process

My cat Bentley died this month. He was 15 years old. I used to think that if I didn't have the responsibility of pet ownership, I would be more free to travel or move somewhere completely different. Now I am married, I am a Mom, and we have a house half built. I am more stable here than I have ever been, but the cats are gone. Bentley was a very special presence in my life. As my brother said "he had a bigger than life personality." Grief makes me appreciate time. I like to see things change to remind me that life will always keep going with or without my input.

The house looks different with its new standing seem roof. The wind and the snow did not seem to slow down the roofers who worked this week. They put the roof up in great time and it already has a new layer of snow. Tilt had sheet rock delivered. I think he really wants to get it on the walls. His new work schedule and the holidays are slowing things down a bit.

I am working on lighting design and kitchen layout. A couple windows wound up being placed differently than our original plans, so I have to rethink and rework a couple things. It is handy to be able to go upstairs, draw an idea on the sub floor, and see if it will work. The project is fun. It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle, trying to figure out what will work in a space.

I found a sunflower seed on the floor in the kitchen. I have not set up my bird feeder yet, so I am not sure where it tracked in from. It is now a little sprout in my prayer plant. It is nice to see against the blowing snow on the other side of the window.

doors open

The Vet hopes our 15 year old cat is just suffering from stress. The perscription is to keep him in a calm, quiet comfortable space with a regular routine. I would like that same prescription. Even my houseplants have suffered from the stress of moving and building. The work continues on the house as Dad has been putting in regular hours and Tilt works whenever he can. I have done a little painting and site cleaning but mostly I have been working to get our household together while we all get back into a regular routine and rhythm in daily life. We visited Cape Cod for a couple days for Thanksgiving. This was Tilts first break in over 6 months. We had to get back to prepare for the insulatin company.

The insulation of the roof required lots of planning, time, and money, yet there is really nothing to see when it is done! Tilt has informed me that the R-value of the roof is 40 (and that this is a good thing).

After a whole bunch of extra hours we have a real front door. At first it was not centered under the porch roofline. I thought maybe it was just my eye, but when Tilt took a step back to look at it he not only agreed, but he decided he couldn't let it stay that way. So he re-installed the door to get it right. Changing it to open the other way is another days project!

I once read that it takes about 3 weeks to adjust to a new job or a move in life. It has been about 3 weeks since we moved in here and once again it holds true. It may not be calm and quiet too often, but it is comfortable and we are all feeling more settled and adjusted.

month six um list

Light fixtures: check!

-light bulbs: um, put it on the list...

Hardware for cabinets: check!

-small screws for hardware: um, put it on the list...

Towel Rod is too big.

-um, return it

New towel rod for bathroom: check!

-screws to put it onto a cement wall: um, put it on the list...

Order counter top: check!

-3 week wait: um, set up temporary counter...

Add installing counter top to list: check!

The list moves on and we move in. Finishing all of this miscellaneous stuff will get us into one very functional room in our house for the winter. Yippee! We will be living in our home (Yippee again), with a small kitchen, full bathroom, and a roof above. Well sort of, the roofer has pushed us back to December! For now we are at least covered until he arrives with the standing seam. Tilt started a job elsewhere today. He has been working only on our house since May.

Six months ago we dug a hole in the ground. Today we are moving into the house. The apartment space we will be living in is a completed comfortable little space while the rest of the house is still under construction.

This change of pace on the building has me thinking of a garden. I think there may still be time to spread out some of the top soil to create a garden space for planting next spring. I will put that on the list!

Cheapo Depot

November 6 2010. Home Depot. Enter (with 3 year old):

10 minutes spent on basic cheapo Christmas crap; snow globes, crappy plastic ones that do not gently let snow fall on the occupants when you shake them, plastic globes that slam the occupants with bits of snow foam at an uncomfortable pace to a digital sounding tune (secretly I enjoyed the pelting of Cinderella, but was a bit dismayed at the hammering of Snoopy).

30 minutes spent exploring tile options for a cement bathroom wall in our basement; the first choice I made was not in stock and after checking with an employee I learn that they will not get anymore

10 minutes: bathroom break... runny nose break... "I want to drink from the water fountain" "There is no water fountain here, I will buy some when we leave" "waattteeer fooountaaain (tears, pained face, tears)" Walking back I see the water fountain. Ug. Sorry. Yes there is a water fountain. Ug. Wipe tears.

15 minutes: Leaving the drama behind. we are back to the tiles. Overwhelmed. Pick one quick and put 16 tile sheets in cart. Go to front of store. Go Back. What am I doing? I hate tan. Put the tan tiles back. Push cart back to entrance.

10 minutes spent on snow globes and holiday crap. Once again K was mesmerized once again by the commercial singing of Tiger, Mickey, Rudolph and a hat (singing "Grandma got run..."). Uggg Uggg Uggg

25 minute drive home: Bathroom wall is still concrete. Kid really thinks snow globes rock.

I had another visit to Home Depot today with similar results, only we were looking for a light fixture. I left with only light bulbs (and digital Christmas in my head). Fortunately it is only the Home Depot trips that are so fruitless. Going direct to the plumbing supply store and the hardware/lumber stores Tilt has accounts with is much better. We are progressing quite well to get us into the basement for the winter. We have been painting walls, and finishing up carpentry to get us in a finished space. The propane was delivered to heat the house and the final plumbing fixtures will go in soon. We may be a bit late for the kitchen counter, but Dad built a temporary one for now. Tilt is busy doing a final sanding on the posts in the space tonight. I am looking forward to seeing them tomorrow! Oh yeah and we canned the tile idea anyway. Wainscot is already drying on the wall.

time flew through it

Winter is close. Most of the trees are bare and on the rare day that the temperature reaches 60 degrees it feels very warm. Most years I enjoy this change in seasons; moving inside, wearing sweaters, making soup, and cookies. This year we have had so many other transitions that the seasonal change feels like an inevitable annoyance. In my thick socks and long underwear I shiver and remember how this past Spring and Summer felt lost to building, moving and decision making. An upcoming slow down in our building and another move will mark the beginning of this winter season for us.

Jim came and helped put up the roofing trim last week. So long as the roofers are here before a big snow we are in good shape! Sheet rocking is never all of that fun, but it sure changes the look of a space. All of the walls in the basement are up. Tilt is 'mudding', sanding and telling me it is time to go pick out some paint! Once we move into the basement space (about 2 weeks from now), Tilt has a paying job to go to. Our building will then commence to a nights and weekends status for a while. I am looking forward to being closer to the work. As it is now, I do not spend as much time there as I would like. It has been amazing to see the outcomes of our drawings, but once in the space we have found that some things need adjusting. I am determined and inspired by making small spaces work, so I am really looking forward to puzzling together the kitchen, mudroom, and laundry areas. Bentley-Cat is starting to take ownership of the place. As soon as Tilt shows up he comes over to visit and hang out. Maybe he has decided that it is time to move in for the winter.

I read recently that time goes by faster as you age. I will be 40 next week so as I see it, spring is right around the corner... ahhh.

barefoot building

A week ago I was on the beach. It was not quite summer at the beach, but it was warm enough to take our shoes off and play in the sand. We came home to VT to find it cold and rainy with our camp broken down. The wind and rain had sent Tilt inside the studio to sleep when he wasn't working.

So many things have been happening with the building, I don't quite know where to start. The septic system is in place (tested and approved)! After that was done, it didn't take the excavator long to finish up, do some grading around the house, and begin the driveway.

Dad and Glenn have been putting in windows. They have developed a good system. I watched them set four windows in a day. Seeing the windows in really makes the place feel like a house. It is so nice to see the light come inside.

The porch was the most unexpected development. My Uncle Pete was visiting a couple weeks ago and he graciously helped out for a few days. I was surprised to see the porch on the agenda, but with the extra hands and experience Tilt decided it was a good project to begin.

Leslie has been helping out this week too. She as been painting trim that needs to be up for the roofers to begin. Unfortunately the roofers have "pushed us back" a bit. Tilt wasn't too concerned about this until we saw cars coming down from Killington with snow covered tops and hoods yesterday.

Our latest task to choose and order fixtures is more daunting that I expected. There is so much to choose from and everything I like is out of my price range. I do not really need a kitchen sink that costs $3000. The sales women didn't mention that when I picked it out. I mean wasn't it obvious I was not going to go for it after we downsized everything else we picked out? So with that I am scrutinizing the list and revisiting every sink, toilet, vanity, shower, and faucet to be sure we choose durable cost-effective products without charging up a storm. Surely we will not make it into any design magazines with our bathrooms, or as Glenn has noted with the window set up on the east side of the house.

Our home life has changed with the weather. K and I have gone from barefoot beach days to long underwear and sweaters. We have moved indoors to stay with a friend down the road. We are very grateful to her for letting us stay for a few weeks. Our kitty Ani died last week. She was a very sweet cat who used her nine lives well. Five years ago she nearly died after being attacked (by a coyote we suspect). She had lost all use of her back legs but managed to rehab and return to being a great hunter. She was not so strong against feline leukemia. For now, Bentley cat is alone in the studio. We visit him for a while every day and sometimes I put a fire in the stove. He is a very social cat and his outdoorsmanship is that of a dignitary on safari. He is observant, but not too involved. He will miss watching Ani hunt. We all miss Ani-cat.

fishing trees

The calendar has announced that it is officially fall. Today I witnessed the foreshadowing of winter to come and spring to follow.

We have a sick cat. She did not move much through several days of antibiotic treatment. Today she got up and sat in front of a mole hole most of the day. She seems to have the heart of an ice fisherman. No matter the conditions, she has set up her shanty and is willing to wait for the big catch.

I take a midday drive on a regular basis. Sometimes it is a waste of time, but most of the time I return home with a sleeping child. I like to drive up to the north and look at our house from a distance. It was so nice and sunny today I lost my sense of season while looking at a tree whose leaves had wilted to a pale spring green.

The upstairs floor system is in place. It is an amazing grid-work put together above sheetrock and on top of the beams. The subfloor will be completed after plumbing and electricity are in place. The big excitement came at the end of this week when the excavator showed up to work on the septic system. Getting our septic done is a big step towards moving in. I think we will be able to winter inside our house, but I expect I will still have house building news to report when the fishermen cut holes in the ice and later when the spring green appears on the trees.

buzzing sounds pushing progress

It seems we have worker bees now. The fully enclosed house without windows feels like a bee hive. Standing outside I cannot see that anything is going on, though I can hear the warning sound of buzzing (actually it's a saw being used for joinery). It is unusual for bees to use hammers and chisels to build the hive, but I am sure if they had the ability they would (of course if we could build perfectly formed houses of wax with our bodies we would probably be done by now). Timber frame work with its steady focused pace picked up again this week to create a floor system for the second story and at the same time an amazingly beautiful ceiling for the first story. Tilt, Dad and Dale are putting the joinery together then hoisting the heavy beams up into the air with a pulley system to finish the work. As it is going, every day another section is done. By the end of the week we should have a floor system ready for a floor!

I am feeling a bit pushy about things. Last week I asked for a door frame to be moved and Tilt did it. It was the office door and its trim was set to be very close to the brace of the timber frame. Aesthetically, I didn't like it and functionally I felt we'd have more space inside the tiny office if the door was more to one side. This week I am pushing to have the door to the basement stairs pushed back a bit to leave a larger opening to the stairs to the second story. In designing the house we underestimated the impact of the post in this walkway. It turned out to be quite narrow. I am again pushing both on aesthetic quality and on function. In my few years working in Occupational Therapy I went to many homes to evaluate how a patient could function in their home. Tight walkways are not helpful. Okay, so that being my snotty know-it-all argument with minor credentials to back it up, we only gain about an inch of space physically, but I think visually it will look like much more.

At the start of this project, I told Tilt I would be his toughest customer yet and I think it is proving to be true. Fortunately as I have said before, Tilt is a director. He continues to focus on keeping the show moving while delegating his vision, listening to others argue their point, always keeping the whole picture in mind, making changes when necessary, and not changing or accommodating if he really doesn't want to. So although I feel pushy I know he will not bend like a birch in heavy snow unless the timing is right and it fits the show. Though my eye is focused on this flaw right now, I am sure I can live with it however it turns out. I must be patient though, for now the focus is finishing the floor system.

I sit and listen

the bees busily buzzing

now I crave

honey in my tea

moving harvest windows

It is official, we are all moved out of our house in the land of Rocks & Trees. We are now a small family band of wandering gypsies. We are currently taking up residence at my future studio with a big tent covering a couple of sleeping tents, a picnic table and chairs. We have some things with us, but most of our belongings are in storage. It was a tough week and a half to finish the move. Tilt was a bit frustrated by the delay in building, but is now back on the job.

K has had some ups and downs with it all. For a few weeks when I would talk about moving he would say "Mmm, let's not do that" or "I am going to live with M & L (our neighbors and the owners of the house we lived in)." When his Dad started moving some big things out one night he seemed to have a big turn around putting on his hard hat and going to work packing the truck and trailer, he even put in some of his toys. The next day he was back and forth on the emotions again. I was relieved on the morning we finished mopping the empty house to hear him ask "can we go back to the camp?." However, when we arrived he was in tears saying he wanted to go home. I have explained it forwards and backwards, but alas he is three and will get it on his own time and under his terms. I offer peanut butter, he wants jelly... I offer jelly he wants peanut butter... I offer crackers he wants peanut butter and jelly.

K: "Hey Mom, that looks just like our toaster"

Me: "It is our toaster"

K: "No, our toaster is at home"

Me: "We moved the toaster here"

...digesting silence

(next day)

K: "That is our toaster"

Me: "Yes it is"

K: Why?

Me: Becaue we moved it here.

...processed

As for the building progress, we have stairs to the second story and some interior framing completed. We have some serious window shopping to do this week! Windows are such a tough purchase. It is a huge expense, but I know that I really need the light in the long (Vermont) winter months. We plan for lots of windows. That means lots of talk about R-value, size, cost, placement etc... My thinking now is to get good windows because it will pay off in the long run, but I have not seen a price yet.

I cannot end this post without mention of the Harvest Moon Party. We are so lucky to attend and be a part of such a wonderful event! We were not able to spend as much time as we hoped this year between some house building and K's head cold, but it was amazing, wonderful and beautiful all at the same time. I am already looking forward to next year!

a roof for 40 shoes

It rained last night. It rained hard. Insomnia (my personal uninvited houseguest) enabled me to hear the rain come down on our rented house. Although I was awake when I wanted to be sleeping, I was able to rest knowing that at the new house rain was coming down on the house and not into the house. Yes it is true, we are now the proud owners of a weatherproof roof! Tilt worked until 8PM Saturday night to beat the forcasted rain. We were fortunate to have some extra hands on the job last week. Jack, Robin, Dale (Tilt and Dad) all played a big part in making the week one full of visual and functional drama. The biggest relief for me is knowing that my husband, father, and friends (all generously donating there time) will not be on our roof anymore. The south side has some serious height to its fall line. Yikes! After I had a bad fall backward off our porch this week (only 2 feet down), I have been extra worried about everyone on the roof. A roofing company will come to put the final layer of roofing material up (metal standing seam) in a few weeks. I don't have to worry for a while.

We are moving into our last week of living in the house that has been our home for the last 6 years. Glenn and I moved in here together in the fall of 2004. It was here that we got engaged, married and had our first baby. It has been a great adventure in a great community. We have been packing up little by little for weeks. We plan to camp for a while at the house site. Our camp will be set up for the month of September (K and I will visit Gramma for a while too). After that we will stay with a friend until we can move into the house (maybe just the basement apartment). As I pack up box after box, I think "why do we have all of this stuff?" I have to restrain myself from throwing things out just to lighten up. This trasition time is sure to be a challanging adventure. I see it as a time for us to refresh and live simply. In a few months I will revisit all of our stored "stuff" and be happy to see it again. Today however, I am sure to wonder why I have so many pairs of shoes... pots and pans... art projects... sewing projects... toys oh my, now there are toys... Ugh Packing.

race hammer crew

There is a mild obsession with the movie Cars going on in my chaotic household. Several quotes from the movie have moved into K's three year old vocabulary. He announces "get me outta here" and I have to readjust my brain to remember that he IS "Lightning McQueen". When he gets in the car he has to do a special adjustment before he sits it is because "Tow Mater" has a tow hook. He used to push all of his blocks together making a stage to climb on with his puppets and pronounce "Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the Show." It seems the show is over, the stage is left behind and the announcer proclaims with great gusto "Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines."

Fortunately we have a distraction. Tilts (not so commercialized) show is starting to take the lead. Last Saturday we had a great group putting up the timber frame. What a show it was! One group of people put the frame up and a pit crew finished sanding the remainder of the milled wood (for the floor/ceiling system). In a little over three hours we made leaps and bounds of progress. We had plenty of time left to enjoy lunch and a full game on the softball field (with another game planned for Sunday at 2).

We have turned a big corner with the frame up. While waiting for the SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) to be delivered (today), the interior framing in the basement and the stairs began. Today we had a great crew to help with the panels. They unloaded a truck full and put them on the house in the afternoon. We now have a closed in, but roofless structure. A great place to watch a meteor shower ...play trucks ...run laps with an air-steering wheel in your hands. Ladies and Gentlemen Start your Engines!!!!!

net crashing, timbers rising

Alas I have returned to my house building blog! I was spending a wonderful visit on the Cape with my Mom when my computer fizzled out. I have been out of Internet contact for two weeks. For me, there are good and bad sides to this. I had to revert back to my books to identify a tree and a bug in the garden (found the tree.. not the bug). The weather forecast has been left to a glance at the sky (more adventurous than watching a storm on a radar). The daily news I merely deleted from my day (ahhh... the world seems at peace). Facebook survived without me checking in. However, I realized that there are many friends I do not have in my regular email and I wanted to let people know we are raising the timber frame on Saturday. We hope to have people there to help, watch, and celebrate. The frame will go up pretty quick and then we will have a potluck lunch along with lawn games in the afternoon. Though we will have Bocce and Croquet at the ready, Tilt, Dad, and Ed have worked together to mow out some field for a softball diamond. Since we finalized this as our house site, Tilt has dreamed about having a softball game on our treeless lot.

Field of dreams references aside, it is always fun to watch a timber frame go up. Many many hours are put in to get ready for this day. After all of the work fitting and squaring the frame is finished. The beams were sanded and sealed; the braces were cut to have a slight arch (also sanded and sealed). I finally helped on the frame with an hour of sanding today. Meager help as it was, it does let me feel a touch of the ownership that Tilt, Dad, Luke, and some others will feel about this frame. To me, a new timber frame home incorporates artistic craftsmanship and structural challenges with visible grace. Many older buildings that have survived hundreds of years because they are timber frames. In most old homes the frame is hidden behind walls. I really like the idea of seeing the frame and its artistic joinery on the inside of the walls. It feels to me like we are being respectful and even showcasing the frame for its ability to hold strong for hundreds of years. Tilt has been fortunate to work on many old barns as well as new construction to learn about joinery and framing. In the process of designing I learned that while I think function, Tilt thinks structure. This Saturday we will take a big step in seeing our design realized. We will also celebrate with friends and family. Oh and if a storm is coming I can track it on the NOAA weather site ...or if we find a butterfly we have never seen I will look it up online ...hmmm I think I will leave the computer at home and just focus on the here and now. I like it better that way.

P.S. Although, I will be back to blog about it all later.

quiet water sun bursts

This week's work has been focused on "knocking out the frame" as Tilt would say. They have completed both plate sections and one bent. Plates are basically the walls for the sides of the house and a bent connects them together. The plates are done first and then taken apart so that the posts from each side can be used to create the bents. Our house has four bents (one on each end and two in the middle). Most of this work is done by hand with chissels: check the fit, chissel some more, measure, chissel some more, check the fit, measure, chissel and on and on until the whole plate or bent measures square. It is a group effort with some chisseling, some measuring and sometimes everyone puts forth a burst of 'umph' at the same time, moving beams to put things together, or take them apart to chissel out a little more. It is a challanging process with a real feeling of reward at the end of the day when a whole section measures up square and looks pretty.

The work site has been busy but quiet with one to four people working on the frame. Well except Tuesday there was a big burst of energy at the site. The excavator and the well workers were there. The water was hooked up from the well to the house. K and M had a great time helping the water wells guys (one of them is M's Dad). We watched as they placed the litte pump way way way down into the earth. Besides digging th trench for the water pipe, the excavator did some back filling around the foundation. We can walk right to it now, but we still need a ladder to get up there! I imagine the rest will be filled in later.

All this and Tilt has managed to squeeze in building the bonfire at Solarfest (www.solarfest.org). He worked late into the evenings and finished off on Friday afternoon. The fire will be ready for Saturday night.

Summer goes by so fast!

worker ants

I killed an ant that was creeping into my front door. The ant next to it rolled over and played dead. He took me by surprise and made me laugh. The house building is a different kind of drama. In the past couple of weeks the house has changed from a concrete structure to one with window openings, door openings and a ceiling above. A closed in space where we once tried so hard to image it.

By the July 4th weekend break Tilt had the site cleaned up and the deck on. I have always found basements creepy. I guess it is some kind of leftover childhood fear that seeps into me from dark corners and boilers that surely will come alive and eat me. I thought I wouldn't feel that way in a brand home. However, the first time I walked in and couldn't see the sky above, I knew which corners I would avoid. I decided that K's foot prints will protect me from the ghouls under the stairs, but I suspect I may walk fast past the other dark corner.

The joinery for the timber frame started Monday morning when LL generously showed up and gave us a week of work. Tilt, Dad, and LL have been working in the hot sun all week without the usual breeze that hits the hill. They are building the frame next to the house with a view of the open deck that we cannot fully imagine being enclosed like the space below now is.

The stress to get the work done is on Tilts shoulders. I can see it on his mind before he speaks of joinery and framing and insulation all at once. He then tells me that he is "trying to build the house in one day again." It is this unrealistic goal that lets him know he is tired and should stop working, planning, and thinking. It is time to hang out in the doorway with a beer and the death feigning ant.