. We were successful, but had few pictures because our camera was not working properly.
The first three pictures are from November, finishing the ceiling and tiling the bathtub.
In April, Jon and Dorothea returned to Olinthewoods to accomplish some more. We found a tree had fallen down, fortunately missing everything but the horseshoe pit. We also found our chimney on the ground, sheered off by heavy snow sliding off the metal roof. There was one casualty under the chimney. Whether it is good or bad luck we don't know. We clicked our heals a few times to find out!
The upper kitchen cabinets arrived and were installed during this trip. The only cabinet left now is the island. We also finished the bath tub, which we were able to enjoy for the first time.
Jon's new extension ladder enabled him to trim lower branches of trees to give us a clearer view of the river. The ladder will enable us to finish painting the outside of the house this summer.
We even had some nice sunny, albeit cool days to do some landscaping. We transplanted ferns, Oregon grape, and salal to a new planter around dogwood trees. Our plan is to landscape with natural forest plants so as to be maintenance free.
We have ordered flooring which will be stored in the living room for a few months to aclimatize before we install it.
Our next trip to the house is planned for the middle of June. Stop by if you are in the neighborhood.
