Three Glorious Days On The River

Getting ready to put on the river for the next couple nights, wish there where more water, but you take what you can get. An old friend of Scott's from Texas is here, so it's gonna be abig boy and  big  fun trip, Matt is so disapointed he's not coming.  But, we have another trip planned for next weekend with my dad, so he'll definately be on that one if we get some rain. For some reason, I am burnt out at the house and just need to let loose, get away, recharge. River is so low we may end up dragging most of the way, but who cares, 3 days on the river is heaven. The rock masons are finishing the interior fireplace today, and it looks great. I am trying to get this new notebook to load pics, but no luck so far, too bad becouse alot of stuff has been done. Everyone have a great weekend, and if your lucky, SYOTR now!!

Correction to earlier post

correction; the law school at university of Arkansas is not named after Bill Clinton. It is the Bill Clinton school of public service. And for the record, I am glad he was not thrown out of office, I was not making a political statement, just an analogy. Anyway sorry for getting off track, I just had to vent. As soon as I can figure how to load pics on this new xoom, I will post a bunch of pics, wild azailias and rock work. Going on 3 day float trip friday with old friend of Scott's friday. Yehaw

Frustrations Set in on Blog and House

The rock masons are rocking and rolling along, and it looks fantastic. All of the columns are complete and the outdoor fireplace as well, they are working on the interior fireplace today. The rock completes the look, and compliments everything so well. My choice was to go with a rock that looked more local, but Robyn has great taste and I am so glad I trusted her judgement becouse it looks perfect. Next on the schedule is the hardwood floors and interior woodwork, so I need to find my groove. I have really been discombobulated lately and to tell the truth, have been very unproductive. If you read the heading on this blog, it mentions frustrations, and I guess that's where I'm at. Speaking of Robyn's tastes, the colors for the paint she chose are awesome and create the mood of the house. I admit it, she coordinates all the paints, flooring, and wood finishes so much better than I do, even though there are no stains on any of the woodwork , the differant woods we are using are all very distictive looks and actually will darken with aging. Walnut and cherry floors
, walnut window sills, cherry paneling in the awesome roocherry window and door trim, cherry door jambs, and solid one piece walnut stair treads. Not one piece of trim or woodwork will have come from a lumber yard, it's a truly custom house that has been milled as much as built. It will be very interesting to see what the appraiser values it at becouse there are not many like it. well,

What a beautiful spring we have had, the redbuds were awesome, the dogwoods have been also, and the differant greens are spectacular. The only bad thing is our view is shrinking, so it,s time to cut a couple of trees that are blocking the view from the deck. The rockwork is looking fantastic, and it really adds the finishing touch. Everything looks better when the rock goes up, and I need to get busy on the interior woodwork projects becouse we start the hardwood floors next week. But, just like fall, it,s hard to stay focused when it is so beautiful all
around you. Although this has been the realization of a dream for me, after a year of building I need a little break to recharge my batterys and make me more productive. Yea, I know what ya'll are thinking, all Roger does is take breaks. But I can be very productive when my mind is right, so it's important to stay refreshed. The time to return to a regular routine of some sort is coming soon, and I have to figure out what my next adventure is going to be. I know this sounds crazy for a 51 year old guy, but I feel like all of my best music is still inside of me. M
y goal i (the monkey just destroyed this post)
s to write 100 songs in my li
fe, and I'm only a quarter of the way there. I also want to start a band and do alot of live performances. I know what your thinking, someone has to like and listen, but I am going to do it. Well, I have a monkey climbing on my head(Matt) so I better feed it, so everyone have a great

Rockwork Begins

Rock work has started and it looks fantastic, hope we got enough money that I dont have to do any of it. We are down to the point where are budget is gone and we still have work left to do. Of course we knew this would happen, and have planned for this all along. We will begin installing the walnut and cherry floors next week and I can't wait, it really means we are getting close. My biggest projects left are the front porch, and the interior woodwork, which will probably be the last things completed. Tile flooring and the tile showers will come in the next couple weeks also, so it's an exciting time. There have been so many distractions lately that I have not accomplished alot, so I better get after it. Stay out of the storms way, and have a great day. RJ

The River Calls

Ok, so we spent saturday night on the river and had an awesome time partying with some friends of our friend Jim. A couple of doctors and the construction mgr. at University of Missouri, so they were some interesting dudes. They have been coming for annual and frequent trips to  the Buffalo for years, and love the river like we do. We stayed across from Jim Bluff and had a great campsite, there were hundreds of people on the river. The weather was incredible and the water was coooold! Matt is really starting to look like a paddler, getting more comfortable and confident in boats by himself, and of course him and Cooper did some cliff jumping. Those two boys really love the river, and get so excited when we are going, and get sad when we leave. I can relate. Oh, I don't want to leave out litle Lucy, who was really helping her dad get down river with some powerful paddling herself. You know, it just does'nt get any better than this, and it looks like we have instilled the love of this great river, and of the great outdoors in these kids. Oh yea, I am building this house and the rock mason is starting today. Yippee, I can't wait to see the first rock go up. We are close to ordering cabinets and countertops and it's always hard saying no to the people who we are NOT buying from. But , this means we are 3-4 weeks away from a huge step, we just got to get the hardwood flooring done first. Man I am ready to live here, I started doing the actual framing of the  house last april 25th, and I need to be very close to finished on the first anniversary. Got to go meet the mason, so SYOTRS and have a glorious day. RJ

Cherry and Walnut Combo Impress

Cherry paneling in awesome room

Walnut window sill

Granite I thought was going in

Mudroom countertop

Walnut flooring acclimating

Looks like a paddler lives here

The view from my office