Surrounded By Bright Blessings

     We've been in the house for over a week and we still find ourselves having moments of disbelief. I can't believe I have been blessed in so many ways. I can't believe I live here in this place, in this time, with this person.
     Part of the frantic level last week was getting the last few things inside ready for company, and it's still not completely complete. The backsplashes aren't in the kitchen and bathrooms. The bathroom mirrors aren't done. The TV satellite isn't installed. But we can function without those things.
     I was, however, in such an exhausted hurry last week that I forgot to post pictures of several things. Not only did Ed install three glass shower enclosures, but he installed the panel to the dishwasher. We had been warned that this is often a tricky endeavor. It must open smoothly and the reveal around the edges needs to be equal. We no longer had the template for the door which added to the complexity. It went on like a dream. Once the toekick piece and the handle were on, it looked like a dream.
     He also installed the crown molding around the top of the entry on both sides. It's amazing how much the crown molding dresses up and finishes everything. It's the difference between a Tshirt and a tuxedo.
We hung pictures and picked up stuff, put away more stuff, made several trips to the cardboard recycle bin, hauled out ladders and boxes of nails and screws. We vacuumed and polished, dusted and wiped. It still needs a lot of work.

  Even so, I still look around, stunned that I live here. The entry is warm and welcoming. The living room couch is comfortable, and I'm not hesitant to pull my stocking feet up into it or rest them on the coffee table. The red chair isn't as cushy as I would like. It may go live in the upstairs guest bedroom at some point, after I find the perfect replacement. We're still unpacking things for the cabinets. It doesn't have to happen all at once.

   The guest rooms still need the drapes to be hung over the french doors. Rugs are on order for the downstairs room. I'm not very good at being patient.

     We now have a cabinet for the TV components but no TV yet. That's ok...I don't really miss it. I expect that during the winter months we'll settle in front of it a bit earlier than we do now. In the heart of winter the sun sets at 4:30. We'll mount the screen above the cabinet on a multi-directional bracket, making for easy viewing. When not in use it can be pushed flush to the wall.

     Adjacent to the family room is my much longed-for library. Nice cushy roomy chairs, meant for curling up with a blanket...room enough for a toddler or two. There are several stacks of children's books and games on the lower shelves. Cats have their special bed up on the window shelf. Plenty of room for all the books I could ever wish for.

     An even more important project is occurring down in the creek. The Water Conservation District is working hard on the creek restoration. This stabilizes the creek, returns it to a more natural meander, diffuses the power of the water during a large weather event, and restores fish habitat for spawning coho and chinook salmon and other species. It also (yea!) keeps the creek from wandering to the base of our hill, washing it away and dumping our home into the pasture below. We are so very grateful for this project and their assistance.

     Ed Sr. and Elaine came up this week for a few days. It was the first time they've been up for two years. The last time they were here we were still in the doublewide.  I think Pop enjoyed seeing the creek project. It's quite an engineering marvel! The big trees are placed just so, interwoven and rebarred together in such a way as to deflect the power of winter rains. It's all much more complicated than that, but that's the short version.

     Last week, the mail brought an unexpected gift. Dan, Ellen and Elicia sent us a beautiful guest book.  Dan enhanced it with a personal touch. He found a matching type font and carved "Videan's Bluff" into the cover. It's perfect. We have friends coming up later this week, and are looking forward to many happy visits with family. Being able to share our home with friends and family is everything.

We're In!

   Hectic doesn't even begin to describe the last two weeks. There is no part of my body that doesn't have screaming muscles. This entry will be short and sweet... or maybe just short.

   Tuesday the wheels fell off the bus. The guy we signed a bid with to do the rock work on the front columns pulled his bid because he severely underbid the job. The propane guys showed up to install the propane tank but the trainee forgot to put fuel in the tank. We found out the stair parts we THOUGHT were ordered a week ago weren't.
   Wednesday we drove into town, ordered stair parts from Home Depot, bought wood to make the fireplace mantle pieces, and various other supplies we forgot.
   Thursday the CenturyLink technician came out to move some wiring around, a different stone mason came out to look at the columns, and wonder of wonders the rest of the furniture was delivered...to the driveway. I helped Ed carry as much of it in as I could, but some of it had to wait for someone bigger and stronger than I am to help Ed get the rest into the house.
   Friday Ed hooked up the stove and that 90 year old stove fired up without a hitch. All six burners burned a beautiful blue. Meanwhile I had been moving everything from the apartment pantry, refrigerator, kitchen shelves, everything not nailed down...into the house. Next it was the clothes out of the closet and our toothbrushes. I was tired of messing around and waiting. I wanted in.
   Sunday afternoon, our neighbor Rick came over and helped Ed get the furniture upstairs.
   Monday we moved some stuff down from the barn. When the cat's away , the mice..you know...so most of the things had to be wiped down with clorox then scoured.
   Tomorrow Ed Sr. and Elaine come for their first visit in two years. The last time they were here we were still in the doublewide and were just painting the apartment.  I've been trying to get everything done for the visit and have just this afternoon come to the realization that it's just good enough. I think I need to find an adult beverage and go take a breather.

Stairway To Heaven

   The stairs have been the project of the week. Last week Ed glued up stair treads from left over flooring. Then he added a bullnose to the front edge and trimmed them up for installation.

 
  Tuesday we went into town for more lumber. We needed hemlock for the stair risers, shop grade plywood to rip down for pantry and closet shelves, poles for the closets, stuff to make fireplace mantles, and trim. Once that was home, Ed ripped down the plywood for the shelving. We've had wonderful weather all week, so the staining and varnishing went without a hitch. At least I got to work outside instead of in the dungeon...er..basement.

    When the hemlock was  ready, Ed went to work on the stairs. The unfinished stairs are the last glaring eyesore inside the house, and he was on a mission.
   First he floored the landing. I asked him to set the flooring in this direction for several reasons: It is parallel to the flooring in the living room and the first steps off the entry. It's perpendicular to the stairs from the second floor, giving a visual cue that you're at the bottom of the stairs. That sounds a little silly until you've misstepped and fallen down the stairs, then it all makes sense. 

 
 The end result is stunning. He did a spectacular job with the stair treads. We used up almost all of the left over flooring, which decreases our waste, and saved a bundle of money. We still have hand rails, stiles and newel posts to be installed. Those should arrive in about a week, and it's back to staining and varnishing.

     It's a miracle that Ed was able to complete the stairs given the various interruptions. Ferrell Gas showed up on Tuesday to evaluate the site for the propane tank. We decided to move some furniture down from the loft in the barn one morning while it was cool.  Thursday night the bed frame I ordered from Amish Outlet was delivered. Of course I couldn't just let it sit there...oh no! I wanted to set it up right away. I waited as long as Friday morning, then Ed and I put it together.

    Ed went back to work, this time putting in shelves for the pantry. Around here a well stocked pantry can save you, because it's two hours to and from a large grocery store. Sometimes in the winter the roads can be impassable for several days. At least.. that's the rationale I use. Ed says the shelves could use a sanding and another coat of finish. I say...stock those shelves!
   This week the propane will be installed, and we'll see if we can get Sister Brigit (the stove) up and running. If the stove works, we'll move in.

Hello Dolly or Highboys

   For over a year, the piano has been living the temporary bedroom in the garage. Sunday afternoon I asked Ed and Dan to move it into the house. I was as anxious about this as I was about moving the stove, and for the same reasons. It's as heavy as a tank, it's a tight fit, and if it gets dropped it's toast.
   We pushed it to the roll up door, and with Ed on the tractor and Dan providing traffic control, they positioned the forklift tines just right. Getting the piano past the two garage columns wasn't hard, but getting the tractor tires and forklift tines through was a piece of work. Because the driveway has a sloped edge, the tractor couldn't back straight out. With lots of maneuvering they managed to inch out without damaging the columns or the piano.

 Once the piano was out of the danger zone, they walked it back to lean on the back bars of the lift. Then Ed ever so slowly slowly drove it over to the porch where we had the dolly standing at the ready.
With the precision of a surgeon, Ed set the piano ever so gently on the dolly and pulled out the forklift tines.

 We thought the stove was heavy at 500+ lbs, but the piano had that beat by a mile. Even with the dolly wheels, we knew that rolling the piano into place would destroy the floor. We brought in plywood and made a runway. The piano fits the wall perfectly.  I found some old sheet music from the early 1900s and framed them. They will go above the piano.

   Ed teases me about decorating before the house is finished, but I can't help myself. With the exception of some touch up paint and the stairs, the inside is done.

I stained and varnished the stringers this week. They are lumber from the old spruce tree that fell in a storm our first winter here. Yes, I know. Some people would have painted them. We have so much finished wood in this house, why stop now?


 





 Ed decided to make the stair treads and risers himself. Buying stair treads to match the floor was jaw-droppingly expensive, and we had three boxes of flooring left over. As of yesterday he had about half of the stairs made.

   The creek restoration project hit a bump in the road...literally. We were expecting more wood to be delivered, this time in a highboy trailer. I wasn't sure what that was, so when it showed up, we went down to watch the unloading. The driver got out and chatted with us for a minute, then says "You'd better move back. Sometimes these things tip over." So we dutifully moved back a safe distance and he started his engine. I was expecting the trailer to dump sideways, but it began to lift...and lift. After a bit of maneuvering  the logs were out. He said he had several loads coming in the next day and off he went.
Coming up the valley the next morning, he came through the sharp turn and flipped his trailer over, dumping the trees in the neighbor's pasture in the process.
Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the project that was supposed to start on Monday is now delayed. A small thing considering the alternative.

 
The hardware is now on the cabinets in the living room, kitchen, and craft room. We're still waiting for some of the items for the bathrooms.
   The only thing that isn't done in the kitchen is the front panel of the dishwasher and the final hookup for the propane for the stove. With a microwave and an electric skillet, I could probably survive until Ed gets the propane finished.

 That's been his major project this week. He had to dig down 18" to lay the line for the propane. He also wants to stub out for a BBQ and the emergency generator. He briefly thought about renting a trencher, then realized that the machine wouldn't fit in between the garage and the back columns. So he broke out the shovel. Then he had to cut the cement with the diamond blade and pound it out with a sledge hammer. That is hard, hard work!

   Tuesday the propane company will come out and take a look.  I'll probably be inside hanging pictures.

Fridge, Faucets, Furniture and Family

   This week has been a whirlwind! The new refrigerator came on Monday.
   Our first company was due this week, and Ed worked hard to get the water and sewer up and running. Now the showers work, the toilets flush, and the sinks function.
    Tuesday the upholstered furniture arrived. This is the first time I've ever picked out upholstery fabric for new furniture, and it was a scary thrill. It's hard to look at a little swatch of fabric and envision it in the color scheme and on the chair. Case in point: That darned chair came out pinker than I expected. It'll go live in one of the bedrooms as soon as I find a replacement.

 
Dan and Ellen arrived, and Dan helped Ed bring the dining room furniture down from the barn loft. After a disinfectant rub-down and a good polishing, it was ready to go. I still need to re-cover the chair seats. One thing at a time.

   Dan is a master carpenter, but what he loves to do is finish carpentry. Ed and Dan put crown molding on all the kitchen cabinets. It really finishes them beautifully.

   Then they moved to the entry. I've been waiting impatiently for this part of the house to be completed.  The columns originally came to us square, and had to be remade. Ed then waited for Dan's arrival so they could put them in together. Dan ripped down some of the left over crown molding from the kitchen and used it to trim out the columns.
    It's perfect.
    It's beautiful.
    It's craftsmanship.

  It deserves two pictures.

    Friday night we had our first meal in the new house. It felt so right, so comfortable. I hope it was the first of many, many memorable evenings with family and friends.

Lord Of The Wax Rings

    Since the granite was scheduled for installation on Monday, Ed put in all the water shut-off valves last weekend...all 33 of them. I don't know that it was any easier, but he had more light to see what he was doing.

    Monday dawned and I was like a kid on Christmas morning.  The truck arrived with the crew from Bergerson Tile and Stone. Tony, Derek and Willy checked out the worksite while I drooled over the stuff on the truck. I kept running from one side of the truck to the other. The Golden Night pieces were on one side and the Matrix was on the other. I kept hoping I hadn't made a terrible mistake using two different kinds in the kitchen.

  They brought in some of the Golden Night first. Granite weighs 18+ lbs. per square foot. It covers the perimeter of the kitchen and the kitchen desk under the windows. I don't even want to do the math.

   Next came the slab for the kitchen island. This is a beautiful piece of Matrix Motion. It has big swirls of white quartz, and streaks of yellow and gold.
   Tony, the crew chief was very careful with moving each piece. Every move was discussed and outlined before anyone lifted anything. In this business, there's no "Oops...sorry". And it's a long way to the hospital.

 
 They got the island piece inside without incident and tilted it into place.  


   The last piece to come in was the heaviest..and the trickiest. This piece has the kitchen sink, a turn, and the breakfast bar. If something horrible was going to happen, this was the one it would happen to.

 
   Tony took a few minutes to think. They studied the cabinet. They walked out the the truck. Tony thought some more. They came back in, looked at the cabinet, went back out to the truck.
   Four men, all as strong as bulls, wrestled that piece inside. By the time they got it in the house and next to the counter, they were all winded and sweating.
   I think we all breathed a sigh of relief, but the most difficult part was still to come.
   Tony thought. He looked. The crew rested and tried to breathe in oxygen to replenish screaming muscles. Tony thought some more.

  "Let's just take a few minutes before we lift this." he suggested. Everyone breathed a mental sigh of relief.
They discussed just how to lift, whether to lean and tilt, who should move where and when. Finally Tony said "Ok, let's just do it." And on "three" they did.  
   When that piece went down, nothing broke and nobody was hurt, I said a quick prayer of thanks.
   That crew had worked darned hard, and since we are miles from everywhere,I gratefully fed them. Smoked and grilled salmon, fresh cole slaw, and roasted red potatoes were served out on the deck.

 

The kitchen is more beautiful than I ever dreamed. The crew stayed late to drill holes, set sinks and finish the seams.

The Golden Night complements the Magic Chef stove perfectly.

  Elicia and I grouted the downstairs fireplace in time for the Matrix Motion hearth stones to be set. Ed put the face plate on the front. We still have some caulking to do, and the mantles to be built and installed, but it's all starting to come together.
   Elicia helped me fill nail holes on all the baseboards, window and door trim. Ed had already given the baseboards a second coat of finish, so we sanded the window and door trim again and gave them another coat. 
   I carried the toilet tanks to each bathroom, and made sure there was a lid and seat for each one. Because I'm a wimp, I left the bowls for Ed to carry in. He set all the toilets yesterday.

 
"You know you live in Washington when it's August and you have to heat the wax rings in hot water because it's not 70* outside." he commented. We now have five toilets set in place. I wonder what would happen if we should ever flush them all at the same time!

Conservation, Proportion and Perspective

    The granite comes tomorrow, so all the undercounter appliances went in this week. The Bosch dishwasher went in first. We are having a cabinet panel made to go on the front and it will be several weeks before it is ready. Ed was very careful to make sure the dishwasher went in plumb, square and level. It also had to be set at the perfect depth to accept the finished panel. It's a good thing he has a very exacting personality.

    Next was the Kitchen Aid trash compactor. Now our first thought was "Who needs a trash compactor? How hard is it to take out the garbage?"  But then we realized two things: 1. For two people who recycle, we still make an amazing amount of trash.  2. When company comes, the trash pile is bigger than the laundry pile, which is substantial.  It's a practical luxury. Ed wanted the reveal around the edge to be perfect, so we took it in and out to adjust the levelers about seven times.

    Meantime, back at the ranch, the Wahkiakum Conservation District is doing some creek restoration/salmon habitat recovery work in  the creek that flows through our place. Hopefully this will prevent Wilson Creek from eroding further into our middle pasture. Part of the plan is to build woody structures that will divert the force of the water back into a more natural channel and re-build the bank. They will also plant trees and native shrubs to shade the creek and provide proper fish habitat.

   They brought in load after load of trees with root balls. These are trees out of logged areas that for whatever reason were not good for lumber, or are from blow-down areas. Truck after truck came rolling in. For two days ...  I was only down there with the camera for the first few loads. Later today I'll walk down with the camera to get a picture of the whole pile because it is a huge mountain of timber.

    I have been dreading trying to grout the fireplaces. The slate is rough and uneven and I've heard horror stories about people not being able to get the grout washed off the face of the stone. I made a mock up out of left over slate pieces and applied a sealer. After it was dry I smeared grout all over it and wiped it up. Success! The only problem was that the stone sealer/enhancer made the slate very dark and shiny. Better dark and shiny than a muddy mess, so we went to work on the real thing.

   Thank goodness for willing granddaughters! We started by re-tiling the hearth front on the upstairs fireplace. I buttered the tiles and Elicia put them into place. Then came the grout. Elicia made a hundred trips up and down the stairs with buckets of fresh water. She rinsed and wrung out sponge after sponge without complaint.
   We noticed that the abrasiveness of the sanded grout seemed to tone down the shiny sealer. That's fine with me. It has a more natural look now.

   Yesterday while Elicia filled nail holes in the baseboards, I cleaned up the grouting mess, vacuumed up dust and grit, and mopped the floor. The rugs went down and we unwrapped the new chair. Somebody had to give it the rest-test, and Elicia gallantly volunteered. It seems to be working.

    Later Ed and our neighbor Rick carried the sofa upstairs. I thought this room looked huge when it was empty. But as things come in, the proportions seem to take care of themselves.

   While Elicia and I were working upstairs, Ed and Rick were working on framing the columns in front of the garage. This was one of those things that never got done when we were building the apartment. Once the apartment was done Ed started in on the house, and ...you know the rest. Since the stone guys will be here in a few weeks, this needed to get done right away. Four more columns in the front, and four in the back.

    When they were done, we noticed something odd. The columns on the garage were the same size as the house but the proportions looked wrong. Then we realized it was all about perspective. The house sits on a higher foundation than the garage, and is bisected by the line of the porch. Ed will shorten the garage columns by about six inches. While they won't be as tall as the ones on the house, they will appear to match because they will be proportionate to the garage.