In and out

On Saturday (May 1) my mother, Peggy, and step-father, Scott, came up to Kentucky to help out on our house. The last time they visited (and worked) was in November when we were putting board up on the outside of the downstairs. Since then, we've framed and clad the upstairs and put on the whole roof.

The main aim we had for Saturday was to install our front door. It's a big, heavy French door set, and having extra people to heft it around was a definite bonus. It rained Friday night, so everything was a little soggy, but it didn't rain all morning on Saturday...until three of us were standing outside the front door putting it into place, that is! With only one small injury (Ma got a blood blister when the skin of her waist got pinched between the door and the front steps) and a small mess of Liquid Nails smeared everywhere, we got the door installed, plumb and level.

Aunt Bev and Uncle Steve brought lunch out to us, which gave us strength to do one more little chore. Our woodburning stove was being stored in the barn, and we brought it down to the house, so we can start siting it in place. When we come to install metal siding, we need to also install the special collar that takes the chimney outside the house. The stove only weighs about 400 lbs. so it was a piece of cake. It was a relatively short workday, but it was work we definitely needed two extra people to complete. Then, of course, we had to get cleaned up so we could drink mint juleps and watch the Kentucky Derby!