4.3.2014

Well, even know the calendar says spring it's still not really looking like it around here!  Jim went up to the property yesterday and this is what he found.  Still lots of snow up there!  However, it's going away quickly - we've had a couple warmer days and a little rain too.  Won't be long!

On Thursday, we went down to Albany for a couple parts field trips.  Our first stop was to the Pella Distributor there.  It was nice because we were able to get a color sample of the windows we are interested in.  Eventually, we'll probably match the color of the carriage house to the window to get the look we want.  We really liked the color so it was good info.  Also good info was the difference between brown hardware and oil-rubbed bronze.  We had wanted oil-rubbed bronze but they are similar in appearance and the cost difference is about $60 per window!  So definitely brown is fine for the carriage house.  The other interesting thing was the screens.  They have a new, super-fine mesh half screen that is really incredible.  It's like not looking through a screen.  Again, though, we are talking the carriage house right now.  We may get them in certain key windows but the normal screen will be fine for the rest of the windows.  But it's all good information.  We have to go over all the quotes and compare apples to apples to make sure we get the best price.  We also have to figure out storage options possibly.  With Lowe's, where it appears the price is the best, they have a 15% sale going on but you have to order the windows now.  They may be able to keep them in the store for awhile but not as long as we'll need.  Just another thing to figure out.

Our next stop was to find some brick distributors.  We need monarch brick (bigger sized) on the foundation of the carriage house.  Seems far away but it can take 8 weeks to get in so it's definitely something that needs to be planned out.  We want a more solid dark gray that will eventually carry over to the house and coordinate with the brick fascia for the house.  We were used to having Belden Brick in Amish country where you can wander through their showroom and they make the bricks on site.  Not here.  Apparently there are no more brick companies around at all so everything has to be ordered.  We have a couple websites to investigate now - we brought a couple sample boards home and they can send us more.

On our walk later on, we noticed that ice from up river must have broken up and was floating along downstream through Corinth.  It was quite the sight!

Also loved this contrast....girls' softball team was practicing at the elementary school by us.  Half of the girls were in shorts with all the snow on the ground surrounding them!

But we did see our first little spring flowers...right in front of the Catholic church here in Corinth.