Reconstruction

Betty and I went for a walk yesterday late afternoon. Here and following are some of the sights we saw. Notice all the reconstruction going on. For comparison, refer to the late May and early June dates of this blog. These pictures were taken where the tornado destruction was total. The above picture was taken from an empty lot, the previous house was "blown away" yet notice the new houses going up.
This is part of at Aolington-Parkersburg (AP) Highs School reconstruction.
More new homes being built!
Notice how many contractors are working in one home.

Class room, educational wing at APHS.
Betty walking down the street where most of the tornado damage was, notice the new homes going up.
Another view of the APHS reconstruction.

The "front" of APHS
Another home being built
A home is finished, while APHS is being built.

More going on

Finally I am able to get an update done. It has been hectic here with reconstruction and other meetings. I am VP of the Parkersburg Reconstruction and Chair of the Butler County reconstruction coalition, so that keeps me busy.
The pictures below were taken from our back deck, notice the "beauty" of the football field and the reconstruction going on. Over 150 new building permits. And our football team is doing great, won their first four games and are rated #1 in class 1A in the state.



A Night view of the football field from our deck.
Please note all the construction going on!

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Went Fishing

Betty and I took a 10 day vacation to Kabetogama Lake in Northern MN. I had my best fishing ever, in regards to Northern Pike. Her on top I am holding a 32" Northern.
On a rainy day I cought this 29" Northern.
And this is my "big" one, a 39" -19-20 lb Northern.

Grampy's kids

MELODY JARIB
EMILY AND STEVE

EMILY with her new glasses
JESHUA with his new glasses. How proud we are of our grandkids!

Almost Complete!

This is a view of my office.
The dinning room is totally done, except for the silver setting which must be polished and put away.
The Master bedroom is also done.

A Mess!

Sorry, no pictures at present, but we are living in "a mess"! The carpet is being installed, and so we have moved, and continue to move furniture from one room to another. Carpet is in the Living Rom, Master bedroom, dinning room and basement. They hope to put carpet in hall way, sun-room and basement stairs this afternoon. Window "trimming" is about half done. Some of the blinds will possibly be hung this afternoon as well. Lenolium is in the master bathroom and entry-way. Toilet stool is in place in master bath, but it might be 10 days before our new sink arrives. So things are progressing and we are excited. Hope to have some pictures in the not too distant future. Thanks for your interest.

Painting

This wonderful group of "Greene Shirst" CRWRC volunteers from the Living Stone Church of Rochester, MN came yesterday and helped paint the garage ceiling and walls as well as the entry way to the house. What a help they were. Thanks, Pastor Kyle Haack and group for coming.

School is down!

In the back ground one can see Kwik Star (local convenience store) going up. The close building is the concessions stand for the High School football field, and behind it is the new temporary locker room for the football team.
The High School gym is completely torn down
If you enlarge the picture you will see new construction going on.

Continued Improvments

As you see, our entry way is ready to be painted, trim put on, light fixture installed and then new flooring installed and it will be done!
This is the new floor I put in Betty's room and in my office.

Outside is done!

When we got back from out meetings in MI we were pleasantly surprised to see that the exterior of the house is done! Now we must finish the inside, some dry-wall work and painting...

ASADO

This past week was spent in Grand Rapids, MI where we attended some meetings. On Saturday we were at my sister's place in Holland, MI where they had an Asado, (Argentine lamb bar-b-que) which you see is being prepared by my brother-in-law Oscar.
Betty is talking to one of our nephews.
Oscar, in green and his brother Jose Luis are looking at the remains of the lamb.

Getting there!

Following in the next post you will see that the West and South side of the house is almost done as far as the exterior is concerned. Next we will do the North or front side, the East side must wait for a new side door.
I also got one wall in the living room painted, the one where the picture window is, so they can put the trim on that window.
Today I hope to put in the wood floor in Betty's "butterfly" room, if that goes fast enough maybe even put the floor in my office.

More Progress

West side of the house is done!
View from the Southwest corner
South side is almost done.

Strom Approaches

A storm approaches as we get done working for the day
All the new wiondows have now been installed
The exterior of the house is now ready for siding

We had over one and a half inch rain in about 30 minutes.
Wind was strong, up to 60 mph but fortunately no damage was done. And the rainwas a blessing as lawns were getting very dry.

More work done

The North and West side of the house is now ready to have siding. Windows must still be installed on the South, as well as having the old siding pulled off. Just got this picture of our "Camp" grandchildren, from L to R we have Emily, the Steve (with his no - no's as he just had mouth surgery) and Melody with hr new style curly hair.

Going ahead!

East window is inplace, but door must still be replaced.
Our picture window is in!
West side siding and windows are gone, ready to start fixing up.

One job almost done!

This is some of the building material we have in our garage at present.
Betty and some of the volunteers who helped side our boat shed.
Boat shed is done except for hardware on garage door and replacing the window on the other side.