Water & Power

Dining room and kitchen

The "trades" have been busy at work this week.  We now have electricity into our new house.  And the water is almost in, too.  Of course, none of the fixtures are in yet so it's not like I can turn on a faucet or a light, but getting utilities into the structure is a big step.  We hope to be inspected next Wednesday for our framing, plumbing and electric.  Then we can start closing everything up.

Chuck and Kent have been busy at work putting up the soffits, the attic vents, the stucco mesh, the flashing, etc.  Come next Thursday, we should be starting stucco.  I met our stucco guy, David.  What a character!  His arms fling everywhere when he talks.  He sounds like he knows what he's doing.  Chuck has known him for the better part of 30 years.  So if Chuck trusts him, he's good enough for me. 


In the guest closet

Today David asked me if I'd like some kind of design over my doors.  Got me to thinking -- maybe a gecko?  How about a sun ray?  I'll have to put some thought to that over the next few days.



Let there be light!  Tom working in the mechanical room.
 

Then, when he's done with the first coat outside, I'm just going to have him start on the inside.  I thought that Les and I could probably do that, but who am I kidding?  I did the inside plaster on an adobe house when I was 22.  But that was hundreds of years ago, or so it seems.  It wasn't hard, just time consuming -- something I have very little of in the first place.  Les wouldn't like it, either. 

We'll probably be going over budget with this stucco/plaster job.  What are you gonna do?  Still hoping to be in my new house in the next couple of months.  Wouldn't that be so great?

Weather

Look at the beautiful wood grain on our door.

Wow, Wow, Wow!  Things have been so incredibly busy, it's hard to pick up where I left off.  We picked up our front door.  IT IS GORGEOUS!  It's a bit rough, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Our house is designed and built by regular people.  I don't need perfection, I just need character.

We drove about 160 miles west to meet Ab Yoder.  He's another Amish gentleman who will be building our kitchen cabinets.  We asked him to build them from beetle kill pine, again, because the wood is gorgeous.  That's what our front door is made of.  And his price was about $3000 less that our local kitchen cabinet dealer -- which was about $5000 less than Lowes.  It's not like we have this massive, elaborate kitchen design, either.  I just want simple, decent quality, and rustic.

The new windows finally were delivered and installed the moment they got here.  The house is now, more or less, secure.  Almost all of the doors are in, but I'm waiting (2 months now) for our front door hardware.  So Chuck just nailed a piece of plywood over the opening for the front door.  All of the other doors are in and locked.  Just don't want any bears sneaking around in my new house or anything.

Windows are going in.

Once the plumbing and electric are in, then we can get it inspected and can close up the walls and the ceilings.  We also are waiting for stucco.  But since we can't get any reasonable bids for stucco, we're just going to do it ourselves.  We got one bid this morning and it ate up 1/2 of our remaining budget.  No way!  Chuck will just hire some people, hire a cement mixer, and we'll do it ourselves.  What could possibly go wrong?

Straw gets EVERYWHERE!

It's snowing today.  The house is wrapped in a blanket of black plastic.  Gotta get it in stucco ASAP.

Les "weed-wacking" the walls.

The bales are all stacked.

Bales

Almost through with the bales.

Oh what a job this is!  The bales are about 50 pounds apiece. Before you stack them, you have to measure each one, in several places, for moisture. Then, most of the bales need to be notched. This is done with a small electric chainsaw. The point of notching is so that the bales will fit snugly around the post and beam frame of the house. While you're notching, cutting, stacking and tying the bales, straw flies everywhere. I mean everywhere.

Lucy and Mindy just love the straw!

It gets in your mouth, your hair, your shoes and down my bra. I don't even need to be the one cutting for that to happen. Talk about uncomfortable!  The second I get home I strip and shower. I take a Benadryl and I put lotion everywhere.  Every place where the brittle straw touches leaves a little irritation. We all feel so beat up. Hands are cut, knuckles scraped, knees bruised and backs sore.

But it will be so worth it. Look at what we've accomplished. I get such a kick out of watching it take shape. And Les is my hero. He works so hard on it. He and Chuck (also my hero) have hired one more guy. The 3 of them  are about 75% done with the bales. The septic was inspected and approved yesterday.  We just need to finish the bales and get it dried in  soon. The windows should be delivered next Tuesday.

It's really going to be so beautiful!

Oh, to be a dog in a loving family.

Les notching the bale.

This is the north wall under the porch. Just have to finish a little on the top.

The corner next to the front door. 

Dogs

Dogs and straw - seems like they're just made for each other.  The yellow and the stubby tail dogs are ours -- Lucy & Mindy.  The shaggy boy is Trooper, he's my neighbors' dog.  And the older, grumpier dog is Doogie.  He's very sweet, but tends to want to straighten the "kids" out when they play too hard.

The house is coming along.  The hold-up this week is the windows.  I was told that they would be delivered today, but alas, it's not to be yet.  Not until next week.

The front of the house

We are really hoping to have the stucco started next week.  I am desperate to get dried in by the end of the month.  I'm constantly checking the weather.  It's been in the 20's at night.  Days are in the low 70's.  And, (Thank you, God) there is no rain in the immediate future.  But I'm holding my breath.  The bales can't be more than 14% in moisture content.  So we measure each bale with our moisture meter.  Some we have to toss outside to dry a little more. I, fortunately, ordered about 75 more bales than we needed.  Whatever is left over I will either sell on CraigsList or we will build a greenhouse or a chicken coop.  I'll be happy as can be either way.  I've always wanted a greenhouse.  And I love chickens.  Chickens are cool.

Putting in bales in the mechanical room.

 Andy is up there working on the house today. I've been up there daily, but I've also been neglecting my business a little bit.  So I'm forcing myself to stay home to work today.  Sigh!

Green Roof

Look what my romantic hubby did.

I have always wanted a country house with a green metal roof.  I now have just that!

Sam and his crew are working on the roof today, and should finish tomorrow.  It's green -- as you can see.  Les and I spent today wrapping all of the wood with felt paper.  All of that wood will be covered with the straw and then with plaster.  The felt paper protects the wood from any dampness and rot.  It's a tedious job, but when it's done, we won't ever have to think about that again.

The footer with foam, rock, and nails.

Chuck laid just a few bales today.  He was anxious to see how it all works.  He said that the designer we went through, Chris Keefe of Organic Forms Design, did a fabulous job drawing the plans.  And I would also recommend Chris - really, really good at what he does.

Here are the pics from today.  Les drew a heart with our initials on one of our porch posts.  He's such a great guy!

My green roof.

The first bales.