Dog Day Afternoons

We're home. We're also catching up a week out, on press deadline and just plain tired.

The trip East was wonderful, not to mention warm. 90-degree, humid weather reminded us about summer in the swamp. Apparently, we trucked that weather back to Portland with us. It hit 92 yesterday, but hot & dry is more manageable than sticky. Sorry, Easterners....just remember to come visit during the summer.

Here's what's new. We returned home to dormer windows, a plumbing shipment (remind me to tell that story someday) and full siding on the dormer. Unfortunately, PC isn't feeling well this week, so Brock has been doing the work of two. He's put up 90% of our new insulation, ripped up all the carpet pad and a few other things. He also rocks out to some pretty good music, which has been enjoyable. Even with one guy on the job, it still seems we're moving faster than our neighbors can fathom. As an aside, both our neighbors did pretty major construction projects since we moved in. Let's just say we didn't use their contractors for a reason. Check out the latest progress at the latest photo set.

Tomorrow, Friday, the drywall is coming. The neighbors even have to move their fossilized Nissan Altima. Big stuff.

It's Electric!

We're in DC. For the next half hour. We'll be in Philly by noon. We're on the East Coast for Rana & Chris' wedding; Rana and I have been friends since the first grade ballet pageant. We're pretty darn excited. The DC detour involved a visit with Ben's sister Hendi & her man J, two ridiculously adorable nieces and a night out with 14 of our closest friends in DC. Fabulous.

In all the excitement of travel (a total of 11 full days this month that both Ben and I were home), we haven't taken many pictures. Week 5 doesn't even get its own album, but it does have its highlights:

1. Electricians came Monday and Tuesday to wire the new space. We now know where every outlet & switch will be placed. We also have to go lighting shopping, pretty quick. As in, yesterday.

2. On Tuesday, Steve, electrician #2 (and a huge fan of dimmers, by the by), left his keys in his van's middle console. No matter where you live, not a good idea. Steve's truck was driven off by an unknown perp at about 1pm. Exciting.

3. We're supposedly getting windows today. Update next week.

Have a great holiday weekend, folks, and thanks for stopping by!

Quiet on the Set

It's Friday. The only sound is people slowing to roll gently over the new speed table on our street (limit's going down to 30 MPH too, check out the article).

The contractors had off today and yesterday, I sort of miss the activity, I have to say. I'm inspired to vacuum, scrub and polish this house top to bottom (well, not the top level just yet). I've uploaded the last of this week's pictures and week four is now officially complete.

I have to say, it's nice to be home on a week day and hear the birds chirping. But I'm looking forward to next week: windows, electric and The Tub (more on that later). Tomorrow, Ben returns from a week in Boston. Just in time for the fun to begin again.

The New Wake Up Call

G'day, Gawkers! It's a sunny Tuesday in Portland, headed up to 77 degrees. Perfect for working on a house, I s'pose. Ben is in Boston for work this week; I bet he's not missing saw sounds during phone calls. He is missing the plumbing stack set up, but since it's running through his office, that's a good thing.

The season of sub-contractors has begun: plumbers & roofers this week, electrician the next. We're done with framing as of today, so as Harvey promises, it's about to become all about small, less dramatic process, right down to the trim.

One fun and very noticeable change this week is the addition of skylights. We added two in the master bedroom to make up for shrinking the room a bit. I took some pictures this morning and became keenly aware of just how much light they'll shed on our bed. I think we'll be investing in some shades or a sleeping mask, whichever works best. Check out the new view from my pillow:

Swift!

One thing we keep hearing is how fast things seem to be going. As of yet, we can't tell if it's just because none of you are living here, or perhaps things really are progressing smoothly and swiftly as it seems.

Check out the set to the right (Week 3.) We practically could sleep in the dormer at night. Well, on a clear, warm night with blankets. Lots of 'em.

Oh Yeah. This is really happening.

It's three days into week three and I have just returned from a business trip to Long Beach, CA for the Specialty Coffee Association of America conference. It was a good time (if not a little over-caffeinated).

Ben documented Day 1 of Week 3, when Pat and team ripped open the roof where our bathroom will be. This is a week chock full of BIG progress:

1. The roof came off on Monday
2. The master bathroom exterior walls were framed on Tuesday
3. The gable roof is being framed today, Wednesday
4. They expect to close up the hole by the end of this week.

Check it out!

May Showers

It's May 1. I'm not sure how that happened, but here we are. I'll take May 1 over Feb 1 any day, but today, the weather isn't living up to its May Flowers reputation. The May 1 forecast calls for rain, possible thunderstorms and even hail.

Portlanders all know to take that (or any) forecast with a grain of salt since things often shift rapidly, but Pat Casey (PC), Contractor, needs to be especially cautious. You see, this week, he wants to cut a hole in our roof. He's balancing the need for progress with a yucky forecast. In the end, Mother Nature won and we're going to get a few days off from big noise & dust. Pat will be back Friday to cut that hole in the roof.

Can't wait for pictures of that event!