Sounds and Smells

Do you like to camp? I do. You know that stillness in the campsite, when you get up in the morning? I get that when I walk out of the house here. In fact, we get that on our deck, too. Somehow, even when you hear noises, there is a quite stillness. I know that doesn't make any sense. Right now, I'm sitting on the deck at my family's cabin (also on the West Shore). I hear noise from highway 89 (the main road, a couple blocks down the hill). I hear individual vehicles as they go by, not a constant background noise. Occasionally, there is some sort of construction sound. There are a lot of bird sounds -at least three different kinds but I'm no expert. I also hear a few insect sounds. There is no wind now, but that would add a rustle to the trees. I guess my feeling of stillness is because I can hear things like insects and individual birds and a rustle in the trees. As the summer season gets going, I'll hear every motor boat start up or cruise by.

It smells like the outdoors, like camping. Like the mountains. Each season has a different scent, and I love them all. We just walk outside, onto the deck to smell it. Even opening the windows smells like camping. It smells like Spring now, of course. On the warmer days, the warmth of the sun heats things up and intensifies the smell, giving a hint of the smell of summer to come.

Here in Tahoe, we get to experience the outdoors, all the time. This is one of the things I love about Tahoe.

Count Down

33 days until June 1st. Our house is supposed to be done June 1st, so we can move in. The lease on our rental is up June 5, so we have made it clear to our GC that we are moving in on the 1st. Even if they aren't done yet. Thus, 33 days until we move in! It doesn't seem possible, if you ask me, but hopefully I'm wrong (this one time).

To keep track, I've added a countdown timer to the blog. Sorry for the ad and the size -couldn't be helped.

There are some things I'd like before moving in. I'd like to see a toilet and sink in there at least. I don't want to trek down the driveway to the port-a-potty near the street! Shower and fridge would be great. It would be nice to have our bedroom done, so there is one private place we can go. Stay tuned to see how much of this I get!

Great Room Floor...

... is done. It's not clean yet, though.Denver has checked it out, smelled every inch, and approved.
You can finally get a feel for what the kitchen will look like. I'm starting to get very excited to cook in this great space!
I have no idea what happened upstairs today, because I was denied access! But isn't the quartzite tile pretty?

Doors and Floors

Here is our new back door, all installed and everything. If you open it, you can see the old blue back door.
Below is the kitchen floor. That sponge at the top is where the fridge will go, and to the right, you can see some stuff in the future home of my double oven tower. The very bottom of this picture shows the edge of the island.
Most of the floor pics do not give a good idea of the color of the stone. The floor is really dirty from all the concrete and the dust from cutting stone. To give an idea of what it will all look like when it is clean (I think my housekeeping can improve on the current state) I took a picture of the inside of the wood storage box. See how pretty and colorful that is? That is what the floor will look like, with lots of gold, bronze and dark gray.
I'm impressed with the care that goes into this floor. Greg checks that level in every direction, to make sure each new piece of stone is in line with all the others. See the big piece just above his back in this picture? That piece is right in front of the stove. They consider these things when they place each piece.

Beam's Done.

Here's that pesky beam I was so concerned about. It is SOOO much better than if the post had been inside. Kudos again to Jeff for making it work. You may wonder, as I did, what is going to happen with that big heating duct. It goes to the kitchen (directly above) and terminates in a heating vent just below a cabinet. Now, instead of going up in the center (right of the beam) it will now go to a vent on the left. Basically, it will go straight up. I'm pretty sure that the beam will be wrapped with sheet rock and painted. The question we were asked today was about the soffit. On the left, it must continue on up to the beam, to cover the duct. On the right, however, we don't need it anymore. We could remove the soffit from above the middle and right windows. Please comment if you have an opinion. I said to keep it all, because otherwise the left won't match the center & right. I'm afraid that the left would really stand out as different. But the huge beam between the left and the rest kind of stands out anyway.

There isn't much else to report on. Salty's guys continue to install a beautiful floor, but how many "in progress" pictures do you want to see? I mean, if I get comments saying that both all of my readers want to see each day's progress, you'll get it. Today's biggest excitement is that the tile/granite guys came to make templates for the kitchen counters, which will be made of granite slabs. I guess they'll be cutting and installing the granite soon! Also, we got to meet Pete Hazel, the owner, which is nice. His operation is pretty big, so we've met a lot of his guys, but it was good to meet him.

All of our doors have come in. They are made of Alder, and I think they are 2" thick. Hopefully, if I am wrong, Tim will post a comment to correct me. They are really nice, heavy, sturdy doors and I think they are going to be a very nice touch.

House Issues Part 2 continued: The Guest Room

I took a picture of the guest room to show the area I've been concerned about. The plan is to put a big beam across this room terminating in the soffit between the left and middle windows shown below.
The post to support this beam would be just inside the existing wall between those same two windows. Try as I might, I just couldn't picture it in a good way. The good news is that Jeff, my hero the foreman, couldn't either. He and Tim tore off some of the sheet rock between those two windows last night to see what could be done. And by the time we got over there this morning , we found the wall completely opened up, with a new plan to insert the post in the external wall! I am totally relieved.
They made room for the post! Or the saw did. I'm not sure where the heating duct that was inside the soffit will go, but I'm sure they have a plan for that, too. The post on the other side is going inside a wall as well. Below are my hero Jeff and John installing the post just below a 4"x12" beam.
The great room floor is now supported! Salty and his guys can keep up the great job they are doing. This is Greg, below.

House Issues Part 2: Great Room Floor

Everything was all set to get stone floors put in the great room, when it occurred to our contractor that the structure may not be able to support all of that heavy stone. We contacted the engineer we had used on a few other structural things, and sure enough, stone is too heavy for the structure. In fact, plywood sub floor is too heavy for it! So now we have to reinforce the great room floor by putting in a beam... in the guest room. I would think that the proper thing to do would be to open up the walls and ceiling in the guest room and re-frame it with some more serious lumber. But the walls were framed months ago, then insulated, dry-walled, textured and painted. So the "fix" is to add a beam across the room and also some posts to hold it up. They're going to build it inside the current structure of the room! And the best part is that they are going to stick it in between two windows that really shouldn't have anything in between them. I'm not explaining it very well, because I am a bit dumbfounded by the whole thing. I am trying to trust the contractors that it won't look as bad as I imagine it will. We'll see. It has delayed the start of the floors a bit, but they got started on them today.

House Issues Part 1: Windows

See all these Windows? The great room is all windows, looking out at the lake.

We left the original windows that make up this wall. We only replaced the sliders -those are the ones with the stickers on the lower picture here. We replaced all of the rest of the windows in the house. In fact, that was the first thing that was done. Last week, just as the carpenters were making all the jams for the windows, we discovered that 4 of these windows have failed. They are double pained windows which have moisture between the pains that appears cloudy. That's bad. This project is supposed to be done in 6 weeks, and now we have to order new windows. We decided not to recreate this wall exactly, we will improve it. We currently have 29 windows, which we will combine into 11 bigger low-e windows. Of course, this is the right thing to do, but it costs money. And it takes time to order new windows. We are still hoping to move in at the beginning of June. We'll see. Stay tuned for other delays!

The Smell of My Dog

Each of our dogs has a scent. They both smell like dogs, of course, but they each have their own unique scent. Denver's scent has changed. Tim and I can both smell it. My precious little black dog is sick. Her kidneys are failing. She probably doesn't even feel sick yet. But maybe she can smell it too. Maybe she knows? Or maybe she is like a person wearing too much cologne? Maybe she can’t sense it in herself? I’m sure Jack can smell the change, if we can. So far, Denver seems herself, except that she drinks a lot more than she used to. Because of all of the water she is drinking, she has to pee a lot. She appears to be experiencing more arthritis pain and stiffness. I expected this, because I stopped her arthritis NSAID (it may be the cause of her kidney damage). I don't know if she has months to live, or maybe even over a year. I should have a better idea of how fast this will go and how well she will respond to treatment in about 3 weeks when we do some more tests. For several reasons, I fear that she may decline quickly. It is her scent that haunts me. It is a constant reminder that she is not well. That her days with me are numbered. I am devastated. I have known for years that her loss will be very hard on me, but now I have to face it. I have been blessed to enjoy her companionship for 13 years, but I am just not ready to let her go. Hopefully, when the time comes, I will be able to let her go, and will not make her suffer.

Meanwhile, I am spoiling her. In addition to a special diet and medication to protect her kidneys, she needs access to fresh water, all of the time. And she needs to relieve herself a lot. My solution is to take her with me everywhere and keep water in the car. Since she has never liked being apart, this works for her. Once we move into our new house she'll be able to stay home and let herself out via the dog door. Until then, she's my sidekick. I suppose this is as much for me as it is for her.

House Update

I haven't posted in a while... some things have come up with the house and I chose not to think about them with the hope they'd go away. It didn't work. I'll leave the bad news to a future post. Meanwhile, here are some pictures:
Our new western red cedar ceilings and nicely painted walls ( this is the kitchen):
Here are some of our kitchen cabinets along with my art project of the week:
We couldn't make up our minds about the size of the field tile for the back splash, so I made a mock-up with construction paper. We went with the smaller (4"x4") tiles. The accent "dots" are really cool tiles. They look like crackled glass. Below is a sample, but we are going to use square ones, not the diamond shape below.
My work room:

Happening House

Things at the house are really starting to happen! It is actually starting to resemble a home. We have made a lot of decisions in the last few weeks, including several changes from our original plans.

we picked out our doors
we decided on trim
we picked paint colors
we finally decided on the stone for flooring
we decided on the stair railing
we changed our ceiling material
we decided on the fireplace flue

Our original trim plan was to do something simple, paint grade (MDF). But we both decided that we prefer wood. We picked unstained alder. So then we decided that alder doors would go well. Not only did we pick out the paint colors, the painting is DONE! Most of the house is a nice neutral beige, but some of the rooms have some color! My work room is gold. Part of our bedroom is red (kind of brick colored). And, for me, the most daring is the light blue guest room. Let's hope I can make it work the way I imagine. One of our big changes is the ceiling. Originally we were going to keep the whitewashed pine tongue-and-groove paneling. Then we decided to add some insulation. Rather than re-do a perfectly good roof in order to install insulation, we had insulation put on the ceiling and then another layer of paneling. We figured pine was the cheapest, but then we saw a house with Western Red Cedar and loved it! The material cost is the same, but we save the money we would have spent on whitewashing or staining the pine, because we don't like the look of it. We are really happy with that decision. The other change is in the stair railing. I wanted to do something modern and rustic by using steel mesh, but it just seemed too complicated with our GC, so we are getting a nice basic alder rail system. And today, we decided to wrap the fireplace flue with... alder.

Surprise!

Chris and I surprised Tim with a party to celebrate his 40th birthday. We were in Seattle to close the sale of our house, and it was a perfect opportunity to gather his best buddies. Tim was completely surprised and very pleased.

Bright Sunshiny Day

We have had beautiful weather lately. It feels like late April or May, -like Spring. It does not seem like mid-March, which is normally Winter. Of course, the balmy temperatures are just putting the final nail in the ski season's coffin, but I can roll with that. I've just started thinking about Summer: Moving into our great house, cycling (both road and mountain), hiking, boating (we've got a buoy, all we need is a boat). I've already started catching up on my sunshine/vitamin D after years in Seattle. Today it was 66 degrees, but it felt warmer, so Denver and I decided to go check out our homeowners' pier.
I asked Little D to pose, but she had other plans. Lately she doesn't seem to hear my requests so well. Maybe she figures she can pretend to be hard of hearing since she's so old. She's not foolin' me... she hears me get food out, no matter how quiet I am.
Since D wouldn't sit still, I decided to focus on the rocks below, because they weren't moving around. The water is probably 10 feet deep here. Tahoe is renown for the incredibly clear water.

All in all, it was a day full of bright colors and sunshine!

I made the final decisions on paint colors for the house today. The drywall folks have been busy. They started the wall texture on Friday and should be done in a couple of days. Paint is next.

Fireplace is done...

but not exactly functional. Well, you could build a fire in it, but very little smoke would make it out the chimney. Fireplace and chimney are not yet connected. Anyway, it looks pretty cool, doesn't it? And it is big. The opening is 4ft square. I can't even see the top surface of the mantle.
There is more subtle information in this picture as well. The walls are all covered with sheetrock. In fact, we passed our drywall inspection while I was there yesterday. Now they tape it and fill in spots, and then put on the smooth texture. After that comes paint. I think I heard a rumor that our cabinets are coming next week. We got our kitchen bathtub sink this week. I wanted one big sink, none of that divided business. Well, that's what I got, all right. It is huge. I am still going back and forth on the floor for the kitchen/greatroom. We are going with stone, for sure, but the exact type is the big question. Quartzite is the most durable and least expensive, but I am having trouble with the bling factor. There are shiny, metallic veins in the stone, which I can't quite picture in my living room. I like the look of flagstone, but it is much darker and will change the feel of the room. I guess I just have to make up my mind about the look of the room.

We Sold Our House!

The house in Seattle went on the market on Wednesday. We accepted offers until 1pm today and got beyond what we were hoping for! We listed for less than we expected, in hopes of generating interest, multiple offers, and letting the market tell us it's worth. I think we got 6 or more offers, all above asking price. Our agent thinks maybe this is a record for a 2 bed/ 1 bath house. Needless to say, there are no contingencies, the house is accepted as is, and it should be a done deal in less than a month. I am a firm believer in real estate agents. Sure, it is hard to part with 6% of the sales price, but a good agent earns their fees and ours certainly did. Thanks Scott!

Things are not so exciting here in Tahoe...unless you think sheetrock is exciting. I just think it is dusty! Things are progressing.

Truck

Well, the storms have past and we are in the process of digging out. I mean the collective "we" that encompasses the Lake Tahoe Area. Frankly, I'm done. But Cal Trans still has a way to go, in my opinion. The guys came to deliver sheet rock today, and one of the trucks got stuck on our street for 45 minutes (due to the snow) and didn't even deliver the rock. Or so I hear. We weren't there. We went to Truckee for some nice couple time at The Rock Garden where we looked at stone for flooring. We did a few other errands down there and started home. Just about halfway home, the truck started to act funny. It went downhill fast (and I don't mean mph) and just after we passed the stoplight at Squaw Valley, it died. It was kind of an adventure. For those who don't know the area, There is basically nothing between Truckee and Tahoe city except the Truckee River and Highway 89. There are no towns. There are turnoffs for two ski areas and some homes, but it is basically a road through a river canyon. OK, dead truck. No big deal... call AAA. I tried but had no signal on my cell phone. OK, dead cell phone. No big deal... I walked back to the entrance to Squaw and into Tahoe Dave's rental shop, where they kindly let me use their phone. AAA said that it could be as much as 1.5 hours for a tow truck! I walked back to Tim and played games on my cell phone took over truck duty while Tim hitch-hiked back to our place to get another car. We could have stayed together and then taken the bus or a taxi home from the mechanic in Tahoe City, except that Denver was in the back of the truck. We didn't think any of our transportation options would accept dogs. After 3 rides, Tim got home, grabbed a car, and picked us up. We'll find out about the truck tomorrow.

Spinning in the Snow

We've been pretty much snowed in for the last several days. We could go out, but why drive through near white-out conditions? We've got groceries so there is just no real reason. Actually, Tim has been going to sleep work each night, but that is about it. All work on our house has stopped. Neither the supplies, nor the workers can get there.

So, I've been spinning! Remember the picture I posted from Madrona, of the big red pile of combed wool top? Well, I've filled my first full bobbin (which looks quite pretty against the avocado carpet at our little cabin). I think I will make it 3-ply, so it should end up about a DK weight.. well, maybe sport. We'll see. I'm still a beginner, so I don't really know what it will end up like!
Once I finished that bobbin, I broke into my new shipment of Yak down! Chicken time: The package arrived on a day which brought us a couple feet of snow. Big kudos to UPS for getting it here on time! I have 3 colors, brown, gray and white (all natural), that I am randomly mixing. I learned to spin the Yak down at the Three Wild Downs class that I took at Madrona. It is super soft and a lot of fun to spin with. It is supposed to be very warm. I'm looking forward to knitting with it after plying.

Oops!

This is the tree stump that ambushed me today. It was hiding under the snow, totally invisible, totally sneaky. I made a turn, my ski hit the stump and stopped dead. I was ejected face first into all of that wonderful fresh snow. While digging in the snow, looking for my ski, I found the stump. And see the ski? The tip is just visible above and to the right of the stump. On the next run, Tim fell and there was another member of the sneaky community hiding nearby. This time it was a rock and his arm hit it hard when he went down. We decided that wasn't the most friendly stand of trees, and to stick to designated runs. Not much happened at our house today. About half of the guys on the job were out skiing today. We even saw our plumber out on the hill.

Weather Watch

We've had a very dry winter in the Lake Tahoe Area. That isn't very good for the local economy, but most of all, it isn't very good for my skiing! During the winter, the locals watch the weather quite seriously. The Weather Channel is one of the most popular TV channels around here. Wednesday, the wind started to pick up, heralding a coming storm. Everyone was talking about it at the construction site/our house and the predicted snow fall got pretty large. Basically we've all been watching and waiting for this storm that is expected to hit tonight for a couple of days. The gusty winds have been teasing us for 36+ hours but fortunately the storm has taken it's time (slow storm = more snow). The snow is scheduled to begin tonight at 1 am and continue through Friday. Here's the scoop:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
338 PM PST WED FEB 21 2007

COLD PACIFIC STORM TO BRING SNOWFALL AND WINDY CONDITIONS TO THE SIERRA TONIGHT AND THURSDAY.

A COLD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTH FROM THE GULF OF ALASKA AND INTO THE REGION. THE PERIOD OF HEAVIEST
PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED FROM EARLY THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH
LATE THURSDAY NIGHT.

IF YOU PLAN TO TRAVEL IN THE SIERRA BETWEEN TONIGHT AND
FRIDAY MORNING...BE PREPARED FOR HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS.
ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATIONS AND REMEMBER TO CARRY
TIRE CHAINS...FOOD...WATER AND CLOTHING.

I'll fill you in on the details once the powder is all tracked out.

technical difficulties

All I wanted to do was add a little weather script to my blog, and now the whole template is messed up. Because of the upgrades blogger has made, I had to upgrade my template to be able to use the modular template functionality. I got my weather script, but I lost all of the customization I had done to my template. OK, I admit I saw the warning, but didn't exactly process it. I should have just done it in html! Oh well, I picked a stock template for now and I will decide what to do later. It is still my blog and all of the content remains.