Although autumn has arrived and the temperature has dropped, we are still holding strong with our attention to the house. The GECK project has been completed and now awaits springtime for use. It turned out really well – check out the projects page for more information. We also managed to get our hands on a steamer for removing wallpaper and have proceeded to redo the main guest bedroom downstairs. Removing the wallpaper, sanding the chipping paint beneath that and repainting should be completed by tomorrow evening at the latest; just in time for our friends Mark and Leslie to arrive for Friday night and their baby shower! Congratulations guys!

The fall apple harvest went well and we (well, Kelley) canned a ton of applesauce. We are looking forward to next year after we trim the trees this February as the fruit will be larger. We have also shut down the sprinkler system for the winter – it will professionally blown-out early next week.

Another ongoing “unofficial” project is the updating of the light fixtures. Since this house was built in the 70′s, there is a lot of fluorescent lighting and dated fixtures throughout. We can’t stand to even use some of the fluorescent lighting and therefore haven’t even been using it. Kelley recently took a trip to IKEA in Salt Lake City and got a great set of track lighting to replace the Fluorescent fixture in the kitchen and it has made a huge difference – it looks great and gives way better light.

Finally, we have several winter plans lined up. Sometime in February or March we will be putting in hardwood floors throughout the upstairs (hall, stairs, living room and kitchen). This will probably be a light bamboo which is fairly durable and comes from a renewable resource – unlike many of the exotic hardwoods people use that destroy tropical forests and are extremely endangered. We also need to apply a new coat of paint to the upstairs hall, living room and kitchen (including the kitchen ceiling). Wish us luck!

Well, this weekend we have our first “gathering” of many people we know, commonly called a party. It went super well, with around 30 people milling about enjoying our new home. Kelley was super pleased as we used all of our spaces well. With that behind us, I spent most of the day on Sunday working on the GECK project and made substantial progress. I am planning on chipping away at that after work each day this week, so it looks like that may be a quicker deal that I had originally anticipated.

Well, we have a few updates. First, we finished the island project which is great. We have some pretty gnarly before and after pictures located on the projects page for your amusement. We also got around to updating a little bit of the upstairs bathroom. This invloved fresh paint, updated towel hangers, toilet paper holder, and overhead light fixture. We still want to update the other light fixture, but that will come in time. We also finally got the water line attached and working for the fridge. Gotta love automatic ice makers! Oh, and we got some awesome new furnature for the upstairs living room – it looks great! More to come, so stay tuned!

We just wanted to give you aquick update on some Tunis work we have been doing. The first is of Kelley’s Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is what we call the second bedroom upstairs. Kelley is using this room as a little indoor retreat where she can meditate, do some Yoga and ponder those difficult questions in life. In order to get it ready for any spiritual dabblings, we needed remove a hideous wallpaper border and paint it a soothing white (Natural White). After that work was complete it looks great! Click on this thumbnail to view a larger version.

The second big news is that of our work on the “Island” project. We have done remarkable work getting the garden portion under control – check out the projects page to view some before and after pictures.

Another little job I have been attacking is that of getting the garage organized. There was a rickety old work bench that was too deep to reach anything in the back, so I have completely ripped it out, shortened it by about a foot and am in the process of fixing a lot of the shelving more securely fastened. This should increase the garage’s userfriendliness exponetially. I’ll get a phot of it when all is complete.

Finally, we have a serious apple problem, and that is that we have Way Too Many! Our orchard has kicked it into its top gear and the apples are getting larger. They are also changing colors; a typical red. We do not know what type of apples these are, but here is a photo. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

After a two week holiday in Greece, we return to 2061 Tunis relaxed and energized. We got right to work this weekend and focused mainly on a new project I will call “The Island” (nothing to do with the movie). The Island is what I am calling the garden area adjacent to the flagstone patio in the back yard. Since this garden had not been tended to for perhaps years, there was a lot of work to be done. Kelley had already begun the intense deweeding of this area when we first moved in which allowed us to see the extent to which the flagstone covered (the patio was docked almost 5 feet in some areas by overgrowth). This weekend we continued to work here by removing several rouge cottenwood trees (pain in the butt) and by trimming some super low limbs from the the big cottonwood and the aspen. There is still a ton of work to be done, including the removal and resetting of the entire flagstone patio which sufferes from severe upheaval in certain areas. Check out the Projects page for more information.

I also climbed up onto the roof and cleaned out the gutters, another chore that had been neglected for several years judging by the baby cottonwoods sprouting in the rich gutter muck.

This weekend we really got a lot done. Kelley’s mother came up from Denver to help us paint and garden. With her help we got the kitchen painted and finished up the master bedroom. We also got the house incredibly set up! The kitchen, master bedroom, downstairs guest room, office, and upstairs living room are pretty much all set. They were also able to get a ton of gardening completed. Gardening work included the “island” located in the backyard by the flagstone patio, and the front yard garden surrounding the walkway. These gardens were totally overgrown, and while there is still quite a bit of work to be done there, much progress was made.

While all of that was taking place I was completing “Operation Boo! Control” – you can check on the “Projects” page for more information about that.

The long awaited closing date has come and gone. At 8:00am (Mountain Standard Time) on Friday, June 15th, Kelley and I signed about a billion sheets of paper and were awarded the keys to our first house! We took the entire day off and raced over to enjoy a few quiet moments before the big move began.

Shortly after our breather, we began unpacking, reloading, and unpacking… I began “Operation Boo! Control” (Boo! is our dog, he is a Great Pyrenees – so filling in the holes in the fence perimeter were essential) to dig holes on the north side of the garage by the west facing garage door. Of course this took way longer than I thought it would, and by early afternoon, the holes were dug, posts were cut, and set in cement to harden for the next day or so. While I was busy digging, Kelley was unpacking the kitchen, painting the master bedroom, and dealing with the refrigerator delivery guys (yeah – new fridge! Thanks Mom Opiela!). We took a quick Subway break and I returned to my digging, this time the site was the west side where the chain link bordering the bike path was peeled back so the garden shed could be placed. I needed to dig a single hole, place a post that already had concrete on it (thanks Paul and Jillian!), re-attach the chain link, and finally re-hinge the gate so we still have access to the trail. This was accomplished in an hour or so and I did as good a job as possible, being that the chain link had been crushed in some parts and none of the city chain link posts they put in 30 years ago were straight anymore. Oh well, it works well enough. At this point we were both exhausted beyond belief.

We woke up on Saturday, left our house on route to Redfeather Lakes for a grand wedding celebration for our great friends Alex and Anya! It was an amazing event, in a beautiful location. Congratulations Guys!

We returned on Sunday morning to embark on what would be one of the quickest and easiest moves in recorded history. Kelley and I had sent out a moving SOS to a bunch of friends and despite 200 degree Fahrenheit temperatures a ton of people showed up! We were in and out in around 2 hours total! Thanks to all who lent us their muscles and sweat on that fateful Sunday – Paul, Jillian, Renee, Evan, Pamela, Jeff, Chuck, Ward, and Jim – you are the best! We ended the day with a keg of 90 Shilling, pizza, and good company on our back deck.

Monday brought work back to us. We are on a 7am to 4pm schedule which is nice since we have a lot of time after to get back to the house and work. Unfortunately, Monday is also the day that Boo! and I head down to Berthoud for agility class – which is a blast, but ate into most of my useable “house time.” Kelley, however, stayed behind and did an awesome job getting the kitchen, bathrooms, and a couple of the guest rooms unpacked. Bed time once again.

After work on Tuesday, I raced back to the house at 4-ish and Kelley went back to the rental to do a little cleaning. I was still working on “Operation Boo! Control” and got the north side fence completed, hung the gate and checked that off the list. I then headed over to the south-east corner of the back yard by the play area where I dug a few holes, cut some posts and set them in cement for the night. I retreated indoors at this point and Kelley and I worked for a couple more hours unpacking the office, more of the bedrooms, and upstairs living room! It is surely coming along!

So, this is what we have been up to as of late. We have some pictures of our work so far, and will be posting shortly, since we just located the cable for the camera. Expect those soon!