The design of the north side of the house
Our architect, general contractor, Linda, and I spent nearly an hour discussing how and where to put a ramp up to the porch on the north side of the house. Many ideas were proposed. Then, our general contractor suggested making the entire walkway a ramp rather than having separate steps and ramp. Everybody smiled and nodded their heads. Problem solved. This photo shows the ramp when it was first constructed.
Plantings on the northeast side of the house
The gutter and snow guards on the north side of our house.
Our driveway and parking lot
The design of the west side of the house
The design of the east side of the house
The walkway and steps up to the deck on the east side
Plantings on the east side of the house
The design of the southside of the house
Plantings on the southeast side of the house on 9/30/22
The hallway as you enter our house on the upper level
The eastside of our kitchen
The bar stools at the kitchen island
Our double oven. The top has French doors so you don't have to bend over to use the oven.
We want our home to be fully accessible. Here are the grab bars in our bathtub
Here are grab bars in the primary bathroom shower
Here is a grab bar in the guest bathroom shower
There is a grab bar next to each toilet in the house
Our king-sized bed dominates the primary bedroom
Furniture initially assembled in my office
In January 2023, I fell down a flight of steps inside our house which necessitated installing this door at the top of the stairway to avoid another mishap.
This is a rock I call Jabba after the Star Wars character it resembles, and Linda calls it Jeremiah the Bullfrog after the song. Whatever the name, it stands at the entrance to the garden to guard it, maybe keeping the deer away.
The enclosed garden on 8/30/21. Linda modeled the red front after a Japanese Torii gate, commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine where, according to Wikipedia, "it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred."
The sides of the raised beds in the enclosed garden are chair-height and can be sat on, so it is not necessary to bend over to plant and harvest. Pictured is Holy Basil.
The riprap by the garden gate with the garden retaining wall in the background. All the rocks in both structures were dug up on our property.
The southern deck. which is located about 50 feet to the east of the enclosed garden.
A culvert pipe has been placed underground to keep water away from the house and garden. This is the entrance to the pipe.
The firepit with the retaining wall in the background.
An apple tree - full view
The apple tree with a close-up of its unusual base
Our next-door neighbor's pond which can be seen from the house
One view of the Taghkanic Creek that runs about 100 yards from our house
Another view of the Taghkanic Creek
View up the hill to the home of Larry and Nicole Friedrich and their family. Larry is Linda's brother, my brother in law, and Nicole is our sister-in-law
View down the hill from Larry and Nicoles' house. Note our house on the left.
