Happy Holidays

New Year Resolution: To be Port-A-Potty free by the Summer (of 2011)

Finally time for a little R and R as the year rolls to a close and we reflect on 2010. No better to spend it than with our kids and with the neighbours!

Kirk and Noah

Sarah and Emma

The house progresses. Back in Feb. things were flat as we prepared to break ground.

Now, it's a house!..........more or less

In the Autumn we floated along the Willamette from the town of Peoria to Corvallis.

I think we picked the best day of the year. It was perfect.

Tea Time

Tim joins the Corvallis Youth Symphony

....and gets dressed up.

We managed a great escape to Cabo San Lucas for a week in November, it wasn't nearly long enough, as we enjoyed life and relaxed.

Kirk finds his new place.

The rest of the time was spent doing market research and gathering lots of ideas for the interior....

........and the exterior of our house.

Rock On

The cold weather was a reminder that our masonry wood stove remains unfinished so we ordered the natural rock that will provide the skin around the core unit and also the chimney. The pallets looked moderately sized but each one weighs over 1.5 ton. That was a lot of moving from one wet location to a dry one where the rock can air out and also be close to the stove for easy maneuvering.

Of course it poured.

Tim found the "biggest spider in the world" amongst the rock.

Rock Solid

The bathroom push out was another unfinished project and Kirk covered the outside with lap cedar siding which will be a nice contrast to the lime plaster.

Nice family of ladders.

Instead of conventional bathroom ventilation Kirk installed a high efficiency fan system which we ordered from the East Coast. This will provide good air exchange in what we anticipate will be an air-tight home.

Chase for ventilation pipe, located in upstairs master closet.

Fan housing located in downstairs bedroom.

The Pump House

Towards the end of Summer it was time to finish off some of the details that had been put aside while we focused on the house. Kirk attacked the Pump House which is now hooked up to the well and gives us a great supply of running water.

Lots of storage

With everything well insulated the pump house can double as a bedroom which will be decidedly warmer than Tim's bedroom.

We used rabbited lap sided cedar on the exterior.

Door purchased from Craigs List. The free standing wooden box is one of several faucet covers that Kirk made.

We also took care of the huge pile of scrap wood and debris that had accumulated. The pyrogliphics were fun!

Plastered!

Plaster Meister Mr. Marsh beginning the mud room.

Second mate.

Getting down to it at ground level.

Ben Metzger of Metzger Green Building and his crew decided that the fiberglass mesh was not a good idea after all. The plaster would not adhere to the Faswall, with mesh applied beforehand, thus it all came down.............much faster than the time it took us to put it up! Oh well, some things we learned the hard way.

Ben in fine form.

Les working on the front of the house.

Mix Meister Bill says "What would they do without me?". Bill mixed plaster for the entire house. We know he had a very sore arm at the end, but his grin never went away. Thanks Bill!

Dennis, Jared and Tyson reach lofty heights. As you can see we were very lucky with the weather. Only after all the house was covered did it rain.

Michael and Ben working on their lime recipe.

Ben tackled the difficult areas. He is like a monkey on the ladders and scaffolding.

Making the most of the afternoon sun for the second story.

Back wall almost completed.

The Gary and Kirk Wall before graffiti!

Kirk hosing things down to keep the walls moist, to prevent cracking. Frequent watering was necessary for the first few days after plaster application.

Front of house after the first coat. It started raining so everything had to be covered with waterproof tarps.

Ready for the unveiling.