It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (at least at one house)

Well, it's been a month since my last post, and what a month it was. Thanksgiving, work and being sick. That about sums it up.

Finally, everyone's feeling better, if not yet 100%. But our tree's been up (at the old house, not the new one) for a couple weeks or so, most of the cookies are baked, and I'm already sick of sweets. If you know anything about my sweet tooth, you'll know that's a pretty hard level to reach. But there you have it, and 4 days to go until Christmas.

M's been working hard at the siding. It's really a chore. I didn't want the vertical trim at the corners of the house--we both thought it didn't go with the style (too farmhouse-y) and so what that means is that every corner (and yes, there are more than 4) had to be measured twice, cut once and specially fitted. And on a 2 story house, that's a pain. Poor M. But it's looking good, and she's just about at the point where she's reached as high as she can go . . .

Meanwhile, all the doors and windows are in (including the straggling slider and garden window for the laundry room) and so as soon as we can get a propane heater, work can commence indoors. Right now it's colder inside than out. It'll be fun to transition to indoor work and stuff that's easy to reach!

Today we got a new tankless hot water heater for our current house. Our plumber thinks the existing one was about 25 years old, so it was time. Plus the new one is under the house, meaning we just gained precious closet space in this tiny house! We'll have tankless in the new house, too, and didn't HAVE to replace this one, but it's sure nice to know we don't have to worry about the old one rusting out and flooding our (decent) wood floors.

Sick

No, not sick in a good way. Sick as in M's been sounding like Brenda Vacarro, and has been really under the weather. And of course, that mean's I've got some sort of bug, too. So far it's manifesting only in my sinuses (a 1/2 box of kleenex in 3 hours? Really?)

What it all means is that it's been 5 days since I've even been to the house, and M's been there, but not to work at all.

Hopefully next week will be better . . .

My front door

I never thought I'd be so pleased about a front door. Here she is, delivered last week and installed by an injured M* and her mom last week.

Front door, with shingled dormer

NO, these baby-poop-like colors are NOT the final colors. They're just the somewhat coordinated colors the materals come in.

We also got my office door,  and the back laundry room door. We hope the slider and garden window should be delivered this week.

Meanwhile a-somewhat-less-injured M* continues to put up the lower siding. It's slow going when you're a one-person show, and even slower with a hurt thumb.

*a week ago Sunday, there was a mishap on the roof with a large level that slid and collided with M's thumb. Poor thing was not only cut but smashed. She should've had stitches, but didn't. It's healing, but very slowly.

Automatic . . .

It still needs some hardware for dress (kind of like jewelry) but the new garage door is here and installed. And the motor purrs--so quiet. YAY!

Tomorrow's a big day--Door delivery. Well, most of them. I love having stuff delivered!

Weekly?

Well, I didn't mean for this to become a weekly blog, but better that than monthly or never? I'll go with yes.

Progress continues, slowly. Tomorrow morning the garage door arrives. Next week some of the other doors should be delivered, and within 2 weeks we should have the sliding glass door and the garden window for the laundry room. With that, the house can be buttoned up (read: locked) and my job will be to tear down the small, plywood locking "shed" in the corner of the garage. It's a safe place, and we have a locked gate, but construction tools are so appealing to lift.

Some of the siding was installed over the past week +. Here's a photo of the garage end of the house with some of it's shingles up. It'll be shingles at the top and horizontal siding below. And the colors are not final--it comes this way and then gets painted later.

It's hard to see in this picture, but there are no exposed rafter tails in the eaves. Due to state, county, local or some other extreme regulations, they must be soffitted (is that even a word). From what I understand this is a very lengthy, tedious and painful job. I guess we're considered to be in a wildland fire area. So we had to meet a lot of specifications with all our materials that were pricey!

More photos to come as doors start being delivered! Yahoo!

No, it will not be blue

I've been taking a picture here and there, but mostly on M's phone (which is never at home when I think about writing a new post) and so it's been awhile again.

Progress is slow. But, after many, many walks, bike rides and road trips to check out vintage Craftsman homes and what their details were like, we settled on a window trim style:

Sorry for poor photo quality

This window happens to be in our "mud room" just to the left of the garage. But you can kind of see the trim (ignore the black tapey stuff--it has some kind of name, but I couldn't begin to tell you what it is. Some kind of moisture barrier stuff). It's kind of hard to see the sill here, since I'm looking up at the window. But I give HUGE kudos to M, who was beyond diligent in considering all our options before settling on this. We know every Craftsman-style house here in Auburn (there are only a handful) and have taken many, many walks by those to check out their details. We've gone to Sacramento on Sundays with bikes and ridden around to check those out. We've even driven to Pasadena twice (a solid 6 hour drive, no stops) to check out the charming Craftsman neighborhoods there (ok, it also helps that the Rose Bowl Flea Market is in Pasadena. It's a 2-fer!)

All that analyzing, going back, looking, measuring, and finally, we got it right. Of course, we still need siding (Dormer siding is underway this week!) and paint and lots and lots of other things, but if you squint and ignore the blue cast, you can kind of picture what it's going to be like.

I can't wait!

Fits and starts

I've been meaning to take more photos and post, but I keep thinking about it after I've left DGE. There's been a lot of progress, and now another lull.

We have:
* A new roof (yay! and just before the first rain)
* New gutters (though no downspouts or water exit yet, which made for a nervous night last night with the pouring rains)
* TYVEK! The house is wrapped, and ready for siding.
* Windows: All except for one that came damaged, and one (laundry room greenhouse-style) that still needs to be purchased.

Here it is:

September, 2011. From the front. Note the missing window, left

Up next: trim (we've finally settled on width and style; then siding (part of it was delivered last week, more to come tomorrow). But all that has to wait until our early rains stop.

Until then, here are some pix of our beautiful Dahlias. I think I'm in love!

This one bloomed in late summer

This and the ones below are the last 3 week's beauties

No photo Monday

I had some photos of the garden bounty (or kind of lack thereof) a week ago, but can't find them. Must be on M's phone.

The garden has been a bit of a disappointment this year--sure we're getting tomatoes and squash, but it just looks kind of pathetic. I planted 3 kinds of seeds: Sungold (my favorite), Brandywine, and Box Car Willie (for our dog Willie). Maybe I got too carried away too early in the season? It's funny because the plants I put in the garden last (after having to transplant them from small peat pots into larger pots) did the best. And I thought it was late for those. But we had such a rainy spring . . .

We never really got our drip system up and running for the whole garden, so that meant some uneven watering and lots of tomatoes with blossom end rot, and lots of splitting. And the weeds! Ay the weeds! I have so far refused to use any herbicide or pesticides, and you can really tell. It's a mess. I hope that next year when I actually live on the property it will be easier.

We've started to get a few figs, but nothing like last year's bounty. Though this year the grapes (Thomson seedless and Red Flame, we think) are doing much better than last year. Each year is an adventure, I guess.

I'm still glad we have the garden, but will count this year as not my best effort ever. That's ok.

As for house progress, there's lots to tell and show. I won't be able to post pix for a few days, but stay tuned!

My present

Late last week, M came home and said she had a present for me, but I had to find it. I love presents, but after looking around a bit, I didn't see anything and new it was pointless to hound her. I decided to be excited when I DID find it.

I didn't make it out to DGE until Sunday, and even then it took me a few minutes to find my "present." Not a traditional present, but a welcome one nevertheless.

What's under the 'wrapping'?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The backside wrapping. Note the hose bottom left

Is that what I think it might be?

YAY! "Indoor" plumbing!

Yes! A toilet (hooked up to water supply by hose!) which is not permanent, and it's only semi-private, but it beats the bushes in the backyard!

Friday Night Dinner

So the progress on the house has slowed again as we have had a bunch of other stuff vying for our attention. And it's been hot. Apparently this is the coolest summer on record for the last 50 years, yet even at 90 in the afternoon, it's, well, a hot heat. And hard to be motivated to want to work in it.

So instead of new photos of the house itself, I offer you a photos of my lovely Friday night dinner.

 Corn, spinach, sweet white onion, squash, sungold tomatoes and farm fresh egg. YUM! I wish I could say the whole thing was from my garden, but it was only the tomatoes and the squash. I'd love to have a couple chickens for eggs, but don't trust Hairy (cat) and Willie (dog) to live peacefully with them!

Tomorrow I'll reveal my new present at the house that I recently received and found on Saturday!

Open house open house

A couple weeks ago, we had our first party at DGE. We called it an Open House Open House, since our house is still "open." It was family and a couple friends, and we had a lot of fun. It was a warm but not hot Friday evening, and we served wine, beer and a light dinner (Chicken and Peach Salad with Goat Cheese, Tomato Feta Tart and Rocky Road Bars). We "toured" our house (took oh, about 5 minutes) and then noshed in the shade of the veggie garden. I hope it's the first of MANY fun gatherings we have at the new house.

Our progress has slowed some as we've had a lot of other stuff going on in life. But here are photos, taken a couple weeks ago, that show the house (mostly interior) as it is today. Next up is Roofing, HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Siding, then all the interior stuff. It's going to be awhile . . .

Front of house with most of sheeting up

In the master bedroom, looking toward street

Does this look like a good size for the shower?

Yay! No more ladder to get to the 2nd floor!

"Bonus" area, someday to be craft room

It really feels great to be able to walk around the rooms and feel like we did ok with the design and layout, and try to imagine what it will feel like to live here. I'm one lucky girl.

More progress

We spent the day at the house yesterday. I mostly worked in the garden, and sought out the shade with my book, but Melissa got step one (pun intended) of the stairs complete. No more ladders to get to the second floor! It was hot (over 90) but it's amazing how cool it was inside the house. Thankfully there was a breeze, and the roof panels have some fancy reflective material that really shield the heat.

It's amazing how having the second floor and roof panels make it feel so different--and like so much has happened in a couple weeks. There is still months more work to do (more outside sheeting, roofing, plumbing, electrical, insulation, sheetrock, etc etc, etc, but there's enough in place now to really see how great it's going to be.

We spent some time on the second floor (yes, I had to climb the ladder again--NOT my favorite thing) reconfiguring the upstairs bathrooms yesterday (wow--this is a nice benefit of not being tied to plans and paying someone for each change) and I think it's going to work out nicely.

In the meantime, I picked 3 summer squashes, lettuce, nasturtiums and cilantro. And I pulled all the sugar snap peas out of the beds. The weeds are taking over, but I can't bring myself to use the Roundup in the vegetable garden. There's gotta be a better way.

Here are the photos of the house progress:

Front. Office on left. Panel (center) waiting to go to 2nd floor

Back. Living room right, kitchen center, laundry, garage left.

Side. Living room left, office and door right.

Step 1 of stairs.

Holiday weekend, after the fact

They were predicting temperatures in the high 90's and low 100's for the 4th of July weekend, so we did what any sensible people would do: packed up Willie and headed for Donner Lake. We're so lucky that we live only an hour away, that we can go to the house pretty much anytime we like, and that it's usually 20 (or so) degrees cooler up there.

Because we'd given blood on Saturday morning, and it was super hot, we got a very late start (packing up the hot car with low energy was just so unappealing!), but made it there by dinner time. We spent Sunday hanging out, and most of Monday too. It was fun to catch up on magazines, go sailing, watch Willie swim in the cold lake water, and relax. All in much cooler temps.

Monday, we headed back before dark, and then got to meet my friend Kathy and her daughter for some fireworks watching (and yes, we wore red, white and blue). The display seemed a little lacking this year, but how cool is it to hang with the friend you've had since age 2 on the neighborhood hill where you watched fireworks from probably around age 4 until 14? It's fun to think of all those years ago, hanging with our moms and listening to their conversations and now my friend's girls doing the same with us.

Hope you all had a nice, long, patriotic weekend!

More house photos later this week: the progress is exciting!

And the next day . . .

It looked like this:

Luckily, we had a crew of three to work on getting these trusses in place and other hard for a girl-and-her-tractor alone work to do. They'll finish out the week, and then we'll continue on (me documenting, rooting, and encouraging, Melissa doing the actual work!)

This morning it looks like this:

I took some photos yesterday evening to try and document what the house looks like pre-2nd floor. The truck with the trusses is there now. I wish I were there to see it, but rest assured, photo documentation is going on!

Here's how it looked late yesterday/early today:

Front of house, looking southwest. Garage on right (cut off).

Back of house, looking Northeast. Livingrm slider opening on right.

Side of house, with office doorway and livingroom windows

Garage end of house, with laundry rm window and slider opening

Tonight/tomorrow will be a whole new story, literally!

Garden bounty, and Tuesday will be an exciting day!

Though I go to the new house site nearly every day (it's about 4 miles from where we're living), I keep forgetting my camera! Part of the 2nd floor is up, and tomorrow the trusses come, which will make the house go from it's current 1 story frame to a 2 story! EXCITING!

I'll get out there tonight and take some before photos.

In the meantime, here's a shot of Saturday's harvest from my garden:

Sugar Snap Peas














This winter, I planted a lot of seeds, and with the cool spring we had, the sugar snap peas went crazy. The sweet peas are blooming fiercly, too. These Sugar Snaps are just about finished, and the tomatoes (I planted 13!) are blooming now and I'm hoping they'll set fruit soon.

For tomatoes, I planted Sungolds, Brandywines and Boxcar Willies (chosen for Willie our dog). I also planted (though not from seed) 4 hot peppers, one eggplant, two summer squashes (one's ready to pick today!) and a cucumber. I lost the Ambrosia melon, but have lettuce, parsley, chives, cilantro, basil, arugula and lettuce. And a lot of weeds, which will probably be the end of me. I'm trying to be organic, and the weeds are out of control. I try to keep them weed-whacked and just look the other way. It certainly isn't a magazine photo-worthy garden, but I love it anyway. I can't wait until I get to live where my garden is!

Uh oh, nearly a year

OMG. I knew it had been awhile, but I didn't realize it's been 11 months. I've had grand plans to get back in the swing of things and start documenting the house construction. Though it's been going slowly, I fear I won't be able to catch up.

What's been happening? Well, the teardown is complete, electrical panel (and wiring to pole) has been moved, and the first floor is just about complete. The upper floor joists are going in, and trusses should be delivered in about 2 weeks. WOW! That seems like so much, until I realize that it's taken a year for all that to happen. That's ok. It's the process, right?

It's a good thing I didn't realize when I started this post that I don't even have a recent picture. Sigh. I like to think I'm on top of everything, but maybe not so much . . .

This isn't even close to being up to date (note right hand portion of original house still intact) but the best I can do today. And I'm going to try and be a more frequent guest here. We'll see . . .