Day of Departure (=

As we headed out "toward" San Diego yesterday -- it was a busy morning. The city came out and installed our new water meter, one inch, hoo hoo hoo. (=

At first there was some debate over just how many city employees were needed.

They decided that two would be enough ... and they proceeded to "vacuum" out the boulevard soil, sod and all. -- cool!

I am glad I got a chance to see this process. It did help to make us late to the ferry. Yet it was neat to watch. And thankfully we got to the loading dock in time and got on the 10:30 AM ferry, headed to Port Angeles.

Of course this is the last face I saw as I closed the door to the house. Heart breaker.

Deck No More, Revealed Stairs and all is well...

Here is the back yard post deck demolition. New supports for the house and the last of the deck will be removed in the coming weeks/month. The ground here will be dug down (under the remaining deck), in part, that will become a storage area for bicycles and the like. While the right half of the slab you see and the dirt area is the future site of one 12'x12' detached sunroom.


I removed the carpet on the stairs this week to reveal --- the wood staircase. We'll see how they show after some sanding, finished and new supports.


And the kitties are tired just hearing about all this work!

BIG BIN week at 119

The bin arrived last Thursday, 20'x8'x8', the biggest bin they offered. It would be my mission for the next 7 days to fill it. And fill it I did.

I began, piece by piece, Tetris-like, loading the bin from our heap in the driveway. I packed it in there tight. It took me about 6 hours to load the entire pile. At that point the bin was exactly one-half full, top to bottom.


I kept plugging away until --- TADA!! The driveway was clear again.

After a couple days rest, Page and I added the concrete footings from the deck, the carpet from downstairs and the old stove from the suite. I added a bunch of pruning I did from the standing rose out back and Jan, the neighbour pitched in a few pieces from her junk collection just for good measure.

And as planned, today, I made the call to have the bin picked up. I closed up the back door and added a few last minute pieces; a basin and fiberglass shower from the basement, some crappy shelves from the shop and a couple bags of insulation.

And away it went!

We will rent another bin toward the end of summer. In the next few weeks I will be removing all the ducting from the house. Along with the remaining hard wood floor I am removing, the new pile will give cause for another bin. A smaller one this time.

DEMO DEMO AND MORE DEMO

After six hours ripping apart the deck ... the back yard is opening up. This is where the lower deck USED to be.
This is where it is NOW -- in pieces in the driveway!

After all my raking and cleaning up ... I looked out the window, nearly freaked out -- due to the resemblance of Smudge -- one of the neighbour kitties was out rolling around in the newly revealed soil. I would hate to be his mama. Eww

And, as all the blossoms in the neighbourhood have, our Star Magnolia has burst onto the spring scene with beautiful pink buds. Literally overnight we can see the difference from day to day. Good fun.

Page returns -- just in time to Spring Ahead!

Page finished her first knit bag -- she is now accepting orders (no -- not really .. thought several people have tried to place them !!) She has moved on to mittens ... YEA!! See her most recent work showcased on her teacher's website!

http://www.highspeedplus.com/~groening/showntell.htm

Though Page doesn't get the opportunity (cause i am the camera hog) to take pictures ... she snapped a few while visiting with friends and family in SD.

Pam and Page.
John, David, Page and Sebastian -- getting fired up to do Youth Camps!!!

A tired Page and Mom, helped tidy up the house -- after months away.

Mysteriously no pictures were taken of the elusive Ms. Hunt. Hmmmm.... very curious indeed.

March is here ....

Well, big news here at 119 is .... that after months of Tico living in "his box" he ventured out for food and water only to return to it occupied!! Smudge needs to conquer each and every square inch of the house. Here is a shot of Smudge snoozing as Tico looks on patiently.




We had some white flurries last week, which was unexpected and fun. We got our building permit approved on Friday. YEA! We had to pay to upgrade the city water meter/service as we anticipated and other than that no problems moving forward. So a couple hours a day I go swing the sledge and haul debris to the pile (now at my height) outside. In a week or two I will be ready for a bin rental.

Page is gone for the week, staffing in Arizona and visiting SD. Amidst all other things, I have been working the past three days on an offer for the SD house, that last night fell through. Ahh the joys of Real Estate. (=

The weather yesterday, and today, has been beautiful. Good timing as we are moving forward on the yard reno. We have a couple pivotal pieces to decide on before the yard work really gets moving -- tree & shrub choices. Then it will take on a life of its own ... as the interior has.

Page has the camera in SD til Friday ... so updated pictures of the dusty basement will have to wait til the weekend.

We are contemplating removing the stucco on the house. Beneath are the original shingles.

Hmmm -- stay tuned.