Our new house is coming along just fine, even if we are about two months behind where we thought we’d be by now. (But the more important consideration is that we are just about on budget… maybe even a bit
under!). We are weather-tight (except for one door that we are still trying to get the supplier to fix), have about half of the plumbing done and 85% of the electrical work, and will be putting in the radiant floor heat in early January. It’s the lack of heat that makes things go a bit more slowly now that winter is here. We’d hoped to have heat in by Thanksgiving, but lots of little things conspired against that. Nonetheless, we are ecstatic with how things are coming out (generally, exactly as we envisioned things after 2+ years of planning and design work).

          Our business, Engineered Proposals, had another good year with work timed nicely to allow Roger time to work on the house during the last half of the year. We were busy (essentially full time) with some large contracts during the first six months, then had a series of smaller projects—some of which could be done via e-mail—for the last six months. Consequently, Roger had an opportunity to spend a lot of time 2orking with and along side our builder. The result? Roger has found notches on his belt he hasn’t seen since he was forty (which equates to about 25 pounds!), feels better, and has lowered his blood pressure by about ten points. All good things… in addition to saving some money on construction and having the satisfaction of guiding house construction on a daily basis.

          Carol has found plenty of new friends in the local area. Folks around here friendly enough, but are a lot more social once they realize you are here for the winter. I guess that makes us “locals.” Even the native-born Mainers seem to accept those of us who winter here. Anyway, Carol has joined several very active craft groups: knitting on Monday, quilting on Tuesday, rug hooking on Thursday, and other less formal activities at various times during each month. So despite the fact that we are about 30 miles from the nearest population center, there is still more to do here in Downeast Maine than we ever found in Vermont.

          Roger’s parents are essentially unchanged from last year… an amazing feat in itself, given that Mom is 86 and Dad is 84. They still live in their own home in the same retirement community on the east coast of Florida. Mom still battles daily with the effects of the stroke she suffered several years ago, but still seems to win more battles than she loses. And Roger’s Dad still looks like Roger’s slightly-older brother. Simply amazing!

          Sonja and husband Perry still live in their perpetual-work-in-process home in Enfield, CT. To the untrained eye, the house looks finished, but they seem to find an endless list of repairs and improvements
that keeps them busy when they aren’t at work. Perry still works for Met Life but Sonja has taken a new job with a small environmental remediation company as Manager of Proposals. So she is back in the “family business” again… at least for a while, anyway. And Perry still gets all sorts of late night calls as a member in good standing of the Enfield Volunteer Fire Department.

That’s it for the Deans in 2007.