Lotsa Stuff Going On

This bad yellow dude showed up this morning before I left for work. Gnarly diesel ground-shaking noise and smell is a good way to start the day. You know shit is happening.




The scrap pile was toast by the time I got home.

Mike and Dan slammed it on the forms. The depth is due to the fact that you have to get down below the frost line, plus we have some elevation gain to deal with, so that's why the walls look kinda high. Nothing is ever simple.

Since the whole garage construction thing isn't quite doing it for us, we decided we need to install a new furnace. We think we need to update in order to help sell the house, and we decided to do it now so that we can enjoy it (and save a little money!) this winter. If you're like us, you've been through the situation where your house is the best it's ever been right before you sell it. We'd like to enjoy the improvements for a little while this time. As a little incentive, Avista offers $1500 for converting from electric (our current source) to gas - I was pretty amazed. The contractor ran the gas line last week and will finish the install tomorrow. Patty and I spent the evening ripping out the workbench and clearing the furnace room.

Apparently These Guys Work Fast

7:30 am . . .

12:30 pm . . .

Look What Showed Up In Our Yard Today

I wish I had the key. I'd be out there right now, demolishing stuff in the moonlight, instead of looking at this dumb 'puter.

Electrified

The guys building our garage are gonna need some power, so it was time to put on my electrician's hat this weekend. I'm not much of a one, but I haven't electrocuted myself or anyone else, so I can't see any reason not to proceed with great overconfidence.

In non-electrical news, Jacque got in on the fun.

Apparently, Brandy + straw = fish + water.

Cleared For Takeoff

Today was permit day, which meant a trip to City Hall.

So that's what one looks like. I didn't have any idea, but I somehow had it in my mind that this would cost something like 40 bucks. Try $308.

I'm supposed to staple it to a tree near the construction site. Ummm, Houston, we have a problem.

Razing and Ruminating

There were quite a few pics from tonight's acitivy but I like this one the best because I think it makes my butt look skinny, so it's the only one I'm posting!

I got a surprise visit from John, who stopped by on his way home from a BAB meeting. He spent a lot of time in our house as a kid because his best friend lived here, so he probably knows his way around it better than we do. Our brief chat put faces on the people who used to live here, added perspective to what we are doing, reminded me how connected we all are, and left me a little sad and with a lot to think about for the rest of the night. It was really cool that he stopped by.

As Fat Albert Would Say . . .

Hay, Hay, Hay!!!




(Well, to be honest, it's straw. But that would have ruined my hilarious joke. So thanks for indulging me.)

End Of The First Big Push

There's still some odds and ends to take care of, but today basically marks the end of all the activity that was required to get ready for the contractor to come in and knock the old garage down and build the new one. It's been a lot of work! What a relief to be at this point.

I spent yesterday organizing, so that we can pack everything we need to into the temporary structures and protect everything that has to stay outside.

This morning, I picked up Matt and we stopped for fuel on the way back to the house. Everybody knows you can't do good work on an empty tank.

Where would I be without my nephew Matt? Mr. Reliable - no way I could get all this done without his help. Thanks, Matt!!!

One more lean-to to re-locate . . .






We pedalled our way down to Subway for lunch, and Matt got to test drive the new Karate Monkey.

Buttoning up the shed roof.

Patty finally gets to park in the garage, after all these years. Proof that if you wish really, really hard for something for a real long time, there is always the possibility that you might get it. Temporarily.

Now You See It . . .

This is how things looked when I left for work . . .

. . . and this is how they looked when I got home . . .

Thanks once again to the awesome power of Craigslist, someone came to my house while I was at work, dismantled our garage door, hauled it away, and gave us money.

My next door neighbor stopped by last night and bluntly asked me if I was Jewish.

Nice, Bob. Real nice.

Full Circle

This is how it looks tonight. Which is pretty much how it looked when we moved in.

In the meantime, it was a righteous, cobbled shop. All kinds of cool shit happened there. A bunch of it was about the cobbling of the shop, but mostly it was other stuff.

It was my third cobbled shop. My plan is that out of these ashes, finally, a real, un-cobbled shop will rise.

A Place to Place Your Feet

The hobo material storage shack has a razoo new hobo floor.

I'm starting to seriously think that we could live here. It's a little drafty, but nothing that 4 or 5 dozen tubes of caulk couldn't take care of.

Interior Decorating

What's really cool about the whole shed thing is that when the house project goes horribly sideways, we can live there. It'll be cheap to heat. I'm picturing a set of hobo french doors opening onto a hobo veranda.

Three cheers and a gold star for Whoever invented the LED headlamp.

Events Of The Past Week (10/5 - 10/12)

Re-installing the fence after the tree masacre.








The storage container is onsite.


Levelling the container by night.

Construction Elvis is in the house.

Those two lean-to's would make a nice shed . . .