Exterior Progress

We now have steps up to the front door and siding on the garage - and don't forget the soffits, frieze and fascia boards. The photo is a little distorted - see if you can see the join.

New Conservatory

The conservatory was finally added to the side of the house - it is going to be a great place for the cold sensitive plants - and for cold-sensitive Lisa to sit and read a book in the depths of winter.

Granite Selection

We went to Elberton, GA to meet with Sid Gailey of Star Granite Interiors. He took us to SlabCo, a granite warehouse in Elberton, to look at slabs. Here's what we selected:
Kitchen - Norwegian Spirit of Pearl
Butler's Pantry - Galactica Blue
Bar - Mahogany Blue Eyes

Steve Joins In With Construction

Steve and Haynes putting in a window on a sunny Sunday afternoon in February - they had to put it in place to prevent it from being stolen again!

Holly or Not?

Today Lisa gave a talk to her Garden Group from Augusta Newcomers on the subject of Holly or Not? In preparation the new Distinctive English Gardens webpages have been launched - the beginnings of a plant database that Lisa has been contemplating for years!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to one and all.

The Miner family is happy and healthy here in Georgia. Our big news for the year is that we've started building a new house in Mount Vintage Plantation, a golf community located on the South Carolina side of the Savannah river, but still part of the region surrounding Augusta known as the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA).

Lisa's main occupation for the last year has been designing the new house.  She produced the plans herself on her iMac and is maintaining a "Construction Central" section on her website to document the building process.  As we go to press, the framing is mostly done and the gunite is in for the pool.  We expect to move in sometime next spring.  Our lot at Mount Vintage looks over the green of the 19th hole, which traditionally has been Steve's best.  The "new nine" officially opened on March 14 to go along with the original 18 holes of the golf course.

Besides working on the house, Lisa has also been active with ladies' clubs and gardening groups.  She runs the web site for the Augusta Area Newcomers Club, and once again organized their annual English Garden Tea with her friend, Ruth. She also volunteered to help with the local Alzheimer's Memory Walk as a way to remember her mother. The Suburban Woman's Club of Augusta recently invited Lisa to join and she was also happy to accept membership in the Cherokee Rose Garden Club, which complements her volunteer work with the local Master Gardeners.  She and Ruth went on a bus trip to Callaway Gardens together and she has dragged Steve to numerous nurseries in her quest to find interesting and unusual plants for the Mount Vintage garden.

The dogs are doing well. Heidi (the Belgian Malinois) enjoys her short walks around the neighborhood. Cleo (the Great Dane) is full grown at about 115 pounds and needs long walks every day. She has a new best friend next door. Jenny (a boxer mix) moved in when her family bought the house earlier this year. Cleo was a bit shy at first but now they have a great time running and jumping on each other. Heidi can't take the rough housing so she stays home while the young kids play.

We made several trips to North Carolina to take care of the old house (still for sale) and vacation at the beach.  Steve visited California to see his family just for a weekend back in January.  Our only real vacation (that means one without the dogs) was a trip to Athens, GA, home of the Georgia University Bulldogs.  Downtown reminded us a bit of Palo Alto.  After a lengthy walk around the campus, we finally discovered the trial gardens and were excited to meet  Professor Allan Armitage (a famous horticulturist) there. He graciously gave us a tour of the gardens and greenhouse and gave Lisa a test plant from the greenhouse.  

Steve's company has gone through a few changes with some friends leaving and new management coming on board, but his work is pretty much the same. He shipped a release of his communications equipment simulation software to good reviews from the customer. Steve was very fortunate to attend the Monday practice round at the Masters golf tournament this past April. In September, he got an iPod touch and loves it. He plans to write some software for the iPhone and Touch. Steve started playing volleyball again in a league in Augusta. He's the oldest guy in the gym (many of the players are half his age) but they've been very nice to him. One night, he wore a colorful tank top (a gift from Lisa because it was too big for her) and the guys on his team thought it was so cool that they named the team after it: "Jazzercise!". Nothing like having fun with the old man.

No miracle wins this year for Stanford football. They had their chances to get a bowl game (especially against Notre Dame and UCLA), but they couldn't quite make it. Harbaugh has done a pretty good job, and they're expecting an excellent recruiting class next year, including a kid from Bellarmine (Central Coast Section champions). Plus, it will be Steve's 25th reunion so we're hoping for a good year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Steve and Lisa (and Heidi and Cleo)

steveminer@gmail.com
lisa@lisaminer.com

http://www.LisaMiner.com

Dining in our new house

Putting up walls

We visited our new house today, just in time to see the 1st floor walls going up.

Shooting the Gunnite

I watched the guys build my pool today - noisy, dirty and lots of fun. Here are some highlights.

Brick laying

I got to lay a brick today, while they were pouring the pool.

Halloween

A slight departure from the usual this year with the pumpkin carving:

Basement walls

The basement walls are mostly up - now working on the ceiling which requires a big beam - and is therefore taking some time!

Slab, block and plumbing

They poured the slab, started on the block walls, and put in the basement plumbing.

Street sign

We have a street sign - our new address will be 83 Beaver Pond Court.

Foundation

The foundation for the block walls has been poured.