Many Thanks

John's parents came to visit last week for the first time in over a year. They hadn't seen the kitchen installed, the work done outside on the courtyard and the driveway, or the barn.

The reason I was finally able to post the pictures of the Diningroom and Livingroom is because of all the help John and I had from Jack and Noreen. We finally got the diningroom cleared out and refinished the floors (I kept telling everyone that Anne should be here, she wanted to tackle that room when she was here last fall).

We moved the radiator covers out of the Livingroom and can get to the new front door now. Noreen washed most of the new windows in the addition, huge improvement and a ton of work.

The Livingroom

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In the Livingroom we replaced the window sashes in the front room, repaired cracks and painted the walls and ceiling, and had the floors replaced with random width oak boards from old beams. We also had two of the four radiators in the room removed. Jack built the radiator covers for the livingroom, they are great looking and really finish the room.

On the original kitchen fireplace, Jack refinished the old pine mantle, the entire interior was resurfaced and we had the hearth rebuilt using the original stone. The fireplace crane is still to be installed.

Front part of the Livingroom




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Back part of the Livingroom






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The Diningroom

Well we finally have a diningroom. The refrigerator, computer, microwave, kitchen cabinets, couches, and tables have been removed. The floor was refinished and the furniture installed, only thing left do to is the sconces.

In the Diningroom, John added the chair rail, we had the mural painted, the window sash was replaced, and the cracks in the walls and ceiling repaired. We added wiring for the sconces and installed the antique light fixture.




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The Mural

The mural in the diningroom was painted in the spring of 2004. The scenes are shown as if you are standing in the pasture, looking back at the house. The horses shown in the foreground are Pat and Buddy.

The main house, spring house, cottage, and barn are all in the mural. The colors are mostly browns with the stone buildings and fences and the green of the countryside and trees. The pictures are shown as if you are turning around in the room.

If you look closely you can spot a fox, the girls in white dresses, and a mama goose with her babies.






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Corn Snow Classic Updated

Elk Mountain has struck gold. Olympic gold, that is.


Olympic gold medal winner Ted Ligety heads a star-studded cast of Olympic and U.S. ski team athletes scheduled to participate in the "Corn Snow Classic" on April 1-2 at Elk Mountain Ski Resort.
Scranton Sunday Times 03/12/2006

Polly in the lodge and Polly with Chip Knight, click to enlarge



We had a great weekend at Elk, it was Polly's first time back at Elk in over two years.

Polly was delighted that Margaret, Rachel, and Andrew came for the weekend to see her race. John flew into Scranton on the red-eye and was up at the mountain on Saturday morning. He missed Polly's first run, but was in time to see the men's run with the US Ski Team.

Elk did an amazing job, they had nine US Ski Team members in the races and Jonna Mendes and Hannah Kearney were there doing clinics with the younger kids. They were great with the kids all weekend, they signed pictures, t-shirts, faces, and GS suits. I think Rachel got every signature.

They had Resi Stiegler, Kara Crow, Lauren Ross, and Jenny Lathrop racing for the women and Ted Ligety, Cody Marshall, Chip Knight, and Jimmy Cochran in the men's races with Paul MacDonald forerunning. I was able to be up on the course to watch the races and it was incredible to see these guys ski.

Mararget was not able to get up to the race course, but they ran video of every racer all day in the lodge on a huge screen. It was great I hadn't seen Polly on video in years. Polly got a chance to ski with Rachel and Andrew between runs, they had fun but I have to say Elk was on it's last legs except for the race hill.




Polly on the podium and Polly with Jenny Lathrop, click to enlarge


Polly finished 1st except the Ski Team racers in both races. The people at Elk were great to Polly, huge cheers when she went up to the podium both times. All the US Ski Team women came up to Polly to congratulate her on the podium, they were great.


Here are a couple of pictures up on the race course, Chip Knight is the racer.


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The Results from PARA
Women April 1, 2006
Women April 2, 2006

Men April 1, 2005
Men April 2, 2006

The Results from USSA
Women April 1, 2006
Women April 2, 2006

Men April 1, 2006
Men April 2, 2006

I'll be adding pictures, I know Margaret has some great shots.

Polly is racing today in the Eastern Cup Finals at Killington with three of the US Ski Team members who were at Elk last weekend, Kara Crow, Jenny Lathrop, and Lauren Ross. I already know Polly hiked on her first run from Live Timing.



Update

I knew Margaret would come through with great photos. This group includes Rachel with Olympic Gold Medal Winner Ted Ligety, a group shot with John, Andrew, and Margaret, and the girls, and a great picture of Andrew with Rachel.




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I talked to Polly and she said that Lauren Ross recognized her from the Elk race and came over to talk to her at the Eastern Cup Race on Wednesday.

Snow this Morning

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