Kyle has a new housemate. Meet Bailey. Kyle has been renting out a room in his house and his latest tenant comes as part of a package deal that includes this lovely dog. I suspect that it will not be long before Maya pays him a visit.

My mother, now 94, was released from the hospital today after mostly recuperating from pneumonia. We are fortunate that my brother Mark lives in close proximity and was able to supervise her care with remote support from my sister Alissa. I imagine (and am hoping) she will be back on the dance floor in short order. I was also “released” from the hospital today after having a colonoscopy. The discharge nurse would not let me walk home even though it would take half the time of driving. Instead, Jeanine had to come and spring me from the joint.

The showers in the main and guest bathrooms of the River House will be fitted with the pictured control panel instead of a traditional rotary valve situated below the shower head. Because it is a digital system it offers a number of unique capabilities. Water temperature is set and maintained digitally regardless of variations in supply temperature. Jeanine and I will each have a one-button preset to dial up our preferred temperature and shower head selection (rain head, shower head, or both). The console displays the actual water temperature and the target temperature and can pause the shower once it reaches the desired set point. I did some dry testing of the system today and realized that it really wants to be installed at eye level for ease of operation and viewing. This placement will also prevent unwanted actuation by visiting future grandchildren. Should we be wheelchair bound at some point, the presets can also be activated with voice commands.

Framing on the River House has progressed to the second floor of the west wing where the sub-floor is being glued and screwed in place. Pictured in the foreground is the garage which will have a roof that slants from left to right. Roof joists will be supported in the middle by the gigantic beam. The garage doors are each 10 feet wide to give us plenty of margin as we enter and leave and 8 feet high to clear a roof-mounted kayak. Our kayaks will be stored on the high-side bay using a pulley system to hoist them up to the ceiling much as we did in our last house. The garage floor is temporarily covered with OSB sheathing to protect it from construction activity.

While out driving with Jeanine looking for house siding ideas, we passed Ponyhenge. The last time I was here, the rocking horses were facing inwards. Now they are arranged carousel style which I find much more interesting.

Generally the person behind the camera, I have relatively few pictures of myself and fewer still of me with my siblings. Today Alissa shared the photos taken by the professional who was covering her birthday party. I liked this one of me with my youngest sister, Mayela in particular.

My baby sister Alissa turned 60 today! Jeanine, Maya, and I were thrilled to join her for the celebration at her home in Slingerlands, New York. The food was fantastic, the ambiance festive, and my other sister Mayela and her husband Stephen were among the guests. The highlight of the evening for me, however, was reconnecting with a close friend, Debbie McGuinness, who I have not seen in close to 40 years. We joined Bell Labs at the same time and were participants in the OYOC (One Year on Campus) program. She did her Master’s degree at Berkeley and I did mine at nearby Stanford. We were part of a cohort that spent many weekends together and also did a small group trip to Hawaii to hike the Kalalau Trail on the Napali coast of Kauai. Debbie is a member of the cancer survivors group started by my sister and at some point she became aware of Alissa’s maiden name and made the connection. Talk about a stroll down memory lane, or rather, a drunken stumble during which I was reminded of events and stories I have long since forgotten.

The pictures below are from our Hawaii adventure. Debbie is on the left, I am flanked by my girlfriend at the time and my graduate school roommate, Ken Zabriskie. Resting on the boulder is John Modla, the fifth member of our motley crew. With limited vacation time, we chartered a helicopter to fly us to the far end of the trail and hiked back out.

Pictured here is the rough opening for the largest window in the house. It measures 13 feet wide and offers a nice view of the Sudbury River from the living area. The window assembly includes a sliding section which will provide access to stairs down to a future patio area. The entire back wall of the house, which has yet to be framed, will be two-thirds glass offering views across the river. Mounted on the tree with the ladder leaning on it is the “bird house” which shelters the camera I use to make the time-lapse videos that often appear on this blog. Every night retrieve the camera to transfer the footage to my computer and recharge the battery.

Every morning, I drive over to the River House to set up my time-lapse camera for the day. Today, I was greeted by this 8-point buck. I often hear him moving about in the brush and this is the first time I really got a good look at him. Quite the handsome fellow, I think.

At long last, vertical framing has commenced. I was tied up with consulting work all-day, but that did not diminish my excitement when I visited the site after dark to check on progress.

The framing crew scheduled to resume work on the River House failed to show up today. Suffice it to say, I was not pleased. It has become clear that they are over-committed and are juggling many jobs at once. I am beginning to think we will finish our house sooner if I just do the work myself, an option that I am not taking off the table. I decided to search for an image that would help me to relax and selected this one, taken when I visited Croatia 3 years ago.

After two days of feasting, we felt compelled to get some exercise today before driving back to Massachusetts. A three-mile hike around Lone Rock Point was just what the doctor ordered. The trail mostly followed the high cliff edge but also included several descents down to the water’s edge of Lake Champlain. We were led on the hike by Ikey, one of Susan’s close friends and Belle, a neighbors dog who she is taking care of while they are away.

Given that my cooking skills are limited to frying eggs and making toast, I was little help preparing yesterday’s feast. My talents lean towards fixing and making things which I was happy to do today. Susan wanted to upgrade to a larger TV mounted over the fireplace. We got an early start to take advantage of Black Friday pricing and returned with a 55″ model and the necessary hardware to mount it to the wall. All three kids helped with various aspects of the task and we later added a sound bar to the installation. The work was completed just in time to enjoy the US vs England soccer match on the new TV, a much appreciated upgrade as judged by the rabid soccer fans that are my children.

Susan has one of the most thoughtfully organized homes I have ever visited. The same cannot be said of her very large toolbox. Having struggled to locate the tools I needed for the TV project, I took it upon myself to reorganize her kit, a task which I take very seriously and enjoy thoroughly.