Dormers and Happy Trails to You

We are keeping it moving over at Hearthstone these days.  Labor Day weekend is a time to work and play.  We have been doing our share of both around here!  When I finally showed up on Saturday, Matt and Roger were on the top floor of the left side of the building working on taking down the dormer.  This dormer has been hanging down and putting a ridiculous amount of pressure on the stone walls.  Again, our goal is to take that pressure off in order to preserve as many of the stone walls as possible.  Rocky was at the wheel of the Pettibone and at one point expertly lowered the guys onto the actual 3rd floor (with a space of 1 inch on each side)!  This way the guys are safe and not in danger of falling through.  The process was very tricky in that they had to strategically pull piece by piece out in a balanced approach in order to not have the stone crumble.  Once the debris is down, we can start sorting through the different pieces of wood and continue to date the various parts of the structure.  They got the front dormer down today!  This is so exciting!  The floor is littered with papers, clothes, and junk abandoned by previous renters.  Again, our goal is to get the entire site cleaned up to the point that only the stone walls are standing so that we can rebuild it from the inside.  Great work, Matt, Rocky, and Roger!!!!!

Matt and Roger are up on the dormer pulling up the boards.

You can see how they successfully got the dormer down.

Starting on the back side of the dormer.

Obviously, I was hugely contributing to this whole process by sitting on a chair in the yard and taking pictures :)

This is where Rocky lowered them into the 3rd floor room to work on the floors.

Pete was riding the Butler's quad--they were so generous to lend it to him to play :)

Dad, Dianne, Kara, Roger, and I went over again in the evening to take a walk through the woods and forest and look at the mill from the water tower.  I am getting better and better at navigating these trails.  It's so quiet in the forest!  Originally, early on in our hiking adventure, Kara was laughing at me because I was using a large stick to swipe the air as I was the trail leader.  Little did she know that this maneuver is very important in clearing spider webs out of the path.  A little later, as Kara was in the lead, don't you know that she had a large stick and continued to the swiping action?  Mmmm hmmm...there's a reason for everything!  We spent the whole hike laughing at our happy trails adventure!

Dad, Dianne, me and Roger (check out the stick i'm holding!)

Educating my family on how to identify poison ivy vines in the forest.  If it is thick and hairy and crawls up the tree with 3 green leaves sprouting off of it, it IS poison ivy!  Very serious business!

Kara is so impressed with my new "nature girl persona." :)

Daddy and I on the trail

Kara: "Okay, guys.  Really?  Ughh.  No more trail?  I am stopping here."

Brey:  "But Kara, it is just some tall grass!"

Kara:  "Ummm...still I'm giving up my trail leader status!  Oh Boy..!"

Good job, Roger!

Kara and I with our "web-clearing stick."

Appreciating the gorgeous renovation work at the mill.  

These guys are doing a great job!