Freaky Friday!

I think that I spend more time trying to think of a clever blog title than anything else.  At this point I have no title.  I was thinking about doors - of course - and then I was thinking about doorbells and should we have a doorbell so that got me thinking to Ding Dong, which of course ends with The witch is dead!  Which has nothing to do with anything because there are no witches in my world right now - no evil teachers or anything like that.  But it is nearing the month of halloween for all of you halloween lovers - maureen if you're reading this.  Nothing like tangent Friday!  Well, today is an exciting day because not only do we have stairs but we also have both a front door and a back door!  They open and close and keep the rain out!  The first picture is the treehouse that we stayed in last night at Treehouse Point near Fall City - it was pretty cool up in the tree listening to the Raging River.

Dan at the treehouse.  GIANT hemlock behind him.  It even had a toilet!

We now have a back door!  Still waiting for the handle to arrive of course.

The rear :)

Side shot!

Shaping up - shed roof is on - old door is gone!

awesome knotty alder front door finished by Aero-Lac inc. in Seattle

Front porch

Lupe scoping from her new perch.  We had to break it down for her - scratch the door and...we will be really mad.

Hi pretty door :)

The Forecast (was): Siding, Stairs and Showers

It's still technically summer.  Technically.  So much for doing a construction project in the summer for the weather because it has been torrential downpouring on and off for the past few days.  The contractor has placed walkways of scrap wood around the outside of the house to avoid making a seriously mucky mess but it is still not pleasant.  I think the straw works better and after this past week I think I need to pick up another couple of bales.

On Saturday while I was visiting every door store in town to obtain a replacement for the back door that was going to be but will not be our back door, there was lots of mischief taking place back at the house.  Dan's dad is visiting and was able to provide great supervision as Dan coerced the contractor who was working on Saturday to cut the stairs through between the first and second floor.  This was supposed to happen after the front and back door were both installed but it was apparently way too much fun.  And it is kind of fun so here are some photos!  I did find a door by the way after going full circle and returning to the first place that I had been the day before - at least I was thorough.  

Floor no more...

Stairs!

Beginning of front porch

Front stairs

Profile shot

Back stairs

Inside - going upstairs

Rounding the corner

On the second floor!

Windows on...Lupe!

Let's see...after a weekend (labor day weekend) of emptying buckets the leak was fixed and the windows were installed!  Once the doors go on then the first floor will technically be sealed (although not heated) and the stairs can get cut in on the inside to the second floor.  This is supposed to happen this week but I shall keep you posted.  I have some pics of the current progress and the reason for the title - somehow Lupe decided to place herself in every single picture that I took - I should probably stop taking pictures with my phone because they are not quite as clear when it is a little dark as my camera.  My really exciting weekend also included cleaning the chicken coop (much happier chickens!), vacuuming the truck of all the sunflower seed shells deposited there by dan (i kind of wanted to wait and see if a sunflower would actually sprout - probably just needed a little water as there was definitely enough dirt), moving a tree and a rose bush that needed to be saved prior to the walkways being laid, helping dan put in the frame for a pocket door, and mowing the remainder of the lawn.  Boring!  I feel like now I'm just waiting for the snow to fall.  I think that a southward migration may have to be in the works for sometime in the dark days of february...

But enough about that blah blah boring time and here are some photos of the progress!

$5 if you can spot the chicken in this photo.  I finally got some straw to lay down on the mud. 

New back stairs.  Much more doable than the current state of affairs (er stairs).

Windows arrived!

Inside looking toward the future fireplace/living room area.

And again...

Lupe starts her photoshoot.  She is so stoked about finally being able to visit the mystery floor - now that there are stairs rather  than a ladder.

Profile shot.  Looking a the future eating nook and mudroom.

Mudroom and out to the back entry.

Lupe's new perch.  Loves it of course although it's not quite as lofty as the current one (see stairs in photo).

Looking out toward the front door.  The stairs will block the view from the front to the back - thank goodness because this is required feng shui - you don't want to have direct sight from door to door because then the energy just flows right on out!  very important!

down the back stairs.  dan called the contractor on friday due to some apparently substandard post placement construction - so there will be a little redoing apparently. 

  And that's all folks!  stay tuned for more exciting house blogedness!

Sound of Sunshine

Well, it's been a while since the last "blog" so here's the update.  While framing is fast, it seems as though some days I actually wonder what has been done - but luckily that means the details are being taken care of - earthquake stabilization, etc.  The building inspector was out on Thursday when Dan and I were both at home.  Dan was just getting ready to lay some pipe so it could go in before the walkways get laid - not that we are trying to avoid the inspectors but there is some stuff that has to get done now that will be permitted later - logistics.  So, instead of laying the pipe we took the front door to South Park to get finished.  A hookup!  Yeah!  Those are the best.  We will let you know in about a week if we can give you a great recommend on a finishing place.  We had already decided that neither of us was allowed to finish the new knotty alder front door.  We had experienced the pain of **&&# up the staining of doors in the past and had already decided that we desired a professional for this particular job. 

So, we dropped the door and a long story later, ended up back at the house again because Dan absolutely needed to get some other pipe in before he left on Friday to go fishing.  Friday morning I was suddenly requested to assist with said pipe, which was to go from the first floor up to the attic through some holes.  It became a wonderful exercise in communication (up, to the right, toward the street, persistently tap, then down two inches) and we finally had the unseen assistance of one of the workers outside who would yell to me whatever dan was yelling that i couldn't hear.  Luckily that went well and I was released.

On Friday night my wonderful mom and I went and camped out next to I-90 at Tinkham Campground on the South Fork and had a great time relaxing, talking about almost everyone, and sleeping and then I came home to a puddle of water on the first floor.  Boo.  Luckily my mom is really smart and her solution was "get a bucket!"  Luckily the non-quickly-bucket filling leak is just that so I did my duty and checked in with Roswald and wrapped some special marine tape around it that isn't really changing anything. 

Other than that...the house is partially wrapped and the lower siding has begun.  And I have been canning the green tomato dominated garden about two jars at a time.  So, here are the minor photos of the house advances (and digressions) and the more photos of the animals and the ends of summer!  Please stay summer!   

The teenagers have moved in with the old hens.  So, where am I going to start the old folks hen farm - mom?

Lupe's perch - from the rear.  So sorry lupes that this is going away...

Si in the clouds.

first floor wrapped.  crawl space primed siding on...

The Sound of Sunshine!  Evidence of the leak before the bucket and the bucket doing its bucket job.

What the heck is going on up here?  If I was a good blogger I would be able to point to the the black tape with the one drip at the north center of the photo.

 

The tall house from the street corner.

 

Hops!

"I'm busy spying on those dogs two streets over."

"Can't you see I'm busy?"

The growing collection.  Thanks mom for the peaches :)

Some of the garlic.

A root vegetable minis harvest