SOLD!

We sold the first house I built! You can go back to see what the house looked like during construction, but here is the final product! I am proud to say that it all came together very "easily" and is a SOLID home. We were very fortunate to get a buyer right at the end of the construction process, and they are really nice people to boot! As Jason Morris said, that is worth a lot and I can agree. I like home owners that are realistic and flexible. There WILL be things that happen to their new $800K home. But we are here to back it up and resolve the issues, if they arise. So anyone that reads this (Google search: Morris Brothers Atlanta, Morris-Brothers, Jason Morris, Matthew Morris, Morris Brothers Homes, Morris Brothers Houses) you are buying a great home from guys that actually care! (I have had a few 'hits' from people searching my previous post! Feel free to contact me.)

Family Room with built-in bookshelves
Study with diagonal designed stain grade coffer ceiling

Master bedroom with vaulted and coffered ceiling!

Master shower with seat, shampoo niche, body sprayers, dual shower heads and towel racks on the shower doors!

Master jacuzzi tub with Briggs and Stratton engine. Ok, maybe not a gas engine...!

Rear yard with privacy fence and Magnolia Underdeck system blocking the rain underneath the deck.

Proud Uncle, again!

Yesterday my little sister Amy gave birth to a healthy 8lb 8oz, 20" boy named William Lance Henson (Will). Momma and baby are doing great! Poor brother Alex is NOT going to be happy with the new addition..... He hates it when either of my nieces play with his Dadda, or even the dogs. So he is in for a rude awakening soon. That's all right, he'll get used to it, eventually! Here are a few pics:

Memorial Weekend Bike Ride

My friends Rick Masta, Paul Gibbons, Mark Brunner and I left Mark's house in Blairsville on Saturday morning of Memorial Weekend heading for Sylva, NC. Rick's sister has a very nice second home there and we had the place to ourselves for the weekend. All we had to do was get there! The first day was a 95 mile jaunt with about 5000' of climbing. It went well, except for my cleat sheering off the bottom of my shoe at mile 35. I could only push on the pedals, instead of push/pull. Fortunately my foot only came off the pedal 4 times. We left about 9 and rolled UP about 5. The last quarter mile to her house was straight up. I pushed, but Paul was the only one to go all the way.

Day 1 at Mark's house
Relaxing on the deck after Day 1
We called this our "album cover" picture. IF we were a band....
Downtown Sylva after a well deserved slice of pizza pie and beer!
Day 2 was a 90 mile out and back ride to the top of Clingman's Dome in Smoky National Park. Mark and I "opted" for the 76 mile ride to the top of Newfound Gap instead, just before the turn off to Clingman's Dome. The body can only take so much, and we weren't ready to try and keep up with Rick and Paul. Unfortunately the roads were really busy with cars on a holiday weekend, and lots of Harleys, as seen above. But the landscape at the top of the gap changed to Rocky Mountain type, or at least it seemed to me. We were only at 5048' in altitude, but the trees changed like no place on the Eastern seaboard I've seen before.

Day 3 we changed the return route a little and ended up with 90 miles, but probably a bit less climbing. I was worried that 3 consecutive days of almost 100 miles would really kill me, but all-in-all I felt pretty good. Here we are just outside of Hayesville, NC.

Four tired but hosed off puppies.

Beach bums

Dave got a sitter for the kids and we went out for a ride! Lo and behold, we ran into Joe Gasser who is one of my friends. His girlfriend is from the area and he was out for a solo ride, so he joined us.
Yet again a few more miles down the road, we ran into another friend of ours, Sven Eisenhauer and two of his buddies! So our group of two expanded to six! We took it easy and finished up with a light lunch at the Sea Grove Market. That evening we all met back in Sea Side at Rendezvous for some great sushi then over to Bud and Alley's for beers with some very nice scenery! (Sea Side is the township that the movie The Truman Show was filmed at with Jim Carrey).
What day is complete without PB&J at the beach?!? Chloe was so cute licking the PB&J off of the bread before eating it! She's a mess, but a cute one, thank goodness she takes after her mother! Except for the red hair..... :)

I think they like playing in the sand castle pool more than the ocean. But that will change when they learn to swim!
Day 3 at Water Sound beach. It was pretty overcast and the waves were obviously choppy. But it was a nice Sunday stroll, good times!
Miss Peyton and I about to head back to reality.... Good things do come to an end.....

Life's a beach

My good friend Dave Tufts invited me to his beach house near Destin with his two girls Peyton (3) and Chloe (2). His wife Jennifer, and her mother went to Seattle so I got the "pseudo uncle" call! We came down Thursday afternoon and made it in time for dinner in Seaside, near their vaction home that they rent. The last time I was in the Destin area was at least 8 years ago, and also with Dave, and also on Mother's Day weekend. (Sorry Mom to miss out on celebrating with you AGAIN this weekend. I LOVE YOU!) Here are pics from day one at the beach, I had a blast playing uncle and spending time with my friend!

Chloe (aka Coco) all wrapped up getting warm and dry after SO much fun!

Both girls love mermaids and here are their fins, although hard to see.
After the beach we pulled the Burley's (pull behind bike trailers for kids) down 30A on the bike path to the Water Color pool. Dave didn't go very slow through the mud puddles and she got covered, but she still looks cute! Both girls were passed out for the 7 mile trip. What a rough day. :)
Chloe LOVES con queso! I think the nacho was just a mechanical device to get the cheese to her mouth! Imagine that!

Riding back after dinner. Dave asked Chloe what the best part of the day was and she said "bike ride". That's my girl!

Flying for fun!

It has obviously been a while since I last posted, but not much has changed or gone on since then. It's pretty much the same routine these days; work, ride, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. The 3 houses are coming along well, except for one being delayed by the framing inspector. What a pain in the ass he has been.... I've been riding more and am working on plans for a Memorial weekend ride with 6 of my buddies. We will ride from Mark Brunner's new home in Blairsville to Sylva. The next day ride up to Clingman's Dome and back to Sylva then the following day ride back to Blairstucky.

Last week I was REALLY Jonesing to go fly, so I started making mental plans to get back up this week. I told Jason Morris that I wanted to go up soon and asked if he wanted a ride. So he and I went up yesterday for a quick hour flight. We flew over Stone Mountain then I asked if it was ok to do a touch and go at Lawrenceville (KLZU), he said sure. I'll have to say I rated it an 8 on my scale and he thought it was a picture perfect landing too! We then flew over Buford Dam at Lake Lanier and then back to PDK for another smooth landing. The lake is looking much more healthy these days with water, but the smaller islands really tell you how low the lake level is still. April showers brings...... water skiing in the summer. I don't care about flowers! Below is video Jason took from our flight, so check it out if you like. Ciao!

Flying over Stone Mountain

Flying over Lake Lanier

I’m a pielott..pylot..pilote... I fly planes.

It's official, I'm a PILOT! Yesterday, March 1st, roughly 4 months to the day after I started taking flying lessons, I passed my oral and practical exam. Since the very beginning I had hoped to do it in that amount of time and within 50-60 hours of training. I actually flew 42 hours before going for my check ride, which I was really surprised to have done.

Yesterday, Melissa and I flew up to Anderson, S.C. to do the exam with her favorite Designated Flight Examiner, Randy Haralson. He was exactly the type person she described; funny, sarcastic, fair and a general smart ass like us. I felt comfortable talking with him, so I knew that things would be OK. We started with the oral exam at the FBO in their conference room, and 1.5 hours later we were done. The oral exam is basically a continuation of the written exam, but the questions are asked by the DFE. I have continued to study for it since passing the written exam about a month ago. I was more worried about the oral exam than I was the practical. It was tough! But again, Randy was fair and I learned a few more things and will be a better informed pilot because of it.

Next was the practical exam and it went as follows (I'm writing this down now before I forget for future reference): Started off with a soft field takeoff, flew my flight plan to the first check point, diverted towards an alternate airport and stated distance and time it should take to get there, slow flight, power off stall, power on stall, steep turn, simulated IFR "hood" time with recovery from an uncoordinated attitude, flew a VOR heading TO the station, with hood off we practiced emergency landing procedures, turn about a point (I actually used the VOR beacon!), soft field landing (we counted the second touch down.... it was windy!), short field landing to a full stop, short field takeoff, no flap forward slip to land, GREASED the landing. Certified private pilot!

And since today is so beautiful, I'm taking Matthew Morris up for a ride this afternoon, my first official passenger! Thanks for all of the support and encouragement, it was fun! So who wants to go fly somewhere????

Who's f@*#!&g this chicken? That's right, me!
A more "sensible" pose!
Two pilots on a joy ride back to PDK.
A beautiful sunset
This beautiful artwork was done by Melissa when I soloed. My "tail feathers" have been up on the wall at the flight school and I finally brought it home. Notice the drawing of my mom and dad on the right when they were in the tower! I was a little more politically correct that day when I landed..... Who loves this chicken?