Other than touching up the paint, the deck is done. It is a splendid space. Cocktails anyone?

Bella celebrates with modern dance the life of the maple tree that graced the corner of Ohio and La Follette avenues. Removed by the city on Monday, Aug. 25. Admire Bella's new school shoes.

Karen's parents, Penny, left, and David, visit with Nancy, right, while Bella performs. Penny and David passed through Madison Thursday, Aug. 28, on their way to Penny's 50th high school reunion in Forrest, Ill. The Minnesotans had a lovely dinner at the newly opened Café Luna on Atwood Avenue.

Karen's house project

Painting the house

Monday, Sept. 1, 2003

The interior walls are painted. The window trim is up. The deck railing is up. Most of the siding is up.

Many thanks to Judy, who helped paint and prime the wood for the deck railing and much of the interior. Thanks to Brent for helping paint the salmon in the kitchen. Thanks to Megan for acting as color consultant. Thanks to Rick and Kim for suggesting the salmon. Depending on how the salmon looks with the blue-green swirly countertop, Karen may paint the arch the same light green as most of the walls.

We had a lot of leftover Hardiplank cement board siding, enough, it turns out, to side the rest of the non-La Follette side of the house, which seems to make more sense than storing the siding in a damp basement for a couple of years. This means everything but the dormers, the front porch and the front of the second floor have been resided and insulated. Karen will haul the old siding to the county landfill on Wednesday.

Next on the agenda: the wood floor should be installed and finished this week. Then the kitchen cabinets go in, which means the countertop can be ordered. Then the baseboards, doors and door trim can go in. The downstairs bathroom floor is ready to be tiled