links updated

For some reason, the links to Emily's and Jack's blogs were broken. They are now fixed.

Our Big Day

Today, a big truck came with Salty's (the mason) materials for building the new fireplace. It had 4 pallets on it, but I didn't get the photo until the first two were off-loaded. The city owns 10 feet of land on either side of the road, so we couldn't heat the bottom of our driveway. Salty got there early and applied his blow torch to the bottom of the driveway, which had a couple inches of solid ice. Then the delivery arrived. It seemed unlikely, to everyone except Salty, that Glenn, the delivery guy, could bring the materials up the driveway on his forklift. This is the same driveway that the snow removal folks said was too steep to come up. Well, it turned out that it was a non issue. It didn't even phase Glenn. Everyone else (plumbers, electricians, contractors and us) was totally impressed. We all ran out to the deck to check it out.
We left the rental at 9am. We walked through our entire house with the electricians, discussed details with the plumbers, and walked though with the low voltage wiring guy (phone, coax cable, cat5 and speaker wire). We came back to the rental for ~ 1/2 hour, then left again to check out some potential stair rail material, visit a plumbing show room for all of our fixtures, and meet with the cabinet guy for the final kitchen plan. We grabbed a quick dinner on the way home and got in just before 7pm. It was a long day, but we got a lot done!


Last week, we came up with a final design for the fireplace. Last night, I created a cartoon of it. No, that is not a double fireplace. The big one is the fireplace and the small one is for wood storage. There is no hearth, because we will have slate floors. A masonry hearth seemed to be too big of a presence in the room. Not having the masonry hearth also allowed us to have the wood storage and remain within our budget. To create the stone texture in this picture, I created a "swatch" taken from an actual photo of Satly's work. We have chosen the same stone, which is a mix of local granite and some granite from just east of Tahoe. We have chosen a "mortar-less" style, unlike this example. Basically, the mortar will not show, and the stone will have a stacked appearance.

It never get's old

While skiing on Saturday, Tim stopped to enjoy the view...

... it just never gets old. This spot is in the same general area of Tim's official proposal. In other words, this is where he gave me the ring. We had actually already set a date. Our actual marriage took place down the hill a bit and to the North (left)of here.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Rainbow Ridge at Homewood is one of the most beautiful spots I know. We got a few runs in today and it was beautiful! Below is a shot from the top of The Face.
Homewood Ski Area has the best Views of Lake Tahoe. As you can see, Homewood is literally across the street from the lake.

no DSL yet

DSL was supposed to be active yesterday, but it didn't happen. I've had some conversations with the appropriate folks and we have an idea what's wrong. Basically the wires were not hooked up properly. Hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow afternoon.

I took a bunch of house pictures today to show you how it looks right now. I'll post them tomorrow, hopefully. The stair well is nice and open with the post removed... oh and the stairs. They're gone! We have a big open shaft there now. Stay tuned for pix..

Big Metal Cross Beam Thing

The house continues to progress. As far as I can tell (which doesn't mean much) the framing is all done. The electrician is doing his thing and and we should have a final decision on the fireplace tomorrow.

The big news is that the Big Metal Cross Beam Thing is in. Yep, that IS the technical name for it. It spans across the opening to the stairwell from the great room and basically holds everything up. Since I can't take a picture to show you (i can, i just can't download it to my computer) I'll use my photoshop skills to draw it on the original architects sketch.



The big red stripe across the top of the sketch is the "Big Metal Cross Beam Thing". There is no longer a column/post in the middle of the opening, so it is totally opened up. We think it's pretty neat!

"The House"

I'm writing/posting from "the cabin" today. Tim and I keep saying "the house" to each other, which is totally non-specific, so it only confuses the listener. "The house" could mean any of three houses! There is "the house" we are currently living in, which I propose we call "the rental". Then, there is "the house" we own and will live in once the remodel is done. I will attempt to refer to it as "our house". Finally, there is "the house" that belongs to my family. Tim has been staying there for the last many months when working. I plan to refer to this as "the cabin". Got it? Good.

I have arranged to activate a second phone line in "the rental" and get DSL on it. This will be in our name, so that we can take it with us to "our house" when we move in. Right now, I am accessing the internet at "the cabin".

We will have our own DSL up on Tuesday, so it will be easier to post. Most of the framing is done at our house, so when I find the camera cable, I'll post some pictures.

For that potential interested reader (you know who you are), we only got a light dusting of snow the last couple of days, with no measurable accumulation. It has been really cold though, so the snow-making next door has been very active. The hill looks well covered -The Face is groomed and has no obstacles showing. The outside temp is 15.1 F at 1:30 PM.

Project: Fireplace

I need to make the final decision on a fireplace design in the next couple of days. We are replacing the old fireplace with a "Rumford". This is the only kind of wood burning fireplace that meets the strict emmission standards in the area. I think the story is pretty cool. This guy designed the most effective fireplace that he could for heating, and it is still the best, not only for heating, but for burning clean and minimizing emissions. Following is an article I took from the Buckley Rumford website:

What is a Rumford Fireplace,
Anyway?

by Jim Buckley
Rumford fireplaces are tall and shallow to reflect more heat, and they have streamlined throats to eliminate turbulence and carry away the smoke with little loss of heated room air.
Rumford fireplaces were common from 1796, when Count Rumford first wrote about them, until about 1850. Jefferson had them built at Monticello, and Thoreau listed them among the modern conveniences that everyone took for granted. There are still many original Rumford fireplaces - often buried behind newer renovations-throughout the country.

Count Rumford, for whom the fireplace is named, was born Benjamin Thompson in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1753 and, because he was a loyalist, he left (abruptly) with the British in 1776. He spent much of his life as an employee of the Bavarian government where he received his title, "Count of the Holy Roman Empire." Rumford is known primarily for the work he did on the nature of heat.

Back in England, Rumford applied his knowledge of heat to the improvement of fireplaces. He made them smaller and shallower with widely angled covings so they would radiate better. And he streamlined the throat, or in his words "rounded off the breast" so as to "remove those local hindrances which forcibly prevent the smoke from following its natural tendency to go up the chimney..."
Rumford wrote two papers detailing his improvements on fireplaces in 1796 and in 1798.* He was well known and widely read in his lifetime and almost immediately in the 1790s his "Rumford fireplace" became state-of-the-art worldwide.

Today, with the extensive restoration of old and historic houses and the renewed popularity of early American and classical architecture in new construction, Rumford fireplaces are enjoying a comeback. Rumford fireplaces are generally appreciated for their tall classic elegance and their heating efficiency.

____________

*Most recently Rumford's two essays on fireplaces have been published in The Collected Works of Count Rumford; Vol. 2; Sanborn Brown, ed.; Harvard Univ. Press; 1969; available in most libraries or through Inter-Library Loan or On Line Version

Well, now we know about the fireplace itself, I have to decide exactly what the outside will look like. ASAP!
Here is a list of decisions to be made:
1. How high to make the hearth - we kind of like 18" but we're concerned about$
2. What size rumford (fireplace opening) -42" or 48" square
3. Built in wood storage?
4. Chimney -from fireplace to ceiling.


We have picked out the type of granite to use and the basic look of it. Here is an example or our mason's work and the particular stone we're using.

I'll let you know when I've got the rest figured out!

Internet Ski Lodge

I'm hanging' out at the local internet cafe ski lodge, eating my lunch. It is so great to be here. I've come home!

We arrived here at 3am Monday. The drive took longer than usual, due to the trailer. We had rain as we left Seattle, which dried up in the middle of Oregon somewhere. The roads were dry the rest of the way. The dogs were both pretty good. We had them in the truck with us, as the back was filled with stuff. The back seat in the extended cab isn't so big, and definately cramped Jack's style. He said that was OK, that being on the soft seat in the heated cab, was totally worth it. He just stretched out and left Denver stuck in a tiny corner, anyway. Pictures will be added to this post when I find the cord for my camera!

House News:

I have lot's of good news to report! Both dogs get along with the dogs at our home construction site. This is Tahoe, land of free dogs. They go everywhere with their people -no leash law just "verbal control". So there are two dogs at work (with their people)at our place, and J & D both get along well with them.

It looks, to me, like the framing is almost done. The electrician was there this morning, fixing up some of the wiring and prepping for the future stuff.

The other guy, who was there this morning, was the guy from the gas company. He was connecting the gas! Once he was done with that, the heat was turned on! So now, I really can sing, "The heat is on..." The heat/furnace deal is kind of interesting. We got no choice at all. On every other issue, Slater (GC) asks us what we want, and bends over backward to get us what we want. The furnace was different. His normal furnace guy said "No" to our job and another this winter. He had a hard time finding a furnace guy this year for his jobs, so when he found one, he said here's what you pay, period. The good news is that we got a very nice, quiet furnace! We were concerned about the noise, because some gas-forced air furnaces are quite loud. Apparantly, the air intake has a lot to do with that, and because there was room, they put in 20" ducting. Bottom line: quiet heat, happy us!

Internet Ski Lodge

I'm hanging' out at the local internet cafe ski lodge.

sorry, false post. see complete post above.

We've had enough; we're leaving!

It is official, we are moving tomorrow! We are packing today, and tomorrow, we drive away.

The heat is on, the heat is o-on...

OK, I'm not sure if the heat actually IS on, but it is IN! It might be on. The furnace is installed and all of the duct work is done. The last Tim and I spoke about it, the gas to the furnace had yet to be completed. I forgot to ask the status again. It's just that that Glenn Frey song kept playing in my head, so I had to put in in the title. We actually don't plan to have it "on the street", or "inside your head". OK, it's kind of in my head now, it seems.

Along the theme of the heat being IN, the window replacement has begun! We are replacing most of the non-custom windows in the house for several reasons:
1. To keep the heat IN!!!! We're putting in double-paned windows.
2. So they look better. The old ones are ugly.
3. Code. Most of the new ones are larger, so that people can climb out of them, if they need to. That way, if we ever have a kid, it'll be easier for him/her to sneak out. You could lump this into #2 as far as I'm concerned. Bigger windows, more light= better aesthetics in my book!

The moral of today's post is that we are making progress on the keeping the heat in, on several fronts. We are also going to put in a very efficient (at heating) fireplace and ceiling insulation, so that's how I justify the term "several".

Daylight Update

Today is the shortest day of the year, they say. In Seattle, daylight is 7:17 long. Here's the rub: tomorrow has the exact same sunrise and sunset. So don't expect much change yet, less than a minute more daylight. However, by Christmas day, there will be 4 more minutes of daylight in Seattle.

I went to a naval web site to get more accurate info than the weather channel. They actually show 7:16 today. I still say that the change is probably less than a minute.

Early Christmas

Isn't this beautiful? This is what Valerie gave us for Christmas. Made of Manos Del Uruguay! I told Tim, "It's like manos, but softer. I wonder what yarn she used?" Well, Valerie has a special treatment that she uses, and it is soft enough even for my sensitive skin. Could it get any better? The colors are great with our couch, and it will be sooo cozy in our new Tahoe abode (which was obviously her plan). Thanks Val!

And it gets better. The picture was taken with my new camera (Thanks Dad).

Tim opened his present from my dad earlier this week when they saw each other in Tahoe. The chainsaw didn't need to travel around with Tim. We had the package from Val arive here. Then we got a big box from my sister. We decided to open these presents, which were too big to travel with us. After that, I rationalized that I should get to open my present from my dad, since Tim already opened his, and we'd opened the presents from my stepmom and sister. Of course, their presents are all in FedEx limbo, waiting for the Denver airport to open. Now we're off for Christmas with Tim's family.

Christmas

OK, I'm ready for Christmas! Wohoo!! I did all my Christmas shopping in 2 days, and mailed off packages to my family in Colorado. Tim was a wrapping fiend! Should get there tomorrow (Friday), but with the Denver airport closed, they may not make it for Christmas. We also got all of our Christmas cards out today. I haven't gotten them all out in a couple of years, I think. Again, Tim was a big help. Tomorrow we will brave the airport and holiday travel. We're going to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with Tim's family. I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas!

That Extra Hour

It is that time of year again. Seattle just seems dark and gloomy even during the few daylight hours we have. This is the time of year when I fixate on the amount of actual daylight and compare it to home. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 9 hours and 25 minutes separate sunrise and sunset. Here, there is an entire hour less of daylight (8:25). And I use the term "daylight" loosely. There are a lot of days that seem stuck in twilight this time of year. OK, those from the northern part of the country may be used to this. Go ahead, call me a wimp, I'm OK with that. Many people may not mind it, but I DO! I'm from California, and this is hard for me. Even in the summer, the sun is not as bright and strong here. Yes, this climate is better for my skin and appropriate for my British mutt genetics blah blah blah. Just because my genes like it here doesn't mean I have to! So, this time of year I fixate on what I'm missing (yes, I am both wise and mature). I imagine that extra hour of daylight, so bright that my eyes can barely take it. And the sunshine is warm, too. Never mind that today's high is forcasted to be 55º in The Park today and the UV index is only 1. I imagine a warm sunny day. I also imagine that extra hour in Tahoe. It is even brighter there because of the elevation and the snow reflecting the sunlight. Of course it is bright and sunny and warm. What is it really like you ask? It is currently 18º, but feels like 11º, with a forecast high of 34º and "plentiful sunshine". OK, UV index of 1. And there is no snow to reflect the sunlight. Both places are still brighter than Seattle, where the UV index is 0. And there is that extra hour.

I know that the solstice is only a few days away, but that doesn't help. I'm fixated. The extra hour... bright sunshine... that hour... i'm missing it... the hour... a whole hour...

Freedom and Christmas Cards

I'm free, to do what I want, any old time... Imagine Mick Jagger, not me, singing it; it'll sound better.

It doesn't feel quite as good as I would like, probably because I will keep going in to lab to finish a few things up, but NOT full time. Yesterday, my first day of freedom, I didn't go in to lab at all. Instead, I got started on my Christmas cards. I used to be really good about sending out cards every year, but not since graduate school and marriage. Of course there is the whole thing with graduate school taking up so much of my time and energy. And what the stress of it does to my efficiency. I also think marriage had a lot to do with my poor record with Christmas cards these last 6 years of marriage and science. First of all, the number of cards increased. That first year, I was gathering addresses from Tim for some of his relatives that I had met, thinking that it would be no big deal to add 5-10 cards to my list. Tim, who didn't send out Christmas cards, thought it was great and started adding some of his friends to the list as well. He was really good as adding names, but not as good at adding addresses, so then there was this big address gathering event before the cards were done. Each year, there have been more of his friends added, as well as new friends of ours that we have met, so the job keeps growing. The other thing about marriage that made the Christmas cards a more formidable task is The Christmas Letter. Now that there are two of us, there is more news each year, and it made sense to include this update with the cards. The first year, we needed to explain our wedding/marriage and describe the new unknown member of our union to the recipients. We married 9 months after we met and only invited immediate family to the tiny ceremony on a mountain. We just slipped it in the same week I started grad school. There were people in our lives who didn't know any of this until they received the announcement in the mail after we married, instead of the invitation beforehand that they would have received if we had a normal wedding. It was important to let them know that they were not individually excluded, but that we didn't invite anyone. We also had the move to Washington for me to attend graduate school. It all makes sense, but it made the Christmas card task even greater. Well, I started sending cards out late, and some years I just never got them all finished. Tim started helping by stuffing and signing the ones for his friends. Last year I was really overwhelmed, so Tim wrote The Letter. It was great, by the way. He has a great sense of humor. This year, once again, we have much to tell, and I really want to get them sent out, but I just started yesterday and we leave for Pennsylvania on Friday. I really hope to get back to my old ways of organization and completion!

Absent Blogger

OK, I know, I'm a sorry excuse for a blog author. Please forgive me, and bear with me for another week. My last official day in lab is December 15th. This Friday! I am feeling great that the end is so near, but I have been working pretty hard to get as much done as I can before I leave. I don't feel too much pressure to finish it all, as things keep getting added to my list. In fact, a significant amount of work was added just last week! At least 3 weeks worth of work! I do intend to continue finishing up the science, part time, while I'm in town. But I won't be on the payroll, so I can take care of other stuff as well. Anyway, I may continue to be the absent blogger for the week, but I will be back.

Happpy Thanksgiving!

We got a nice dusting of snow last night, and woke to a bright, sunny day with blue sky and snow-covered trees. It is glorious! All that brush in the background is what we call "snow bush" and is some sort of manzanita. Eventually it lays flat under the weight of the snow on top of it for the winter. My dad loves to shovel, and made sure to take care of the deck before the snow melted it away.

Then Curious Dad drove over our place to see how well the driveway heating worked. It didn't. He and Tim are over there now, working on it. It had been hooked up and was "all done" a week ago. It came on fine with overnight frost, but never turned off. At $4/hour for electricity, we prefer not to have it stay on indefinitely. Tim got the electrician out yesterday (finally) and he said that his guy mixed some wires during the final hook up. He fixed it and said that now we were good to go. But apparently not. And he has no "guy" to blame this time.

My pirate Sea Captain step-brother managed to get some time off and came out to California to grace us with his company for the holiday. No foolin', he is a Coast Guard certified Captain, who operates a sport fishing boat in Jupiter (near Palm Beach), Florida. And a heck of a lotta fun, too.

Meet Captain Lumberjack

superfund site

I promised to blog on the trees in my next post, but I don't have the pictures yet. I guess I lied. Sorry.

Yesterday I met our GC, Slater. He's great and we are lucky to have him. We talked about some things we could do, and he told us to go ahead and do some more demolition to get an idea of what we have to work with. Today we went over to the house to do our demo. We wanted to open up a few walls in some weird closets to see how much space we could get for a laundry room. After removing the paneling, we found a whole little ecosytem. Here are some examples of what we found:




I can't wait to culture these guys and identify them. Then I'll figure out if they are the toxic sort and whether or not to do some serious clean up. Hopefully the dreaded "Toxic Black Mold" is not a member of our little ecosystem. I will try to clean it up as well as I can, to minimize allergic reaction, but The ID of the bugs will determine how crazy I get with nasty ingredients. Obviously there has been some water in this area. You don't get this amount of mold in such a dry mountain environment without lots of water participation. I didn't get a picture of the worst part, which is the wall on the outside of the bathroom. Basically the shower was flowing through the area, we think. So, now we are going to redo bathroom #3. And we are also going to have the stairs completely re-framed. I'll try to get some pictures and see if I can explain the problem with them in a coherent fashion. If so, maybe I'll blog on it.