From Ceramics to Ceramic Tile...

Are they "plumbing" or putting down tile!  Say no to crack... haha!

Another Buck story for ya.  Many of you don't know that back in our younger years Joel and I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and started slowly taking on some of their hobbies.  For me, I tried to learn how to bake Grandma Marsh's famous pies - they really are the best.  Joel took on a few more artistic hobbies and started going to ceramic class with Grandma Marsh down the road on Country Rd VV.

There he was able to pick out ceramics, paint them up, fire them and use many of them to decorate his room, our house, and my room.  For a while there he was making really detailed designs and deer that appeared to be life-like.  He also made gallon jugs for Slab City which we displayed on our fire place for years.  I still have quite a few of his designs in my room, and I know that there's plenty more in storage.  The best part of doing ceramics with Grandma Marsh is that you could always save the eyes for her to finish.  The eyes were the hardest part, and most often the finishing touches.  The eyes brought the ceramic pieces to life - Grandma Marsh was perfect for the job.

When I thought of making a post to show you the ceramic floors - all of the memories of Joel painting ceramics came to me.  What an excellent hobby to add to his many skills at a young age.  Maybe that's why he wanted so much tile in his camp??  Who am I kidding - I think it's because you can clean it with a pressure washer in under 2.0 seconds...

The perk of putting tile down by the Camp Buck Shot Fridge!

Construction Fuel - Uncle Whitey's Food!

Moving on the floors, the whole great room is covered in tile.  You can only imagine how one's knees would feel after kneeling on the concrete all day to put the tile in place and then grout it all!  Thank goodness we had ample help from friends and neighbors, otherwise Curty would not be walking at the moment.  Ouch.

Ziggy Zaggy... Shnnufka!  Job well done!

One of the best features of having tile throughout the house, is the ability to heat it with boiling hot water.  Slab heat was a must when Joel was designing the house.  Who needs a basement, when you can head the slab and live right on top of its warmth!  It's also very energy efficient for the north woods - another thing Joel wanted to achieve in his place.

Speaking of energy efficiency, I'm reminded of another Buck story...  I remember when Joel was first learning about solar panels and solar energy in high school.  In order to take his knowledge to the next level, he decided to buy individual solar units on Ebay, and wire them up on a homemade solar panel mount which was made out of plywood and plexiglass.  He even painted it white for ample reflection.  As if building the panel wasn't enough, he wired it up to charge a large set of car batteries - one for energy use and one for energy storage.  Sounds cool right?!  Well, Buck wasn't satisfied, so he decided that it would be even more impressive to run our basement's energy (his domain of the house) completely off of solar power.  So about a week later, he and dad trip the breakers and the basement was running off of solar.  Hahah!  Yep, Buck was running his high school bachelor pad off of solar.   This was about the time when me, Joel, Dad, and the Winsand clan were into "getting off the grid"... so there was ample celebration of Joel's ability to remove himself from the power grid and sustain his needs through solar electricity!  Excellent.  Sooner or later, one of the panels tweaked out and the whole thing needed to be rewired... not necessarily worth it.  The basement went back on the grid - dahhh!  It was more the fact that he could do it that mattered to everyone - he definitely proved his point.

Debbie would be so proud... as Curty always says "He's so well trained..."

Well, now that you've heard some Buck Stories, I'll finally reveal how the tile looks!  Isn't is wonderful!?  I can't wait for when the boys see the tile!

The hallway by the bedrooms

The Great Room!  I absolutely loved how it turned out!