Before we started.

Beneath the plastic and rotten wainscoting we found tile.  Unfortunately, it was pretty damaged from the holes they drilled into it.

So, we had to remove the tile, dry wall, and concrete. We even found a window behind the wall!  I’m excited to see where we go from here.  We are going to tile around the tub, putting up dry wall and wainscot up to chair rail height, and put a new tile floor in.  I think the radiator is going to go since upstairs is rather warm already.  Maybe glass blocks in the window.

From a 1903 postcard:

From the crest of the McAfees Knob, near Salem Va, at an altitude of 4,000 feet, and commanding a view of entrancing beauty, “Point of Rocks” projects over the valley far below.  With nearly two thousand feet of space beneath him, the visitor finds he does not have to travel thousands of miles to the Yosemite Valley to grow dizzy in stupendous heights or to view men and horses dwarfed to pigmies in the depths below

More pictures.

It feels like our cat has been living with us for months already.  Abed-nego pretty much stalks her, but other than that they get along pretty well.

Campus has been a ghost town this week as all the students are on fall break.

I’m staying pretty busy grading and responding to emails.

After taking care of the front beds the past couple of days, we planted our vegetables this evening.  I’m excited to watch them grow. Unfortunately, most of our seeds did not reach maturity, but luckily plants are rather cheap at local nurseries.

 Even more exciting news, we picked out a cat today!

The front flower beds are really coming together.  I feel incredibly blessed to enjoy such pleasures.

I imagine this will be one of the last blooms on our Hibiscus tree until spring.  I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of Fall. In fact, we even put a wreath up. This is zero-week for C term online courses, which I am teaching two sections of English 101 in.  Last night I sent out a welcome email and have been interacting with students since.  I’m excited to be teaching again in some form.

I picked up a copy from Barnes & Noble the other day.  This will be my first David Foster Wallace experience. So far, so good.  And, of course, it stuck out because of the movie trailer that has been circulating.