Post Move and More House

Despite what it may seem like, I have not abandoned my blog.  It's just summer.  In Alaska.  And we have a lot of sunshine this year.  And we moved into the house, er, at least out of the other place and into...well...mostly into storage, but 'camping' at the new place.  Dad got my camping mat and staked out the stack of lumber in the kitchen.  I maintain it was so he had really good access to the fridge.  

Dad was here for a total of about 6 weeks.  He saw us through a bunch of the chaos and did all kinds of fun work, including helping put in the temporary shelves in the pantry.  Eventually they will face the other direction and slide out.  And have more food on them.  

Dad also whacked on the willows in the front yard - which are now growing back quickly - so we could actually get to the front of the house.  As per tradition, he also helped plant the garden.  And by helped I mean he did 95% of the work.  Mostly I espoused vague concepts and when I got home from work plants had appeared.  

I recall attempting to take a picture from just inside the front door as a standard at some point.  But I don't know where many of them are.  Several things of interest here - you can see a giant box on my right in the arctic entry, which is the stove; there is a stack of lumber in the living room and through the wall into the kitchen; Chad's smoker is in the living room; so is a giant trash can; the man looks very serious; and he's wearing my shirt (shhhh....).

Here's a better view of the front garden.  We get lots of comments on it.  Or Dad and Chad get the comments and I get to hear about them.  People seem excited to see positive activity at the house.  Most of the outside visible impact will not happen this year.  We are just doing enough outside to stay sane and learn where the sun is and is not so it can be better next year.  Plus there was a crazy discount on annuals at the evil box store and I couldn't stop the plants from jumping into my basket.  In fact, they went and got their own damn basket when I was just there for some gloves for work.  

Transformation of the upstairs is in process.  Here the walls have been spray foam insulated and the plywood has been installed over the cool floor boards which I was told we could not leave naked.  I'm sure that was a sound idea but I still miss the boards.  I will admit that it is a lot quieter now though.  None of the windows upstairs have been replaced yet.  

I still see this every morning when I wake up.  Unless Tatonka has pinned me to the bed staring at his eyeballs and nose.  What it means is that the ceiling is not insulated yet.  That's the number two priority.  

The office is currently harboring my mountain bike, some boxes, and the clothes drying rack.  It's not far from done since only one window is getting replaced and the flooring will stay as is (except for some sanding).  Some day in the not too distant future I will actually have to decide what to cover the interior walls with.  

See, helpful at all stages, like supervising Chad installing the plywood over the floor boards.  While I sat on the bed and worked.  I love our new high speed internet.  It was well worth waiting for and I delighted in cancelling my slow speed.  

And then...the ceiling got painted downstairs.  This is the point at which I say how wonderful he is and how much I appreciate all his hard work.  He's amazing.  Fabulous.  A wonder to behold.  But he finally got around to sealing up the house and painting on the day that I flew down to WA for nine days.  Which meant when I came home to pack and head out I could not get upstairs.  He sealed the cat up there and the fumes downstairs were amazing.  Walking from the front door to the back door made my eyes water.  Only the nasty primer would work on this house - we tested several but they all bled through.  So I hung out in the garden with Dad and we weeded.  In my office cloths.  It was an adventure.  And the ceiling looks awesome.  And only the top shelf in the bathroom had the plastic come off part way through the process.  Toothbrush isn't so bad with primer on it....

The kitchen....note the windows....

The kitchen...note the windows....

The garden is growing.  Dad did a great job at setting us up with sprinklers so watering wasn't so bad.  And the drip hose helped us discover the foundation needs to be sealed.  We hand water the plants next to the house now.  

View from the arctic entry after the ceiling paint.  I swear the stack of lumber is getting smaller.  We have some temporary light fixtures installed in select locations.  I had no idea that light fixtures came in so many varieties.  

Pretty soon after moving in we realized that it was time to go buy the washer and dryer.  So we spent a perfectly good and sunny weekend morning at the appliance store.  And are deliciously happy.  Some day we will find the safe place that we put the manual and will figure out what all the settings mean.  Installed while I was away and a delicious improvement to return home to.  

The dogs are soooo over the construction fun.  They would like us to get a couple more great dog beds.  We now need three on each floor.  Even though Tonka often lays on the floor.  

This also happened mostly while I was away.  The walls got covered up (see, I told you the lumber pile was getting smaller), and the range hood got installed.  We opted for running extra piping in the rafters and using an existing hole in the side of the house.  

View out the front door.  The work continues.  Much has been done since the last round of pics.  But Chad has also started working outside the home more too.  So progress will likely slow down a bit.  I will take some more pics this weekend.  And try to pry out of his hands those he took in my absence.  If I can pull myself away from the raspberry picking.