Some significant improvements to the interior, however, have been the installation of all new water pipe throughout the house. In addition, we had the vanity and sink removed and replaced with a small corner sink in the downstairs bathroom. We also had a smaller toilet installed to allow for more room. The hardware was also replaced on the tub with French hardware including a sprayer so it can almost be used like a “sit down” shower. Through the pipe replacement work, we ended up with several holes in ceilings and walls and Bob Milanovich, a good friend from Lynchburg, was kind enough - and handy enough, I might also add! - to volunteer to spend two days up here framing out the holes and installing drywall to fill the holes in the plaster ceilings. One wall hole, outside the upstairs bath where the shower head pipes are, we covered with a removable wooden cover.

We followed that work with some significant electrical work and the installation of a water treatment system in the basement. The shower walls and toilets are no longer tinted blue!! We had a “real” electrical box installed in the dining room ceiling for that time when we want to put a light or fan there. We had the remaining fans we bought some time ago installed in the two upstairs bedrooms and the downstairs bedroom. The wire going out to the lamp post at the end of the walkway was redone and securely encased in PVC pipe to make it safer. We also had a power outlet installed in the downstairs bathroom where we had had the vanity removed a while back.

Before all of this happened, we had a tree fall down in the upper yard towards the shed, so we had to have that cut up and the tree removed. While we were at that, we had a bunch of trees removed and the whole banked area re-graded so it is now a gentle slop from the upper yard to the shed. I planted that with grass seed last fall and this spring it looked wonderful as a yard extension. Unfortunately, the summer heat has played havoc with it, but it will come back and reseeding this fall will give it new life. By next spring, it will be a natural extension of our yard.

I finally got around to tearing off the bulging plaster wall on the stairway upstairs and patched it with drywall. It is now all taped and ready for painting. We are about to begin having all interior walls painted with new colors. But first, we have two significant holes in the ceiling of the downstairs bedroom where the ceiling was pulling away from the lathe that we have to fix. Also in the works is the replacement of the old stove/oven in the kitchen.

All of this is necessary since we auctioned off weekend use of the house at two fund raisers in Lynchburg and the folks who “bought” the place will be using it in October and November.

Meanwhile our little Ivy cottage has provided a great place for me to live during the week as I continue to work in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

Here’s one of the shots I took yesterday to find one I liked to post on my “365@50mm” blog: http://booz50mm.posterous.com/.

Yippee, it worked! This is pretty slick, but now I have to figure out the best way to add photos to a post. Still studying that one!

Now, the test: can one edit a post using MacJournal. If so, this will update the post that started it, otherwise, it will be a brand new post on the blog. Let’s see….

Kelly and Hendrick (mostly Kelly) did, however, clean everything up after dinner and Hendrick - pulling a "Mary Ann," he said - ran a load through the dishwasher while we ate our dinner. So, end result was that all was back to normal this morning, after all had dried and I put the dishes away.

No, that is not a contrast problem with the first picture below. That is SMOKE! We opened lots of windows and doors and pumped up the fans and finally got rid of the smoke.

I finally got back to it last evening. It is really a challenge to both cut the ivy so I can even get to the fence wire to cut it from the post, but I was finally able to remove the next section which allowed me to pull out the large spance of rolled up fencing as well. I piled it up by the brush pile from the fallen tree for later removal to the dump when I am able to borrow a truck.

I surprised myself when I was also able to pull out the one post from the ground! Whew! Next, I need to free the last fence section going down to the gate by the hose then that will be all clear. Clear, that is, when I am able to remove the last post that is all covered with ivy. I cut up some of the growth, but may weed-whack it and try to seed it when I do the major lawn seeding in September.

Didn’t have beef chunks but, it turns out, hamburger meat worked fine too! Easy to prepare and adaptable to what I had in the cupboard. The recipe, however, did give me a good starting point to prepare a nice dinner that also served me well for lunch the next day.

Thank you again, Maggie!!

It was fun to have a break in my normally, quiet weekday schedule! Click on the image to see more.

Oh, well, so goes the plight of the planter, eh? I do, however, need to replace them.