Thanks For The Memories

Now that Ed is home full time, things are finishing up at record pace. Even so, it seems to take twice as long to do any particular project as we think it will.
Two weeks ago, I finished the El Dorado rock without major mishap..except for that little thing about cutting a piece on the Skil saw without realizing Ed had changed out the blade from the diamond blade to a blade to rip wood..or hands or legs..whatever gets in the way. Who knew? Anyway no spouses were harmed in the making of this wall, so I felt pretty good about that.

Last week, during gale force winds (no, really) we drove over to the coast and picked up our wood stove, a Hearthstone Tribute soapstone stove. It was raining pretty hard and the guy at the store says "That cast iron probably shouldn't get wet. It'll rust." The stove was wrapped in thin plastic ,then in an open wood crate, and we had the truck. Ed says "I don't think I'll try to tarp it in this wind." So off we go. It got a little wet, but it dried off nicely. When we watched the news that evening we saw that the roof had blown off the courthouse in Seaside about 10 minutes after we left.







Ed spent part of the last two weeks installing the glass balcony rail. Once we had all the proper parts (another story) it went in fairly quickly. It looks great, enhances the view, and we both love it.





It adds a feeling of spaciousness to the living area and prevents that 650 sq feet from getting too claustrophobic. The deck has ample room for several chairs and a table..the perfect place for coffee in the morning or an adult beverage at the end of the day. I can hardly wait for the weather to cooperate.

Depending on the weather, for the last two weeks, Ed has been working on the wood trim. He thought he had enough wood prepared for the baseboards, windows and doors. but those doors and windows can be sneaky, and he spent more time than he expected ripping down spruce, planing, sanding, staining and sealing.

Last week we had a dry day. Ed called Taylor and asked him to come down to help get the wood stove up the stairs. The cooktop range and the fridge barely went up those steep narrow stairs, and the wood stove is a lot smaller than a refrigerator. Unfortunately, the wood stove weighs 318 lbs. Taylor and Ed got it on the dolly, and up about three stairs and realized they weren't going to make it alone. So as Ed held the dolly on the third step, Taylor jumped in his truck and ran for reinforcements. With two guys pushing and one pulling, the wood stove finally reached its destination.
This is the smallest wood stove that Hearthstone makes and it's amazing just how efficient it is. We build a small fire in the morning, and by 11:00 it is 68 inside. We let the fire go out and the soapstone continues to radiate heat into the room throughout the day. In the evening, we build another small fire and it is plenty warm for the rest of the night. Now, we're not in the harshest part of the winter yet, but because the apartment is so well insulated and because this little stove is so efficient, our biggest problem is going to be not roasting ourselves out of our living room.
I left for a week to visit family, and by the time I got home yesterday, Ed had the trim just about finished. Once we get the furniture moved in, it's home for the next several years.




So this is it..the final blog entry for the apartment. We started with a standard garage with primered metal roll up doors and now have beautiful shingle style craftsman lodge apartment. Except for the punch list and one piece of artwork for the last piece of window trim, a few exterior shingles, the work is complete. We have officially named the garage apartment The Crow's Nest.

The final piece of trim went up last week. I took a piece of sanded alder, and using some stained glass software, Rapid Resizer, I put together a banner. Then using old fashioned carbon paper, I traced it onto the wood. It was my first time using a router, but since it was a small one, it was fairly easy to control. I routed out the words, then the birds. We stained the board, painted in the words, and put on the finish coat. Then Ed nailed it up. I'm pretty happy.
Ed has mentally moved on to the next project and is already planning the foundation for the house. I wouldn't have it any other way. Like so many journeys, this isn't really the end, it's just the beginning of another one. The roller coaster starts over again. Keep your hands and personal belongings inside and tighten your seat belt, because we start the house in the spring. Stay tuned.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

"Home is where the heart is,
And my heart is anywhere you are.
Anywhere you are is home."

It has been said that the kitchen is the heart of the home. In my case, that couldn't be closer to the truth. Recognizing that, Ed has been working diligently to pull the rest of the kitchen together.


He put the window trim around the kitchen windows and started on the granite.











We set out the granite tiles for a dry fit throughout the entire kitchen before cutting anything. Good thing Ed knows what he's doing because I would have just started cutting and gluing. We had to raise the level of the stove top to accommodate the plywood, wonderboard, mastic and tile. Later when the grout is in, we'll lower the stove down where it belongs.











Ten years ago we bought a cheapie tile saw from Home Depot. That little $39.95 saw is like the Energizer Bunny...it just keeps going and going. Ed took all the tiles that needed to be cut, and did (most of) them in one trip.



Going up and down the stairs a gazillion times is a killer leg workout. Of course, I'm up on the landing at front door watching. He's down there working away, standing at the edge of the abyss.

The tile fit like a dream, and we got the kitchen and bathroom counter done in record time. Ed put the wood trim around the edge, and the grout in. I'm really loving the way it looks. We still have

to do some fine tuning. There are a few plug covers to go on, and the stove top height has to be adjusted.

The original plans called for the kitchen counter to make a el, with the stove top and eating counter. I changed it to make the counter run the length of the wall, to include a small desk, and have the stove top and eating counter in an island. We are really glad we changed it because it seems to be a better use of space.

Ed wanted to get the refrigerator out of the garage and up the stairs. In case it slipped your mind, I'll just say that a refrigerator is really big, really tall, and really really heavy. We had two problems. I can't help him get it upstairs, and the staircase is about an inch too narrow. Ed was gathering tools to do violence to the rail, when I had an idea.

I was originally thinking of ways to reduce the weight..(somehow that's always on my mind).

"What if we take off the doors?" I mused.

I'm a genius...who knew? The problem of the narrow staircase was solved!

Thursday Taylor came down to rototill the vegetable garden, and he and Ed moved the refrigerator upstairs.

Finally... a real kitchen...but wait!

We need actual running water, and a working drain. Ed started putting all the pieces together and he says. "Looks like some kind of weird musical instrument."

"Give it a try," I said,"It can't sound any worse than my bagpipes." And guess what? It doesn't!

But we needed a drain much more than we needed a drain and kazoo band, so he went with Plan A and installed the pipes under the sink.

The wood stove is on order, a Hearthstone Tribute stove, and should be here in a week. Wonder if we can get Taylor back to help get that upstairs?

Sticks, Stones and Sinks

Ed wanted to get the doors on before the cabinets came on Wednesday. Ah, the things we take for granted; true love, hot water, refrigerated food, flush toilets, doors on the bathroom.

For these things, we are grateful.

We bought unfinished fir three panel shaker doors, stained them to match the cabinets, and put on a coat of varethane. There are two closet doors, a bedroom and bathroom door, and a bifold door for the linen closet.

At 10:00 Wednesday morning the Peter and Tom, the cabinet installers, showed up. I was so happy I could have hugged them, but I managed to restrain myself. I won't bore you with a

bunch of pictures of them lugging those things up the stairs. Mostly because I was so scared while they carted them up, I forgot to take pictures.

See that upper cabinet? They brought that up as one unit!

There is a desk area to the far right under the window, and the island will have a 15" bar that extends out behind the stove top.

They installed all the kitchen cabinets, and an upper cabinet and vanity for the bathroom.

Friday I started putting up the El Dorado stone behind where the wood burning stove will go. This is my project, but I don't know how to use the Skil saw, so every time I wanted a stone cut, I'd have to catch Ed between trips up and down stairs to cut one. Either that or ask him to stop what he was doing to make the cut. Word of caution: Do not try to cut these stones with a tile saw. While the tile saw will cut them with no problem, it throws wet ground cement everywhere...shirt, hair, face (remember safety glasses) . There is no conditioner made on this Earth that will take care of hair dipped in wet cement dust. Finally by Saturday afternoon, I worked up the courage to try the Skil saw myself. It's a miracle! I didn't cut my leg off or anything!

We are using the China Beach Stacked stone, and acrylic mastic instead of thinset. Since I'm doing the stone, and I'm relatively clumsy with tools, I didn't want to worry about the thinset setting up too fast. I took several photos of the stone. One shows them more yellow than they are, and one shows them too brown. The true color is somewhere in the middle. By evening my back was barking at me, and I had used both gallons of mastic. I was ready to stop.

Sunday we went into town and bought 10 gallons of mastic, plywood and wonderboard to go down on the kitchen cabinets, and a kitchen sink. It's a Franke granite composite sink. I couldn't wait to see how it would look, so as soon as Ed made the cutout on the plywood, I just had to try it for fit.

Wooden It Be Lovely

The last several weeks have been frantic. We ordered doors (unfinished) , ripped lumber for door jambs and window trim, ran those a gazillion times through the planer, then sanded, stained and finished them all.

We decided we wanted the interior wood trim and the doors to match the kitchen cabinets, so we got the stain from the cabinet company. The cabinet shop owner, Scott Selix says, "We use a lacquer based stain, then we spray on a lacquer finish." No problem, I thought, I'll just buy the stain from them and get lacquer finish at Lowe's or someplace. When it was time to start staining the wood, I opened the can and about fell over from the fumes. What the heck is in that stuff? After some investigation I discovered that lacquer is based on alcohol, naptha and ether. Break out the mask! The mask helped but a good north breeze was a blessing. We also decided to let the stain dry for 48 hours, then use varithane to finish it instead of a lacquer finish. So far, nothing has caught fire, melted, or blown up.

In our spare time, and on rainy days, we worked on inside projects, specifically grouting the tile and starting the hardwood floors. Ed did the hard part, applying the grout, and I did the rest, cleaning the excess and sponging.

After we got that finished, we started on the hardwood floors. Except for the part about being bent over a floor nailer for hours and hours, it's a lot of fun. But we're very happy with the result. We bought the Lumber Liquidator's house brand and are very pleased with the quality of the product.

This is Brazilian Cherry, and while this picture shows a lighter color than the floor actually is, the wood will darken over time to a fairly dark wood.

Then in his spare time, Ed built the shelves in the pantry. Of course they didn't stay empty for long. The things were barely up before I started putting stuff away. I think having no kitchen has been the hardest part of this entire process for me.

The cabinets come Wednesday, so yesterday afternoon, our neighbor Mike came down to help Ed get the stove upstairs. The stove cleared the stair rail by about a half an inch. I couldn't watch. And if you think that was fun, just wait until it's time to move the refrigerator!

But oh, the joys of installing a new appliance. We bought a Jenn-Air downdraft slide in range.

1. The screw for the vent hose is made with cheap metal and stripped out on the third turn.

2. The little pull ring on the aluminum filter pulled out with the first tug.

3. The vent grill is warped and doesn't sit snugly on the top of the stove.

4. The directions for programming the computer are a poor translation from whatever they started with, and you're pretty much on your own.

Given that we paid an exorbitant price for the darned thing, we were pretty upset. I was however pretty excited to see that the knob labeled "right front" actually turned on the right front burner.

This morning I finally figured out how to set the program from french to english, and to set the clock. Finally I figured out the timer. The rest I can ignore until later.

Meanwhile, Ed has begun moving in the door jambs. Soon we'll have a door on the bathroom. Wahoo!

That's A Mouthfull!

Entire electrical system, improved, updated and moved. Check.

Entire plumbing system, improved, updated and moved. Check.

Entire phone system, improved, updated and moved. Check.

All systems currently functioning. Check.







Monday morning, as promised, the excavator showed up at 06:30. I know there are excavators much bigger than this one, but I have officially named this one Digosaurus Hellatious, more commonly called One Hell of a Digger.











There is an existing pad of cement that went under the doublewide, and that had to go. But everyone was betting there would be no rebar, since the primary function of the cement was to make a managable crawlspace and get rid of a potential mudhole.



Wrong.

There was probably enough rebar in that thing to put U.S. Steel back to work. But that giant mouth of a bucket grabbed onto slabs of the concrete and slammed them around until either the rebar gave way or it was exposed for one of the workers to cut it with a metal saw.

As Robbie Ohrburg was running that excavator, he was spinning it around like a top, to the right, to the left, around in a circle, whirl around the other direction. I had to stop watching because I was getting motion sickness just looking at it. That guy must have eaten cafeteria lunches as a kid because anyone else would be queasy.



They wouldn't let Ed play with any of the big toys but they did let him be the stick-guy for the laser level

. It made me a little nervous to have him down in that hole, with the big bucket swinging around like a tether ball, but Robbie knew what he was about, and didn't smack Ed once. He really had amazing control and was able to move it very delicately. I told him later, "You could put mascara on with that thing!"




All the busted up concrete and all the dirt was carted down to the east pasture and dumped in neat piles. The pile is about six feet tall and about eight feet across, and I couldn't even guess how long it is..100 yards? It's like having my own personal Hadrian's Wall. Later, Ed will take the tractor down and distribute the dirt around to various places. It's mostly clay and rubble rock, that hasn't seen the light of day for a few hundred years.












By the end of the day, we had a basement dug. I can't even imagine how long that would have taken us with the tractor and the gator...months.



Sometimes it's just worth it to have the pros come out and do the job.















This morning, we had some sand brought in as a base, and to try to cut down on the mud. Of course, the cats thought it was the best sandbox ever!









Ed got out the tractor and started pushing the sand around. Sometimes I think he just thinks up these projects so he can play with the toys.
Once he has the sand spread around, he'll switch from construction hat to farm hat and take care of a few things he's been putting off.
The weather man says we're scheduled for rain next week and that means the blackberry vines have to be sprayed this week.
Next week we'll probably start some inside jobs.
The list is endless, but here are a few items.
1. Tile the coat closet and the pantry. Grout.
2. Lay hardwood flooring.
3. Run lumber for baseboards and window trim through the planer.
4. Rip same.
5. Stain and seal same.
6. Install same.
7. Install cabinets.
8. Tile counters. Grout.
9. Spoil Theresa rotten.


Needless to say, it won't all happen next week. Stay tuned.

Simple Gifts

Ed and his helper, Taylor, started on the stairs right away. Because of where the basement will be dug, they will lay them out to go straight down. Later, he will take off the lower section and turn them toward the deck between the garage and the house. They plotted out where the pier posts should be and set those on Friday. Saturday,the stringers went up.

That was about the point where Ed realized that the main electrical wire coming from the box at the road to the main panel was currently under the concrete slab for the former doublewide, and try as he might, he couldn't pull it. It would have to be re-routed. You guessed it. Right underneath the new stairs. So the stairs were put on hold, and Ed began trenching. Yes, he tried a ditchwitch. Actually it was one that a neighbor very graciously lent us. Problem was.. it was older than Ed...no, really. Anyway it wasn't cutting it (no pun intended) so he just used the backhoe.

In the meantime, Taylor was attaching the steps to the stairs. By Sunday night, we had a functioning set of stairs. They still need a hand rail, so they are a little scary, and they need more lighting at night, but it sure beats climbing up the ladder!

Every day, Ed has been working literally dawn to dusk. The excavator team will be here first of next week do dig the basement, and all the prep work has to be complete. We also have a window of opportunity because the rainy weather has held off. We know that will change in a big hurry.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Lance The Electrician was here, and he and Ed did whatever electricians do to re-wire the main panel and put new wire in the trench.

The phone line needs to be located (underground) and relocated.

There is an existing water line that was buried too shallow and needs to be buried deeper.

Thursday, I had a whole list of chores to do in town and left in the morning. Ed was already outside working. I got home just after sunset, and it was getting cold and dark. Ed was still outside with a shovel.

"I was using the backhoe, digging for the phone wire, and snagged that shallow water line. It's broken someplace underneath the concrete slab.", he said. He looked exhausted.

So, ok, one night without any water. No shower, no flush toilet.

Friday was our 10th wedding anniversary. After laying awake most of the night, Ed decided that it would be best just to cut the pipe at the wellhead and lay new pipe over to the garage. The existing water pressure tank is over 15 years old and probably should be replaced, so we'll just get a new one and put it in the garage. So, we drove to Longview for plumbing parts, got home by 2:00 pm, and Ed went to work to get it together so we could have a shower. Yea!

Not.

As Wally Wright, our Pro Hardware Store owner says, "It's not a plumbing project without three trips to the store."

While Ed fitted stuff together, I headed in for the few parts we didn't realize we needed.

By 7:00 he had everything together. It takes two hours for the PVC glue to dry so we had some dinner and waited for 9:00 to turn on the water to take showers. We were both tired and sticky.

At 9:00, Ed went down to turn on the water and check for leaks. In all the plumbing he has ever done, Ed has never had a pipe leak. The water came on fine, everything looked good, then ...gush. In his fatigue, Ed had primed the PVC pipe and checked fit, then forgotten to put on the glue. Now there was a flood in the garage, and a very tired, very unhappy Ed. He got pipes dried off and glued together. Two nights with no shower and no water. Do we wait up until midnight to shower? No, we do not. Feeling like refugees, we climbed into bed and went to sleep. At least we had a bed and a roof. Could be worse.

Saturday morning, Ed got up and turned the water on for another test. Oh, blessed water! Oh glorious shower! What wonderful gifts we ignore every day!

Sunday morning we went to church. After lunch Ed called the excavator company to see what day they would be here to dig the basement.

"Tomorrow...we'll be there at 6:30." he says.

OOhh kay. Ed started filling in the big trench across the driveway and cleaning up the site. By the light of sunset, we plotted the site on the ground, spray painting as we went, the site plus three feet around for foundation. I'm spatially impaired..it's hard for me to look at a set of plans and get a good feel for how big the rooms will be. For the first time, I could stand in one spot and imagine where the rooms would be. I'm still in a daze.

Road Show

Saturday:

The new buyer of our doublewide, who is also a contractor, showed up to take a look at the worksite and give us a timeline for the doublewide's removal.

"Jim," I said, "You guys are content to tear stuff apart and use power tools. But this is my nest, and it's all disturbed. I need to know when I need to have absolutely everything in a box and out of here."
He looks around. He thinks. "Tuesday morning." he says.

Cool! I can do that. So I get in my car and take off to do a few errands. When I get back an hour later, Ed says, "Change of plans. The removal crew will be here Monday at noon to start tearing the center shingles off the house and sawing it in half, so everything needs to be done by Monday morning."

Shoot me now.

Sunday:

We both skipped church and I started frantically packing. About noon I ran out of boxes and quickly learned that cardboard boxes are not easy to find in a little town where most of the businesses are closed on Sundays. So..ok..my boxes are a little soggy from last week's rain and smell like pizza dough. Could be worse. Ed was working outside the house tearing the last of the decking apart and clearing the way for the big move. He and his helper, Taylor, muscled the water softener, washer and dryer, and hot water heater into place in the garage. Sunday we went to bed feeling wrung out.

Monday:

Bright and early..actually not so bright..it was still dark. I hear a truck rumble up and stop at the driveway. We jumped up to find an excavator in our yard.

"How did you find us in the dark?" Ed asked.

"Actually" the young man laughed, "I used to live here. You bought this place from my dad."How weird is that?

So Nick started tearing dirt away from the front of the doublewide so it could be moved freely from its site.

Now I'm to the point where I'm just tossing stuff into boxes like a mad woman. My neighbor, Vickie, showed up with a shovel and started to move some plants and flowers that I had intended to move earlier and never gotten to. Then she moved on in to help me pack the kitchen. Thank goodness for good neighbors!

After Vickie left, I emptied the fridge into the new one (in the garage) and started cleaning the old one.

The buyer is taking the spa too (thank goodness) so Nick helped him load it up on a trailer using his excavator, then back to digging.

I heard some salty language and the word "water" ... Nick had accidentally ripped up a water line that wasn't buried deep enough, so Ed turned off the water at the well.

That's when the house movers showed up.

In strides a man with a hammer, pry bar and a sawsall. We'll call him Vladimir because I can't remember his name. He had his shirt unbuttoned, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and a big gold chain around his neck.
"You can stop cleaning." Vladimir says, "We're gonna make a big mess." And he did. While his buddies were up on top ripping off shingles and taking out bolts. Vladimir began prying up carpet and sawing sheetrock.

Guess I'll stop dusting now.

We still don't have working plumbing inside the apartment, and the doublewide bathroom is off limits, but the guys had it easy. Me...not so much.

By the end of the day, the doublewide was unbolted and sawed in half but still together. The utilities were still hooked up, but was otherwise gutted. Our bed, clothes and what was left of my kitchen was in the garage. We had to shower inside the gutted doublewide then trek out to our new digs in the garage.

Just about the time I was so tired I couldn't blink, the phone (yes, we still had a phone) rang. Vickie-The-Wonder-Neighbor had dinner waiting for us. A thousand blessings on her and her family!

Ed and I fell into bed in our garage and couldn't sleep a wink because we were so darned tired.

At least the toilet and shower were still hooked up inside the doublewide.

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning we had a brief respite, which means nobody showed up to start work while it was still dark. At 0900.Vladimir and crew rolled up and began the final work for the Big Move. In real life that means, the water, sewer and all connections are undone, and the thing is pulled apart about two feet. When they finished what they could, they waited...and waited.. for the excavator to show up to tug the front part of the first section out so the semi tractor could hook up to it. No excavator. By now our phone was out of service and cell phones don't work up here, so they couldn't call their boss. At about 2:00 they packed up and left.

Ed temped in the toilet (oops wrong waterline connector) and the hot water heater running so we could at least take a bath. Did I mention this bathroom is upstairs in the new apartment, and I use the term "upstairs" loosely because technically...there are no stairs..only a ladder. So here's how it goes.. you wake up at 0200, find your clothes in the dark, socks, shoes,

and go outside. Around the corner, checking for raccoons and other night visitors, and up the aluminum ladder...the cold, wet, slippery aluminum ladder. Inside the new apartment, take off your shoes so as not to spoil the ungrouted tile, get down to business, put some water from the tub faucet in a bucket and "flush" the toilet. Shoes back on, and down the ladder. It could be worse. It could be cold and raining.

Someday we'll look back on all this and laugh.

At 4:00 in the morning, the water softener began it's regularly scheduled recharge cycle. The one we forgot about. All those of you that know how many gallons of water it takes to flush a water softener, raise your hand. No? Well I can tell you..it takes about 40 gallons. Using a five gallon bucket and a plastic kitchen garbage can, that's about 15 trips outside. We got about three hours of sleep.

Wednesday:

Wednesday Vladimir showed up by himself, with his boss right behind driving the semi tractor. Jim, the truck driver, points to my far corner landscaping and says "Is it ok if I drive over that stuff?"

I just stared at him, stunned. "I guess so, but I may cry."

"Ok." he said, and climbed in his truck.

They hooked up the tractor to the trailer tongue and start jockeying the first half of the doublewide around. Vladimir is jumping under the moving trailer like a chipmunk in a national park. I would have been glad to dial 911 in the event of his demise, but we had no phone.

I could drag out this narrative to each heart-stopping step,..smashing every plant I own, missing the corner of the new construction by about a half an inch, almost taking out the wellhead about six times, but words wouldn't describe it.

Finally after an eternity, the first half of the doublewide went down the road, and the show was over. Nothing to see here, folks, go back to your homes. Oh wait....we don't have one! Eventually we climbed our ladder, took a bath in our tub, went downstairs and slept in our garage.

Thursday:

Thursday morning I had an appointment in Portland and was gone all day. After I finished the first appointment I decided to hit the tile outlets and other tile stores in town, in the northwest area of Portland. What a waste of time. The warehouse outlet had NO granite tiles, and the other showrooms were apparently too high end for someone showing up in a three year old Jeep because I couldn't gain the attention of a single salesperson in any of the showrooms. Oh well. I'll find what I want elsewhere. By the time I cleared the grocery store and Lowe's (more grout), and got home it was late afternoon. The second half of the doublewide had magically disappeared while I was gone! Ed took a few shots of the last half leaving.

Ed and Taylor have been working like donkeys all week. Taylor took the broken cinderblocks from around the doublewide, and broke them up as baserock for the barn road. It's amazing what youth and energy will do! We'll fill in with smaller gravel later.

Through all of this Ed has had the patience of a saint. Every time I get frazzled he makes sure he does whatever it takes to get me through. We stood outside and looked up at the west side of the apartment and new garage for the first time, and we were pretty happy with what we saw.

Tomorrow they'll start the stairs. Yea!!