Foam gone wild...

OK - I will let the photos speak for themselves. Here is a little background followed by photo description..

- Sunsets are getting better and better... I like the ones with clouds better but today it was perfectly clear..... can you believe you can still see a tinge of orange at about 930 pm...

- Don has been doing the screening and whining about how the screen cuts his hands.

- Deb has been "foaming" the gaps in the walls with a spray insulation foam that "grows" after you spray it in the gaps.... It is hard to determine how much it will grow....then she comes back and cuts it flush to the wall with a bread knife.

Top photo.... cool sunset.

Second from top - Whiny Don's hand after much swearing....:)

Third from top - wide shot of foam work done by Deb

Fourth from top - closer shot of foam work done by Deb

Bottom - .................... you make the call... I will say the bread knife part will be interesting...

April Rocks

Funny how things happen. Overall, we would have never guessed that April would become one of our favorite months to live in Bow. But sure enough we have been most pleasantly surprised by all the neat things that have happened.... Blossoms on the fruit trees. Orchard smells fantastic. Leaves come out on the trees and the whole property has started to change. Birds and bats are out in force. Birds singing like mad. Bats coming out at sunset and silhouetted on the sky. Sunsets have been off the charts. We like. It is absolutely amazing to be in the house around sunset time - don't care what window you look out, the view is amazing. Wow.

Been working with the screen that needs to be nailed to the tar paper/plywood we nailed/stapled to the wood around the windows. The screen just plain sucks! Don't care how careful you are, or what kind of gloves you have on, you are going to get cut. You are going to bleed. You are going to swear - a lot! And, ever cut what seems to be like a mile of screen with a small pair of tin snips? The photo shows about one tenth of what was cut. I don't recommend it. Not fun, and sure enough, you get cut doing that too. Looks like we will have to wait till about mid week next week for Mark and Morgan to start the texturing on our interior walls. We will concentrate on prep work for it....such as nailing the final screening, buying the sills, and perhaps staining the window frames. No shortage of work....

Last but not least, we are finding out the month of May could be a big month for visitors.... on tap are Dick (from Colorado), Lisa and Dick, Matt and Rachel, Tom, Dan, and Debbie's mom in early June. Couldn't come too soon.....:)

A little music and a sense of "home"

Another weekend of work, but this one had a little different ending. We started saturday by going over to our "new neighbors" who milled our tree. Picked up all our wood and made two trips to bring it to the house and unload it. Then cut and nailed screening to the windowframes. Ran out of screen and nails.... moved on to other work. Sunday morning we had to take the truck in to a shop and leave it there... Before we left Don made a step stool for his mom so she can fill her oxygen easier. Dropped that off. Trip to home depot. Back to house.... Then, we decided to try hooking up a couple speakers in the living room to see if our wiring worked. Brought down our ipod, an amp and voila! Music. Our music. Deb had a few tears in her eyes. We hugged. Then we worked till about 5 and decided to bring down some hot chili, bread and some wine. Might be one of the best ideas we have had in a long time.... We actually enjoyed ourselves! We relaxed and enjoyed the house and didn't talk about what we had to do next. We put on some of our favorite music and it was like magic...... it started to feel like a home! Our home! We ate, we laughed, we called a few friends, we danced, we kissed, we watched a spectacular sunset...... No more to say than this.... We are excited. Lots of work to go but we are excited! These pics tell it all again.

Mike's Mill

Wow. A pretty incredible morning. Perhaps you all recall that we had to fell a spruce tree in order to build our house. We loved that tree. It was the one we put the ladder against and dreamed and planned where we could position our house and capitalize on the view. We must have climbed that tree a thousand times over six years.

The day we cut it we were both sad, but made a promise to ourselves that we would mill the tree so we could use some of the boards in a special way in the new house. Today was the day we had the log milled. But it was more than that. Don met a new neighbor, Mike, who is another really nice person - really really nice. Mike was a pro with his "backyard saw mill." The photos tell it all. Here I was, on a farm in bow, on a beautiful spring morning, milling our tree and making an assortment of boards and beams that we plan to use for our staircase post, railing posts for our stairway railings, our trim board for the loft, and maybe for a sitting bench! Way more than we thought. Mike made it easy. He advised me on what he could do with the tree, and away we went. It was great and a great part of building our house! Mike was born in the Bow area and is a great resource on the history of the area - like so many of our neighbors.

Tomorrow Deb and I pick up the boards, beams, and scraps and bring it to the house to store it till we are ready to use it. Can't wait! Note: the "stairstep" photo of our log was taken when we were cutting true 4x4 inch posts for our stairway railings....

Day after earth day

Ok, not too creative of a title. Deb came home today! We did some work cutting screen for the windows and used a bread knife to cut the excess foam insulation so it planes out with the walls. Will nail screen on this weekend. Tomorrow we will have the spruce tree/log milled. Since it was the special tree we used to climb to see the view, we plan to use the boards from it for some special woodwork in the house...

All we have... Another sterling sunset. The lighting is wonderful inside and outside of the house.

Earth Day

Yep, April 22. Earth Day 2009. Crazy day too. Spent way too much time trying to get my mom a few tests.... mainly due to "miscommunication" with doctor offices..... Yoy! When I got home from work, I ate dinner around 430 and then headed to the house. Decided to take a photo from our photo point in the driveway. Sure enough, I found a photo taken from the same point last year. WOW. It is very hard to believe the first photo was taken one year ago!

I spoke to our friend Patty Wincek today. She said to me that we should take stock in what we have accomplished - that many people have dreams, but very few actually make their dreams come true. Well Patty, these "before and after" pics allowed me to take stock and reflect, if only for a few minutes, and sure enough it brought a smile on my face and a sense of achievement.... thanks!

Other updates here include a couple sheetrock shots, and my latest challenge of framing in our windows with plywood which I finished last night.... then tonight, I tar papered all the framing. Pretty easy with a staple hammer.... love that tool. Next, nail screening. Should be done in a couple days. Sunset for earth day was wonderful... the lighting this time of the year is just perfect for the view.... I lit a fire too but, I got a "small boulder" in my eye earlier and it was killing me so my thoughts of enjoying the fire and the sunset went out the window..... ended up going over to Ardie and Larry's and they did some voodoo magic (just kidding) and helped me get it out.... Thanks!

Bedtime..... have to say it again......the before and after pics are amazing.....

Hello from Deb

Hi There!!! Don's been doing such a great job keeping this blog updated! I wanted to tell everyone myself that it's been so nice to hear from all of you. We appreciate the comments on the blog, the emails and the visits from neighbors and friends - this keeps us motivated...because building our house has it's ups and downs. We have been working on this for a little more than 1 year with (it seems) more lows than highs. Thanks for all of your support!

As for my recovery - it still progresses. The surgeon said it would be 1-2 years for a full recovery - if that ever happens. I continue my daily exercises for my back - with the MUCH appreciated reminders from a friend and co-worker! I still take tylenol, but typically in the morning and at night. This week, I'm in the field doing stream surveys - so I'll be hiking and walking in streams with my waders - I'm just very cautious and slow!

Again, Thanks for your encouragement and support! We truly appreciate it!

Deb

Lisa comes to help!

Like an angel arriving from heaven, Lisa came up this weekend to help out. Needless to say we weren't shy with work. Saturday, we worked about eleven hours straight! Had dinner at about 9 pm. Lisa and Debbie "foamed" the outlets with insulation foam in prep for our wall texturing/plastering. Don framed out the big picture windows and then lisa and debbie cut tar paper that needs to go on the wood... then mark will put on the lath (screen) and get underway. Once again we have way more work to do than we thought per the windows.... Many of them will need to be framed out with half inch plywood, and then tar papered. Its not easy work but just gott do it and move on.

Bottom line - we are so grateful to have friends like Lisa (and Dick). To come up here and work all day, then sunday morning do it again, is just unbelieveable. Then she went over to Margarets apartment and had lunch with her, and cheered her up! Not only is the labor really helpful, the cheerful and positive attitude pumps us up. And, she loves the house. We love her! Enjoy the pics!

He's Back!

The Stucco King is back. Mark is back at it. In two days, he and Morgan have finished the west side of the house, the east side loft area, both the screened porch and loft porch walls, and even patched a couple of our "mishaps" to boot. Everything looks great.

And, it's not over. Mark and Morgan will be leading the effort for the interior wall texturing which will happen in concert with our sheet rock man, Tom Mundt - another really nice man. Mark and Morgan have agreed to teach Debbie and I how to apply texture to our interior walls. It is a no lose situation. We do as much as we can to help getting the walls and windows ready, learn a new skill, and save some money. If we can't get the hang of it, we turn it over entirely to Mark and Morgan.....M&M!

Sheetrock gang is going gangbusters on the taping too. Walls just keep looking better.

So it goes. And, last but not least, another milestone was completed today. Mark let us use the high lift he rented to get to the east loft wall safely. So, sure enough, Don went way up high and finished staining the soffits on the north wall. What a relief it is for all the soffits to be done. We were worried how we were going to finish it, and now we have it done and we did it ourselves.

Does anyone "get" Don's little bit of weird humor on the center pick...? Look close.

Ah! We move closer again.

Sheet rocking complete - taping and plastering next

Just a quick update. Pics tell it all. Sunlight on stone heater is really cool looking... ignore all the crap around it. Thrilled to have all sheetrock hung. Totally different feel to the house.... And, stucco on west side is done! Its warming up and sunsets just won't quit lately. All for now..........

Whoa, a Big Day!

Major kind of day today.... had a lot of crews doing a lot of work. Steve, Pete, Leanne, Brian, Mark, Morgan, Josh and Dylan had a big day. We will let the photos tell the story..... sheetrock, doors framed, and stucco work. All very well done by some very nice folks.... And, last but not least, Hank (and Tim) came down, along with a great sunset to boot! Enjoy!