Saturday, February 13, 2010

The need for a crane...

[ I completely forgot to post this when it actually happened around February 12th. ]

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(go here to see the set)

I have been in and around a lot of new houses in my life time. I moved a lot with my parents, who built 2 homes and remodeled the rest. We always ended up in growing neighborhoods where the open land quickly turned in to tidy angles of wood and cement. I would explore the empty wooden frames guessing at each room and then climb the mountains of dirt that accompanied each new structure. Even with all this experience I had never considered the need for a crane. I knew the need for hammers and crow bars, nail guns and power drills, ladders and dollies but not cranes. Not for a house. Certainly not to lift a house but there I was in windy 10 degree weather as giddy as my kids watching a crane clamor down my road to eventually stretch up above the tree line searching the horizon for our ever approaching home.

Really, think about that for a minute. Waiting for my home to arrive. In my mind a home comes together in a robotic step by step fashion (like this). But no. Our house arrived on two flatbed trucks in 60 x 15 foot bubble wrapped pieces. They were to arrive on Thursday afternoon making the pilgrimage from snow pummeled Pennsylvania. The snow slowed progress as did 4 flat tires. In the end my house was pulled over for driving on the road after 3 pm. How many of you can say your house was pulled over for driving after curfew? Add to that the fact that the police officer graciously forgave their imprudence but put the two pieces of my home in "time out" on the side of the road until morning. At least they avoided incarceration.
"Okay buddy, which one is yours?"
"The two big ones over there wrapped in bubble wrap."
"Driving after 3pm eh?"
"Yeah"
"Well, that'll teach 'em not to do it again! Won't it!"
"One can only hope!"
So there we were Janice, the kids, my in-laws and I blowing around in below freezing wind waiting for our wayward home. Then on the horizon, two trucks with the two halves of our home wrapped in slick white plastic. They rolled to a quiet stop in front of the turn for our narrow dirt road. The 90 degree turn brought a brief pause but then came the "road widener". A large yellow excavator rumbled down, reached over and cleared some trees, a couple mail boxes and a proud little "children at play" sign. Then it was time to attempt the turn. I mean "attempt" in the same way you and your friends forced that over sized couch up the fire escape in your college apartment because it would not fit through the front door. Consider this: a giant excavator yanking and pulling and dragging your newly purchased and built home on a couple steel beams through a 90 degree angle and then down a dirt road. The excavator breaks. So the same guy who drove the excavator to it's untimely death leaves the scene and returns with a considerably smaller yellow bulldozer. Moments later the chain breaks and the trailer thumps the ground like a large boulder but it's not a large boulder it's one half of my new home. The chain breaks again. So..... I walked down to my property and let the crazy men do their work before the series of small strokes I was experiencing left me unable to watch the next scene: watching a crane lift half of my new house (34,000 lbs) up 20 feet in the air on a thin single strand of steel. This stuff is not for the faint of heart.

In the end the crane "married" both sides of our home on top of the basement with our whole family as witnesses. It was a joyous occasion. The GC then took us through our home. Our driven, delivered, carpeted, painted, plumbed, wired, kitchen cabinetted and craned in to place new home.

Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy 2010 from the Stewart's

HAPPY NEW YEAR
from the Stewart Family


2002


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2004

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2005

Evelyn
2007

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2009

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2010

Amazing. 2010!? How did that happen so quickly? In 2000 we were all nervously watching our computers and welcoming a new century. Janice and I had no children [ momentary pause with passing smile while considering those quiet non-children days ] and we lived in Smyrna, GA surrounded by a horse farm. Two short years later in 2002 we had our first child Nathaniel. We brought our second child, Benjamin, home to Marietta, GA in 2004. Again we moved and again we had another baby (is there a pattern here?) Joelle arrived in the fall of 2005 to our new home in Acworth, GA. Seven months and seven days in to 2007 (at 7:07pm) Evelyn made her entrance which was just about seven months before we moved to Greenville, NY. Never wanting a new home without a new baby, Joshua finished up our decade of babies in 2009. No wonder life went by so quickly! So what next? Hmmm.... We are moving again soon... Maybe we should start taking suggestions for names? Or ideas for a reality show?

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Joelle's 4th birthday (sniff, cough)

Amazing how time is zipping by and we are almost at 2010. Hal? (Sorry sci-fi slip). I blame FB for the lack of posting. The evolution of communication in cyberspace is fast paced and lacking in forgiveness.

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(click here for the flickr set)

For starters yesterday was Joelle's 4th birthday and we have all contracted the flu!!! Well almost everyone, Joshua is still unscathed. Everyone else has a temperature over 100 degrees. We have gotten to the point now were we smirk at the ones with less that 100.4 degrees and say things like "you call that a temperature?" Fortunately she received several phone calls with song and well wishes. Thank you! We had to skip the customary birthday donut, no cake but we did have a heart shaped pizza and lots of pink decorations. As you can see from the picture she enjoyed the salon treatment provided by her mom.

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(click here for the set on flickr)

I never posted the kid's first day of school pictures and thought it would be a good idea to do it now before we went so far in to the holiday season that the new smell is gone. If you did not already know we have THREE children in school now. THREE! Nathaniel (2nd grade), Benjamin (kindergarten) and Joelle (preschool). They were soooo excited on their first day and have been excited about school ever since. Here is a great pic of Joelle sporting her first day of school outfit.

I will do my best to keep up with the holidays and everything else that is going on in our life. Right now I am going to try to get everyone to rest.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Nathaniel turns 7!!!! WHAT!!??

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(click here for the Nathaniel's birthday set of pictures)

Yeah, where did this come from? Nathaniel turned 7 in August. I am not really sure how that happened. He was just born a few days ago right? Wait...that was Joshua...maybe that is where I am getting confused...

Joshua looks like Nathaniel, who looks like Ben, who looks like Joelle, who looks like Evelyn, who looks like.... Oh good grief. You have found us out. Yes, we are actually cloning our children and our 1st successful clone celebrated his 7th year in August. He enjoyed multiple birthday parties.

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We celebrated at COTW

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We celebrated at home

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And we celebrated at Jeepers.

It will always amaze me at how quickly time flies. Now he is 7 and in 7 more years he will be starting high school. Sigh. He had a great time and I will leave it to the pictures to tell the story. Needless to say we had a sugar filled party crazed couple of weeks.