Saturday

The Wonder Truck Strikes Again...









With squished tires, overloaded springs, suspension screaming, here come big boulders from Bellingham.  Once again Brad's truck-of-wonder delivers the unbelievable load.    Our stream and pond had huge rocks and smaller rocks but we were missing the medium sized rocks to link the big and small.  However, in seeing how loaded the truck is, and the huge effort it took to unload them, medium doesn't seem to be a fitting word. 

  •  The first picture is of the loaded truck.  
  • The second is of the problem created by the rocks sliding into the tail gate making it impossible to open.  
  • The third picture is solving the problem of the stuck tailgate by rearranging the boulders.
  • The fourth picture is unloading the rocks.  
  • The fifth picture -- rocks on the ground.  

We now have six beautiful new boulders for our pond and stream. 

 A wonderful early Merry Christmas gift from Brad!  A huge thank you dear Brad!



Wednesday

Recycling the recycled

We've used what we needed of the beautiful cedar we gleaned from a home being deconstructed and now Carl takes what we couldn't use.  

Monday

The 'Waterfront' We're Creating

Our pond is getting its edges worked little by little, as are the under-the-bridge creek's edges.   Today I mulched for weed control with some free mulch that was available from across the street from our apartment (a big pile of mulch with a free sign).  Last evening Ed and Brad filled up the pickup and delivered a nice big pile to the site.   It feels really great to work on clean up and landscaping. For new construction we're actually way ahead of the game although we seem to still have a million areas needing attention.

Guesthouse Trim

Brad is digging more grungy wood out of the piles of wood in the tent to clean up and use for window trim in the guesthouse.  It's amazing how beautiful it becomes after planing and sanding.  However, at this stage it is pretty nasty with paint, nails, gouges and not a smooth surface anywhere.

We're Pleased as Punch!

Our main living building is looking more and more finished.  The windows are installed and both sides of the kitchen are moving forward nicely.  We still need shelves; another cart; the  pantry and other finishing touches but, given our push for our Non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday, it's looking quite respectable and very usable




















North Kitchen Wall














South Kitchen Wall

Our Non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving


Inaugurating our new home with many of our favorite folks --  Joe and Nancy from Lopez; Kerry, Rhonda and Finn from Portland; Greg and Deb from Seattle, Erin together with Russell, Liz and Evan from Bellingham; Eric, Rose, Ben and Timothy from Langley; and Elliott from Clinton -- joined Fran, Ed and Brad for an early Thanksgiving celebration in our new space.   As can be seen in the pictures there are unfinished portions of our beautiful new main living building.  Uncovered and even unwired outlets; unpainted sheet rock; temporary doors made of fiber board; a table still needing clamps to hold the glue joints; and no heat.  Despite the unfinished parts, the get-together was the celebration we wanted and gave us great pleasure in the inauguration of our new space.















But....



































 before we could eat the table needed to be sanded and installed.  As the turkey cooled the 12' table was carried into the room and set up.




Sunday

The kitchen counters...

hold their first cup of coffee as Brad and Tim install the three custom units at 2:00am (immediately upon their delivery). The plumber was due at 8:00 to hook up the sinks, with guests for the Non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving expected shortly thereafter. Fran, thinking the counters hadn't come, hooted and hollered and yelped with delight when she arrived at 9:00. The sounds of her joy came approximately three hours after Brad received a ticket for violating Langley noise ordinances. We chuckled as we listened to her--it was a beautiful ending to the story of the man who woke up the whole neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning because he just had to finish the kitchen so his mom could have a very important party in just a few hours.

The Day Before Our Non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

Unpacking the appliances, glazing the windows, cleaning up the packing material, moving in furniture, building tables, completing the plumbing, and a million and one other details were still happening the day prior to our first celebration in our new home.

Diane

Friday

Going for the Perfect Fit...

Aren't they beautiful?  The tolerances are tight so, unfortunately, the compensating trim was too wide and didn't allow the opening windows to open.  Once the windows were in, they needed to come out again for some aluminum trimming.  It was a long, long, long day, but now we're back where we started yesterday.  Today the glass.

Wednesday

Main Living Windows to the East

The window installation began today and will, we think, be finished up tomorrow.  The frames are in which was a tricky task taking much patience, heavy duty drilling, then securing them with special screws.  Once the windows go in they will be glazed, a service provided by Island Sash and Door.

North Kitchen Wall








Sliding it into place














after cutting 12 holes















on the north kitchen wall.

Monday

The Push Is On...

Our goal is to celebrate our Non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving this Saturday in our new space.  The list of items we want to complete is very long so we'll be putting in some long hours to meet our goal.     However, this family has learned to do the last minute scurry quite well.  

















Working late...

















But lots and

















lots to do















so worked the weekend too.

Saturday

Windows Have Arrived

Our new main living windows have arrived.  Like the doors of last week, the windows are to be assembled  All of the pieces, including the glass, were packed and shipped separately.  Brad is wearing, like dreadlocks, the weather stripping. 







































Doug & Tristin

Brad always loves giving the "guided tour" especially when our visitors are full of questions and have a keen interest in what we're doing.  Both Doug and Kristin showed curiosity in our not-so-normal home.

Door Installation

  















The day of installation, Dave, Aaron and Brad puzzle over the details.   But finally, the frame is complete, is lifted into place, but wait...it doesn't fit.  Out come the sander, planer and then the grinder to shave off some of the beam and then some off the  aluminum. It's nice to have lots of tricks in the bag for solving the problem.

As previously posted, the doors are in place and are amazingly beautiful.  There is a seamlessness between indoors and outdoors just like Brad always envisioned.



Wednesday

Beautiful!


Show & Tell

Brad gives the tour...

Functioning Fen


The Everett Herald estimated we'd be getting 18" of rain yesterday and today.  I don't know what the actual amount is at this point (12:45 Wednesday) but it has been raining pretty much non-stop since early last night.  Our fen is functioning beautifully.  Picture 1 shows the edge of the pond, with the fen receiving the overflow water.  Picture 2 is pretty much the same shot at a greater distance away.  No flood problems whatsoever, but a nicely filled fen.