Sarah & Matt's Wedding

On August 23 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic,
Sarah and Matt were married.

Sarah (Hullquist) is Er!c's cousin.
We took more photos that weekend and will post those soon

Here are a few photos from the wedding.

Life Care Music Video 2007

Well, it's time once again to shoot our company's annual music video. However, unlike last years music video we shot at 4 different locations this time (Lawrenceville, Chattanooga, Apison, and Collegedale) which added quite a bit more set-up and tear-down time. My main title was Script Supervisor, but I also filled in as a Grip when needed.

Monday we packed up all our gear and drove down to Lawrenceville, GA and prepared for an early morning shoot. All day Tuesday we shot at one of our nursing home facilities (above) and then drove back home to Chattanooga that evening. I was chosen to drive the big box truck there and back, which was quite the adventure in Atlanta rush hour traffic.

Wednesday we spent the day at Eastridge Hospital in Chattanooga, TN where we shot scenes in a hospital room and also a waiting room (above). I even had a cameo appearance as a janitor in the background of the waiting room scene. But due to a practical joke in makeup I won't show you any pictures of me. Thankfully I'm too far away in the final shot to notice the makeup... . :)

On Thursday we moved to a duplex apartment in Apison, TN, to shoot the "at home" scenes. It was quite crowded inside with 10-12 people on the set at any given time... This was one of the hottest weeks yet this summer with the heat index well over 100 degrees, so we had to buy 2 extra air conditioner units just to keep up with all the lights and warm bodies.

Friday morning we finished the home scenes and then moved to a street corner in Collegedale to finish up our shot list with a bus stop scene. Using a park bench and a bus stop sign, we were able to create an authentic looking bus stop complete with real city bus, borrowed (rented) from the Chattanooga Area Rapid Transit Authority (CARTA), along with extras at the bus stop and a couple fighting in the background (part of the story). Thankfully there was a nice breeze and we were able to be in the shade most of the time...

Here's a photo of the production crew with our lead actress (in scrubs).

~Er!c

Our Sailboat's Maiden Voyage

Today we launched our sailboat, "Nellie Sue" on her maiden voyage in Chickamauga Lake. There wasn't very much wind, but enough to get us out into the middle of the lake where we swam and had our picnic lunch.

Check out the full story, more photos and a video on our sailboat blog.

Thanks to Todd for taking this picture for us.

Let's Make A Deal

Previously... (1) Destruction of Property!!! & (2) I Reclaim This Land...

Last evening the neighbors were at their house, and so we decided to go down and talk to them about the fence.

We told them that the longer we had thought about planting trees the more we just didn't feel like that was going to work out for us. "We think that a fence would actually be best. That way, each of us would have better privacy, we could each decorate our own sides of the fence, and your children wouldn't get in our poison ivy".

They thought about it briefly and then the wife said, "...But we have rules about putting up fences in this neighborhood".

I said, "But we are not a part of your home-owner's association. Their rules don't apply to us and our property. We're putting up a fence".

We told them that we expected them to at least pay for the section of fence that they destroyed, but that they could pick out whatever fence they wanted. They agreed to that arrangement without too much resistance. I think they realized that they didn't have much choice.

I'm guessing that the fence they choose (or are allowed to use) will probably be quite pricey, possibly $100+ per 8ft of fence... The fence we've been looking at is only $32 per 8 feet. Maybe our cheap little fence will make the developer want to plant more trees and bushes on the other side of our fence to hide it! :) Perhaps one day it will look like a forest again...

I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...

Our continuing saga... (read previous post)

This evening we made a quick trip to Lowes and bought some small "one-by's" (to cut into wooden stakes) and 250 feet of fluorescent pink string. We also bought 4 Variegated Chinese Privet plants that were on sale - 50% off. Woohoo! We plan to plant those in front of the fence after it gets put up.

We then came home and Er!c cut the boards into a bundle of wooden stakes. Armed with hammers, stakes, string and spraypaint, we walked down to OUR 15' x 25' corner of the yard and started running the plumb line from one surveyor's marker to the next, keeping it as straight as possible through the bushes. Then we pounded the stakes into the ground about every 5 feet and spraypainted them hot pink!

We were hoping the neighbors would show up again so that we could tell them about our plans for the fence, but they never showed up... I hope they don't go ahead and buy all the plants & trees before we tell them that we are putting in a fence... At least we now have our boundaries well-defined, so hopefully if they do plant trees they will plant them on their side of the line.

Anyway, here are some more photos of the destruction...

Looking down at the yard, standing on the dumpster


Looking straight into OUR yard from the cul de sac


With the shovel as reference you can see how far into our yard they went


This is the view from their livingroom window


Behind their house looking into our yard


He came right up to our chain link fence (15 ft inside our yard)


More like what it use to look like --- What it looks like now...............

I suppose it could be worse. This family had their home completely demolished and cleared away without any notice.

Destruction of Property!!!

UPDATED [8/6/07]

On Sabbath afternoon I (Er!c) discovered that our new neighbor in the corner subdivision was in the process of clearing out a 15' x 25' section of our property!!!

I immediately stopped him and said, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU ARE DESTROYING OUR PROPERTY!!!"

He said, "Oh sorry, I was just clearing out these trees to make it look nicer"

I said, "But it's OUR property! You can't do that!!! Don't you know where the property markers are?" I then proceeded to show him where the markers were as I snapped some pictures with my digital camera. There were even 4 or 5 trees that were clearly marked with orange plastic ribbons.

"Oh I'm very sorry. I just started and kept going a little further" he said in his Ukrainian accent.

I told him that we actually WANTED those shrubs and bushes there to provide a privacy barrier so that we wouldn't have to look at their house. Now there is a gapping hole exposing us to them and visa versa... GRRRRRrRrrrrrr!!!!!

He finally said, "I can plant some trees here, maybe 15 or 20..." pointing at the property line. I agreed and said that would be a good idea. "Something that grows full and bushy would be best!" I said. He said that they would try to have them planted within a week. We'll see how that goes.

- - -

Today (Sunday), Jane11 came back from the ASI convention, and so we went down to talk to the neighbors again. Both he and his wife were there this time.

She said that they had "decided" to clear out the woods because she was afraid of the poison ivy. "But that's our property!" said Jane11.

The neighbor's wife even had the nerve to ask us what we were going to do about our brush pile which they can now see from their house now that our woods are gone...

...I think the brush pile will stay right where it is! . ;)

- - -

UPDATE, Monday-
Jane11 and I have decided that putting up a fence will probably be our best option here, because:

1. If they planted trees that were too short, we wouldn't be happy. It might take years for the little trees to get big enough to become a decent barrier again. They destroyed our "fence" in one day, they should at least replace it quickly...
   
2. If they planted trees that were actually tall enough but were either on or over the property line, we wouldn't be happy, especially if the trees were on our side of the line. Why should our yard get smaller so theirs can feel slightly bigger? Why should they benefit from our loss? -- especially when they took it from us without asking!
   
3. If all trees and shrubs were planted on their side, we still wouldn't be happy, because they would have gotten exactly what they wanted -- a cleared out forest with pretty trees and flowers all around... I'm guessing that buying trees and scrubs for their yard was in their original budget anyway so they're not really loosing anything. WE ARE! We have a hole in our woods and would have to look at the backside of their plants, knowing that they got the better end of the deal... Not to mention that their 4 kids would probably want to play "in the woods" behind their house (on our property).

So we've decided that putting up a definite barrier between us is the best solution to this problem. They can plant whatever plants they want on their side of the fence, and we can grow whatever "weeds" we want on our side of the fence! Good fences make good neighbors, right...? . :)

I'm going to give them the opportunity to pick out and install whatever fence they want (and install it right down the middle of the property line). If they decline to buy and put up the fence then I am more than happy to pick out the cheapest, not-so-pretty barrier fence I can find. Their front living room window overlooks our property line where the fence WILL be, so I'm sure they'll probably want something that at least looks nice. . :)