July 5 - It's HOT! But work continues.

Last evening we were out on the lake by 8:30 to catch any fireworks shows after dark. We cruised the lake and Brenda noticed one beach area owned by a man from Urbandale was lined with many little bags that looked like fireworks. About 9:30 we saw a truck's headlights going down the hill towards that beach. We quickly picked up Tim, Jill and Duncan Marshall from their dock and we all headed that way in the boat. We got to see a really good show from the water. This guy and a couple other lake residents really spent some bucks on fireworks. It was a unique experience for us since you hear a lot of echo off the lake's shore line.

Tom Lenig, brother Chuck and co-worker Randy have been plugging away in the 100 degree heat moving their fork loader and scaffolding around the house to install the soffit and drip edge trim.

Some of our horizontal siding was delivered today by Lockridge but there is more to come. We are doing a combination of shakes (only on the gables) and horizontal lap siding. The product is called LP SmartSide. It's a wood based product which is touted as superior to cement board in a number of ways. The color we picked is called French Gray.

Tonight and tomorrow we will make our final decision on which (of four) direct vent gas fireplace to purchase. Tom Lenig wants to get the framing done for the fireplace early next week so we must decide soon.

We are also considering bids to install audio, video and network cabling yet in July. 

And, our kitchen cabinet decision is looming.