Gettin' the dirt OFF!

Meet my newest friend- her name is Polly Powerwasher :) She's a beauty! Gene claims I spend way too much time playing with her.

 

I just can't help myself, she is so much fun to run. I can clean things up in record time. I can't imagine how much time this thing could have saved me over my lifetime.

Gene washed the south side of the house today. The pictures don't show it very well but the difference was like black and white.

And this my friend. . . . . is one fancy patching job performed by Gram Zomer.

And finally. . . . a construction update.
I worked on painting the garage window and door trim this week and picked out paint colors for the garage, Puppy Place room and entry. They are in the process of taping and mudding the interior.

 

The patio is coming along nicely. This picture was taken a few weeks ago. Dana and Gene are toasting the first fire.

 

Alex Hofman has been working on the patio walls this week.

There will be a sitting ledge on the top of this row of rock and the pillars will have lights on them. Alex will also put some rock landscaping around the patio. We'll plant some things in the spring. Too bad the patio wasn't done sooner so we could enjoy it before it got cold.

Just a little work left to be done on the exterior.

The hot tub and Aunt Stella Rosa are calling out to me . . . .

Mom Hoog

"Three Sisters"

Mom Hoog

Lovin' on Papa

Mom Hoog

Our Soldier

Pvt Hoogendoorn, Tyler

Here's a few pictures from the last couple days.

Tyler got a promotion at the Family Day ceremony. Gene had the honor of putting the new badge on his uniform.

 

We all had dinner together at Applebee's after the ceremony on Wednesday. Greg joined us from Florida! He surprised Ty.

 

 The graduation ceremony took place in an auditorium. The soldiers were all sitting in their places when they opened the doors for the families. They didn't move a muscle.

 

 Each soldier said their name and where they were from.

All 4 of my soldiers and veterans. We are so proud of them all!!

MOM Hoog

Patio

Our patio is about to be laid and the electrical work is installed in the garage.

 

We have a couple exciting days ahead of us here in Oklahoma. We got to talk to Ty on the phone last night, he filled us in on some things that will happen at the ceremony this morning- It will be exciting!! I really didn't get any sleep last night, my mama heart is excited, bleeding, excited, happy, sad, excited, proud. . . . . . .

Mom Hoog

Ahhh Cement!

They set the garage addition up for cement on Friday and poured it this morning.

 

It was a little tricky, the wind picked up and the dust, dead grass and leaves started flying around. On
top of that the cats were very confused about where they could walk since there is now a sidewalk to the whelping building. The cement layers had to fix it up a couple times when the cats walked on it.
The round holes in front of the Puppy Place room will be for the pillars that will go from the cement to the underside of the overhang thingie.
Saturday night was a beautiful evening! No wind, warmish, no bugs- perfect for a little bonfire.

 It was so cute, Gene sat down in the glider rocker and Houston ran to the house, opened the door himself and went to the storage closet and got the booster seat. Hauled it outside and made himself comfortable- Mr. Independent :)

Dana, ever busy doing online college classes, studied by firelight.
 We grilled up some meat and Dana tried out a new potato recipe from Pinterest. Trev, the master chef made homemade onion rings- they were a hit! We made a batch of gluten free onion rings. Gene says we're not going out to eat on Saturday night anymore, he wants homemade gluten free onions rings at home instead hee hee.

Mom Hoog

Construction Update

Here's a little update on the garage addition.

The cement sidewalk and driveway, siding, pillars, electricity, heating, replacing upstairs and entry windows, are all scheduled in the next week or two. Gene's going to attempt to put new basement windows in himself. Landscaper and the guy who is laying the patio are both coming today to put that plan in place- can hardly wait!!

Mom Hoog