Footloose and fancy free; getting there is half the fun, come share it with me

There wasn't much action on the house front the week before last (hence my lack of posting about it), but we're back in business now, with a week's worth of progress to show.

The week of 5/2

exterior walls are insulated

Last week: day 1

we have a front door!

siding begins

days 2 & 3

siding and trim are completed

day 4

drywall and ceilings go in

day 5

the walls and ceilings are taped and mudded

Having walls and ceilings definitely makes it feel a lot more like a real house and gives you a much better idea of the size of the rooms and overall flow. Happily, it feels really good to us and it's made the idea that we might actually live in a house someday seem like an increasingly plausible reality. 

To everything, turn, turn, turn. . .

You know the weather's turning, when:

• the cats look like this,

• you can plant your tomato and pepper starts,

• you get sunburned while doing aforementioned planting,
• the farmer's market opens,

• you finally take your winter hat out of your purse,
• and you start cooking dinners that looks like this.

And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

Tres and I took advantage of the beautiful day here today to do some work in the garden together. We weeded, re-planted a few things that went in perhaps a bit too early the first time, and (most exciting for me) planted 8 dahlia bulbs. I've never been much for puttering around in the yard and Tres is really the garden aficionado around here (although I am learning and certainly always enjoy the fruits of our labors), but I've always loved dahlias and am SUPER excited to be growing my own this year. I ordered my bulbs from Swan Island Dahlias, the largest dahlia grower in the US., located about 20 miles from where I grew up. I hope to have my own beautiful pictures to share come late summer, but for now these lovelies I found online will have to do.*

*These photos were taken at the farm where I purchased my bulbs, by this photographer: http://www.pbase.com/patrick_allender/swan_island_dahlias&page=all

Turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes

There hasn't been a whole lot going on around here house-wise, as we've been coordinating between various contractors and (as I mentioned earlier) hooking up the water, sewer, and electricity. Happily, we have completed those tasks and they have passed inspection. 

water and electricity headed to the house

This week, it's been the wonders and unexpected delights of having a fire sprinkler system installed. A thorn in our side since the permitting process,


***Begin angry digression: Surprise! You have to install a sprinkler system, since your house is in that weird no man's land of within city boundaries, but not within 60 ft. of a fire hydrant. Of course, you'll have to pay for it out of pocket, since you didn't know this before you submitted all of your expenses for your loan, AND it'll slow your permitting process considerably, since you'll have to wait for a bid from a sprinkler company and coordinate with various city departments. Delightful. End angry digression***


we've just been waiting for the fun and games of installation and, let me tell you, thus far, it has not disappointed. Getting them out to install the basic system was relatively manageable and they finished in just a few days.

control center

sprinkler heads

Today we learned, however, that we are responsible both for hooking the system up to our water and for wiring in a warning bell, not to mention having ANOTHER inspection before it is considered complete. Now, these tasks may not sound like a big deal, but they will mean getting contractors back out here and paying additional fees (since none of this was mentioned to us earlier). The best part, I've only obtained all of this information by calling and asking them questions, since they left today without giving us any further instructions. So, that's the sprinkler saga. Sorry for excessively ranting.

In better news, spring is up and running around here. The hens are laying like crazy (we're averaging 5 eggs a day from the 6 ladies) and their eggs are lovely and full-sized, occasionally giant. I love the variations in color.

the cat is also a fan

We've also been enjoying our first salads from the garden. Starting with micro greens (as someone chic-er than I might term them) we'd pulled while thinning, we've graduated to what might be considered baby greens and they've been super delicious. The arugula, mustard, and lettuce have really started going gangbusters and we've also enjoyed our first radishes of the season. Pretty soon, it'll be full-on salad time!

arugula

lettuce

See, even focusing for just a bit on those things within my control helps me to put those other pesky issues into perspective.

Homeward bound

Sorry for my slowness in updating. I was away for a bit, so didn't get to take day-to-day pictures, but here's an update on where we are at the moment. We're currently digging and installing the septic system. It sounds like things will slow down this week, when we do things like hook up the electricity, septic, and water.

Rough Plumbing is installed

kitchen sink

laundry room

shower/baths

Ventilation and part of our HVAC are installed

Tres checks out part of the HVAC

duct work (for heating/cooling) 

The house is wired for electricity

The roof is completed

I'll light the fire, while you put the flowers in the vase that you bought today

Boy, did construction get started here this week. Looking through these photos, it's a little hard even for me to believe all of this happened in a week. While I know the work on the inside will be much slower, it's been super exciting to see real progress so quickly.

Day 1

the floor joists are in

Day 2

subflooring and outer wall framing installed

Day 3

inner walls framed and outer walls covered (all cat approved)

Day 4

roof trusses started, windows delivered

Day 5

roof trusses completed and covered, (some) outer walls covered, windows installed

It's been fun to walk through and really have a sense of the size and layout of the rooms and see views out of the windows (especially for those of us for whom spatial visualization is not a strong suit). The idea that we'll be living there someday is incomprehensible and bit magical to me right now (I imagine telling me that I'd just won the lottery would probably elicit a similar feeling). Flush toilets AND unlimited hot water with reasonable pressure? The heck you say.