Day 154:

Day 154: Another week has come and gone and even though physically it doesn't seem that much as happened we were able to accomplish a few items on the home.

First, Cheryl met with the contractor and finalized the shop drawings for the cabinet; which were then ordered immediately due to the long lead time. Cheryl also this week finalized her selection of paint colors.

A look at the actual operations this week revealed that we were able to have our finish wood delivered on site and the temporary stairs have now been replaced with actual hickory wood stair treads and risers.

Hopefully, this next week we can have the doors and finish trim work completed and actually have a least a base coat of stucco?

ALASKA FISHING TRIP 2007

Monday, 23rd July 2007:
Departed this morning with our business group at 11:00 am for Anchorage Alaska. After a five hour flight and the The Italian Job movie we arrived in Anchorage at 3:30 pm. Anchorage is two hour s later than MST. A short bit to eat and then we moved down the Cook peninsula for some 21/2 to 3 hours and arrived in Sterling.

We purchased our fishing licenses in Sterling and observed a group filleting a 51 pound King Salmon. FISH ON, BRING IT ON!!

After purchasing our licenses, we traveled a few more miles to Soldotna, Alaska where we checked into our motels and bed down for the evening. Oh, yea, my team heads out at 3:00 am in the morning for halibut. Got to time the tide to catch the fish. Sleep tight.


Tuesday, 24 July, 2007:
The best laid plans .... last night, I received a phone call just about the time I was dozing off to inform us that the weather and namely the wind would not allow us to go out this morning for Halibut. Well at least we were able to sleep in for a few more hours before we began pacing trying to figure out what to do.

Dustin and I had breakfast and then traveled down the road a bit to Kenai. At 9:00 am we met up with the rest of our team and Gary took us on a two hour cruise (tour) trying to by time until we could see what the weather was going to do and whether we would be able to slip out into the bay this afternoon and fish for halibut. We visited a Russian church and community, overlooked the bay in several locations, visited an artist gallery, and visitor center before arriving at our final destination Homer, Alaska.

Ate lunch on the skip at Captain Patty's place and then headed back North towards Soldotna. Once we had determined that the wind was still to rough to go out into the bay we headed for the Kenai River and fished for Reds for the remainder of the evening.

In three hours of fishing, four of us had landed 10 fish and snagged a significant number of others.

Reds are hard to fish. You cast the lure into the water just a few feet in front of you and then let it float downstream and when you feel a strike you jerk your wrist and with some luck you have a red on. Hard sometime to distinguish a strike from just the lure dragging the bottom. A bit tricky but lots of fun and the were big fish.

Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Windy and cold this morning as we pushed off in our fishing boat with Captain Dave at the helm. Hooky charters was going to show us how to catch King Salmon on the famous Kenai River. What an amazing site as we entered the river shortly after 6:00 am and saw what must have appeared to be hundreds of fishing boat all there for the same reason, King Salmon.

It was a bit of a slow start this morning,. Our first casting out a boat next to us caught a 45 lb salmon that gave the fisherman and guide a run for their money. Now it's a unwritten guideline that when the boat next to you has a fish on the line the other surrounding boats must do all they can to not interfere with landing the fish. Well to every one's surprise when the fish was within just a few feet of the boat and we thought that our lines were okay, the King took off and ran through all of our lines and created a tackled mess. Out experienced captain and guide, quickly sliced our lines free and lost all of his kwick fishes and divers and the fish that caused all of the trouble well ended up in the other boat.

After a delay to restring our lines and untangle the gear that the other boat recovered we were back in business. Patiently, we waited and waited and waited for a fish strike. Every once in awhile we would see a boat near by reel in a King. Finally, mid morning amidst a bunch of fishing tales, Gary's line lite up and after some 15 minutes a 30 lbs King was flopping on the deck of our boat. All right now we were all excited.
Taking a gamble because it was a bit slow we moved to the mouth of the river some 5-6 miles downstream and tried our luck there. Just as it was time to reel our lines in and return to the dock, Kay's line was a alive and we landed a 15 lb King. That was all she wrote for the King fishing today.

After a short lunch and breather, we returned to the Kenai River and fished for Reds. By this time I was tried of the fish out smarting me and after an hour or less of fish I had my limit and continued to assist Dustin and Gary with their limits. Needless to say, I brought the fish home this evening.

Tomorrow, halibut or bust.

Thursday, 26 July 2007:
A beautiful morning way up North in Alaska. We slept in this morning until Wilford called at 6:00 am and informed us that they had upped the limits on Red's to 6 per person and that my team should go out this morning before fishing for halibut. After some discussions between Dustin and I we determined that there just wasn't enough time to gather the team, gear, and go fishing before we needed to head for the halibut fishing.

Thus, we gave up some fishing to do a couple of hours of sight seeing around Soldotna. Visited an amazing wood carving display of various creations that was really fun to see. Travelled up the Funny Farm Road for a ways before turning to gather some supplies and head for the halibut.

Our Halibut experienced began by meeting Captain Thad Stokes and his support team (his family). After filleting the catch of the day for the first group we then headed for Anchor Point to began our fishing excursion. After an one hour tour, the fishing began and we were into the fish immediately that is everything but halibut.

We must have hauled in at least 20 sharks or more between the four of us and sometimes even two at a time. Despite the unusual number of sharks and a few other unusual creatures from the deep sea, we did manage to capture 8 halibut in total ( our limits). The largest weighed in at 40 pounds.

Afterwards, we returned to our base homestead and enjoyed a meal of Salmon and halibut. It was a delicious feast and an amazing way to end the day.

Friday, 27 July, 2007:
A beautiful day in Alaska as the sun came out and the weather could be anymore perfect than it was today. We began the day by arriving at the lakeside to catch a bush plane to Big River. After an hour delay due to fog, we were loaded up and on our way. My first time in a bush plane and it was an amazing ride.

We arrived at Big River and fished for Silver near a beautiful cascading waterfall. While fishing we observed a black bear with two cubs come to the edge of the water and fish also. After an hour or so and having no luck with the Silvers we relocated to the grassy plains area only to find the same success.

Well when the Silvers are not biting its' time to go fishing for Reds and so we made our way to Wolverine Creek where we had the experience of a life time. While waiting our turn at the outlet of Wolverine Creek and as we fished, we were able to observe (at close hand, hmm, 20 feet at times)several bears who also came to enjoy the fishing and the water. First, two black bear were observed and then finally after an hour or so one brown bear and then a second brown bear arrived.

The first brown bear was a young bear and he jumped into the water right where we were fishing. Talk about being a bit nervous, our boat was anchored down, the motor turned off, and we are standing watching a brown bear jump into the water and swim back in forth some 25 feet away from us. Yes, I was a bit nervous when he would look at us and start to swim towards us, but then luckily a fish would distract him and he had other thoughts of food on his mind. This was an experience that I'll always remember.

Finished the day by flying back to Soldotna and having dinner as a group, packing the fish and loading the vehicle up to start out first thing in the morning.


Saturday, 28 July, 2007:
Up at 4:00am, gathered by 4:30 am and departed Soldotna for Anchorage. Arrived home this afternoon around 5:00 pm. The trip was a wonderful experience full of memorable events. Definitely, I need to plan for another experience in the Alaska frontier but this time with my son and son-in-laws; hmm, maybe I'll even invite my wife and daughters along now that would be the trip of a life time.

Day 147: Stucco (almost) and wood floors

This week the mason subcontractor arrived and erected all the scaffolding for placing stucco around the house. They also accomplished installation of the paper, pop out blocking, and chicken wire. It's already for stucco and that was on Wednesday. Hopefully, Monday we will see some the base gray stucco going on the walls.


Meanwhile, the wood flooring subcontractor arrived on Friday removed part of the scaffolding to gain entrance into the garage and began the wood floors and stair trend and risers.



Finally, it's really starting to look like a finish product. Okay, we still have to stain the floors but I can now start to see the finish product taking place.

Day 138: Drywall Completed

Day 138: The drywall contractor has installed, taped, plastered and textured the house and cleaned up his mess today and moved out. Every day it begins to look more and more like our dream home.

Next up, hang interior doors, install base boards, and door casings, and crown molding. Cheryl met with the tile sub today and he should be able to start soon also. Of course he will need to move the electrical light switch out of the shower. Another Oops!!

Day 131: Taylor our HERO

At Day 131 and counting, we have now installed drywall through out the house. Well except for where the drywall hangers ran out of drywall. Otherwise, by tomorrow, the house will be drywalled.


Monday, drywall was being hung and after anquishing all weekend about whether we should install insulation in the basement ceiling; we finally broke down and invested some cash into insulation and spent Monday evening installing insulation in the family room.

The hero of the day was our son, Taylor who came to the rescue on Monday. While mom and dad moved about awkwardly trying to stay out of the way, he expedited the process. Way to go Taylor, you're are hero of the week!

Tuesday, hang drywall in basement and begin to tape and mud main level. Wednesday, the fourth of July, the plasters continued to mud the main level and today the basement is taped. A few more sheets of drywall and one opening to install in the closet area and the drywall will be complete but texture.

It's now fun to just go walk through the house and say: Oh yea, this is what we are dreaming about!

Day 127: Progress Report

Just a quick update to what has happened in the last few days since our last report.
As you can see the exterior work has begun to progress now. In the last few days the masonry subcontractor has begun to prepare for the stucco and rock.

In addition, they have started to put the finishing touches on our trim. The house does stand out from the others in the area with the deep contrast trim. It will be a beautiful home when it is all done.

When it came to insulating the ceiling in the basement for sound barrier, well..., after requesting a price from the contractor and then having to pick myself up off the floor after choking down the bid, well we decided to just live with a little bit of unnecessary noise. Of course, we are now considering purchasing the insulation and installing before drywalling begins. That probably leaves us with tomorrow evening to accomplish. Time will tell.