HSH Renovation Update and the start of winter in Dublin, GA

Winter has arrived in Dublin, GA and in all of the northern hemisphere. Winter solstice as it is officially called, arrived on 12/21/09 at 12:47 PM EST, according on the NOAA.com website. To put it in laymans terms, winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. The nights are longer than days, the days are generally cooler because the sun is farthest away from us and cannot generate enough heat as it does during the summer months when the days are longer. If you look outside at high noon on a sunny day, like on a day like today, you will notice the sun does not reach the 12 o'clock position in the sky. The sun shines lowest in the sky, closest to the horizon than at any other time of the year. During the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, the sun at the same time, will be high directly overhead. Winters are generally milder the closer you are to the equator where the sun is stronger. That is my geography lession for today!

Back on solid ground, the renovation continues and is progressing smoothly at the Capt Hardy Smith house. New stairs with handrails were installed in the back part of the house. The job was completed today. John has spent a few hours today laying/securing plywood and cleaning the area to prepare it for storage. Look at the progress he has made today.

Once that is done, the 'Gone With The Wind' room and the back dining room will be emptied out and restoration can resume on those two rooms. Check out these pictures of the stairs and what the storage looks like above the rooms in the back part of the house. We probably just added another 500 or so square feet of usable space to the house. To give you a sense of perspective of the space, look at the picture with John in it. He stands 6 feet 2 inches. He has plenty of room to move around. For now, we plan to use it for storage. He is eager to finish laying the plywood so we can begin moving stuff up there. I always wanted to know, if you notice in the picture of John, there is a white circle just to his left, can anyone tell me what that is? Someone told me once that it is a spirit or something. The picture of John is looking at the room facing north and the other shot with the plywood and what looks like a window is facing south. Notice I took a picture of the dogs from the landing upstairs. They wanted to come up and check everything out but John and I have decided, no dogs in the attic, too dangerous. They can watch from a safe distance. Notice that Max is in front of Lady. Lady is the one with the long tail. Once I came down the stairs, they both followed me back to the front part of the house. Max is my bodyguard. When I was calling out to Lady, she was trying to find a way to come up the stairs but I came down. She was crying for me to come down. We are so in sync with each other. Lady is a wonderful companion.

John also purchased the ceiling lights yesteday and brought home all but three ceiling fans and all of the bathroom lights today. We are estimating that next monday, most of all the lights will be put up in the house. Will, from rebath came today to deliver the medicine cabinet I have been waiting on. It will be installed tomorrow. The hot and cold knobs for the pedestal sink and the chrome handle for the toilet were installed today too. Ronnie, the cabinet man, came to do measurements for the linen cabinet doors that will most likely be installed next week. There are some grout areas in the tile that are darker when they should be light throughout. There are some crooked tiles that need to be straigthened. Being that they are 1" hexagon tiles, it was a major job putting them in. It took two long days with two different mixes of grout which would most likely explain the color difference. The glass door with the chrome handle on the outside of the shower will also be installed tomorrow. So the work on the bathroom is winding down, FINALLY. 

One more shot of the upstairs attic in the back part of the house, on the side above the kitchen. Notice the chimney in the foreground and the exhaust vent on the background. The exhaust vent is where John found that squirrel nest a few weeks ago. Look how far back it goes. The last picture is where the last of the remaining squirrels and bats decided to hang out. Behind the chimney, there is bat poo everywhere and on the walls. John will be working on removing that hazardous poo in the next few days. The bats and squirrels most likely will not come back because of the lights and human activity. Sooo, I think all the bats in the entire house are finally gone!! Yeah!!

Before the men who built the stairs for John left today, they plan to give us a quote on doing the kitchen floor  and to lay some linoleum. Eventually, porcelain tile will be put down, but the linoleum is temporary because we need a working kitchen badly. Going out to eat and eating microwave stuff is getting old real fast. So hopefully, the work on the floor will begin within the next two weeks.

Tonight, while John was working in the back part of the house, I was putting up more white lights and evergreen garland on the outside of the house. Now, the front porch and stair railing is adorned with them and beautiful red bows for a finishing touch. That is all to report for today on activity at the Hardy Smith House. Keep reading my blog for continual updates on our restoration/renovation. Thanks for visiting my blog.