So a lot has happened since December of 2011 here at the house. Most importantly we have a new family member: Max, who was born January 31st. In an amazing coincidence we got our temporary occupancy permit on the same day! As to be expected, putting the finishing touches on the house has been a very slow endeavor. Hannah has coined a new term: slowductivity – the decreased rate at which work is done when having a new born. Cellular blinds have been installed, a porch swing has been hung, an awesome built in clothes drying rack resides over the stairwell.  The mudroom has hooks for coats and bags, and the piles of rock sand and compost have been distributed appropriately around the yard or removed. One other reason more hasn’t been accomplished around the house is that Adam purchased his own home just down the street. I have been helping him as much as I am able in an effort to repay his amazing generosity and support in building my own home.

The most recent project on our house has been to install the rock we brought back from Vermont for our front stoop and make a front walk leading to it. The stoop rock needed to be cut first, for which I rented a 12″ angle grinder equipped with a base and a diamond blade. Then Dan F. and I rolled it into place using scrap ABS pipe.

Spartan ready to cut the rock with a 12″ grinder. I tried hooking up the Festool shop vac to collect the dust, but it didn’t really work. Not visible in the picture is the cardboard template for the cuts that I traced onto the rock with a lumber crayon.

Positioning the stoop rock into place was only a little challenging. Some sweat, grunts and a few whacks with a rock hammer and it fit right in. We then used thin pieces of rock to shim it to level; followed by stuffing and packing in gravel around the sides.

Our arts and crafts front entrance finally looks complete with the installation of the stoop rock.

It was really rewarding getting this rock into place. I can’t believe we had it before we even broke ground on the site. Here is a link to the blog post about when we got it up in Vermont.