Very Hot Day Three

Chris and Miguel showed up this morning with a truckload of lumber and no explanation for their disappearance yesterday. Apparently it was for the lumber..??  Oh well. It really doesn't matter as they immediately got to work, and worked like dogs for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, until it got too hot to breathe, let alone work in the full glare of the blazing 95* sun.

They finished the front porch/deck by lunchtime...and though it looked very funny, hanging off in space like this, it's a wonderful, slightly bigger one than before.  And solid as a rock--which the other one most definitely was not.

This afternoon they got the stringers for the steps done, and the landing, but we hit a snag with my "simple and straightforward" design: There needs to be a turn at the landing.  All I wanted was a straight length of steps, with the landing in between--no turns, no bends, no nothing. Miguel pointed out that to do it my way, the steps would either end in the bark dust (too short), or on the driveway (too long). Instead, if he veers right, off the landing, he will come out on the original cement slab. Buggers.  I totally understand, and even agree, but I so had my heart set on simple.

Monday we will reconvene, after I've had the weekend to ponder the merit of the kink, though it's pretty obvious I will have to forego my original design idea and just let them do what they need to with the stairs.  Isn't it funny that even when you try to avoid complicating things, they end up that way anyway..??

Remodel: Day Two

Things started pretty good this morning, though by afternoon everything came to a screeching halt.  Chris and Miguel had to replace the bottom board on the house because the elderly couple who lived here before us had faced their sprinkler toward the house, rather than away, so that naturally, over time, the board got spongy and punky; this board needs to be fixed before the stairs can be built.  They got as far as the framing for the deck, then had to go to the lumberyard to find a replacement board.  It's been quite awhile now and they're still not back, so either they took the rest of the day off, or they're having difficulty matching the wood for the house.  It's 93* so maybe they took the first option...I would.

While washing the mega-windows in the living room this morning, I spied the little fawn and her mama.  The fawn never even noticed me...way too busy munching the neighbors' flowers.

But Mama was alert the whole time...

So, back to the remodel.  Here's a photo of Miguel (sitting) and Chris (invisible as he hammers away on the first leg of the framing.)  They are really nice, hardworking guys.  I can't help but wonder what happened to them today.  Maybe they had to go beyond Roseburg to find the right board.  It's not an actual length of timber, but some weird kind of press board/particle board.  Frankly, I've never heard of cladding your house with particle board, but there you go.  Maybe I've just lived in Scotland too long and it's not weird at all...

But, before they disappeared, this is how far they got today.  I was really looking forward to seeing all the framing done today, so tomorrow they could start with the deck flooring.  Ah well, such is remodeling.  It's always something you haven't factored into your plans, schedule or budget.

So, as far as Day Two goes, not much progress to photograph or be pleased about.  Nuts.  And tomorrow is to be in the high 90s--which I'm not looking forward to, but perhaps Chris and Miguel will show up early and get on with things.  I live in hope.

First Phase Done

Here's how the front of the house looked this morning.  Notice the large shrub next to the lamp post..??  There's another one on the other side of this one, but the new staircase needs that space.

Then Chris and Miguel showed up...and sorry, no pictures so far.  They're working too hard and every time I try to get them in a shot, all I can get is the back of their heads while they hammer away with their tools.  I'll catch them before this is over.

This is where the two large, half-dead bushes were next to the staircase.  Chris and Miguel sawed them off and had them strapped to the truck before I could even take a picture.  The new staircase will go down the side of the house, instead of winding all over the front yard, hence why the gnarly shrubs had to go.

Now it's down to the real demolition.  I loved this part.  Just getting rid of the hideous, gray and decrepit porch/stairs made me feel better.

As you can see below, the only thing we have to be careful of now is to NOT open the front door and fall to our doom.  We've bolted the door, and I put a big sign across the door handle saying "DON'T OPEN" just in case we lose our minds somewhere between today and tomorrow when they start rebuilding the new deck/porch.  Hey.  Stranger things have happened and I don't want to show up on any Darwin Awards shows..!!

The remodel saga continues tomorrow.  With any luck--barring temps in the high 90s that could kill off our workers--we should have a new front porch, deck and staircase by Monday or Tuesday.  Very cool.

Remodel begins today...

Ozzy's Nemesis

The mama deer and her twins were in the neighbor's garden this morning.  Thankfully, they stayed on the back slope and Ozzy couldn't see them.  I tried to get some shots of the twins, but one stayed in the shadows and Mama was very wary.  She could see me peering between the slats of the blinds and wasn't happy.  I waited and waited for her to forget about me, until finally she decided to ignore me and went back to eating the neighbor's flowers.

I accidentally moved the blinds to get a better angle.  I swear I didn't make a sound, but she still heard me.

Two seconds later, she was up the slope and rounding up the kids.

This last shot is very blurry.  I was hanging over the back of a chair, shoving my camera between the blinds again, to shoot as fast as I could before she herded the twins away.  I was really cranky the picture came out so bad, but you can still see one of the fawns next to Mama.

Nothing like Wildlife Safari, right in the backyard.

House in the Clouds

Early this morning I took Ozzy out the back door to "do his thing."  As I came around the corner of the deck, I saw the most glorious sight:  The house was surrounded by clouds..!!  I've been sort of joking about our House in the Clouds, but honestly, this morning it really was floating above the clouds and mist.  There was just the barest hint of the mountains in the distance, but everything else was enveloped in the mist, except our closest trees and the house. 

I ran back inside to grab my camera, and in that 45 seconds, the mist was already dissipating.  As I took these few photos, it seemed to evaporate before my eyes.  Within 5 minutes, the skies were blue and there wasn't a wisp of mist or cloud to be seen.

You can actually see the mountains getting clearer as I snapped these pictures.  When I first rounded the corner of the deck, that clearing below wasn't visible at all.

If I had just gotten outside a few minutes earlier.  Drat.  Oh well, there will be other mornings, I'm sure.

Day at the Park

We found this lovely park several weeks ago on one of our trips here--Stewart Park--which is the Roseburg version of Central Park. It's right in the heart of town and along the Umpqua River. There are tennis courts, a pavilion for music, a baseball field, and lots of trees for shade on a scorching day. Unfortunately, that also means that everyone and his brother goes there, especially all the teenagers. The other day we discovered a whole different section of the park, Fir Grove, which is wonderful, quiet, and without all those pesky school kids.

We've gotten into the routine of taking Ozzy there in the afternoons so he can have a long walk, some excitement, and we can sit beside the river drinking our Starbucks while we cool off in the shade.

These three photos are the view from the bench we have claimed as our own. It's not quite the Almond River walk, or the Forth, in Edinburgh, but for small town America, it's not too bad.

Down river...

Across the river...

View up the river...

Alan trying to drink his coffee while I'm taking photos, and Ozzy grazing in the grass for his scattered treats.

It's a great place to get out of the traffic, let Ozzy have some room to roam, and relax beside a very nice river.  Course, after a little while, I just want to get back up the mountain and leave everything behind.  I could so easily become a hermit.

Plants and Views

Yesterday we went out to find some plants. I don't think you can turn a house into a home without them, and though there's not much to choose from at this time of the Summer, we managed to score two very lovely ones for the front porch, plus two for inside the house.  I still have to find a Bonsai to replace Bob, but so far haven't found a store that sells them here.

This morning, since I was taking some pictures of the new plants, I decided to hike a ways up the road to get a different view of the house that I haven't photographed yet.

A bit of our front porch, and the new basket of flowers.

Going down the stairs to the first landing, and looking up.

We found this gorgeous vine, called Mandeville, that I put in the corner of the first landing.  Last night at dusk, we watched the hummingbirds flit all around the trumpet-like red flowers.

Ozzy, watching me take photos, though he was much more interested in keeping out a watchful eye for those strange, long-legged creatures that wander down the road and into the yard.  (One of these days I'll have my camera handy when the deer with their fawns are near.)

Sitting in the deck chairs, this is the view to our right, off the front porch.  It's very pretty in the evening, just after the sun has set.  The mountains look like paper cut-outs, silhouetted against the sky.  This picture doesn't do it any justice...at all.

Some different angles of the house.  I'm at the edge of the driveway, just getting ready to walk down the road a bit before turning back to take these next photos.

The house looks nestled into the trees, doesn't it..??  We also have a group of six birch trees in the front garden that I love.  They shade the front porch in the afternoon heat and make soft whispering noises in the night breeze.

Now, into the house.  We found the perfect plant to fill a space between the loveseat and the couch.  It fit right into the room, just like I hoped.

Then we got this lovely Cat Palm, though I'm not totally convinced this is its "spot"...time will tell.

It's wonderful to have plants around me again.  I miss all the growing things I had to leave behind in Edinburgh, but what the heck, they have plants in America, after all.  I will, however, be hard-pressed to find flowers for the garden that the deer won't devour.  Oh well, that's a problem for next year.

Oh, and the electrician guy came yesterday to fix the dryer connection.  I did four loads in about 2-1/2 hours...!!  What a miracle after the two days I used to spend doing the laundry in Scotland with my other machine.  Yes, that's right: machine--as in the combo deal of washer and dryer in one unit.  Ugh.  I used to tell Alan I couldn't wait to get one of each...and now I have.  Bliss.

Final Resting Place...

Figuratively speaking, of course.  Though, today is the first real, honest day off we've had since the first of June. We've still got things to buy--odds and ends--but all the furniture was delivered Friday, the phone and internet were installed, then Saturday we got the televisions hooked up and the washer/dryer units came.

In all the hurly burly, only two things went awry. The second one was minor: the dryer needs a different wall socket which we will take care of Monday or Tuesday. The main thing that went wonky had to do with the two bedroom sets we ordered from this great company in Seattle (Epoch). They were delivered by FedEx and the guy couldn't get the truck up the drive, so everything had to be unloaded from his truck, hauled up the steep driveway, then into the garage...the farthest he would take it.

So, in the scalding heat, the three of us hauled box after box up the drive.  I thought I was gonna die.  We ordered two identical sets because we loved the look of the Giant Bamboo from a sustainable forest, but it was bloody heavy.  Who would ever think of bamboo as one of the heaviest woods in the Universe..??  When the FedEx guy was gone, we were left with all these boxes to unpack, then cart up the stairs.  Even Ozzy thought we were nuts.

The living/dining room, before the other furniture guys came.

Some shots this morning, after nearly everything is done.  I miss having our artwork, pictures and treasures--things look really barren without them--but in a couple months, when we get our stuff from Scotland, the house will look and seem more like home.  (Sorry the photos appear so dark.  My camera keeps getting blinded by the light from all the windows; and it's another blazingly hot day today.)

A few pictures of one of the bamboo bedroom sets.  The incredibly heavy bamboo--did I already mention that fact..??  I can't wait for my "real" bedding to get here either.  We bought some sheets and a lightweight cover to tide us over, but I have a most beautiful duvet with loads of pillows that will look really good on this bed.  I love how everything tucks into the platform..like the bed floats.  I also can't wait to get my totally superior pillows.  We got these cheap at Costco.  They work fine, but there's nothing like your favorite pillow, is there..??

There's other furniture in the room, like a dresser, and this beautiful console for the small television, but the photo didn't come out too well.  It's much too bright with the sun coming in the windows.

Now I'm going to try to line up three photos.  I'm not sure it will work.  This was Friday night, our first night in the house.

Buggers.  I've tried every trick, but can't line them across the page.  This is the panorama from the living room, though I wanted them side-by-side.  Oh well.  Use your imagination.

Left

Middle

Right

And for all Ozzy's fans: here's the wee boy having a play with one of his toys.  I think he might, just maybe, be starting to believe this isn't another hotel, in a long line of hotels, and that this could actually be his new home.  This morning he sat for nearly an hour looking out the window at a deer with her fawn, not quite sure what kind of creatures he was seeing.

We've all had a pretty hard weekend--to say nothing of the past few months--so today is a chill-out Sunday. Alan is wandering about, not sure what to do with himself, Ozzy is asleep in the middle of the living room floor, and I'm trying to blog, but keep getting distracted by the view. And I might be with Ozzy on this one: Do we really live here..??