Construction Diary

The Back Deck...

2008-10-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is the finished deck. Well, except for the gutters, scheduled in two weeks.

This is under the porch area. The black wrought iron candle holder hanging on the left post is an antique. It has an orange ceramic candle in it. The brass bell and anchor is a farewell gift Richard received when he retired from the US Navy. Our chiminea came with us from Texas. The cushioned chairs were bought from a yardsale and the teak rockers are from Home Depot's end-of-season sale.

This is the open area. We've stood out here next to the rail and used the nightscope to look for animals and study the stars. Because of the clearing for the house, we have a nice view of the South eastern sky. BTW, if you've never used a nightscope to study the sky - do so immediately! The clarity is amazing (and beats dragging out the 8 inch telescope!). The horseshoe has a hinge made from another shoe that served as some kind of door or gate hinge.

This just shows the sitting area under the roof. The tree was left in place and a hole was cut in the deck to accommodate it. However, the tree has a very persistent borer insect who is drilling its innards out. We are trying to save the tree, but are worried we may have to cut it down. We'll either plant another or cover the hole in the deck if that is the case.

Another shot of the sitting area. The triangle dinner bell is a reproduction. The horse shoes are from around this area. Pa found them while plowing his property and on walks around the lake. One is from a large-breed horse such as a Belgian or Clydesdale. The other is a mule shoe.

The deck & porch...

2008-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've not posted in a while because we just got busy. We made a couple trips to see the girls, went camping, adopted a new cat and have generally been doing yardwork and the mundane every day tasks of living.

This is the front porch - note the wrought iron inserts. Our neighbor Becky's idea. We love it and think it looks wonderful and unique. The inserts were bought at Hobbty Lobby on sale for $10 each.

This is a photo of the entire house, mostly finished outside (we still have to install gutters, scheduled for two weeks from now, I think).

Next spring and summer we will begin the massive landscaping jobs. Right now, Richard is clearing the woods of brush to reduce risk of fire. That smoke you see is him burning brush at the fire ring to the left (not seen in photo). Once we've cleared space for a garden and some "walk-around" room, we'll begin the task of taking out carefully selected trees - the spindly, non-thriving ones. What's the use of a house in the woods if you get rid of the woods? We plan to keep as much forest around as we can, but we want room for both the animals in the Sanctuary and ourselves to keep a wide berth from each other.

Where'd we go?

2008-06-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

When I lost my harddrive, I also lost 6 weeks of photos I'd taken around the property. Cie la vie.

We've been working a lot around here but mostly on landscaping. Which sounds really neat, but it isn't so. In this case, most of the work involves picking up rocks, seeding the grass and watching it grow with the torrential rains we've had here.

Other than that there's been a lull in construction. The inside of the house is pretty much finished.

We decided, after several people slipped and fell that we DO need porch railings on the front porch. Our contractor also had plans to do a back deck in late spring, early summer.

He started today on the front porch rail.

This is one section. I couldn't afford wrought iron railings. It was Becky's idea to buy the Hobby Lobby wall art and then have the contractor incorporate it into my wooden rails. This was a lovely compromise and I think its even prettier than I had imagined. I'm very happy with it.

In preparation for the back deck building, Richard and I started a few days ago pouring the concrete piers.

Part of the deck will go 20 feet out with a roof over the last 10 feet like Mom and Pa's deck. The rest of the deck will be 10 feet out.

The guest bathroom fix...

2008-05-17T22:05:00.001-07:00

The pedestal sink is gone. Instead, to make more room Nathan built a custom cabinet. Its stunning and we love it. The counter Formica exactly matches the tumble of stones in the foreground of the Hovenweep tiles.

I'm having fun trying different colors of bath mats and towels. I like them all.

We left the old medicine cabinet in place. The sink is now in the corner with a small mirror over it. The mirror lifts off for cleaning. The small colored tiles are actually other photos of Hovenweep custom-created to pull the decor together.

This picture shows the space now available between toilet and cabinet. You can see the custom tile mural of Hovenweep National Park over the tub.

Another view of the little cabinet.

More gravel...

2008-03-30T17:18:00.001-07:00

When we first started construction of the house I ordered gravel to keep the mud at a minimum. In this area, gravel sinks into the soil after a while. We knew we'd have to order more eventually. I finally did it last week. 17.4 tons of one inch road gravel to cover the bare spots. The driver dumped it in 3 increments around the property.

Dumping near the porch to re-gravel the driveway turn and around the concrete stoop.

Tile in the kitchen...

2008-03-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

The tile guy and began his last job - tiling the kitchen. Richard and I cleaned out the garage and I found some more kitchen stuff. In one box was a Teissedre tile I bought in Arizona 22 years ago. As an afterthought, I was thinking that tile would look pretty good somewhere in the kitchen. Here's the story of Teissedre Tile Designs:

So I ran the idea past Richard and he loved it. This tile is representative of the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano.

The tile guy did this unique cutting to make the corners on the shelf above the stove.

Here is the finished shelf with the stove and spices in place.

We're pretty happy. The grout has already dried to a lighter color than the pictures show. The tile guy also caulked with a beige colored caulk.

Laundry cabinets...

2008-03-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

We've been doing little things that aren't readily visible on the house. Richard has finished staining, cutting and installing the baseboards for the living area. He stained all the doors a light honey maple. He burned lots of boxes. He made dinner. LOL

We also finally went through some of the garage. We emptied out the front area and the side mezzanine shelving, then sorted through it. I found the crystal, the pots (I already had the lids), the wooden trays, the rice china, and my cookbooks. I also found more boxes of fabric and quilting materials. All of this made it into the house to be put away. We haven't done that yet, though. LOL.

One thing I found previously I'd forgotten about. I have a large, antique Mr. Peanuts jar. I broke the lid a gazillion years ago and have been unable to find a replacement. Pa made me a new one out of lovely swirly-grained walnut. Now I owe him cookies. Chocolate cookies, of course. Here's the photo:

We went to Lowes and bought stock cupboards for the laundry room. I wanted storage in there for the towels and bedding, since I don't have room for a linen closet elsewhere. We are very pleased because the laundry room now has a more finished look with the units.

Today, Lonnie is here tiling the kitchen backsplash. While digging through the boxes I found the Tessidere tile I'd bought in Arizona many years ago. The colors are very similar to the Venetian Stone tile we chose for the kitchen. So Richard and I decided that Lonnie can implement the Tessidere tile into the wall of the backsplash.

Nathan came yesterday and took measurements for the new bathroom cabinet. The sink/toilet issue IS code, but we've decided we want a little more room in there. I really hate giving up the pedestal sink, but the comfort zone outweighs the look of it. In this case, form follows function in a big way.

I am still sold on an outdoor shower area for bathing dogs and washing up when doing outside work, so we think we can utilize the sink in that future project.

Cabinets done!

2008-02-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, so they need the knobs and handles, but Nathan finished the woodwork and the doors. It really looks good. You can see the Tiffany-style lights over the tables, too.

Richard and I are very pleased with the look of the cabinets. Nathan is now rendering a drawing of a possible fix in the guest bathroom.

The guest bathroom was my one design flaw. I had thought the space was larger than it was and had the plumber position the toilet across from the pedestal sink. When we started using the bathroom we discovered there is barely room to squeeze by to get to the tub. I thought we'd have to tear out tiling, cement board, tile floors, plumbing and electrical to fix the issue. Nathan suggested a small wall-jugging cabinet to hide the plumbing, sacrificing the pedestal sink for a small corner unit with counter and make it all look like a custom built in. It sounds like a lot cheaper fix than what we were contemplating. And it even sounds very pretty. So we are waiting on drawings to see what it will be like.

The tricky cabinet...

2008-02-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

Nathan, the cabinetmaker, is here! Due to inclement weather he has been delayed several times but finally, he's here. Since I wanted my stove and micro/convection oven in a corner because I had windows with a view on both sides it created a host of problems cabinet-wise. We used stock cabinets throughout the kitchen but the corner issues and the venting required a professional. Enter, Nathan.

While talking to him about things he could do, I mentioned my little lunch counter idea. He offered to make a table out of hickory to match floor and cabinets. I looked around at my kitchen and decided, "Yeah, I'd like that!" I wanted to be sure that he'd get me lots of knots and grains in the wood, though. I prefer the rustic look. He said he had some lovely pieces. Today he brought the table/lunch counter in. Oh, my. He said one of the boards was splitting so he used a wood called purple heart and made little butterfly "pins" to hold it together. He placed the butterflies randomly in the table top. He allowed for the wood to warp underneath as the seasons changed. I love the sleekness of the contemporary look...and the rustic look of a craftsman. He satisfied both mine and Richard's tastes on several levels. Here is the table (out of place):

It looks lovely even though its not in its place yet.

Here is a not very good view of the table top with the butterfly "pins."

Right now, Nathan is working on the corner cabinet so those pictures will have to wait for a couple hours.

Plumbing is DONE!

2008-02-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

The plumbing is DONE! Yes! The plumber finished the final steps today - hooking up the master bathroom sink and bathtub.

The electrician is arriving later today to do the final electrical hookups (we hope). I bought the hanging lights for the dining room and the lunch bar. The master bathroom needs all its outlets and lights put in.

Richard has the bedroom doors stained and ready to install. He will finish the baseboard trim when the doors are on.

The guest room closet still needs trim and doors.

The end is NEAR!

Slowing down...

2008-02-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

Things have slowed down on the house as we start wrapping up the final details. The electrician and the plumber are coming Saturday to finsh up the details. The cabinet-maker is supposed to call me back.

Richard will be going to get the 2 bedroom doors tomorrow. One he installs them, he will finish the baseboards.

And then the decorative phase starts. Hanging pictures, putting up shelves, and building different things as needed like small cabinets, or bookcases. I'm anxious to get to this phase.

More Window Trim!

2008-01-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

Yet another view of the kitchen windows, this time with the oak trim finished.

I will not put curtains on these windows. Both have views of my forest and I really like that. A curtain would spoil the view of sky, trees and grass.

The cabinet maker is coming today to finish the cabinet above the stove. Hope to have pictures of that later today.

Great Windows!

2008-01-21T21:24:00.001-08:00

Richard put the oak trim around the windows. He also installed the curtain rods.

This prompted me to make the valances from the 4 yards of fabric I bought a couple years ago. I'll make the rest of the curtains later. Maybe even tomorrow!

This is the view of the front window with the oak trim and the new valance.

This is the side window with the oak trim and the new valance.

More Master Bathroom...

2008-01-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple pictures of the bathtub, toilet and window of the master bathroom. The sink has not been installed yet.

The entire tub wall with ship mural installed.

An angled view showing the toilet in relation to the tub.

The toilet with the window above.

The Master Bathroom...

2008-01-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

About 20 years ago Richard bought a tile mural featuring a lovely sailing ship. We saved it all these years to go into a house that we built. The tiling team installed it today in the master bathroom.

Like the guest bathroom, I wanted to put individual tiles on the walls of some other photos or pictures. Being a Trekker, I decided I'd find pictures of all the Enterprises, from the sloop Benedict Arnold managed to steal from the British (America's first Enterprise) to the America's Cup winner, to the aircraft carrier and any in between. I intended to culminate the pictures with one of the Star Trek Enterprise. Richard vetoed the entire idea. Sigh. In a way it was good because I was unable to find most of the photos and pictures I needed anyway. I have a great shot of the Star Trek Enterprise hanging in the Smithsonian because we toured the exhibit when it first arrived there. Beyond that, except for the aircraft carrier, the other pictures were not available.

Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

The professional tilers work a whole lot faster than we did! They expect to finish tomorrow.

2008-01-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

My kitchen is starting to look like a real kitchen! Richard and I put the wall cupboards up. We have a man coming to do the tile work behind the stove next week. We bought the toekick boards and Richard will finish out the woodwork.

He is currently working to put a vapor barrier in the crawlspace beneath the gravel. This is something that should have been done at the beginning, but again, several subcontractors had different opinions, so we chose not to. Its still a question as to whether this will help the attic condensation issue, but time will telll. It certainly can't hurt anything by being there and in fact, will keep the crawlspace from condensation issues, too. Since we do store some things down there, it will prevent rust and water damage.

A sink! And more...

2008-01-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

The sink is now functioning. So is the garbage disposal, the icemaker and the dishwasher! I am running a load of dishes right now. We can't test the icemaker just yet - somehow, we've lost the ice bucket that fits under it. I know its out there in the garage somewhere...

I never thought I'd be GLAD to do dishes.

Attic condensation issues...

2008-01-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

We are still dealing with the attic condensation issues. The 7 new roof vents did very little to fix the problem. It is possible that this is because the weather has been miserable - freezing cold and low humidity, meaning the condensation freezes at night in the low 20 degree range. Daytime temperatures have been 31 degrees for three days, which means it has not unfrozen.

Richard placed wireless temperature and humidity gauges on both sides the attic. We also have a weather station wired to the outside. He has created a spreadsheet and chart and is monitoring the whole thing. The humidity in the attic is between 80-100% at any given time, despite outside gauge reading in the 40% range. The temperature in the attic is hovering at the high 60 degree range, a good 30 degrees higher than the outside temps. From what I understand, attic temp and humidity and outside temp and humidity should be within a few degrees of each other if the circulation from soffits and vents is well-placed. This is not happening.

We were advised that the problem might be the crawlspace foundation leaching moisture through the outer walls to the attic. We bought a dehumidifier and it has been running for two days. The pan is half full of water after a 24 hour period, and relative humidity in the crawlspace has improved.

However, the attic remains the same. Today the temps went to the 40s so we are trying something different. We opened all the doors and windows and have turned on the whole house fan. Within a few minutes, the humidity in the attic dropped to 60% (from a high today of 82%). It has remained steady for the last 3 hours.

We are currently bundled up in our winter jackets while the attic dries out.

Richard has gone into the attic to check the status and says the condensation on the baffles is gone.

We will leave the whole house fan on for a few more hours and then shut it off.

Tomorrow, we will repeat the process and see what transpires with the condensation.

What we do know is that this is a bandaid, not a fix. We will be doing some other remediation recommendations until the problem is solved.

Everything but the kitchen sink...

2007-12-31T16:37:00.000-08:00

Not anymore! I have a sink installed. No plumbing to it, but definitely a sink. Progress is being made.

In the on-going porch leak saga we now have 7 passive vents on the south side of the roof. Richard has logged the temperature for the last 3 days...and nothing has changed with a full 24 hour rotation of new vents.

Wednesday the insulation folk are coming out to see if they can figure it out.

Of roofs and vents and sealing glue, of airflow through the seams...

2007-12-29T11:10:00.000-08:00

Despite never having constructed a house before, Richard and I had tons of expert experience around us. Pa was ever helpful and went way beyond to make sure we did things right and well. We talked to contractors around the area, chose men and women recommended by others. Richard and I acted as our own contractors and therefore all our expert help were our subcontractors.

Only in one case did we decide arbitrarily that we could do something none of us had ever done. Even our framer and roof man had never done it. That something was to put in a ridge vent and ice dam material on the roof rather than going with typical vents or the turbine vents you see on most roofs. Ridge vents are relatively new, and a lot of contractors in this area still don't use the new technology. Ice dam material goes on from the edge up 18 inches of the roof. We put a second layer up there, bringing it to 36 inches covered in the material.

We put 20 soffits in the eaves for airflow. There are three ways to control airflow from bathroom and stove vents inside the house. You can vent to the attic (about 50% of home builders in this area do that), or vent to the outside - either through the roof or the sides of the house.

We decided the bathroom vents and the stove vent could simply go into the attic since we had a ridge vent and plenty of soffits. Also, our attic has a lot of space as it is higher than most peaks due to our 9 foot walls inside the house.

After reading up on ridge vents and ice dam material on the Internet, consulting the store where we bought the materials and going over the instructions that came with the package, we were confident it would be done right.

Our roof is an inverted V, supported solely by the trusses. The beam under the porch is fake, and the porch pillars are for looks, they do not support the roof at all. After the ice storm last week, we noted the roof had a lot of snow (which means insulation is good) and that it was steadily melting as it should when weather warms up.

One day, Richard took Echo out to run in the yard and stayed up on the porch. And that's when he noticed the fake beam UNDER the porch was dripping.

Roof leak? Condensation? The ice dam material not functioning?

And so began a saga in which we and a series of experts started examining the roof, the shingles, and the attic.

Richard went into the attic and found a mess. All the insulation over the porch was wet. Soaking wet. When he lifted out the soffits, water just drained out. The rest of the attic was fine. Only the porch part of the roof was affected. The ceiling above (underside of the roof) was slighly damp, but only over the porch. The baffles between the house attic and the porch attic were covered in condensation.

We had intentionally separated with special baffles the porch attic and the house attic. This was a recommendation of the insulation company so we'd not lose heat and insulation creeping over to the unheated part of the porch attic.

After much examination of the roof, every single expert said the problem was condensation. But what could have possibly caused it? Venting bathroom and stove vents to the attic? But we KNEW of other houses in the area vented this way, in fact, the very man who did the bathroom and stove work did his own newly built home this way! And there was so much water! We'd moved in November 4, the ice storm happened last week. Another examination of the roof should no leaks in it. The problem was condensation.

Everyone had a solution. The roofing folk had one. The insulation guys came out and had one. The various subcontractors - roofers and ventilation folks both, had one.

1. Insulate around the attic access door
2. Insulate above in the attic and put a cover in the house over the whole house fan
3. Vent the bathroom and stove to the roof, rather than the attic
4. Put in more baffles between the house attic and the porch attic

Richard spent a couple days doing the first two. These two things we meant to do ANYWAY, but had put off as we dealt with other issues.

All of these solutions made sense. But what CAUSED the problem in the first place? Why wasn't air flowing in the attic when we had a full length ridge vent and twenty soffits? In normal circumstances, twenty soffits are overkill. But we had trouble before with houses that had ventilation problems so we wanted to be sure we'd have plenty of air circulation in the attic.

Richard went and consulted with the roofing materials people again. While there, a young man who worked there on the side and had his own roofing company suggested we test the vents and airflow. He'd bring out a fog machine (yep, just like those Halloween fog ones!) and he'd test the airflow by releasing fog from outside into the soffits, then releasing fog in the attic to see where it went.

This morning, after about 2 hours, we discovered the ridge vent has completely failed. No fog went in and no fog came out. We're not sure why this has happened, since appears to be properly installed. The mesh style fabric inside is taut, and it appears the baffles are fine.

The young man said we had two choices. Take the ridge vent off and reapply it, or simply put in 7 new regular vents across the south side of the roof. The south roof faces the back yard and the vents won't be visible.

We decided to do the second. Although the young man has experience installing ridge vents, its failure and the fragility of the material has caused us to re-think its application.

So tommorow the young man and one of his helpers will be coming to install roof vents.

We will also take the bathroom and stove vents out via the roof. A subcontractor has already been hired to do that job, too.

See the ice melting at the left corner? That was the first indication something was wrong. The ice should've melted evenly across the roof.

A lesson learned. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Ridge vents may be right for some, but not for others.

Fortunately, we discovered the issue early and remediation will not be as expensive as it could've been.

Kitchen, ad nauseum...

2007-12-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone is sick of every step of the kithcen pictures, but that's where we still are. Its not being put together as fast as the rest of the house.

The sink is not yet under the double windows. Richard anchored the cabinets and we put the temporary stock formica counters on for Christmas dinner. We'll probably keep the counters a few years until I decide what I really want. The stove will have cabinet doors above and tiling and a shelf between the appliances.

My baby dishwasher (only 18 inches wide) will be on a platform and hanging from the cabinet.

The table with the antique sewing machine legs is temporary. My lowered lunch counter will go there with matching chairs.

I still have not found the perfect lights to hang over the dining room or the lunch counter. I want something like a Tiffany, but more Frank Lloyd Wright - sort of a stained glass prairie Southwestern look.

Lifting my end...

2007-12-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

We have started moving our belongings into the house. This event was preceded by Richard putting baseboard on the walls.

Yesterday we moved the pie safe and the rolltop desk in.

Today we decided to move the china hutch in. I needed a place to store the dishes that I continue to unpack.

After clearing the way in the garage we discovered the piano and the entertainment center were in front of the china hutch. It would require someone stronger than me to help Richard get it out of the hole. So I called Pa.

Pa came up and between the guys, they decided to move the piano AND the entertainment center into the house before they brought in the hutch. We especially DREAD moving the piano. Its front legs are curvy Queen Anne useless things and if stressed might snap right off. The entertainment center is a big oak cabinet that weighs a ton. Pa brought the dolly down and they used rachets to make straps to grab. They rolled each unit over, then gently dropped it on its back onto the porch, then uprighted each one and rolled it into the house. Then they carried the two pieces of the hutch in one at a time.

From having no furniture and thinking it'd be days before I could empty boxes, I now have the full complement of the heavy stuff in the house!

I've found the Lladros, the Waterford, the Galway, the table lamps and shades. I also found the pole lamps, but not their shades. I've found all the pan lids, but only one pan. The piano bench is still missing. I found kitchen dishcloths, but not kitchen towels. I have glasses, but no plates.

I have box on the porch labeled "kitchen" but when I opened it, my planter stands from the back patio were in there along with some terra-cotta pots.

I'm hoping the one labeled "bathroom" has the good towels in it.

Tomorrow will be interesting.

Lights! Camera! Cooking!

2007-11-28T20:48:00.001-08:00

The floor is finally finished. The electrician came by for a while and hooked up the last AC/heating vent and one of the kitchen lights. The other needed lightbulbs so its not hooked up yet.

I've been cooking on a daily basis since Sunday. Mom and Pa are now coming up to visit and have dinner with us instead of us going down there and having dinner with them. Mom is enjoying the break.

The cabinets are not actually installed. They're simply being placeholders until we nail down the exact kitchen design. I drew it all out on the sub-floor, but we put the wood flooring over that. Nevertheless, Richard has all the measurements for when we are ready to get busy pulling the kitchen together completely. This didn't stop me from setting up my counters with spices, utensils, dry goods and dishes.

Right now, Richard's still nailing in the baseboards and window trim.

We are also moving a few sticks of furniture or a few boxes in from the garage. The table in the photo is actually my work table, not my dining table. The roll top desk is now inside, as is the pie safe.

Our next big move will be bringing in our dressers.

And after that, the dreaded piano and entertainment center. Dreaded not because of what they are but how HEAVY they both are. The piano is especially difficult to move because it has Queen Anne legs in front that cannot take any strange-angled pressure or be used to hold on. I hope whoever helps us move it has eaten their Wheaties!

The guest bathroom...

2007-11-20T08:17:00.000-08:00

Each tiled wall in the guest bathroom took a full day to complete. The custom tiles really make it glow. The plumber came on Saturday and installed the fixtures. The electrician came yesterday to install the lights.

We had an issue with the medicine cabinet and the lights. We couldn't recess the cabinet due to the pipes and electrical behind the walls. The vanity lights didn't come out over the medicine cabinet enough to do the job intended. Pa and Richard created a wood base to hang on the wall to bring the lights out over the medicine cabinet. I love the look of the two different woods but everyone else is not convinced. We may end up painting the medicine cabinet or perhaps refinishing the wooden base a different color. The wood base is not visible in this picture. Still, I think the bathroom looks good. I need to spiff it up some with the proper towels and some objects of interest, but this is the basic look of it.

Laying the new flooring

2007-11-20T07:31:00.000-08:00

We weighed the pros and cons of real wood flooring. It seemed that real wood, while stunning, would require refinishing every few years. Also, to get real wood flooring in a thickness to refinish was prohibitively expensive. Thin wood flooring sold for regular prices but couldn't be re-finished well.

Then we checked out hardwood-engineered floors - made with real hardwoods with specially glued techniques. Whenever I hear wood/glue/adhesive, I remember my kitchen counter in Pennsylvania...a hardwood engineered counter meant to last a lifetime. And the counter above the dishwasher was bubbled and peeling due to the humidity of the steam from the appliance.

Laminate flooring was considered next. However, to me, most looked fake. We looked at them all. I love the knotty detailed wood colors, Richard preferred blonder wood. One day, while at the hardware store, they were putting samples of new laminates up and we saw it. Armstrong's SwiftLock made to resemble hickory wood. Hickory is a dark blonde wood. There were knots and swirls and grains galore. We bought 99 boxes (and got a 15% Veteran's Day discount!) and proceeded to lay the floor.

Once you understand the locking system, its easy to lay. Slide the end in first, then at a slight angle, slide the horizontal length in. Shims under the boards help keep it in place until you've finished a row. Tap into place with the special tool (a tapping block and a pull tool, both available in the same area of the store), then pull the shims out and walk on the boards to lock in place. It took us four days to lay the Great Room which is 30 X 29 feet. We laid it all the way across even under the stove, fridge and kitchen counters. There are special precautions doing this, make sure to read instructions.

Here are the before and after pictures:

Before the flooring could be laid we had to prep it by sanding rough spots and any swelled sub-floor (from rain when the roof wasn't in place).

This is an after shot. Notice the socks on the legs of the furniture. Richard and I weren't sure we could trust the warranty at first and so did our best to protect the newly laid floor. Although we've slid a few things across and its not done any damage, I plan to put some sort of protection on the legs, anyway (besides the socks, which look a little tacky). LOL

The kitchen area...

2007-11-20T07:16:00.000-08:00

The kitchen area is not complete but we're getting closer. Richard and Pa spent some time figuring out how to put the rangehood/microwave/convection oven in place - it is supported from the TOP, not the bottom, something I didn't know when I bought it. Anyway, they devised a shelf above that will be mostly hidden by the cupboard that will also hide the vent pipe. The stove was easy, just plug it in. For those with small children, the stove came with an anti-tilt bracket that attaches it to the back wall. We'll probably install that once the kitchen tiling is done.

This is the "before" shot the day after installation. I set up a little cooking corner. and of course, the first thing I actually cooked was a new batch of homemade dog food. A few days later, I had to move all the stuff because we put in the floor.

This is the after shot of the flooring installed. Again, all the stuff surrounding the stove is temporary. The one cupboard seen is actually the under-the-sink one. However, it is about 2 feet right of the sink for the moment. To the left of the stove is a box which contains the sink. LOL

The kitchen will eventually have some tiling as a backsplash and the cupboards will be properly aligned. There will be a "lunch counter/island" coming out from the wall in the center of the room, too.

Today's work...

2007-11-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Pa and Richard did a lot of work today! Richard started by installing the dryer hose through the crawl space to the outside air. I've been washing and drying ever since! LOL

They then put the convection/microwave/range hood in place. The open space above will have a cabinet and door when finished. The stove goes beneath and the OSB board showing will be tiled as a backsplash.

They actually put the phones in first. Pa showed Richard had to do all the jack work and then they put the outside phone box into the crawlspace. Before it was on the outside of the foundation because phones and computer were temporarily installed in the Airstream camper. This is my new hobby room/office, minus the floors, still.

Flint takes a nap on our bed...we haven't found the rails yet, although we did find the headboard and footboard.

Echo is actually laying on the couch. The futon couch in front of the window is the dogs' spot - they get up there to sleep and look out the window to bark at cars, cats and anyone who ventures into the yard. Both dogs were skittish with Richard and Pa going in and out so moved to different spots.

Yet another Snake & Progress...

2007-11-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

No pictures today...

While Richard sanded, laid adhesive and then put the concrete board down in the guest bathroom, I emptied half the garage to get to my washer and dryer. As I cleaned them up in preparation to bringing them inside I opened the washer lid to find a lovely lint and paper mouse nest. Fortunately the inhabitants were long gone.

We brought the washer and dryer into the finished laundry room and hooked them up. It was great to just throw in load after load of laundry at my own house! I've been doing laundry at Mom's and the laundromat for 2 years now.

In addition to that I decided to bring the leather couch, the chair and the ottoman in. Mom and Pa showed up and I put Mom to work cleaning the couch with leather cleaner and then wiping it down with the leather conditioner.

And since I was in the back of the garage and my mattress and box springs were right there we brought them in, too.

I washed sheets, made the bed, put the Pendleton blanket on the couch and remade the futon couch with clean sheets for the dogs. The futon couch is their bed. I shoved it up to the window so they could look out and see the world pass by.

And then I had to put all the stuff back in the garage. Richard came out and helped with that so it went pretty fast.

He also installed the door in the master bathroom (we had installed the only functioning toilet about 3 months ago)

We'll be sleeping in the house tonight for the first time.

After laying floor tile tomorrow in the guest bathroom, then grouting it on Tuesday, we should be able to install the shower/tub faucets and use it by Wednesday. I hope. We'll leave the toilet and the sink for the plumber to finish.

A good, productive day but I am tired!

Oh, and walking to Mom's we met up with the neighbor kids and found a different dead baby snake of some sort in the middle of the road.

The tiling projects...

2007-11-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

These are closeups (minus the grouting process) of the tiles we put on the walls in the guest bathroom.

These photos are on the left side of the medicine cabinet.

These photos are on the right side of the medicine cabinet.

These photos are on the opposite wall over the toilet.

More SNAKES and tiling...

2007-10-31T17:05:00.001-07:00

So Richard and I do our evening walk to Mom's and we find not one...but TWO more snakes - both tiny Western ringnecks. One is dead, the other is barely moving in the cold. We shooed it on its way and went on.

We also tiled the next wall in the bathroom. The tiny tiles you can barely see are single photos of Hovenweep of specific ruins. This is the result at the end of the day.

Tiling, Tiling, Tiling...

2007-10-29T17:10:00.001-07:00

My mural arrived last week from TilePix

Ed was great to work with and made some good suggestions and I am VERY pleased with the mural. The mural is a photo taken by my Pa (and its copyrighted). We visited Hovenweep National Park three years ago and he took some awesome picutres!

Richard and I spent the entire day tiling the wall, placing the mural and putting in the corner soap dishes. There's a trick to the soap dishes - set them in on the tile, rather than trying to hang them from the tile!

Here is the Hovenweep photo in place on the wall.

This is the cropped photo to see it better.

Tiling the laundry room...

2007-10-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

So we began tiling the laundry room last week. Seemed to be fairly simple. We'd done it before and with a quick refresher from a book we thought we were ready.

We did the largest wall first - tiling halfway up on the wall that would have the tub, the washer and the dryer against it. Richard had to cut and saw tiles to fit around the openings in the wall for the appliances.

When we got to the wall behind the door, we realized we couldn't continue unless we put the molding around the door first. Off we went to the hardware store to buy molding. Came back and attached the molding, then finished tiling that wall.

Then it started to rain. As it rained we discovered that the back door had a leak of some type. Richard caulked it really well, but next day, we had more water on the floor from the rain. After a discussion with Pa, the men figured that despite the caulk there was an inherent flaw in the door sill that even caulking more wouldn't fix (a rubber seal at the bottom allowed rain to capillary in). However, a storm door WOULD fix the problem and we had one laying in the living room to install later.

So, tiling stopped to get the storm door installed. What should've taken 15 minutes to a half hour took nearly two full days and two people. Although well made, the storm door comes with a variety of options because door sizes in houses are different - there is no standard! Moldings had to be cut, shims had to be placed and Pa eventually had to manufacture an aluminum strip so the door would close properly.

In the meantime, Richard and I had already purchased the cement board flooring to do the floor tiles. At about the same time we realized we needed a storm door, Richard talked with the electrician and discussed the dryer vent and where it would go. Because of the way the house was built, the vent would have to go in the floor. Richard would have to drill a four inch hole and get the sleeves for all the ductwork. So we did that.

Finally, we commenced with finishing up the tiling of the walls. Because the other side of the room would have only the water softener and water heater on it, we decided that wall didn't need to be fully tiled. We just put a line two tiles high around the perimeter.

Richard starts tiling the wall.

This is the back door and the storm door. See all the pretty tiling behind it?

Echo the supervisor gives a quality check to our work. The doorway she is standing in goes directly into the foyer/great room and will have wooden swinging saloon doors someday.

We still have to tile the floor and then we'll grout the entire job. After that cures for 24 hours, the plumber will come in and hook up the water softener, water heater and laundry tub.

Priming and Painting

2007-10-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

We are to the priming and painting stage! The end is in sight!

Okay, there's still a lot of work to do but its going much faster.

Richard primed and painted the laundry room while we were in the city. Becky, Richard and I primed and painted the office. The laundry room is a lovely sky blue color called Falling Waters. My office is a soft smoke color called Twilight Gray. I should've painted it white for the quilting but I went with what I liked. There are four recessed lights and two sconces in the room, plus I'll have a work light and probably another lamp by my desk so true color for quilting shouldn't be too hard.

Richard primed the ceiling yesterday and we both primed the walls in the great room. Today he is painting the ceiling. Later, I'll go in and help him. We selected a very pale brown/red color called Weathered Sandstone for the walls.

Attic Insulation and Sheetrock finishing

2007-10-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

The sheetrockers finished hanging the sheetrock. We then called in the finishers to do the mudding of all the seams and cracks. They do a preliminary quick patch and paper, then another layer of mud, then another layer of mud and then they sand it to a smooth finish. We had to wait a day or two between layers for it to dry. Drying was delayed by the rain, which we needed.

On the last day as the mudders were sanding, the insulation truck arrived. This truck has a machine in the back and a hopper to load the bales of fiberglas insulation. The machine blows the cotton-like fluff into the attic. This fiberglas is much different than the stuff of old which was itchy and left miniscule slivers of glass in skin as it cut into a person.

This is the truck with the door open and the hosing in place.

Another shot with the insulation truck and the mudders' truck in front of the house.

Tiling...

2007-09-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

The preparation for tiling the laundry room and both bathrooms has commenced.

Last year I won and auction at a lumber supply company going out of business. I got 41 boxes of glossy white tile for $82. Its retail value was around $1,000.00.

We decided the white tile would go in the laundry room. However, after pricing the really nice tiles, borders and sets, we decided that the white tiles would also go in the bathrooms! The only problem is...the tiles are white and glossy. Kind of boring, actually. So how could we liven them up?

When we renovated a bathroom about 15 years ago, we put a tile mural on the wall. We decided to do this again. Part of the reason that house sold so quickly was because of the tile mural or so the new owners said.

I searched high and low on the Internet for a pretty mural. There are dozens. I started looking at custom tiles done for other people. Then I had this bright idea...what if WE did custom tiles? The search was on.

As my readers, family and friends know, this house will have a Western/Southwestern feel to it. I found some photographs of our trip to Mesa Verde and our trip to Hovenweep in Utah. Hovenweep is an ancient Native American ruin. The pictures are stunning.

CafePress.com allows you to create your own custom tiles. I decided that I'd make single 4.24 X 4.25 tiles of the prettier photos of Hovenweep. After much agonizing, I selected 8 photos. After about 5 hours of practice, reading and some not-so-nice words, I figured out how to transfer the photos to the website in proper format for the company.

I also plan to have a company that makes murals do a 12 tile mural of one photo. Below is one of the more stunning photos - the sky is blue AND a pale, glorious turquoise! Not sure if its visible but that's a marmot on top of the high peak - we weren't close enough to really tell, but we're almost certain (grin).

Sheetrock!

2007-09-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

The sheetrockers came today. They worked six hours and got the ceilings and walls up in record time. Richard and I did cleanup. It took US two hours. I now have walls to go with my functioning toilet! (None of the other bathroom stuff functions, however).

The living area with the new walls.

A shot looking towards the kitchen area from the front door.

This is my bedroom. The sheet acts as a privacy barrier to the bathroom until we can get the door installed.

Me and the Pedestal Sink...

2007-09-19T15:45:00.001-07:00

Okay - I told this story to someone else and they said I have to post it.

See, a couple months ago I saw a pedestal sink that was perfect for my bathrooms. I wanted one with a backsplash and surface area for a soap dispenser and maybe a candle. I found one in a small family lumber company in town. Problem was the company that made it sold to another company and there was no matching toilet or bathtub. No problem I'd just get one at another place, right? Wrong.

Each company that makes bathroom fixtures makes them different colors of white so you have to buy THEIR products if you want it all to match!

What to do?

I learned from one of the clerks in the plumbing department that there are some off brands that will match...but you better have something to compare it to before you buy or you'll be running all over returning toilets.

So, I went into the little family lumber company in our little local town...told them my dilemma. I batted my eyes (I have lizard eyes so I can't bat my lashes...lizard eyes - pale blonde, barely there lashes, I look like a lizard without makeup, but I digress...) smiled big (I can bare 28 teeth in a smile) and asked sweetly if I could take their display pedestal and go around to various stores to see if I could match up a toilet and bathtub.

Being the trustful small-towners they were, they immediately dismantled the sink, handed over the pedestal and let me have my wicked way!

I then trotted through a couple stores and like the Statue Of Liberty, I held my pedestal aloft where the display toilets were and rather than lighting a torch, I simply...compared colors. (Both companies display their toilets and tubs high on the walls about 6 feet up).

I found matching bathtubs at Home Depot and matching toilets at Lowes.

I then trotted back to the little family lumber yard and gave back their pedestal, thanking them kindly for the service.

I also bought two pedestal sinks from them.

The interesting thing is whenever I go in there now, if Becky is with me, they talk to HER about what I want...just in case the crazy lady goes off on a pedestal hunt again.

What can I say? Shopping's always an adventure around here.

Here's a picture of the pedestal...and the sink under the wires. I'll post photos later when its installed so you can see why I liked it so much.

Small decisions...

2007-09-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

We drove to Osage Beach yesterday to the new Home Depot. The painting fiasco continues as the Springfield Home Depot still has not restocked (even though we've been told they've restocked twice) the base paint needed to finish our trim. We've driven to Springfield 3 times now to get the paint right. We gave up and went to the HD in Osage Beach. While there we found the perfect shower/bathtub fixtures so I'm happy.

Richard and Pa worked on leveling the area to the east of the house. The recent rains have shown where water pools and makes mud pits, so it is something that needs to be addressed. In addition, they used the tractor to push down the ashes of the burn pile, leaving nitrogen rich soil all over!

We'll be planting grass for erosion control.

Painting and other projects...

2007-09-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

Richard painted the east and north sides of the house over the past week.

I wanted a specific pedestal sink for both bathrooms and only one place had it. Unfortunately, they didn't carry the matching toilet or bathtub. We had to make a couple trips around town to find matching toilets and tubs. I also got all my towel bars, robe hooks and tissue paper holders.

Sears delivered my stove, dishwasher and microwave/convection oven/rangehood (its all one unit).

The place is starting to come together. I'm hoping we can move in sometime in mid-October.

That's Richard on the porch carrying out the bathtub box. That's the plumber and his truck on the ground. He is installing the bathtubs and other plumbing today. We don't know how far he'll be going but supposedly he'll be installing a working toilet in the near future, too. For those of you who've ever used an RV bathroom, you know what a blessing this will be. I'm tired of 3 minute showers and cleaning tanks.

The Great Paint Fiasco...

2007-09-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

So - we toodled off to Springfield (nearest Home Depot) to buy paint. The reason we went so far is because in the renovations of the house in Texas we knew HD's Behr brand paint is simply the best.

We had chosen the colors based on sample quarts of paint we brought home. We did a test patch on the house to check colors.

HD was having a massive paint sale so everyone and his brother was there to buy paint. We gave the harried and somewhat frustrated clerk our card and asked for Exterior satin - 5 gallons of one color, 3 gallons of another color. The second color of paint had a fancy name (Applesauce Cake)which is a pale cinnamon brown. When we returned to get the paint, the 3 gallons were YELLOW. Apparently, there is a color also called "Applesauce" which is yellow. The guy agrees to re-mix the 3 gallons of paint.

We drove home and Richard started painting. He was doing the trim by starting high and working his way down. Two hours after he started he came off the ladder to check his work.

The trim color, Applesauce Cake, perfectly matches the house color (Sunset Beige)!

We take old and new colors and brushed some on the paint sticks we were given. Sure enough, the trim color is a shade off of the house color. The original trim color is MUCH darker.

So we hop in the car for a return trip to Springfield to return the wrong color mix.

An hour out, the check engine light comes on in the 4Runner. This is NOT good. It may not be bad. Toyota has an issue with that check engine light - its a diagnostic tool for something as simple as a dirty air filter to something as dramatic as throwing a rod. However, as owners, we don't have the magic diagnostic computer that tells us if this is a minor problem or a major problem. We turn around and go home.

We checked the time, estimated our chances, threw the paint cans in the Corolla and took off again. We arrived at HD in Springfield 10 minutes before closing.

The problem was that the clerk had mixed the trim paint in an accent color white instead of a base color white. Because of the paint sale, they only had one can of base coat left! ACK! The clerk mixed that for us and gave us a note to give to her supervisor on Thursday. That's re-stock day. We have to return to Springfield to get the other two gallons.

Cost of paint: $215.35
Cost of 1 1/2 tanks of gas $ 45.00
for two round trips to HD
1/2 tank gas future trip +$ 15.00
__________
TOTAL $275.35

Rebate on paint - $ 40.00
___________

TOTAL $235.35

The paint cost us $25 MORE than the sale. Sigh.

Anyway, Richard is painting the trim and it looks GREAT. I guess I can't complain too much. I'll post pictures later when he is further along.

Testing Colors...

2007-08-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

We stopped at a Home Depot and checked out colors with Becky and Mom. The beauty of concrete siding is that it never has to be painted unless you choose to do so, of course. With that in mind we looked at colors. Richard wanted brown tones, I wanted earthy Southwestern tones. This is what we compromised on.

The house color is Sunset Beige. The trim is called Applesauce Cake. Mom, Becky and I really love it. Pa and Richard are less enchanted. Richard likes it, but not as well as other colors.

This is the unfinished living room where we watch TV most nights after a hard day's work. Note the plug going out the window. We're using the contractor's temporary receptacle to power up the TV.

However, the electrician has now installed some working lights in the hobby room and a couple working plugs around the house for inside use. I'm hoping we can dig out the refrigerator and move it in, I'd like more freezer and fridge space!

HeatWave!

2007-08-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

The construction is currently at a standstill due to the "bubble of hot air" currently encompassing the MidWest. Temps have soared into the triple digits - 103 degrees the past two days.

The electrician is due this evening to do some finishing up, but if its as hot inside as it was a few days ago, I may discourage him from continuing (110 degrees INSIDE with fans on!). I don't want him dying of heat stroke.

When the evening comes it cools down considerably. We've been able to watch TV inside the house and lounge about.

More updates when the weather cools off!

The new stair pad...

2007-08-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

The complete, finished new concrete stair pad. Richard had to dig around the edges, pull the form out, then replace the dirt. The steps were slightly wobbly due to an imperfection in the concrete so he bought some rubber shims to place under that part. Echo approves, she's been up and down the steps several times now.

The new back porch landing...

2007-08-05T05:21:00.000-07:00

We fenced in back of and to the right of the house for the dogs. The Airstream actually sits inside the fencing so the dogs would be penned if I opened the door. A gate at the front allows all of us out of the fencing. The fence is fastened to the 4 foot foundation of the house. In front, we backfilled with 2 feet of dirt because the yard needed leveling to the driveway.

However, the house's back door is still 4 feet off the ground. We needed a temporary back landing & stairs so I could still let the dogs out and they'd be penned in the yard in the evenings (around here wandering dogs are usually shot).

Our contractor made a small landing out of the scraps of wood that were left. As you can see, the base is only concrete block.

We will build a large deck out the back of the house later. You can see the crawlspace entrance under the stairs. Echo has already sniffed around peeking in cautiously to check it out. When the whole foundation space was open she'd play in there, but since we put the floor on she's avoided it.

The temporary landing.

By the way, the fence is also temporary - we plan to move it and make a much nicer looking Western rail style later.

2007-08-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

POURING CONCRETE...

So, Richard and I, amateurs that we are, decided to pour our own stair-step pad. It's easy with Quikcrete, right? Here's the results...

Richard spent two days digging out and leveling the area. Then he built the form and installed it. This was the first indication that this may not be quite as easy as we thought.

Richard then laid the bottom of the form with sand, rocks and rebar. He wrapped the porch so we wouldn't get the cedar decking messy. The stairs are jacked up because the contractor made them before we poured the pad (we didn't know much back then).

The first two loads are dumped in. We had to do it a bag at a time because the concrete mixer was too heavy for me to handle...and Richard couldn't handle it alone.

Here I am being a mortar dog...or whatever its called. The person who pushes the mortar around.

About the time I finished my job, we realized that we were running out of concrete. I hopped in the car and drove to the local DIY hardware store...and bought 10 more bags. That should do it, thinks we...

We got this far with the 10 new bags of 'crete...and ran out. And the pad isn't level...oh, no! So off I got to the store to get 3 more bags. But while I was there, I thought "Self, if I have to drive this road again"...so I got 10 more bags. It was a good thing. Richard called when I was halfway home to get MORE than 3, too. Great minds think alike.

Richard puts the final touch on our 40 bag concrete pad. Life is good. And whoever said it was easy deserves to be hit with a two-by-four!

P.S. The contractor complimented Richard and I on working well together. He said we did a good job and made a good team. We also play well with others and don't run with scissors...LOL.

2007-07-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

The porch continues with 6 inch cedar posts.

A view from the front.

A view from the second set of stairs.

The satellite company placed the dish and wired the house for reception. We moved the TV from the Airstream to the house and now we watch television inside. We're using the only electrical outlet installed for the construction workers.

The furniture is from our camping equipment, one of the Airstream couches and a futon I bought at a yard sale. The two blue Queen Anne chairs are from my old living room set (taken out of the garage). They're about 25 years old and are falling apart, but we keep them for Flint and Echo. It keeps them off the good furniture. The first night we watched TV we sat in the blue chairs. Richard got up to close the door and Echo hopped right into "her" chair.

2007-07-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

If you can't run with the big dogs...STAY ON THE PORCH!

Okay - maybe that's not quite right LOL.

This is my new cedar porch. Everyone disagrees with me on choosing cedar. Too soft, will get scuffed, distressed marks, etc. Yeah, I know. I told them I want my porch to acquire the patina of an old style saloon floor.

Gerrie suggested I place spittoons around...LOL. Maybe I will. Filled with petunias, of course.

Its not quite finished yet. There will be six cedar posts across the front. We'll probably install some kind of railing later. Richard will be watersealing it to protect against moisture and sun damage. The can of waterseal claims that it will also slow the gray of aged cedar, too. That's good because I want to retain the lovely honey golden red of the cedar as long as I can.

2007-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Richard put the locks and doorknob on the front door yesterday. He put the back lock and doorknob on today. When the contractors were putting the siding on it was raining and the material got wet and muddy. So his next job this morning was to clean the siding on the front of the house.

New door and clean house!

Another view with the dogs trotting around the yard.

My job was less photogenic. I cleaned up yard scrap and then climbed into the garage over boxes and found all the camping equipment for our trip to Ohio. I also straightened up the garage and got some things out - the windchimes and my clay pot fountain. I set the fountain in the yard but its not operational yet. The windchimes are on the hummingbird feeder staff for now.

My next task is to go wash clothes and the sleeping bags.

And today, one of the HVAC representatives is out to give an estimate on air conditioning and heating units.

2007-07-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

The contractor finished the porch trim and edging.

A close up shot of the porch ceiling.

The distant shot of the porch trim edging.

2007-07-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

In all the houses we've lived in one of the things Richard and I never experienced is an ice dam on our roof. We have, however, seen massive damage in and on our neighbors homes from ice dams. An ice dam is when snow falls, then rain or sleet and then it freezes into ice. Its usually followed by more snow and freezing, building up thick sheets of ice under snow. Both the weight and the melting of the ice can cause damage. Structural and foundation damage happen from the weight. Water damage happens when the melting ice finds cracks, seeps beneath roof shingles into framing and on interior walls and floors. The roofing industry has a simple solution for this problem. A special underlayment membrane that goes completely around the edge of the roof enhancing water-shedding capabilities. Although where we live usually only gets a few inches of snow a year occasionally, like last year, we get enough to form ice dams. So, Richard and I chose to pay a little extra money and have the underlayment membrane installed to prevent future damage. The roofers assured us we wouldn't be sorry!

The shiny black underlayment membrane is visible up the sides of the roof. It was also installed front and back under the felt and shingles already applied. It was so hot that the membrane immediately adhered to the roof.

Almost complete. The ridge vent hasn't been installed yet. The foam pieces on the right roof are there to aid the roofers in keeping balance and not damaging shingles. They walk on the foam as they exert pressure with tools rather than the newly shingled roof.

Another view of the shingled roof.

2007-07-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

We ordered the shingles last week in addition to the membrane, felt, ridge vents and ridge cap. We decided to use a ridge vent rather than fans or other means of venting the attic. In all the houses we've lived in we've seen many styles and many were somewhat ineffictive - better than nothing, but ridge vents are a huge improvment.

The shingle truck positioning the conveyor belt.

Shingles ride the conveyor to the roof.

All stacked and ready to apply!

2007-06-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

The framing inside was actually done before the roof was trussed and sheathed. However, the construction crew had wood supports all around holding the sides together so pictures would have been confusing.

Once they took the supports off, the pictures look much better.

This is a shot of the kitchen. To the left is the great living room.

This is the laundry room/pantry/back door. There's supposed to be an opening arch into the kitchen but that wasn't on the plan we gave Dave so he didn't put it in. Pa and Richard will make the opening later.

These are all the rooms framed - from let to right - laundry room, master closet/bathroom, master bedroom,guest bedroom, guest bathroom.

2007-06-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

The roof sheathing was next. We've had several days of rain and Richard has had to swab the floor so the water wouldn't swell the wood of the OSB floor sheathing. Unfortunately, we're still having rain, rain, rain!

Roof sheathed.

We had the guys put plastic sheeting on the roof to protect it and the floor beneath. Despite our efforts, the roof still leaked some, but a couple pans and buckets took care of most of the drips.

Dave installed the door! Yippee! We have doorknobs but haven't installed them yet.

2007-06-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy couple days - had to go to the lumber yard to pick up bits and pieces that were special ordered. In the meantime, the fourth wall went up. The next day the trusses were craned to the roof and put into place.

The fourth side is now up.

Raising the trusses to the rooftop. Once they were in place, Justin and Luke climbed topside and created blocks between for added strength, added hurricane clips and nailed the trusses into place for permanence.

The final appearance after the crane truck finished the job.

2007-06-23T02:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Richard and I went to check out roofing shingles in town while the crew continued on the house. They framed and raised the back (third) side of the house. After we came back we had to rush to go out to dinner with Mom, Pa and Becky (the neighbor). When we got back from dinner we climbed the boards and wandered around the house. Richard thinks the master bath is a little small but its the same size as the bath in the apartment in Saudi Arabia. I like it .

I'm hanging out our bedroom window...the Airstream is directly across from it right now blocking the view of the Sanctuary. We have a forest to the west of cedar and oak with a spring located right on the property line. Deer and other animals go there to drink. The spring is not visible from the house, but the creatures walking through that section of the forest are. Richard has decided to leave that area in as natural state as possible as a sanctuary for the animals.

I am walking from my pantry to the kitchen. We knew the views from all windows would be gorgeous...and they ARE! The property behind is completely screened by trees with a patch of forest between. The people who own the property only visit it once a year or so. A male turkey, 4 jakes (young male turkeys not yet old enough to have beards or tail feathers) and 2 females live in those woods. Echo has bounced them into the trees a couple times, despite the fence between their nesting grounds and the forest. The deer also use this section of the woods to hide in before going through the neighbor's meadows to my parents' property. Pa planted wheat out back of his place so they'd have snacks.

This is the back of the house. There will be a deck attached at a future date so we can sit out and watch the animals in the forest between us and the neighbor's. The back door will open into the pantry, which will also be the laundry room/mudroom. There will be two arched doorways with no doors in the pantry, one leading to the living room and one leading to the kitchen.

2007-06-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

The crew built the frames and raised the sides, today.

Here they are cranking it up with come-along jacks and rope.

Lifting it higher.

Justin (who is also our neighbor) walks the high rail and nailguns the props to steady the frame.

Both sides are now up!

Another view.

2007-06-20T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is the house plan we are building.

2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large pantry/laundry/mudroom and an open floor plan. The fireplace will be viewed from both sides. There will be a front porch and a back deck. I am working towards a carport/outdoor kitchen area on the left side in the future.

2007-06-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

The trusses arrived this morning.

The truck maneuvers into our driveway.

Rolling them off the bed of the truck.

Off-loaded on the ground.

2007-06-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

LOOK! A floor!

The pre-floor is done.

And this is the west wall, framed and laying on the floor in preparation for tomorrow's raising.

2007-06-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

Construction started TODAY! Yippeee!

Starting the flooring.

Me watching progress being made.

Echo supervises from the best spot in the yard - under the Airstream where its cool and quiet.

2007-06-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

And Friday afternoon more materials arrived! The main order came in. Lumber, doors, windows, house wrap, caulk, glue, hurricane clips, nails, screws...and lots of other stuff!

The doors and windows order was confused - between contractor and ourselves we'd accidentally ordered duplicates and/or changed the order. I took the extra doors back to the lumber yard and got a refund. The windows order we didn't realize was messed up until Sunday when we went over the plans one more time. We ended up taking Pa and Mom out for Father's Day and then going to the lumber yard and fixing the windows order. It was an enjoyable evening despite the error.

The truck arrives.

Removing the materials. The truck driver told us that was the largest load of lumber he's ever delivered. Most contractors apparently order from various places or do partial orders as money allows.

Piles of lumber all over the yard.

The windows.

Water softener, caulk, other things.

Richard and I decided to sleep outside in the screen tent for security purposes. Many people noted the arrival of the materials and we were worried someone might want to try some larceny. So I cleaned up the screen house, put the cots inside, laid out the futon for Flint and Echo and got my glasses, book and light. A good time was had by all that evening. The night breezes were gentle, the night sounds were soft and the night sky was velvety dark. Richard wondered if God would turn on the moon, but no such luck. It was a dark and lovely night.

Bedtime with the dogs...Echo eventually got tired of me rolling over and moved to the futon with Flint.

2007-06-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

The I-joists were delivered on Thursday of last week. These beams are custom made to fit the crawlspace foundation. It was important that they arrive first as right after applying the treated lumber spacers to the concrete walls the I-joists go on.

The truck was 42 feet in length and after jockeying for several minutes the driver decided he couldn't place the I-joists exactly where we'd planned unless he drove over trees. I instantly turned into a tree-hugger and told Richard to have him place the I-joists further out from the foundation. The contractor would just have to cart them closer.

The first attempt to back into the trees at the rear of the truck.

This was very interesting - the truck had a lift and roller system to put the I-joists on the ground. He just rolled them right off the truck and he was done!

2007-06-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday last week, the contractor informed us that he'd pulled together the last of the materials order. He was able to find 3 X 10 OSB sheathing for the house about 88 miles away. He said we could borrow his trailer to go pay and pick up the goods. We have a trailer of our own so we thought we could use that. Well...we didn't make it 7 miles down the road with the load. The trailer's axle was too far forward for the load, even though the sheathing fit. The truck and the trailer were "porpoising" up and down...and the trailer was also swaying side to side. We called Mom and Pa to come rescue us with their bigger truck and our neighbor's larger trailer.

Here we are...stranded.

And this is Mom and Pa - heading home with our sheathing.

We learned from this experience...and the next day, I had the other half of the sheathing delivered. LOL

2007-06-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

Richard and Pa are working on the concrete piers for the porch. After a bit more prep, the first pier was poured.

Still prepping the holes for the concrete.

The first pour.

The final product. Now we wait for it to cure and then remove the forms.

We bought 15 bags of quick set concrete and had a couple in the garage...and discovered we'd underestimated by about half! Pouring was stopped for an hour while I, as the step-and-fetch person, drove into town for another 18 bags of 'crete. When I arrived at the hardware store, I was informed by the clerk that my Mom had called and wanted me to go to the grocery store to pick up a few items for her! I love living in a small town. LOL

Our building materials supplier called, too. The delivery date for all materials is Friday! YES! However, there appears to be a glitch, the I-joists were supposed to be here yesterday. I am now awaiting a call-back for that. Call-back informed me that I-joists will arrive on Thursday! Yippee!

2007-06-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

Richard and Pa started augering the holes for the poured cement porch piers. They finished building the forms yesterday.

If you look at the final two pictures, note the satellite dish on the tree. Back when we ran the satellite cable to the Airstream it was late at night, Pa dug the ditch and Mom and I buried the cable.

As Pa and Richard worked the auger, the second to the last hole was dug...slicing right through the satellite cable! Pa simply dug cable out and will splice it later today for a temporary fix.

We will eventually mount the satellite dish on the south corner of the house and run the cable properly there.

2007-06-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

The house's steel support beam arrived today!

2007-06-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Construction has started!

Well, okay, not TECHNICALLY.

Today Richard and Pa sanded down the concrete foundation top and the notches where the steel beam will go the full length of the flooring below the joists.

The beam is being delivered and set in place today. Its not arrived yet, but we are all standing around waiting.

Yesterday we ordered all the materials for building the shell, including the siding and cedar decking for the porch. We ordered all the doors and windows last week.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...I'll post photos when the truck/crane arrives to set the beam.

2007-06-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

Burning the Brush Pile...

This is only half the brush pile - Richard burned a lot of it in a smaller fire ring to the back of the property. He is preparing this area to store the lumber and materials for the housebuilding.

2007-05-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:

We put in a septic tank and leach lines in June.
We poured a four-foot foundation in August/September.
The electrical lines were run in that time frame, too.
A wellhouse was built to cover the pressure tank.
The satellite dish/cables were also run.

Next project - HOUSE ROUGH IN!

I'll post pictures and updates as we go along...

2007-04-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Flint (white) and Echo (black) dress up for Easter!

2007-04-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Me.

2006-09-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 15, 2006

Blogger had issues with posting pictures for over two months. Now that its been fixed I can post the continuation of the construction. I'll try to keep in as chronological order as I can...

Saturday – June 10, 2006

We worked on cleaning the house and cars. Les will be coming Monday for a visit. Afterwards, it was so hot we decided to go to the lake. Echo and Flint have never seen any water except at bathtime. At first, they were reluctant. When they figured out the water cooled them down, they paddled happily.

Pa wades out to the chest deep water…Echo and I stay in the shallow part.

The buckets in the back of the truck are to be filled with water. We use the water for the flower bushes out in the field. By scooping up lake water on hot days, it doesn’t overpower Mom and Pa’s ancient well and pump.

Flint takes a stroll through the water.

Echo takes the pause that refreshes.

There is a story behind this carving. Pa carved this alien being with two eyes and placed him as a decoration on his big shavehorse, a woodworking tool. The shavehorse sits outside the garage. Around here people tend to stop and talk to anyone working outside. One day, a stranger, an older man, pulled into the yard. He walked up to the shavehorse and stared at it for a bit, then looked at Pa and quite seriously said “So, you’ve seen them too?” He then told Pa about his visit with the aliens. An hour or two later, the man got into his truck and drove away. Pa said he seemed completely serious. So Pa decided to recarve the alien so people wouldn't be scared. Heres a photo of the original head that scared the man...

The moon came up bright orange through the trees. We drove down to the meadow to get a clear shot – the pine trees were too thick at Whispering Winds, Mom and Pa's place. The name comes from a Louis L’Amour novel, GALLOWAY. My property, Echo Ridge, is named for a character in another Louis L’Amour novel, RIDE THE RIVER, and for where Richard and I met).

2006-08-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Now that my mother-in-law lives nearby in a nursing facility, the highlight of her week is when I bring the dogs in to visit. Most times I do it on a Saturday, but this week I did it today, a Sunday.

Loading up the dogs is easy. They love to go for rides. Both dogs are leashed and attached to seatbelts, but Echo hangs out the window in typical dog fashion. If I go over 45 miles per hour she comes back in and starts to whine. The wind blows her ears back and pushes at her eyeballs, drying them out. Therefore, our progress the 18 miles to town is slow. Fortunately, we live on rural roads, so this is no problem since our only traffic is the occasional Amish buggy, a tractor or other farm equipment, and passing cars and trucks.

Yes, Amish buggies. I live in the heart of an Amish community and when I drive in town on Saturdays, I stop at one of the crossings and buy pastries from 2 Amish children who sit in their buggy and sell. The roads are interesting here because on very hot days when the tar is a little melted, the buggy tracks are very visible in the tarmac for weeks.

Driving in this fashion I get to see wildlife up close and personal. Today's count:

2 turtles crossing the road (one was in the same place, coming and going!)
3 young tom turkeys (the last one tried to wait and cross in front of me)
4 deer - 2 does and 2 yearlings - no spots on the kids
1 billy goat ( the goat is apparently a horse's companion, they are never far apart)
1 beagle dog (standing in the middle of the road forcing me to go around him)

Mom loved seeing the dogs and when we walked her to lunch, a bunch of seniors were out in the hallway waiting to head into the cafeteria and wanted to see the dogs. Although Echo and Flint are still reluctant around strangers, I hauled them over for a pet and a paw shake. Figured since we'll be there often, might as well get them used to the idea.

Rural life is different. I like it, though...

2006-08-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

August 25, 2006

Wow - life has been so busy I've not had time to post! So many things have changed, happened and livened up my otherwise mundane existence (HA!).

We are currently waiting for a couple dumptruck loads of fill dirt so we can level and start some rudimentary landscaping up at Echo Ridge. Construction is on hold for the moment while we take care of other business. This other business includes plane trips, car trips and shopping.

So - August 8 I flew to Pennsylvania with my Mom to pick up my mother-in-law and bring her out here to live in a local nursing facility. The good news is that we arrived the day BEFORE Homeland Security tightened airline regulations. That was a good thing as I had all kinds of medications for Mom, plus our various liquids and sprays.

The move was a mutual decision and everyone is much happier, despite the adjustment period. Mom Alma is loving us being closer, but her real delight is the fact that I can bring the dogs in to visit any time she wants. She is MUCH happier knowing she has access to animals again. The nursing crew is great and very understanding. Paperwork took some time, as usual, but now all is well.

A shopping trip last week to Kansas City (the New York Of The Midwest) yielded a really spiffy outfit for Bun-Chu and Jason's wedding. Even shoes.

Richard and I are thrilled to be approaching our 6 month mark into our retirement game plan. Just another 8 months to go...sigh.

Below are some pictures taken this week by Pa.

Yes, there are four fawns and one doe in the photo. We're pretty sure that one set of twins is orphaned. Not sure what happened to their mother, but they appear regularly in our meadow alone. The other doe has a set of twins, too. So far, the babies are doing well, we're hoping they will grow and mature enough to take care of herself.

Sunset over the lake...taken this evening.

Another sunset photo from this evening. Me and Mom in front of fire in the sky...I'm hiding behind Mom because I looked like a hag in my shapeless oversized T-shirt and drawstring pants. LOL

2006-08-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2006

Taken on July 18, 2006

Use your parents wisely, that's my motto! Actually, I helped Mom dig the rest of this ditch out. Pa wanted to put the eletrical wires that the ran from the well into conduit. The well guy had already buried the lines before Pa could stop him, so we helped dig it back out so he could place it in conduit. FYI, Pa dug about 170 feet by himself. Mom and I dug the remaining 8 feet.

Mom digs a ditch.

Pa swings the axe while I watch.

Flint takes a power nap.

Echo peeks between the leaves at me.

2006-08-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2006

A photo I took on July 10, 2006 of a cloud in my parents' yard.

2006-08-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2006

This photo was taken on July 6, 2006.

While Maggie and Katie were visiting, we took out my daughter's 8 inch telescope and had a peek at the moons of Jupiter (we think we saw SIX!). Later we looked at our own moon - Earth's only natural satellite. I decided to try to take a picture. Who knew that if you held a digital camera up to the eyepiece that it'd take such a good shot? Now - this isn't as great a photo as astonomers take - but heck, we thought it was pretty slick!

2006-08-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2006

Pa swears this is what I do all day...when I'm not shopping, going to garage sales, shopping, walking down the road with my dogs, shopping, working on Echo Ridge and shopping...LOL. Picture was taken July 31, 2006

2006-08-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

Augsut 6, 2006

Oh look! I didn't think it would work! I can post photos again!

The photo below was taken July 4th, 2006

This is Maggie, Katie and I in the creek looking at rocks. Pa took us out to hike and wander around the countryside. Katie had once thought she might become a geologist.

Anyway, they came to visit for a week. We had a lot of fun - hiking, poking into antique shops, eating out and shopping. The even stayed an extra day as we were having so much fun.

2006-07-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

I've not posted for a while because Blogger is having issues with uploading photos. About once a week, I've done the fixes Blogger proposes and then try to post the photos. Nothing happens. Sigh.

In the meantime we've done many things to the property. I now have a well, a septic tank, electricity and phone lines laid. I also have a crawl-space foundation. Pa has buried the trenches and leveled the soil in some areas and is waiting for more dirt to do some filling in and leveling around the foundation. I have photos but no place to post them.

Our big news is that now that spring is well into summer we are seeing more wildlife than ever. Every day we see does, fawns and even a buck or two. Raccoons and squirrels are rampant. The great turtle migration seems to have ended. We've seen coyote on several occasions and while my sister was visiting, we saw a wolf!

My sister came to visit for a week. We shopped, toured, went antiquing, hiked and generally had a good time. Katie was thrilled to visit the Amish saddlery where she got many items for much less than prices she pays in regular tack stores. While rooting around the property looking for fossils and arrowheads, Katie found a genuine American Indian stone hide scraper! How do we know? Because the day before, we'd gone to Truman Dam's Visitor's Center and saw a display of over 8,000 American Indian artifacts!

As they visited over July 4th - we went to see the fireworks over the Dam on July 1. On the actual day I bought Katie $13 worth of half price fireworks and she and Grandpa had a ball for about an hour shooting off bottle rockets, fountains and even a few spinners. They stayed an extra day as they didn't want to go home!

Margaret is now planning to move here if we can find a way to get some property.

It seems we are busy with things every day. Between dogs, gardening (I'm really lackadaisical about this), landscaping some at Echo Ridge, cleaning, exercise, shopping and yard-saling, we keep hopping!

Saturday we are having our own garage sale. Mom and I have worked all this week to get ready. She's selling much of the stuff she's had packed in the garage for the past 6 years. She's also hoping to sell some antiques. We all complain we never make much at garage sales, but I suppose the point is to get it out of the way and let someone else make use of it, if they can. If we make a little money on the side, then that's good, too.

Richard and I have made the decision to stop working on the actual house for the months of August and September. Missouri is being blasted by a heat wave that is only letting up a few days a month. August is being predicted to be hotter than July. Spetember is when I have to pay the taxes. Because Richard is an independent contractor, we have to take care of all taxes, Social Security, FICA and medicare for our only employee...HIM. The IRS has a schedule of payment periods with which I must comply. The amounts are based on estimations of income, so I hope we've guestimated high enough or we'll still owe! (GULP!). The next due date is September and will take most of the income for that month.

Pa and I plan to do some leveling, planting, landscaping and get the well house done...maybe. LOL. With our tendency to run off to do some animal watching or fishing or canoeing or picnics, who knows? LOL

Pa's back from a yardsale - I'm racing out to see what he picked up!

2006-06-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

I've been trying since Sunday to post new pictures of all the happenings as far as the construction.

Blogger claims the problems are fixed. Blogger is wrong.

Anyway - currently, I now have a crawlspace foundation, electricity and my own well water!

When Blogger gets its act together I'll post the pictures for this entire week.

Saturday June 10 2006

2006-06-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday – June 10, 2006

We worked on cleaning the house and cars. Les will be coming Monday for a visit. Afterwards, it was so hot we decided to go to the lake. Echo and Flint have never seen any water except at bathtime. At first, they were reluctant. When they figured out the water cooled them down, they paddled happily.

The buckets in the back of the truck are to be filled with water. We use the water for the flower bushes out in the field. By scooping up lake water on hot days, it doesn’t overpower Mom and Pa’s ancient well and pump.

There is a story behind this carving. Pa carved this alien being with two eyes and placed him as a decoration on his big shavehorse, a woodworking tool. The shavehorse sits outside the garage. Around here people tend to stop and talk to anyone working outside. One day, a stranger, an older man, pulled into the yard. He walked up to the shavehorse and stared at it for a bit, then looked at Pa and quite seriously said “So, you’ve seen them too?” He then told Pa about his visit with the aliens. An hour or two later, the man got into his truck and drove away. Pa said he seemed completely serious. So Pa decided to recarve the alien so people wouldn't be scared. Heres a photo of the original head that scared the man...

The moon came up bright orange through the trees. We drove down to the meadow to get a clear shot – the pine trees were too thick at Whispering Winds, Mom and Pa's place. The name comes from a Louis L’Amour novel, GALLOWAY. My property, Echo Ridge, is named for a character in another Louis L’Amour novel, RIDE THE RIVER, and for where Richard and I met).

2006-06-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

Friday - June 9, 2006

The foundation guys arrived today. They did preparation dirt work to pour the foundation crawlspace.

The little John Deere tractor that will scoop the dirt out and make the ground level.

Starting work.

A view of the finished leveling. The front of the house will be at ground level. The back will be about four feet to ground level. The crawlspace will be 4 feet high so maintenance and repairs will be easier to do.

Another view of the finished "hole in the ground."

There is a doe who hides in this brush pile. We believe there is a fawn here, so we're leaving it alone for the moment.

The grass I planted by the garage is growing!

A butterfly on lands on a stalk of Queen Anne's Lace. This patch of wildflowers is right next to the road running to Echo Ridge.

A rabbit stops to munch corn at Mom and Pa's stump feeding area.

2006-06-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Wednesday - June 7, 2006

We have electricity! The electric company sent linemen out to take out the old breaker box and put in a new digital one that can be read from the station - no more meter guys! The previous owner had electrical supply here, but it was a simply hunting camp so there was an outlet attached to a tree to run his camper and a big bug light. The bug light housing rotted to nothing and the tree has grown around the pole the previous owner installed where the bug light used to hang.

Installing the breaker box.

Pa was fascinated by the come-along winch used to raise the transformer.

Raising the transformer.

Connecting the transformer.

Using the "hot stick" to turn the 7000 volts back on.

Later that afternoon we went down to the lake to check the eagles and see if the babies were ready to learn to fly. Imagine our surprise - Mama and Papa Eagle were in a snag keeping an eye on one of the babies sitting behind them. The baby was obviously nervous and afraid to fly off the snag he'd managed to wing to in the first place!

Papa and Mama Eagle share a snag...keeping an eye on the Baby Eagle on the snag behind them.

Baby Eagle blends so well you can barely see him on the snag. He is flapping his wings - that brownish blur in the crook of the snag is the baby.

Pa took a picture of the primroses near the lake where the eagles live.

2006-06-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Tuesday - June 6, 2006

Bad dogs and Butterflies...

We took a walk down one of the roads that border Corps Of Engineers hunting lands. At one point, Echo spotted an armadillo up a small hill. I had her leash under my arm, but wasn't actually gripping it because I was taking photos of the butterflies. She took off up the hill and into the woods after the armadillo. In seconds she had disappeared from sight. For about 10 minutes, Pa and I beat the bushes. What terrified me was the fact she had a 20 foot metal-cord lead and her 6 foot leash attached to her choke collar. I had horrible visions of finding my strangled dog hanging from a snag in the forest...or not at all. I don't know how it happened really, but thank God I ran almost directly to where she was nosing her way back. Unharmed, but a lesson learned by me...get this dog trained.

The butterfly bushes attract the butterflies - all shapes and sizes! We kept trying to sneak up on this black and blue butterfly - Mom got this photo.

This butterfly is orange and black, not a monarch but similar markings.

We still didn't quite get a good photo of the black and blue butterfly - it was much more skittish than the others.

This yellow butterfly kept fluttering its wings really fast. Like the hummingbirds, it was rarely still enough to get a good photo. As you can see, the camera caught it fluttering.

Pa shakes a milk thistle plant and the parachute seeds fly...I'd never seen it happen, it was wonderful! Little flying miracles...

Mom and Pa walk a tired Flint back home...

2006-06-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

Monday - June 5, 2006

Mom and Pa are working on their property in preparation for building a house, too. They've selected the location for the house and have a pretty solid vision of how they want the landscaping. With this in mind, they are planting various shrubs, flowers and saplings so the growing will be a little more mature by the time the house is done. They've walked hill and dell in these parts and found many of their plants at the old abandoned properties around this area. Lilacs, irises, mums, clematis, johnny-jump-ups and forsythia rootlings have found a new home here. Occasionally, Mom will buy a bedraggled plant on sale and nurture it back to life. Maggie gave Mom and I two miniature roses for Mother's Day, but by the time we arrived to visit they'd pretty much died. We believe they were forced to bloom and open for the holiday and didn't have the strength to live. However, a small amount of green remained, so we brought them home. Sure enough, with tender loving care, a transplant into enriched and fertilized soil, and some careful watering they are coming back to life.

Scraping a home from the wilderness is an interesting process. As we use the modern tools that make the job easier, I find myself in awe of the pioneers who did this with so little in the way of industrialized machines. A bulldozer can clear an acre of 50 year old trees in a matter of minutes. The tiller, the box blade and even the grabber tool that breaks up the clumps of soil make our lives easier.

I've seen new houses go up in suburbs and marveled at the efficiency of three months from breaking soil to moving in. I've seen desert blossom overnight when landscapers take bare earth and plant carefully grown greenhouse flora to look good the very next day.

As we wrest my homestead out of the woods, trying to leave as much intact as possible, I wonder if the pioneers had it right. By celebrating every blade of grass, every shrub that grows a flower, every plant that bears fruit, I realise that my home is a work in progress, a place that will be nurtured with my own two hands to create with the tools God has given me. The irises lost in the wilderness by a heap of abandoned bricks are now lovingly tended by my Mom. The wild honeysuckle at the edge of my road leaves a fresh fragrance in the wind every day and an old rose at the back of my property is so gigantic it is its own hedge. We've cleared only some of the land to maintain our wooded paradise.

On Mom and Pa's property, Pa has carefully carved a dirt road meandering around the back of his acreage. When you wanter back where the wild things are, you are shielded from the sun under a leafy canopy of trees. The scent of earth and green growing things scents the air and once in a while you catch a whiff of some wildflower. With this sense of peace comes the knowledge that in our carefully planned niche we've destroyed some of the life that surrounds us. By bringing the soil back to life with new green and growing things, I understand now why gardeners and farmers feel that working the earth brings us closer to God.

Philosophy aside, watching my dogs grow into the beings they were meant to be is a fascinating experience, too. Echo and Flint were spoiled house dogs, only let out occasionally on leashes or our miniscule backyard in Texas. Now they are becoming what my Pa says are "real dogs." Flint is a faithful little fellow who wants to be with his humans and pretty much listens and obeys all the human commands. Echo is not. We believe that somewhere in her ancestry, and very recently at that, had to be a wolf. Her stance, her ever alertness to her surroundings and her predator mode are mind-boggling. People in the know who've worked with wolves and wolf-hybrids assure us that this puppy we got from the pound is probably half-wolf.

If she has the opportunity Echo will chase ANYTHING that runs. This includes rabbits, Mom's cats, armadillos, turkeys, deer, raccons, possums, squirrels...and box turtles. Echo is completely amazed and fascinated by box turtles. She finds one just about every day on our walks. She paws and grunts and snorts, trying to get the closed up little shell to open up so she can see what it is. At no time has she ever tried to bite, eat or slay any of the beasties she's chased. She simply wants to play.

In Texas, a baby squirrel fell out of a tree and dropped at her feet. He landed on his back and when he saw Echo nosing him, he began kicking and screaming for Mama. Echo backed off with a look of hurt surprise and like a person who's never held a screaming baby, she cast about frantically for someone to come help it. When Richard picked it up, dusted it off and put it back in the tree, she relaxed and tried to get it play the game they always played - the squirrel running on the top edge of the fence and Echo running back and forth below it.

Despite her predatory instincts, I suppose Echo is so well-fed it never occurs to her that the prey can also be dinner. To her the chase is a game to be played, no harm, no foul to either player. With that in mind...

The box turtle that Echo flushed on our walk...the poor little beastie was terrified and clammed up so fast I'm not even sure he was open in the first place! They are currently everywhere as their annual migration is taking place. Many a motorist can be seen in these parts stopping on the side of the road to either help a turtle cross or turn them right side up after being swept over by passing cars.

The deer are gourmet eaters of certain flowers. They especially love roses - petals, stalk, thorns and all. With daisies, it's a different story. They only eat the petals. Imagine, dear reader, if you will, a young doe thinking of her Bambi and solemnly saying as she eats the petals..."he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not..."

My tomatoes are growing! This plant is the heirloom Roma tomato famous for rich Italian sauces.

Echo eats grass while Mom and Pa plant the hydrangea. Both Echo and Flint have a strange habit. It was evident in Texas but is much more prevalant here. When I let them out of the pen to romp in the grass, both dogs immediately nose out the tenderest young grass shoots and begin grazing like cattle. They will eat grass for several long minutes. As they romp and play they will stop to chew on any fresh blade of grass they run across. I was told that this grass-chewing usually means an upset stomach in dogs and cats, but they eat well and never seem to have any type of indigestion at all. I make homemade dog food for them as we're fairly certain Flint is allergic to gluten (he had indigestion, gas, couldn't eat and threw up a lot for the first 6 months we had him). Echo will NOT eat the homemade dog food unless it has collard greens or spinach in it. People do not believe me when I tell them this. Richard will vouch for the fact that Echo starved herself for four days when I forgot to put collard greens in her dog food. As I've said before, my dogs march to the beat of different drummer.

Flint rolls in the grass. Although Flint is rolling in this photo, he will also do this exact same pose if someone says "roadkill." I figured everyone uses the term "play dead" and so I taught my dog a different command.

2006-06-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday - June 4, 2006

Today it was overcast and cloudy so Pa decided it was a good time to burn the brush pile. He took the tractor up there, separated the brush out of the logs we plan to chop for firewood and got the fire started. Mom and I came up later to help move the smaller brush and twigs.

Upon arriving up at the Ridge, I checked my grass. Look! See the faint green in the barren-looking soil? My grass is growing!

A photo of the front of the shed.

Pa uses the tractor to haul more brush to the pile.

Although I am pulling this log to the fire, we ended up not burning it as it is the perfect size for firewood.

Mom carries a large sapling to the fire.

Pa started tractoring the cedars over towards the end. Cedars burn fast and bright, so you have to keep an eye on them.

Flint and Echo preferred staying in the car to avoid sweeping a tail or other body parts close to the fire! Naptime was interrupted by me taking their photo. Note Echo's sleepy glare.

2006-06-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Wednesday - June 3, 2006

Today Pa worked on the tractor on his property. Mom and I took the dogs to the back acres and sat in the swing to watch. Echo and Flint love being at the back of the property as Pa has planted a field of grass and has a little road that winds through the woods. Walking and sniffing new territory is always fun.

Of course, any animal is of interest to the dogs. They don't necessarily want to chase them, but they are curious. This armadillo wasn't amused at their curiosity so he rolled over and played dead. Armadilloes do this whenever they feel threatened.

Once the dogs were bored with the "dead" armadillo, they wandered off to pursue other excitement. The armadillo rolled over, got up and ambled away.

Echo then spotted Tiger in the woods and watched him for 15 minutes or so.

Flint searched out the perfect spot and settled in for a nap.

2006-06-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

Friday - June 2, 2006

Mom and I had a lot of errands in town today. I had to get the last car safety inspected and registered, go to the courthouse to ask lots of questions, get a copy of my property plat and get a haircut.

My new haircut. It is lighter, cooler and I love it.

2006-06-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday - May 30, 2006

On days when we can't do much on my property we work on Mom and Pa's property. They are planning to build a house next year. Mom and I mostly take pictures and play with the dogs while Pa does tractor work.

He is removing clay soil from the hilly area on his property and is filling the hole where he pulled out the 8 stumps. The "hole" is actually positioned perfectly with the private side road and is towards the back of their property away from the noise and dust of the main road. This is where they will build their house. The soil must be stable and compacted by next year, so Pa is doing the dirtwork now.

Tiger stalks a butterfly in the field behind where the house will go.

Pa has made a drag road to haul the clay dirt to the building site.

Pa gives Mom a ride to look at the newly flowering primroses by the clay hill.

This photo shows why I keep Echo penned and/or on a long leash at all times for the moment. Although she is gentle, sweet and has one of the most laid-back personalities I've ever seen on a dog, she LOOKS like a black wolf when she is alerting on something. If a stranger saw this animal walking or running towards him/her...I have no doubt they'd be frightened by her looks alone. Rather than taking the risk of scaring someone or having harm done to my dog, we keep her safe. I plan to have my entire 3.8 acres fenced so that Echo can run freely once more.

Flint, on the other hand, looks less threatening to everyone. And in a twist of irony that is not lost on our family, Flint will protect me and Jenny with his life. Even in play, no one can appear obviously threatening towards us. If we make any sort of surprised sound like girly-shrieking over bugs and whatnot, Flint is right there. He WILL growl and prepare to defend us. Although he has nipped at people he thinks may be threatening one of us, he's never touched skin or actually bitten anyone. Our family grants him this one concession because I'm alone a lot and prefer a protective dog.

2006-05-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 28, 2006

We are going to a barbeque at Bill and Becky's this afternoon.

Mom is cooking up all kinds of picnic foods. Pa is tinkering out in the shop with drills and saws. He's playing some lovely guitar and banjo music that's wafting across the breeze to me...I'm sewing.

This is my temporary sewing room. Note the breezy ironing board and iron location. See my cutting board to the side of my machine? There's only one problem with sewing outside near bird feeders. One of the hummingbirds has already left a deposit on the fabric. Dang birds!

That's my machine - plugged into a deck eletrical outlet!

If you look up and squint at the birdhouse on the pole you'll see Mama Sparrow checking out the new porch equipment before she goes back into her nest. She's already raised 3 babies. We're thinking she's already sitting on another nest. Papa Sparrow flits back and forth and the 3 older babies are fluttering around the bird feeder and fence. Papa keeps a close watch on them, but they are not allowed back into the nest.

As for the sewing, I'm making red curtains for Mom's kitchen. She decorates every month for coming holidays. The red is for Memorial Day, summer beaches and Fourth Of July.

I'll post more later if I get any good pictures.

2006-05-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 27, 2006

We spent the day at an auction. A lumberyard had gone out of business. My only goal was to try to find some tile for my bathroom for a decent price. Pa's goal was to get some wood to build concrete forms and whatever else might catch his eye for building. Mom figured she'd score some little stuff.

Pa got 12 10 X 12 boards for $48! These will be used as concrete forms when we pour the pump house walls. Pa also got a tape measure for $6 (retail $14), his are wearing out. Mom got a root grabber for $27. They retail for about $40. I got painter's canvas for $15...retails for $43! I will probably cut it up to use in sewing...unless Pa finds a use for it. My biggest score was the BEST! 40 boxes of tile - $2 a box! It retails for $716.00 and I got it for $80.00!!! YES!

But then we had to load it...each box weighed 45 pounds. 40 boxes. Yep, we not only loaded 1800 pounds of tile...we unloaded it!

The truck's rear tires were riding low due to the weight.

Doesn't look like 1800+ pounds of loot, does it?

Echo, the great black hunter started barking like she'd found prey. We all rushed out to see what she had. Yes, my dog had spotted a vicious, dog-eating, man-eating, monster of a box turtle making its way across the yard. Echo had actually dug under the fence to be able to lay paws on the turtle and I think she was preying...

This is what the turtle looks like when it pokes its head out in safety.

2006-05-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 26, 2006

Today we started work on the well/pump house. Pa's first task was the push the lovely sand from the well-drilling into a heap that we will use as a foundation of the pump house. He scooped it up and piled it somewhat level.

First, Pa sets the laser level and four poles on each corner. Then he shot the beam and we marked where on the poles the beam hit. Then he pushed sand and Mom raked it even.

Once we thought the sand was even, Pa and I swept with a long rod to find the high and low spots. We had to do a little more leveling as we pushed sand off the high places and put it in the low places.

Mom and I are now compacting the sand. Although we did the area, I'm not sure how much we really compacted as neither of us had much strength!

Pa and I are discussing the house. I am a very visual person - I have to "see" things to make sense of them at times. Pa thought we should lay out the house so I could visualize the kind of space I'll need. We took measurements then used some saplings, rocks and the sledgehammer to lay out where things will go. The bathroom layout was changed 3 times due to the configuration/measurements not looking right.

Echo and Flint watched everything from their view while in the grassy garden area. We were on the other side of the garage at the well for a time so they stretched the full length of their tie-out to watch us.

2006-05-26T05:37:00.000-07:00

Thursday - May 25, 2006

The well drilling crew came today at 8 AM. We all gathered up chairs and drinks to watch the show. It was a job that any person with an interest in machinery at work would love. I told Richard it was his dream - heavy machinery, lots of noise and playing in dirt!

The trucks they brought were amazing. Absolute marvels of engineering. The actual well drilling rig was a hydraulic lift, a pressure tank, an air compressor, a storage area for pipes, a drill, a crane, a pipe wrench (super large one!), a massive screwdriver, and a winch! The other truck that held the pipes was also an 11,000 gallon water tank - they use the water under high pressure to aid in the drilling. The rest of it was used for extra pipe storage and the storage of various bits of equipment used in the drilling.

One thing I did notice. The trucks were engineered to "help" do all the jobs involved in drilling, lifting, and placing. The two men had assigned tasks and much work was automated scientific application of the tools provided. Everything was though of from the pipe wrench that was operated hydraulically to the simple tube used to store the two drill bits. It was interesting as I am a user of tools when I quilt and many tools women seem to use are clunky, outmoded and often not ergonomic or user friendly. I know that's a sexist statement but think on it...indoor vacuum cleaners - hoses, nozzles, machine lugged up and down steps...no grip handle, just a push handle and BAGS (although finally someone figured out bagless). But a shop vac for men...wheels that turn so it can go any direction...an engine that has great suction, no bag, just a dump bucket and so on.

Anyway. The first drill bit was nine inches wide - this is to dig a large hole so that the 6 inch casing can be installed. Once the drill reaches 80 feet, they switch to a drill of 6 inches. After they reach 80 feet, the casing is installed and then Bentonite, a type of quick setting concrete is poured down the outside of the casing to set it in place. Once the casing is in place, they continue drilling to reach the water.

We hit the top of the water table at about 190 feet but the pressure wasn't enough to support the submersible pump. We decided to drill deeper to get better pressure. We checked every 20 feet and finally at 250 feet we got the required pressure to run the submersible pump at peak efficiency. It took exactly 5 hours from start to finish to drill the 250 feet and put in the casing, waterpipes and bentonite.

The crane starts to rise so that the trees can be trimmed and the drill can be placed.

Starting work. Walt is trimming the trees with branches that may interfere with the crane's operation.

The 9 inch drill bit is positioned and begins work.

A larger view of the whole area.

I'm watching the work...see the truck nearest me? That red "flatbed" is actually an 11,000 gallon watertank. The drillers use high pressure water to help speed the drill as it digs the hole.

Me by the driller's rig.

Me shoveling the "slurry" of ground limestone, sandstone and the water that is ejected from the hole as the drill digs.

The diesel engine that ran the drilling rig for 5 hours had a huge fan to vent the heat from the engine. The hot air blew up into this tree and eventually burned the leaves.

This was the final test of water pressure. After all the industrialized machinery to do the work, a simple stop watch and 1 gallon paint can are used to test pressure. At a signal, the paint can holder fills the can while the stopwatch holder times how fast it fills. The test was done 3 times at different depths before pressure was acceptable for the submersible pump. A pump needs water flowing at about 2 1/2 times its capacity so it will never have to be sucking air. My pump needed a minimum of 15 gallons per minute. We managed to get 25 gallons per minute.

The pipes are down the well and it is currently capped until the pressure tank and the submersible pump are installed.

A larger photo of the area to show where the well is in relation to the shed.

Echo and Flint came up for a time to visit. They didn't like the loudness of the diesel so I took them home after a while.

2006-05-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday - May 24, 2006

City Slicker Does Farming...

We went up to Echo Ridge today and did it all...okay, not all. But we started my little grassy area next to the driveway. We rototilled, leveled, limed, fertilized, did pest control and planted grass in my soil.

Pa let me do the tilling. With a tiller. A gas powered tiller. With big teeth. Tilling is hard work. First off, that tiller leans to the right due to its engine being on that side. I'm left-handed. That means my right arm has to do the work. Also, to get the tiller to back up you are supposed to lift it. I'm not tall enough to lift it more than an inch or so off the ground. Pa even set the handles at the lowest setting. This meant that backing up was nearly an exercise in futility. The tiller also requires strength. It's teeth are bent and it digs in the dirt - nothing stops it. Except little old me. The tiller weighs almost as much as me. In a contest of wills, that engine just keeps going and going and going. I had visions of it it taking off across my property dragging me screeching and kicking behind it unable to let go. By the time I'm done doing all the tilling required I'm gonna have pecs like the Governor of California, The Honorable Arnold Schwatzenegger (former bodybuilder). I'd challenge him to a tiller duel, but I wouldn't want to humiliate him.

Here I am tilling.

I'm supposed to be tilling this down to take the high spot out so water will drain downhill. I didn't do too well.

After I finished tilling Pa took the tractor and the box blade and started leveling.

Mom hauls the brush and root snags we chopped up over to the brush burn pile.

Mom uses the tractor to dump her brush load.

Pa decided I needed to learn to level with the tractor and box blade. I got the hang of the shifting okay, but controlling the box blade was a little harder. You have to know the soil well. See the high spots and low spots. Scrape off the high spots and put the dirt in the low spots. Some high spots were left alone as they sloped away from the shed and were naturally occurring watersheds.

Mom and I are using a handheld seed spreader to distribute lime granules and fertilizer to my newly tilled soil.

Mom has a blister from doing all the brush clearing with rake and shovel.

The finished product. This is the view towards the driveway.

This is the view towards the road. The shed is just out of the picture to the left.

YES! The well driller and his rig arrived this evening around 6 pm.

The well will go right here, to the left of the shed.

The purpose of hydraulic lifts on the rig is to raise the bucket to do some low-limb cutting of the trees that may be in the way when the drill starts...and to prevent someone from sneaking in at night and stealing the rig! The well driller told us that someone has to really know what they are doing to set the rig on the ground and drive it away.

Echo is supremely uninterested in the goings on of the crazy humans who dig in the dirt and don't even bury decent bones or food.

Flint takes a nap.

On our way to check out the baby bald eagles nesting in the sycamore tree, this little rabbit was playing in the road. He zipped into the brush before I could take a picture. On the way back home, there he was AGAIN! This time I caught that little bunny with my camera!

This is a rare photo of two bald eagle parents taking a break. Over the years when I visited Mom and Pa before moving here, I'd see Papa Bald Eagle out on this snag by the lake keeping watch over the territory. The sycamore tree where the nest resides is about 1/2 a mile away. FYI, eagles pretty much mate for a season and may return to the same partner for their entire lives. This pair has been nesting here the full 6 years Mom and Pa have been here. Rarely, very rarely do Mama and Papa Bald Eagle leave the nest and scope the territory on the snag TOGETHER. In other years the only time they did this was when the Baby Bald Eagles were ready to leave the nest. Yep, there are two babies. And they will probably be tossed out of the nest in the coming week. We were witness to Mama teaching the babies to fly one year. She literally pushed them out and they had to fly or die. One baby was skimming the earth before he frantically flapped and then sailed on a current and rose into the air. It was absolutely amazing!

2006-05-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

Tuesday - May 23, 2006

Yesterday I lounged around most of the day reading books (James Patterson & Iris Johansen) and catching a little news on TV.

In the afternoon, Pa started working on the preliminary drawings for the apartment. My measurements were off, so the house is now 1400 square feet. My kiva fireplace may be a casualty to the new measurements - either that or it will be modified somewhat.

Today we went shopping early, came home to take a nap, then took a ride up to see the baby eagles. While driving up a side road to see if the quinces were blooming yet, a baby fawn hopped off the roadway and tried desperately to get through the fence and into a meadow. Another truck pulled up beside us - neighbors who'd seen the mother cross the road and Baby too terrified to try. They'd backed up so the baby couldn't see them to let him get across...and that's when we drove up and spooked him. Anyway, Baby found a hole and pushed through then scampered off to find Mom. All's well that ends well.

The quinces were not flowering, they already had small fruits. We puttered around to look at the view from above the caves on the creek bank, then drove home.

We then took a walk around the back acreage with the dogs. Echo only ran off once after a squirrel. Pa had placed the game camera by the stump where we put out corn...these photos are what we got.

If you look real close to the left of the stump you'll see Mom's cat, Tiger...

Two raccoons are eating the corn...

Up in the right corner...a wild Pa tries to check the camera's photo capacity without triggering the motion sensor...he failed! LOL

2006-05-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Pa suggested a visit to some lumber companies to take a peek at their home packages, kit homes they sell with all the materials needed. We found one with a decent plan and when we came back home, we discussed the various layouts and finally came up with a plan for the apartment. You can see the evolution of our discussions here:

As we traveled about, we also hit some antique stores. I scored BIG at one. I found something the girls really wanted for some time...something that Richard and I always planned to get them eventually...when we had the money. Lowest price we ever found for the item was around $120 each. I got BOTH for less than $24. I love getting a bargain gift! I can't say what it is as at least one kid reads this blog! I also found the Pyrex 1 cup measuring cup I've been seeking. The new Pyrex measuring cups are made with an open handle which I hate. So I've been trolling antique stores, garage sales and junk shops looking for the old one with a closed-ring handle. Finally found it and got 10% off, too!

I have no pictures at this time as its been cloudy and rainy and we've not gone up to the Ridge to work the past few days. The welldriller is supposed to be here sometime this week. I hope we are not delayed again. I really want to get this part done as it means we will finally be moving forward on the garage apartment.

2006-05-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday - May 20, 2006

No pictures the past few days as we've been doing other stuff - shopping and off to the weekend auctions and garage sales. Mom picked up a nice china tea set, but I didn't score anything this time around. Pa got some books and a volt meter.

The dogs have been happy just to take walks up to the Ridge to get the mail.

When I went shopping, I bought flower pots, 5 petunia plants and a clematis for my property. I have to find my terra cotta fountain in the shed. I put the plants in the new pots and they will go on the stumps that remain in the grassy area near the driveway that I am planning. I bought grass seed, fertilizer and lime, too. I really can't do a lot of landscaping right now as the drill rig, cement truck and various other heavy equipment will be up there for the next few weeks and maybe longer.

I talk to Richard just about every day, sometimes twice a day now that we've figured out the time zones. He's lonesome, but busy with work. I at least have the dogs (our babies) to cuddle and play with when I'm not busy. Echo has finally warmed up to Pa - the five days we were at Maggie's when he was sole provider of food made up her mind, I guess.

Anyway, perhaps Monday I'll have some new pictures unless Pa and I decide to go up there tomorrow and do a little tilling and chainsaw work on the downed trees...Nah!

2006-05-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday - May 18, 2006

Happy Birthday, Maggie! (Today is her real birthday, we celebrated early).

So - what'd I do today? Since Pa deserved a break and wanted to go canoeing...I decide to work on landscaping on my property. There's a place between the driveway and my shed that I want to turn into a nice grassy area. I had several double and triple trees in the area and to prevent lightning strikes killing them, Pa chopped one or two of each down. He leveled the stumps so I could put terra-cotta pots of flowers on them. Although Pa lightly brush-hogged some if it there were many small saplings, roots and rocks that have to be taken out.

I spent the day with an axe, the riding lawn mower and cart and the rake.

The dogs were with me but the one shot I took of them was blurred. Sigh. It was probably better anyway. Since Flint is so trustworthy, I can let him off leash and he pretty much stays within fifty feet of me. Today, he went around behind the shed...and I do NOT know what animal left a nice pile of dung, but Flint, being a good dog...rolled in it. He ran around the building all excited and happy, jumping on everyone...covered in shit.

I tied him and Echo to the trees and went to work. They basked in the sun and drank their coffee can of water before spilling the rest of it as I worked.

On the way back home they flushed another box turtle. My dogs. The great hunters.

I came home for lunch for an Instant Messaging session with Richard, leftovers for lunch and to take a break.

Then back to the slaving. At 4 pm, Mom and Pa showed up to help me collect the tools, drive the lawn mower back and give the dogs a ride in the truck. I took an "after" photo and trudged to the house for dinner.

After dinner, Mom gave me a big plastic tub and I bathed Flint and Echo outside. They were not amused. However, we're one day late in applying their Frontline tick and flea medication, so this was a golden opportunity to bathe them and take care of that, too. Naturally, as soon as he got out of the tub, Flint rolled in the dirt. Echo just shook water all over the place. Then she went and laid down...getting pine needles and chaff in her fur. Sigh.

This is the BEFORE photo. See the shrubbery and saplings and old leaves?

This is the AFTER photo. See the bare ground? It took me all day to clear about a 10 X 10 foot section of the area.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping.

2006-05-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday - May 17, 2006

The company that was supposed to do the well-drilling and the septic were called away to an emergency down the road. They will be here next week to do the work we had planned today. Since Pa had some free time away from my property he decided to work on his own land. The bulldozer cleared several stumps off his property and the resulting holes filled with water from the rain. Pa has to drain the water and backfill the hole.

In other news, Echo and Flint spent most of the morning and afternoon barking and huffing at something under the ramp steps to the house. They can't get under that part of the porch due to the fact we blocked it off. I thought they were fussing about Tiger, Mom's cat. However, we finally looked with a flashlight and it was a small box turtle!

This is the hole filled with water. Pa used his box blade to cut a trench to drain the hole.

Uh oh! While pushing dirt, Pa miscalculated and got the tractor stuck in the mud.

So...Pa hooked up a chain to the truck to drag it out. This required two people, one to drive the tractor and one to drive the truck. Its been years since I've driven a 4-wheel drive or a stick shift. The first tug seemed to yank the truck back and I stomped on the brake too soon. However, the second tug was successful. I applied way too much gas at first, but managed to find my "wheels" and pull the tractor out.

A final tug up the hill and Pa was back in business.

Scraping dirt off the hill...

And pushing the dirt into the hole...

The tractor is at a steep angle and when Pa drives up out of the hole after pushing the dirt into it, the front wheels tend to leave the ground a little! Wheeeeeee!

Rather than watching Pa shove dirt around Echo is alerting to Mom's cat, Tiger, who is out in the woods behind the hole.

Flint settles down after strenuously watching Pa and the tractor shoving dirt around. Flint would've helped, but he figured that every dog...er, human...has bury their own bones!