…and we’re on to taping. This is a lot of work but it’s looking great.
Brad has done most of the cutting.
And I’ve done most of the screwing down.
And Dad has been hugely helpful….not only with the drywall but also staining (and moving around) all the wood decking.
We are now in an all-out race to get the house to a place where it’s livable. We have almost all the dry wall up and should finish this weekend. (Taping still to come.)
Man is dry walling hard work. I am so tired that I can barely type. We are working long days, and the work is very physical. It reminds me of doing the roof — exhausting and lots of it, but also very satisfying.
In other news, we got our wood decking for the ceiling and started staining it. There have been a few hiccups with this, but it’s moving along and should look great.
Also, we have another visitor this week, my dad. It’s great to have him here. I feel a little bad about not having much time to show him the sights here, but it’s just how life is right now. And we are very grateful to have his help with things.
It is a rare occasion when Brad is sleeping and I am not, but one that happens more often when we are not together. (I am not quite the “perfect sleeper” on the road that I am at home.)
I have been traveling this week, and after several weeks of not getting on a plane, it has been more of a jarring transition than usual. The more I am at home, building, and focused on our little world, the more I centered I feel.
Still, being away from home gives me a different perspective and a chance to reflect.
A couple years ago, I had a memorable conversation with someone about trying to eliminate the “noise” in life, living in the now, and finding one’s deeper spiritual self. At the time, I was searching for a place (identifying critical criteria, thinking about the pros and cons of a major change in lifestyle, contemplating what I really wanted out of life…lots and lots of columnar lists), thinking that if I could this perfect place, it would facilitate some shift in consciousness for me. This person assured me that what I was looking for would not come with a place but only within myself.
Somehow, though, place has become a very important part of this segment of my life journey (just as it was with Africa). I feel this acutely when I am somewhere else, like here in a bustling city with all of its distractions. They quickly edge in on my own sense of self.
I don’t think that place has everything to do with where I am as a person right now, but so much of it is tied to place. My relation to things like work, other people, creative endeavours, politics, the global environment, etc. all seem tied to place.
I feel very fortunate to have found a place that works for me (and especially thankfully for Brad too) and what I want out of life right now.
Today we passed our big inspection — electrical, plumbing, gas, and mechanical (venting). This was after not passing (some might say failing) it the first time on Fri. The things we had to fix were amazingly trivial and arbitrary. I am becoming convinced that the inspection process is a bit ridiculous, but we are playing along and happy to be through this huge step. The next time we have an inspection, it will be for an occupancy permit. Hurray.
We had a big day of work today on many fronts. I began work on our interior doors, which will be wood like the battery house door. Brad worked on the pressure pump, and we got to see it running for the first time. Pretty cool. (Pictures and video to come.)
Mid-day, I got Mr. Brad’s Wild Ride atop a huge stack of styrofoam sheeting in the back of the truck. Gale force winds made transporting this difficult, but it is now finally in storage, freeing up much needed space in the house.
We also got a delivery of sheetrock today. (For those of you who don’t know, sheetrock is the large pieces of drywall that go on the walls. This is exciting because it is a step that is close to the finish. Just paint, cabinets, and stuff like that after that.)
The pallets were taken off a truck with a forklift and put outside the house. Later in the day, Brad and I moved all of it into the house by hand. We estimated that it was over 6,000 pounds of sheetrock. I figure that was the equivalent of a good 24 Hour Fitness workout. I think we’ll sleep tonight despite the wind.
After many visits to many stores, we ordered tile today! Hurray! It is beautiful. I’ll post pictures when it comes in.
Brad has also ordered me the most lovely range for our little mini-kitchenette. I am excited about this, especially since we will likely be living with it for a year or so until the “real” kitchen is done.
Drywall should be here Monday. Tomorrow, I’m starting on more doors, this time for the inside of the house.
There have been almost no occasions on which I have felt emotionally overwhelmed during this building process. In fact, all the times I can think of were during the frustrating design phase, not construction. As you might guess, though, today was a tough one for me. It didn’t help that the wind has been blowing non-stop at unbelievable speeds, which tends to make everyone crazy.
This week has been one of milestones. Now that we are almost into April and we are so close to the finish, I have decided that it is time to get a bit assertive about pushing through the interim steps to getting the occupancy permit. And while in the business side of my life I am very assertive (some might phrase it differently), I am not really much that way in my personal life. It’s neither comfortable, nor natural for me.
This week, the priority interim steps have mostly been plumbing-related. We did have a guy out for a few hours (over a few days) to help us finish up, which has been inordinately helpful. And today we finished the rough plumbing (though not without a few bumps in the road).
Bob, our fabulous plumbing helper, soldering copper pipe
Plumbing going into the tankless water heater
We also got the last of the holes cut through the roof, including the big one for the fireplace. Ugh. This was hard for me to watch, but it came out great.
We also got a new vanity (one thing we decided not to build ourselves) and unpacked it out today to check where the piping will go.
We’ll tile the counter on top to match the shower, and I’m thinking of a bright Talavera sink, maybe like this one. Tile…yes, that’s another thing still on the list. But at least it’s not something that has to be done for the next inspection. And we did get glass block for the wall last weekend. It’s really beautiful.
Also today we ordered drywall. That’s cause for celebration in and of itself.
We’ve had a week full of accomplishments. On Sunday, a guy came out and did all the trenching for the propane. In the process, we cut almost every water line on the property, but they were easily fixed.
We also poured the last of the columns for the last row of solar panels. Yay!
We worked on installing the water heater, the pressure pump (more to come from Brad on that), and the venting for the fireplace. Mostly this involved getting everything together and finding out we didn’t quite have all the parts. On Sat., we are going to town to get parts for all this and to finish up the plumbing next week.
On Thurs., the propane lines all got installed, both underground and in the house. This was followed on Fri. by the arrival of the tank. (No, we don’t have a new business going. This is a used tank, paint to come.)
I also planted some seeds for our garden this year.
Finally, to celebrate the end of winter, we adjusted the angle of our solar panels.
Tomorrow, it’s off to town for lots of plumbing parts and more supplies.
Today, we poured the sub-floor for our shower.
First, we spent a couple hours chiseling out the floor around the drain (both done previous to us). This is the end result with the drain base in place.
Then we put down a large, thick vinyl shower pan liner. The top part of the drain fits in place over that, attaching to the drain underneath.
Then came mixing the cement. By this time, we’re getting to be old hands at this. Here I am shoveling the cement into the pan. Brad did the troweling.
Part of the troweling process was lots of checking of the levels to ensure that there was slope to the drain in all directions so water would drain.
Next will come the tile, still unpurchased as of yet, though I do know what I’m looking for now. (A few trips to tile stores have freaked me out, but I am going to try again this week.)
We are also wrapping up the plumbing. We have water to the house now and have found a local plumber to lend a hand for a day next week to finish things up. We will also be installing the pressure pump and the tankless water heater, both of which arrived last week. Also on the agenda for next week is getting the propane tank installed and the propane lines inside plumbed.
All of which is leading up to our inspections for electrical, plumbing, and mechanicals, which is the second to the last inspection.
We were only gone a day and a half (to Phoenix for a quick conference and spring training game), but what a change we came home to.
When we went out to drive to the property this morning, I first noticed that the mountainside had some gold shading on it.
Poppies!
We drove up to Horseshoe Canyon (at the end of our road) and couldn’t believe our eyes.
It’s spring! More pictures here.
Earlier in the week, I framed the shower and put in copper piping, while Brad worked on getting water run into the house.
Brad and I worked on plumbing Friday, putting in a new pipe to take water from the water tank over the top of the container and into the battery house, where the pressure pump will be. It was the first time we cut through a roof, which is something that has been making me nervous, but it went well.
Then, we had a picnic lunch under the cool of one our oak trees (yes, it’s finally getting warm!), before heading over to the farm for Friday harvest.
Friday is harvest day at the farm, something I hadn’t experienced yet. (Brad went without me last week while I was traveling.) The basic drill is that we get there after lunch and start harvesting, which entails cutting things like lettuce, greens, and herbs and digging up potatoes and other root vegetables. Then everything gets put in plastic bins and taken in to be washed, which is a big production in and of itself. Then everything goes into plastic bags and gets labeled for sale at the Saturday farm stand.
So far the marketing efforts we’ve been doing for the farm seem to be going well. This week we made a new sign for the farm stand, as well as continuing to work on the web site, email blasts, etc. The word is definitely getting out.
I helped paint the cold box for the farm stand, which is a large trailer-mounted box that all the veggies are kept in. I also had a new experience of gathering eggs. Fortunately, I had two little kids to help show me what to do! At one point, one of the chickens flew up and landed on my upper back, causing me to shriek in surprise. The six-year-old girl assured me that had never happened before. We later joked that the chickens could probably smell my fear. :) I also helped label and alphabetize many jars of herbs, teas, and supplements that we’re selling. Happy work for someone as compulsively organized as me.
The evening ended with a great meal of salad and pizza with lots of fresh veggies and yummy cheese that Jerry made. He is quite the cook and appreciates good food, much like we do.