Break for...the 2012 Urbanna Oyster Festival!

The town of Urbanna shuts down each year during the annual Urbanna Oyster Festival.  During Oyster Festival, the quaint streets of Urbanna are transformed into an amazing celebration of the bi-valve mollusc known as the oyster.   From street vendors, to fun food, oysters prepared every way imaginable, educational displays to a dizzying array of special events, music, and parades, the Oyster Festival is not to be missed (it was, in fact, recently mentioned as far away as the Philadelphia Inquirer as a fun road trip).  The festival runs all day Friday and Saturday.  The Oyster Queen and Little Miss Spat are selected on Friday - here were the 2012 finalists:

Live music is available on multiple stages throughout the town:

And many of the streets are shut down to traffic to allow for exploring the vendors and food:

Since my father is a long time Kiwanian in Ohio, I took special note of the Kiwanis Oyster booth:

The capstone event Friday night is the Fireman's Parade - which begins after dark and features almost 50 firetrucks of varying sizes, volume levels, shapes, era, and jurisdiction (firetrucks from as far away as Virginia Beach were in the parade).  They all compete for sound - the sirons wailing in tandem is a cacaphony to behold.  Seasoned veterans to the Fireman's Parade bring earplugs.  Since we were newbies, this is how we watched the parade:

 

 

Our favorite event by far was Saturday's Oyster Shucking Contest.  There were heats for the amateurs:

And then the men's professional contest (Jermaine at far right was the champion):

And the women's finals - sisters, Clementine and Deborah (middle and right) are world renowned oyster shuckers.  Deborah won the women's professional round this year:

And then the two professional champions face off.

Deborah Pratt took the title this year and she rode in style at the Oyster Festival Parade later that day:

 

 

The shucked raw oysters are passed around among the spectators - here Rob is about to enjoy an oyster shucked by Jermaine in the competition:

 



Although I took a pass on eating oysters - raw, roasted, grilled, fried, Rockefellered, or otherwise - I was able to find my favorite festival food and enjoyed it thoroughly...deep fried pickles:

 

 

Although the weekend was unseasonably cold and windy, we enjoyed every minute of the 2012 Urbanna Oyster Festival.  Here's a few more shots of the parade...and now, break time is over and it's back to work on the project.

 



Hurricane Sandy

Just a quick post - all is well for us after Hurricane Sandy.  No damage to Glenlochan or our place in Philly.  Although Philadelphia was largely shut down for 2 days, we only lost power for about 14 hours, so we are very thankful.  The devastation on the Jersey shore is unbelievable and so many people and lives have been impacted.  Our thoughts go out to everyone who is struggling in the aftermath of Sandy. 

Bricks and Morter (and Dormers, Too)

The progress this week has been enormous...but Hurricane Sandy may put a crimp in our forward momentum.  The porches are almost done and they are looking great.  The brick masons are doing an excellent job.

Here's the front porch in progress:

 

 

 

Check back soon for pictures of the "courthouse" style steps to be added in front of the porch.

 

 

Next, the back stairs were built:

 



And, while all this brick laying was going on down below, Rob was busy working up on the roof re-pointing one of the chimneys.  Here's a shot of the job in progress...you can see that this chimney was in bad shape.  The other chimney will also need to be done, but it's not quite as bad.

 And, finally, the framers started building the dormers we are adding to the front of the home on the roof line to give it a little more "street appeal"....First they had to remove the old slate roof shingles (original to the home, but badly damaged):

Then, construction of the dormers began:

And, the next two shots show the completely framed in dormers - hard to tell but each of the dormers has a "hip" roof, which matches the hip roof on the home:

Now, work has stopped for the moment, the "hatches are battoned," and we are waiting to see what the impact of Hurricane Sandy will be. 

Addition by Addition

We cannot believe how long it took to get to this point, but we are finally in true "build" mode.  Our foundation subcontractor and our brick mason made short work of laying the foundation for the addition of the home.  We've already been through 2 inspections - one county, one bank -  passed both with flying colors and we are now waiting for the hook-up of our temporary electrical power. 

First, the footers - the first two pictures are for the rear addition, the third picture is the side addition containing a half bath and utility room:

 





The masonry followed the footers. 

Then the bricks...we think we matched up the bricks pretty well to the existing foundation - a little clean up on the old bricks and a little aging of the new and they should meld nicely:

Heres the brickwork on the smaller side addition:

Note the black weather-proofing coating the blocks, under the brickwork, courtesy of Rob.

Reframe!

For being 100+ years old, Glenlochan is a solid structure, built with old ship beams throughout the home which add to the historical interest and structural integrity.  However, as with most homes of this age, the floors were uneven and needed leveling and the walls were far from dry-wall ready.  In the era that Glenlochan was built, walls didn't have to be level - plaster was used to cover the uneven studs and make the walls appear level.  But, when the plaster is removed, the result is very uneven walls.  As such, Rob's been working all summer on various aspects of the interior of the main structure. Leveling floors and walls and reframing windows takes a lot of time as a solo worker. Here's a few shots of Rob, hard at work, in the summer heat and humidity:

 

 

Luckily, beginning last month, we have reinforcements!  Our framing sub-contractors have begun their portion of the project, which will include additional work on the existing structure, re-roofing the home and adding roof dormers to the front of the roofline, and framing the entire addition we are adding to the rear of the home, in addition to getting the exterior completely ready for the installation of the Hardi-Plank siding. 

 

 



 To date, they have been hard at work reframing the entire exterior of the home, replacing the old studs with solid 2x6 studs around the full perimeter which serves to level the inside and outside of all four exterior walls. As they complete a section, the home is sheathed in preparation for the new exterior Hardi-Plank. Here's some additional shots of the reframe process and progress (note the nifty equipment that makes second story work a lot easier!)



Seeing such fast progress on the reframing is so rewarding after the many months of demolition.  And, Rob is far from idle these days - he is continuing his work on the home, too, along with serving as the general contractor of the project.  Never a dull moment.