Dust and Cows

I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at Teenaway Creek Cross-Country Camp. This is a camp run by Ernie (IHS 93) and wife Tori, who are both head coaches at large schools. Only two Ilwaco kids participated, but it was fun. The camp is in Cle Elm, out by Ellensburg. As a nice surprise, Mike, my elusive brother, showed up. I hadn't seen him sense Christmas and it was nice to catch up. It was EXTREMELY warm and dusty in the middle of the sate. The flys were awful, but the sun was wonderful!

Yesterday, Mom, Heidi, Owen, and I went to the Clatsop County Fair! We had a great time. We saw horses, goats, sheep, cows, bunnies, chickens, llamas, ducks, arts and crafts, a fire truck, and tractors. It was all you could want in a fair. Owen loved the cows and we sat to watch the 4-H kids show their cows for a little while. The horse barns reminded me of my 4-H days. I have many good memories of the tiny little Pacific County Fair with Lucky Charm and Babe. It is funny how everything changes and nothing changes at the same time. The kids had cell phones, but the horse stalls and western outfits and decorations all looked just like the 80's ones I remember. Sigh, memory lane. Heidi and I had elephant ears, yum, and I took Owie down the big slide. There was a GIGANTIC mule (no shitting) in the parking lot with a officer on him directing traffic. A good time was had by all.

Update on the house: We are waiting for the tresses for the upper floor to be installed so we can frame the upstairs.

Downstairs Framing

It has been a while. I had to read the last Harry Potter book and write two papers for school (in that order). I have also, unfortunately, been working a lot. I am still doing the on call thing at NYC. It is nice to have the money, but not fun to work all summer.


Okay, I have LOADS of pictures.

Here is a very cute, tiny potato helping in the giant sandbox that will be our garage.

Oh Dear! I saw three when I was out at the property the other day. I will need a dear fence when I have a garden.

The walls for the downstairs are up. This is the front of the house. The center is the entry way. To the right is the office and to the left is the great room. The garage is on the right side of the house. I like all the big windows. There will be a covered porch on the front and left side.

Here is the kitchen window.

I think the project is going pretty well. The next step will be to frame the second floor.

Progress

LT and The Don have done so much work on our property it is amazing. We signed the paperwork with the bank about two weeks ago. We now have nine months to build a house. It was terribly scary. For the last six years I have been unconcerned about keeping a job, but now I really need to have a very steady income. To tell the truth, it really freaks me out.

Here is Kiko standing on our foundation.

Pictures: Stem Walls for the foundation - the access to under the house will be from inside so raccoons can not get in.
LT & The Don working on the in-floor heating system - check out the port-o-potty.
Pex pipes for in-floor heating - we will be warm all winter.


There have been a few challenges already. LT and the builder (our "friend") had some disagreements. LT, The Don (my dad), Goober Jeff (LT's friend), Adam (our son), and I will now be doing the framing. The builder did not put the correct price for building supplies in the bid and now we do not have the money for labor. Also, we thought we could put in a well, but the water is bad. We will have to hook up to city water. That is going to be expensive.

Good things are happening too. We have a port-o-potty. I saw six hawks at the property. Our dirt is beautiful and will be wonderful for a garden. We got a check in the mail for overpaying on a property payment. I got a credit card to use for house stuff that gets frequent flyer miles so we can go to Hawaii when this is all over.

Team Black Elephant

Yesterday I ran like a girl with Katie, Annie, and Kelly. The 8K race was at the Oregon Zoo. The course was EXTREMELY hilly and my time was awful! Oh well. It was fun and we wore cute shirts made by Kelly. I won a hat at the after race gathering. The race ended inside the zoo. After getting sweaty we walked around and looked at the critters. It was early in the morning so many cats were out. The tigers were up, as was the snow leopard. The wolfs were out and quit active. A good time was had by all.

Okay now what

Well, I have a blog now. Odd. At least it has spell check.

The main point of this blog will be to document the building of our house!

In February we bought a 5 acer piece of land. It has lots of trees. I like this one a lot. We have been desinging and planning a house for a while. It will be two story, bedrooms are upstairs, two and a half bathrooms, an office, and a bonus room over the garage. I am super excited!