Back again

As you might expect, in 7 months a lot has happened!

The basics of the garage/apartment are done.

As I got to seeing the volume of space made available by switching to a gable type roof I decided to put an auditorium above the existing retail area. That is now done and we had the inaugeral concert on June 11. The Irish Minstrels of Spring Valley, the same group we had for the Grand Opening, played and played very well. A home video of one of their songs can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBDoDnDKwRo&feature=recentu.

In order to be sure that was done on time I'd requested the rest of the project be put on hold. Now the workers (Southern Builders, of LeRoy) are back at that and I hope to be moved in by September 1.

In the mean time, on July 23 Brad Boice will be presenting his Elvis Tribute show at 7:00 in the auditorium.

Apartment progress

Steve and Joel ripping out the old attic and roof. They are standing about where the new kitchen will be.


Steve O'Byrne and his father, John, preparing for the new roof which will cover the whole building, front to back.



Steve and John O'Byrne attaching the new woodwork to the old parapet.


This shows where the new bathroom will be. The steam is the exhaust from the furnace.


The garage now has a floor. It took a lot of heat to thaw the ground and keep things from freezing as the concrete cured.

We've got HEAT!

One of the effects of this remodeling is to move the utility entry point. The electric was moved to a temporary entry point, but the natural gas had to be shut off until it could be installed permanently. So for about a month we've had heat only with electric heaters. They work, but...

On Monday, 12/28, the gas was reinstalled and the furnace restarted. Sort of.

Turns out the thermostat had died. It was one of those nice fancey programmable six ways from Sunday ones. They either work wonderfully or - now its trash. Fortunately my electrician, Matt, had a replacement in his truck. All is warm now!

Garage/Apartment

From the very begining I was intending to add a garage with an upstairs apartment to the back of the building. Eventually. When I discovered the back wall was rotten beyond patching and the brick facade crumbling, 'eventually' got bumped up to 'NOW'.

Here Steve and Joel are setting the foundation wall. We elected to use these foam concrete forms.

Steve setting one of the garage roof joists that will be the apartment floor.

Joel setting the joist next to the old wall.


The view above the bathroom. The whole ceiling will be removed and the room remodeled. The volume shown, along with some where the 'roof' is, will become part of the apartment. Lots of work.

Let There Be Light!

This Fall I had Matt Asphal install some floods and electric sockets so the flag can be illuminated and Christmas lights lit.

October 4, 2009

The Rose Pedaler is a gift store and B&B in Rose Creek, about 20 miles west of LeRoy. We share the need to promote the area to bring outside money in and both realize it.

The day was drizzly to rainy. And cold. I gathered the crushed rock together to make a little mound so my shoes could stay dry. I'm told this is the first in 9 years that the weather has not been beautiful. I hadn't realized it, but aparently her advertising had mentioned 'glass blower demonstrating' or some such but I didn't bring my torch because of the weather.

Anyway, the Austin TV and newspaper covered the event and my picture was included.

This evening, Tuesday, September 15, The LeRoy Pleasure Club came to visit. They first had a chance to browse and see what the store has to offer.


Later there was a brief presentation of some of the flameworked glass sculptures including a dog, snail, turtle, marble and a blown ornament.