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I arrived late Friday afternoon (with beer) to find Irvin, Power & Harley just finishing putting up the frame for the stone arch. It's magnificent!

It's beer-thirty... and still hard at work.

And it's up, the arch in the sun. Ok, so it's just the frame and it was a little cloudy that day, still think it looks great.

Arch Inspection
11.Jun.06

The Swan Family along with Katie Day and their friend Seth came up for the "arch inspection" and to check out the wedding facilities. With that said, I probably should give a bit of a background about the Swans. They are our closest friends and I was their maid of honor about 20 years ago (but who's counting). When their daughters, Sarah and Cynthia were small they told Harley and I that they were going to give us with "surprise wedding". So now that makes them our wedding coordinators and Kate my maid of honor.

The first pool party?

Arch Continues
21.Jun.06

The stone is starting to make its way up around the arch. There was a bit of slow down because of rain... glorious for the gardens but not for building.

Roof Materials Arrive
22.Jun.06

The roofing materials are here and, yes, the roof is going to be red. It is not a bright red but deeper shade called "autumn red". I really wanted a terra-cotta color but this pre-painted Galvalume only comes in limited colors. The great thing about this roofing is that the paint is baked on and guaranteed for 30 years. That means Harley won't have to be up on the roof painting until he is 70.

Here's Harley's first column unveiled. They seem fairly easy to do, you just bolt the forms together, toss some cement in, wait a day, pull them apart and presto! Sounds easy to me but Harley may have a different take on it. I won't go into the story about the one that had a little blow out and had to be done over.

Because of our view of Cruz Bay, Harley and I thought it would be a good place to watch the fireworks and invited friends up to join us. The fireworks were a bit far away and just OK, but I think a good time was had by all. Thanks to everyone for coming! As our home slowly progresses it sure is great to have good friends to share it with.

Columns, Columns and more Columns
07.Jul.06

The columns are in, the stone arch is up and that folks, concludes my trip to Athens.

A Little Landscaping
09.Jul.06

Ok, I had to do it and I know "they" say it's a no-no. I started putting in plants during construction. But believe me I am bring very careful and only going into areas I know a track hoe can't get to. I put in some palms, a bearded ficus, a bougainvillea, some ground cover with split-leaf philodendron. My brother, Steve, sent me the lovely pink flamingos as a joke but I actually starting to like them. On the right is what will some day be a magnificent Flamboyant tree.

Veranda Arches
14.Jul.06

The columns on the veranda are done and the forms for the arches are going on. Once these are done, the roof goes on!

More Veranda Arches
20.Jul.06

All the forms for the veranda arches are just about in place, along with the second arch out on the veranda.

The Roof!
28.Jul.06

As my friend, Craiger would say.... looking gooood!

Continue to ROOF 2006...

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