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Time to Redefine our Lives in Oregon

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Morning Sunrise

I’ve taken a bit of an absence from writing lately, a time to clear my head of old thoughts and to see if there is still room for new ideas. That step away brought a type of solitude, an inward look into the entire last three years raising questions in my mind.

I have been missing my home of 22 years,

So many beautiful memories made in that house.

and the San Francisco Bay Area…the place of my entire existence up until our big move three years ago. To say that I never look back would be completely untrue. Something usually strikes a chord in me, however, bringing me back to this place.

As I sit here drinking my coffee and watching the morning sunrise,

I am taken by the unique beauty that is all around me. The sun’s light rises in the east, yet casts its first warmth on the western hills behind us slowly erasing the shadows of the night.

The diurnal wilds of the forest are awakening, yet the nocturnal are taking their last look around within the shadowy places. I know this because I hear the “hoot-hooting” of an invisible owl to whom I am probably well in focus, yet to me remains stealthily hidden.

A cacophony of birds, all different in their song, resounds in the background, the foreground, all around me. The neighboring farms are awakening with sounds of crowing, braying, gobbling, quacking, and the ever present, “Hey, I’m laying an egg here” repeated clucking of hens giving of their provisions.

I may have left my heart in the San Francisco Bay Area (seriously, this is true),

but my soul finds peace in this little slice of Oregon. Well, actually, my soul finds peace in Christ, but as I look around me, the brilliance of the Creator envelops my very being. That is what has drawn me to this place from the beginning…I see God’s handiwork all around me, and in that there is great peace, contentment, and a huge desire to be here…to be right here!

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday! And hey…Go Giants….and Niners!!! Both play today!!!!

Thank you for sharing my morning!!

Your friend from Oregon,
Tami

Category:

49ers, Adair Homes, building a new home, California, Colossians 3:15, Giants, Hiking in Oregon, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Niners, Oregon, Peace in Christ, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, SF 49ers, SF Giants, Silicon Valley, Sunrise

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Chicken Coooooo…… naw……. Chicken House!!

When you think of chickens what comes to mind?? Well after seeing these little girls (and it looks like 2 – 3 boys) grow and feather out from their soft, downy, fluffiness…I don’t see dinner!! Those clean, pudgy fryers that I buy at the grocery store could never have been one of these cuties….I have to keep that separation…at least at this point. Tony thinks differently, he thinks that when the time comes we will have a delicious meal sitting before us that once was in the chicken coooo…..uhmm …house. Only time will tell, although I have no doubt that if it were the best option to feed the family he wouldn’t hesitate….but, there is a grocery store 3 miles away….and hunting has never been his thing. Age and time has a tendency to change you…maybe it will me too……but I’ve named them, maybe I shouldn’t do that.

Shelter….that was the big question on our list a couple of weeks ago. What are we going to use for a chicken shelter as they grow out of their brooder? We started looking around for premade chicken coops. There are some really cute ones out there, but I couldn’t see 10 fully grown chickens spending a rainy day or many successive rainy days, as we have here in Oregon, squished together in such a small area…. #1: these little gals like to stretch their legs… #2: I don’t want them having to be so squished together that they have poop everywhere they walk. I realize that they are going to have poop everywhere they walk no matter the size of the chicken coop….but if the shelter is a little bigger, it will be more spread out and they won’t have to be walking through fresh “piles” of it. That’s my inexperienced way of thinking. It may be really inefficient in poultry management principles…but doesn’t it make sense…a little?? BTW, Tony agreed with me on this one. 🙂

Not being able to find just the right shelter option, Tony decided to build one. We thought about contracting with Adair Homes (our home builder), but decided to take the project on ourselves…hahahaha. After looking at many different plans, Tony decided to combine a few different ideas, and the chicken cooooo….naw….chicken house was built. It really is a thing of beauty….

Tony Building the Chicken House (with a little help from Penni)

The Two Rooms and Nesting Box without Interior Wall

The Front People Door

Clean-Out Trap Door

Looking Out the Chicken Door

Roosting Ladder

Looking Out from the Chicken’s Area

Nesting Boxes

The Work Area and Egg Gathering Side of Nesting Box

Looking Out the Chicken Door

The only thing left to add now are the chickens…………….

Mickey 4th of July

BTW…our family would like to wish your family a Happy 4th of July!!! Our prayers go out to our wonderful country, that our footing would once again become solid in it’s foundation, and that God’s hand would not be lifted as we continue to move away from the principles that made our country great. May God continue to bless our United States of America, and may His people never forget the sovereignty of His love.

Category:

Adair Homes, Brooders, Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Rhode Island Reds

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A Great, Great Week!!

What would it be worth to you to have your house cleaned after the dust and debris of construction….would it be worth having an Open House by your builder?? We weren’t completely sure, but the idea of not having to wipe down cabinets, trim, and other surfaces….having the house vacumed, and just plain making it look all clean and tidy was quite tempting. We felt that along with the temptaion of having the house cleaning, Charlie, our Adair “Front Man” was so helpful, and Kyle, our Foreman was always there to field our questions and concerns. They really worked hard for us…having an Open House was a way that we could say, “Thank you!” THANKS you guys!!!

So if you are wondering…..OUR HOME IS FINISHED!!!! (Well, there are a couple of small items to be finished, but…) Here is the real news…..WE HAVE THE PERMIT OF OCCUPANCY from the county…..WE CAN MOVE IN!!!!!

We have a lot of work to do around our home. To get the permit signed from the county, we had to have a landing for doorways. Our temporary fix was to build up the landing with gravel, but that will be replaced with a paver porch and stair. We still need to construct our patio, the power company needs to come out and disconnect a power source that goes across the front of our home, stuff like that. We are starting to move our things in, still waiting for our refrigerator, and we can’t wait to be fully in. I can’t tell you the joy we have when we walk into our new home. It has been 6 years of saving, and planning…and 20 years before that of hoping and praying that someday we’d be able to do this…in the Lord’s timing, we’re here and our home is completed. Can you feel us smiling!!! 🙂

So here it is, the last 6 months in a quick shot…our house…our Father’s house……THANK YOU for your prayers and well wishes along the way!! I’m sure there will be more to this adventure, this is just the beginning……

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

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Rounding Third and Headed for Home!!!

It’s been a long way around the bases, but home plate is finally in view. In fact, it is soooo close we are into the slide….there’s only one thing standing in our way. Like a catcher protecting the plate, the county inspector is standing there in all of his protective gear, saying “Try and get past me.” In case you haven’t gotten it yet…….this week we will either be able to officially occupy our home……………………….or wait for something to be fixed. What, What, What??? Move in????…holy canoli!!

So what happened this past week……it has to do with lights, flooring, counter-tops, sinks, faucets, and….Okay, let me show you….

I think these are really cute.

This hardwood flooring in entryway and kitchen/nook areas.

We used Livingstone for our bathroom counters.

So upgrading to a Signature kitchen allowed us to get stone for the counter-tops in the laundry, baths, and kitchen. We chose Livingstone in the baths and laundry…but, for the kitchen……

We have granite!!!

Besides the counters, the Signature kitchen allowed us to have the double oven designed in, and the finished molding throughout the cabinets.

Hanging lights and can lights! No more picture taking in the dark.

One of the best things that we asked for was the addition of Can lights throughout the living room and kitchen areas. Without these additional lights, there would have been some very unevenly, or barely lit areas. We also had the connections put into the ceiling in the areas that we want to install ceiling fans. This means no dangling cords, YAY!!

This is a good shot of the beautiful granite.

Lights in the darkness…

It is so nice to look up the driveway and see lights on at the top of the hill.

So much more to talk about, so little time to write. The next few days will be life-changing for our family. I’ll let you know how it turns out!! 🙂

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

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The Snow Turned to Rain

Do you know what happens when the snow turns to rain………ALOT of rain………

Early this past week, the snow turned to rain. Unfortunately, a ton of water melting, and a ton of water falling meant a ton of rushing, water…overwhelming creeks and rivers all over the Willamette Valley. The flooding was minor in our town, but it was much heavier in other areas. Obvioiusly, this affected the progress on our home. We are glad that the contracters decided not to traverse those roads to keep us on schedule. So we are off a bit….I’m not sure how far….but what we have seen in the past…these Adair guys know how to make up for lost time!!!

So here are the pictures of the flooring that was able to be installed….about half of the flooring (carpet, wood floor, linoleum) is in. Actually, all of the linoleum has been laid down.

The flooring that is in all the bathrooms, and the laundry room.

Carpeting!!! Half of the carpeting is in!! The color is called Celery.

This color is not quite as "white" as it looks in the pictures.

This is the hardwood flooring in kitchen, nook, and entry-way.

The only part of the wood floor not covered by paper to protect it from the soon-to-be-arriving kitchen countertops.

One thing we did have to figure out was an issue regarding our hardware. Tony and I have been thinking throughout this entire build process that our doorknobs, locks, kitchen and bath accessories would be a certain color….one day it dawned on me that they weren’t the color we were thinking….but the knobs on cabinets are. We always believed that the rest of the accessories were going to match those knobs….but they don’t. Unfortunately, we, they, all of us were not on the same page with this one, and what I call the mismatch, stands…..but that will be something we’ll update on our own after the build.

Tomorrow’s forecast shows “partly cloudy.” Keep your fingers crossed….the countertops might be arriving!!!!!

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

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Ever Wonder………..?

In the spirit of the great Andy Rooney………….

Ever wonder what happens after the interior of a home is painted?

Ever wonder what all those boxes sitting in your garage might be?

Ever wonder how you go to work in the morning and come home to such an extreme change in your home by the evening?

Wonder what I’m talking about???

It’s all about cabinets, doors, flooring, accessories, and trim work.

This past week started as expected, with the work week beginning on Monday, everything basically going as status quoa (as boring as that sounds there is some niceness to that.) Tony told me to be prepared because we were expecting a big delivery on Tuesday by about 10 AM. Although it was a little later in the day……..the huge truck, eventually, rolled up our driveway holding within it’s grasp the major components and accents that will add real beauty to our home. As the truck was unloaded, all of the wood and flooring products were brought into the house to acclamate to the indoor temperature. The porcelain, and metal type products have made the garage their temporary dwelling. So as we walked into our home on Tuesday night…this is what we saw…..

Padding and flooring materials

Carpet and bathroom/laundry room vinyl flooring rolls, and floor-board trim.

We choose a dark cherry wood finish for our cabinets. These are carried throughout the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room.

Adair Homes builds their cabinets in their own home layout….they actually build the cabinets into the same space as they will be installed in the new homes. We did not go with a 100% wood cabinet as we couldn’t justify the additional cost. However, we were able to do some upgrading in the kitchen and bathrooms…..but that story is for another day! 🙂

The backside of our cabinets and things.

You can see through the windows in this picture how dark it is at about 5:20 at night!! I couldn’t get really good detailed pictures of a lot of things due to lack of light (the electrical side is not yet completed.) Tony rigged a string of construction type lights throughout the house, but at this phase of the construction, they were more of a hinderance than a help so they came down. Photographing is difficult in the dark, and we basically don’t really get to see the true progress until the weekends where we can see how the colors really blend together in full light! It is, however, an added treat for the weekend to have a gift to unwrap on Saturday mornings, even though we have a preview each evening…the difference is usally quite nice.

So this Saturday, when we entered into our home for the first time seeing it in the light of day, this is what we saw……….

The view from inside the M. Bdrm looking out to the hallway (that's a linen closet on left) and into the M. Bath on right.

Looking into the M.Bathroom, down through to the walk-in closet.

I love the trim work here surrounding the front hallway closet and 1/2 bath.

The nook and closet area of our daughter's room. The nook will soon become a built-in bench seat...with an awesome view!

This shows a bit of the depth of the window framing. I know a couple of cats who are going to love that. HAHAHA just kidding Tony.

The cabinets look a little darker here...there is more of a cherry hue than is picked up in this pic.

This picture shows the dark cherry finish better. That is the island for the sink, dishwasher, and eating bar. Sorry Tony, you got into that one..hahaha.

This was a surprise.....we didn't realize the bdrm closets would have built-in inserts. Nice bonus!!

With all the excitement of the interior of the house coming together, Mother Nature decided to drop a wonderful white covering to the Pacific Northwest. The only thing better would be to be able to share it with our family and friends back….where we used to call home. I hope I can drive in this to go to work tomorrow…….

Our home in the snow!

View down to the pond.

The little bug all covered in snow 🙂

Next week promises to bring another exciting episode…..to be continued!!

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

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The Holidays, the In-Between, and the Future

We’re baaaaaaAAAAAAck!! After taking a bit of a hiatus over the holidays, the home- build is back in action!!!! We are so ready for this next phase of construction…..the excitement builds with each passing day.

Stepping back for a moment…over the past couple of weeks, little elves visited our home and performed some miraculous work on the interior. As suttle as it may seem in pictures, it is pretty dramatic in person. What are we talking about…….three things…..texturing, primer, and paint!! Yes I said it….”Paint!”, on the walls and on the ceiling! Our walls are painted!!!! Can I say it again………there is paint, actual color on them there walls!!!! The painting side of the contract includes 3 colors…additional paint = additional $$. We wanted 5 colors, so we paid a little more, but really, it was well worth it given the amount of time it would have taken Tami (she’s the painter of the family) to paint the extra colors.

I tried getting pictures of the texturing, but it didn’t photograph to well…..the colors also wash out a bit in the pictures, so when you look at them, keep in mind that they are a bit richer in color than what it looks like in photos.

This is the main color of our home. It is Biscuit (Sherwin Williams).

Another view of Biscuit contrasting w/the white of the tub...still a bit washed out.

The color in the M. Bdrm is Bagel (Sherwin Williams) and is carried onto 2 accent walls in the Dining Room.

Koral Kicks (Sherwin Williams) is the main color in our daughter's room.

More of the Koral Kicks. I can't quite get the right exposure on this color...it is not quite as pink as it photos.

The other wall color is Grayish (we are repainting that color because it came out to purpley), and then Dover White on all of the ceilings. Below is the one picture I have of the texturing, and it is carried throughout the house.

The texturing throughout the house looks really nice...great for those little imperfections....not that there are any of course 🙂

So the quality of these pictures tell me that I really need to invest in a new camera. They just don’t represent the richness of the colors very well. I had to do a lot of exposure enhancing to try to bring out some of the colors. Maybe with added contrast (i.e. the trim and cabinets, etc.) it will photograph better.

That takes me to the future….coming up this next week, REALLY, REALLY exciting things start to happen on the interior of our home. I can’t wait to see it…………..

In the meantime, our family wishes your’s a very blessed year for 2012. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, Happy New Years, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

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Details, Details, Details……..

First of all, from our family to yours, we hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

As the title suggests, the last two weeks were tied up in the details, the creative workmanship that ranges from mild to more significant changes due to fluctuations of materials……..okay, okay….M I S T A K E S that need to be corrected before the insulation and sheetrock can be installed. We had orange pointers throughout the house painted by our foreman, Kyle, indicating corrections the framers needed to make. These were items like the structure to the kitchen island not being completely verticle, studs needing to be made flush, the crawlspace opening cut too small, and things like extra supports…that sort of thing. Details, details details that make a big difference in the next phase of construction.

These two walls need help with their "plumbing." HAHAHA

Crawispace opening needing to be re-sized.

Since this phase of the construction is, well…quiet…the only thing really hopping on the build is our electric meter, and boy is it having a good time!!!! Besides the detail fixes, the other significant item needing to be completed is the thing that is exciting our meter (and the power company) so much. We are drying out the inside of the house………..

Construction air filters catch the debris we don't want going into the heating ducts.

Taking the warm air from the house and forcing it into the crawl space.

One of four fans that is constantly on, to help move the air that is constantly being heated.

So as the power company smiles, and our bank account gets lighter because the meter is so happy, the house is drying out, and insulation is scheduled for Tuesday!!!! If the rains hold off for the next few days, the outside caulking will get done, and during the next stretch of sunny days (maybe in June…HAHAHAHA) the outside of the house will be painted!!

Category:

A Roof, Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

Let the Rains Begin!!!!!!!!!

The past two weeks have been…..well…..WET!! The rain has definitely begun!! So here is our story about the rain……

If you remember back to the beginning of this blog, one of our greatest concerns was having the house in the “open” framed in type stage, and having the rains beating down on our exposed wooden framework. Tami (I) was having a very difficult struggle with this while we waited through most of the dry summer to get to the point that we could even knock down the old house, and start excavating. Tony kept reassuring me that everything would work out, everything would be fine. In my mind, our struggle went something like this……(playing the part of Tami is Lucy VanPelt; playing the part of Tony is Snoopy)……….

So as we watched the sunny days disappear, Tony kept the faith (and prayed like crazy), and I struggled, but tried hard to believe him. He kept saying that the rains were not going to really start until it was weatherized (roof up, sideing on, windows installed.) So as the days passed and we really only got a little rain here and there, I started to keep the faith too. I’m not saying that the Lord kept most of the northwest Oregon regions without rain because of our need for a dry house…but I am saying that He has got awesome timing!! Because one day after the roof was up, the sideing on, and the windows were installed…the sky opened up and we have gotten a pond full of rain (literally, our pond is now full to the brim.)

Here is what it sounded like one morning in our shop (it has a metal roof) as the rains poured down…that is not static, and it was a hundred times louder in person…

So, YOU decide!!

Category:

A Roof, Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Peanuts, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

H A P P Y Anniversary!!

Last week started with our first visitors, since construction began, to our new home. Our mom/grandma (Dorothy) , brothers (Steve & Bob), sister-in-law (Sheila), and niece (Christina), oh yeah we can’t forget the four legged family (Bella & Chique) all arrived on Sunday evening for a cold, yet dry evening in front of the campfire while we ate dinner. They came up to help Tami’s mom move up to the great state of Oregon!! It was great to have them for a few days, and Mom/Grandma now for good!

I was driving up the road yesterday, and started to turn into our driveway. When I looked up on the hill, I saw a house….not a construction site, a HOUSE!! The first week of November was an incredible week……this past week, has been completely awesome!!! Okay, you’re right…the Veteran’s Day holiday on Friday was a doozie, that is for sure. Having that 3rd day off is like totally how it should be every weekend. Am I right or what?? But, all that aside, our home is to the point that from the road it really looks like a completed house (in need of a paint job) but completed none-the-less. The interior is still a skeleton with a few support walls in place, so there is still ALOT of work to be done (we’re hoping we will be able to move our things into it by early February.)

So, backing up a bit….by Monday evening, the duct work for the heating and air system was installed. It totally added character to the truss system of the roof.

The bathtubs and shower were put into place, including being filled with water to add weight to the curing.

There are some details that need to be addressed such as……

A bit of a misfit here.....

The little screen is to keep wasps from making nests in our attic.....I don't think this one is going to work!!

All of the siding and trim went up this week. One really cool thing is that we were leaning towards painting the house yellow and white….the siding is on the yellow hue, so it gave us a good idea of what it will look like painted…..so far the jury is in favor of it!! The beige area will probably be painted the same white as the trim….what do you think? I kind of like the yellow/white/beigey look…..hhmmmm.

The concrete also went in for the garage floor. Our contracter, Paul Nowak Construction, did a wonderful job. Tony had talked to him about putting in rebar into the garage floor because the specs didn’t call for the rebar reinforcement. We didn’t have the rebar on hand the day of the pour, but Paul did! He went ahead and laid it in before the pour because he remembered his conversation with Tony. It was a little extra charge, but nominal in comparison to the strength and longevity it will give the garage floor. He also asked about the use of the garage. Since the one-car garage side will be used primarily like a dog run, he gave us a smoother finish and more sealant to keep any doggie-doo from penetrating the cement. That is just an example of his professionalism and high quality work….I highly, highly recommend Paul Nowak Construction of Lebanon, OR! Great company!!

The day was cold, and the sun was giving some warmth.

Our House!!

And in honor of Tony and Tami’s 25th Wedding Anniversary on November 15th….here is a timeless classic>>>>>

Category:

A Roof, Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

What an Incredible Week!!

It’s amazing how time flies. It has been almost 2 weeks since I updated this blog, and I can’t believe the progress that has been made. I’m going to highlight the week that I missed, then on Sunday (my regular blogging day), I’ll catch up.

A lot of work went into the house during the first week of November. All of the trusses were set into place, the interior skeleton structure of our home went up, as well as sheer walls, and……..drum roll please…………….our ROOF!! I’m not kidding…..we have a completed roof over the house! Everyday, I came home from work and BAMM!!, there was something new to see. I was so happy to see our home going up so quickly, but also, if I’m being honest, a little leary.

Tony had been out of town on business most of the week, and so many things were happening so fast. I was wishing Tony was there to check everything and make sure things were getting done correctly. I look at it and go….”wood, nails, pipes, duct work….uhhhhhhh..looks great to me!!” Tony looks at it and goes, “welll, I need to talk to Kyle about this,….” “If I were here I would have asked them about this…” Unless something is glaringly out of place, I don’t see the details he does. I was glad when he got home and was able to see everything (well…everything is still wide open inside, as it should be at this point.) He made a list…..let’s call it our DETAILS list…but that will be in my next blog : p

Oh, btw, Kyle is our Managing General Contracter working for Adair Homes. He comes out to inspect the work as it is being completed by the subcontracters. He is our go-to guy for most things…the more contractual stuff, we still talk with Charlie. This has been a really good check, double check system for us. It is really nice to know that there are more than one set of eyes on our build…..there is a whole team behind us!!

Okay…enough of me………here are some picture highlights of the week (the first week of November.)

A lattice work of trusses waiting to be put into place.

Interior walls taking shape

Sunlight through the unfinished roof.

I hope they fix that!! HAHAHA

Just a really cool picture!!

The roof is taking shape!

The boards are all in place...ready for the tar paper and shinglesIt's starting to get cold at night......It's starting to get cold at night......

The roofing material has arrived!!!

The roof is complete!!!!

Category:

A Roof, Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

What’s that over there…???

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

This week was A M A Z I N G !!!!!!! Totally amazing!! We went from a lonely, ghost-like foundation, to a skeleton structure, with ceiling beams and one truss that is standing…straight up in the air…like a beacon saying, “Look at me…I’ve arrived!” And has it ever!! We had a monster crane arrive on Friday that lifted the trusses up so high into the air that a bat might have mistaken it for a hauntingly good place to land. We kept our black cat indoors as not spook the builders. The plummer threaded and hooked up our pipes in the dungeon known as our crawl space on Tuesday, and we were really able to see more clearly, though the fog was thick and gloomy, where our kitchen and bathrooms are going to be. <Have you caught onto our theme yet>

So, to be more clear….here are the pictures from this week.

A good example of the plumbing work that was done on Tuesday!The floor decking is in, and the first couple of walls.

There are even interior walls on Thursday.

The floor decking is in, and the first couple of walls.

Thursday, there is hope on the horizon….are we actually building a house??

This is from the corner of the kitchen / greatroom area into the dining room, and out to the front entrance. Tony and I are not going through that entrance until the house is finished

From the greatroom looking towards the kitchen!

By Friday evening, we had the interior walls, ceiling beams, and trusses ready to be positioned into place. We have a house!!!! I don’t even mind that there are a few leaks from the rain (HAHAHAHAHA)….We have a standing house!!

By nontime on, Thursday, the home has really taken shape!

From the interior, this is the inside of the side of the house that faces the street.

It was a good week on the build site….NO…..it was a GREAT week on the build site!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, Halloween, moving to Oregon, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

The Good, the Bad, and the………

A lonely foundation

Ever heard of, “All’s quiet on the Western front?” That is what our build site looked like this week. A lonely, desolate foundation sits and waits this week as the tumbleweeds blow lazily by…..there is hope on the horizon. “Do you really have tumbleweeds blowing by?”, a curious on-looker asks. No, but being in the middle of autumn, leaves are certainly starting to fill the foundation as we wait for the sub-floor and decking to arrive.

Thursday….there is a distant sound of a truck, a very LARGE truck heading up our road….is it?? YES, it is our truck….delivering our sub-flooring, right on time!!! Tomorrow the sub-floor contractor arrives to begin the work needed for the plumber and the decking.

Friday comes without a sound….you can hear the wind whistling through the trees, but there is no hammering, or signs of construction. The sub-flooring is not being installed today…but you know, that is OKAY…we’re sure they will show up on Monday. In the meantime, we decided to have some fun in what will be our backyard.

This is the view from what will be our backyard

We decided to have a campfire and ate my grandma’s enchiladas (she taught me how to make these when I was about 16. I miss her) by the fire. Then we got a little creative with Skittles….

Taste the rainbow….not this time.

So, Sunday morning we were awakened by the sound of……CONSTRUCTION!! Whoohoo!! Okay, so we’re not great big fans of Sunday morning consturction sounds, but today was the exception. The contractor didn’t want to get us or himself behind schedule, so……HOORAY!! Tomorrow or Tuesday, the plumbing contractor is scheduled to do his thing in the crawl space areas, then the decking will go on…from there…things are going to dramatically change very quickly!!

In fact….by the afternoon, we had a completed sub-floor……..you gotta love this grid!!!

Stay tuned………

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

Foundation, Foundation, Foundation

I love Oregon….I love the weather…I love the beauty…I love the fresh, crisp air…I love that there is no sales tax…I love that rain doesn’t stop outdoor projeccts like setting and pouring a foundation….oh did I say that I love Oregon!!???

So the beginning of the week started with a lot of rain…we, being from California are groomed to expect that almost all outdoor work stops when it rains (other than storm prevention / troubleshooting.) When the concrete guys showed up dark and early Tuesday morning despite the rain, we were pretty happy to say the least! It rained on those guys ALL day while they constructed the forms for the foundation pour.

The next day, although in a little more broken spurts, they again were out building our foundation while the cement trucks drove up and down our driveway while it rained.

The forms came off on the third day……..WE HAD A FOUNDATION!!!

On Thursday, Warren came back to back-fill the foundation with gravel and build up the ground for the garage and driveway. We had 15 deliveries of gravel throughout the day to create a proper draining field around the house site.

The garage is filled in ready for the concrete slab pour. This is taken from the right side of the house.So you can see how the area surrounding the outside of the foundation has been back-filled with gravel, and then compressed down. It is like this all around the house.

It is incredibly important to get the water away from the house….and in Oregon, there is A LOT of water that falls from the sky!!

So in the meantime, Will has the perverbial mountain of dirt to move from one location to another……once he gets that done, there is one more. Why??? Because it’s there!!

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

Six Reasons the Old House Had to Go

While we wait for a major update…..which by the way will be this week :o) ….I wanted to write a quick note about the 6 reasons we knocked down the house rather than adding-on and remodeling. Once again, the pictures tell the story best…………

#1........Great big spider web nests in the walls!!!!!

#2.......Old tools that fell out from somewhere...looks like it has been in the crawlspace for quite awhile.

#3......Massive spider / bug / mouse nests in the walls and crawlspace.

#4......Can anyone say, "Dry rott?"

#5.....Xtra-Large wasp and bumble bee nests in the attic.

#6.....Oh yeah, did I mention the skeleton in the closet?? Actually it was in the crawl space...it looks like a cat.

So this week was really productive on the aminsitration side of things. More paperwork was signed, and Charlie, our Home Ownership Counselor from Adair Homes drove out to our site (about an hour drive from his office), to get my signature on something, so that he (Charlie) could get it back to the office that afternoon. Once again, I can’t speak more highly of the assistance we have gotten so far from everyone we have dealt with from the Adair Office itself, and their contracters. The financing company, (NOT associated with Adair Homes) is a completely different story. Anyway…it looks like the forms installation for the foundation starts tomorrow….and the foundation pouring begins Wednesday. Hopefully, the rain won’t keep them away!!!!! :o/

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Uncategorized, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

And The Walls Come Tumbling Down!!!!!

The past two weeks have been quiet…..too quiet. Nothing was happening on the build site, no demolition, no excavation, no building, no movement on finances……..then…..Monday morning, Sept. 26th, as if out of nowhere, a HUGE beast showed up to the property, and EVERYTHING changed!!!

The mighty arm of Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation!

Let’s back up a bit………in fact, I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

We knew Warren was coming, so we made the first hole in the wall.

Still flying!!

The Demolition Begins!

Hank was watching everything!

LOOK OUT HOUSE!!!!!Too late!

Tony watching the demolition...wishing he could get in that rig and pull the house down himself!

Warren wrapped up a bunch of the debris in the carpet, and picked it up like you would a blanket.

Work here in Oregon doesn't wait just because the sun rises later this time of year. Early A.M. demolition!!

Our daughter, Roni, watching the house fall down. It was a foggy A.M. so the camera was focusing on the fog. Pretty cool!

It looked like those pictures you see when a tornado rips through a town!

Well...there goes an entire wall!!

There goes the mudroom!!And the little, old, house.....is gone!!

Up comes the flooring. You can see how the foundation was filled in with dirt by little critters, through the years..

Nothing but a gigantic hole in the ground now...you can see how much hillside Warren is having to excavate. That's our son, Will, working with Warren to check the elevation

The site is ready now to meet with the builders on Monday!! We are FINALLY on our way!!!

As you can see, it was an incredible week!! The little, unhealthy, bug infested, smelly house is gone…..our future home is on its way.

By the way, if you ever need any demolition and/or excavation work done, run, don’t walk, pick up your phone and call Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation! He is incredibly reliable, professional, and does an awesome job!!

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick………..

Ever have one of those weeks when everything is going along pretty well, and the…BAM!!…the door slams shut right in front of you? Well……this week was full of ups and downs for the build. To be expected…YES….frustrating ….YES, YES!! So here’s the good and the bad! Bad first….

Tick, tick, tick, tick……..I feel like the days of good weather are just ticking away, and nothing physical has been done on the house site! Maybe I’m over reacting….I think of Oregon and I think of rain. But I haven’t been up here for the summer into fall season, so although I have friends and coworkers telling me the real rains don’t usually start until October…..my sometimes glass half empty mind thinks, “well usually doesn’t mean always.” We found out this week that construction funding may be held up for another 3-4 weeks. AAARRGGGHHHH!!!! We feel like we’ve been strung along by the finance company….NOT ASSOCIATED WITH ADAIR HOMES….so that we wouldn’t go looking for another bank. It’s always, “There’s no problem, we’re just waiting for the underwriters”…..YET something wasn’t right. Tony called them on it and they admitted that, “Yes, everything looks good”, but “This and that.” If they would have been up front and honest with us from the beginning, we could have done things a little differently…now at this point it feels like we’re stuck….waiting, while all this great weather passes by!!!

The good!!….we got our building permit!!! No hang ups, no problems….Adair’s paperwork and plans were excellent and just what the county needed!! We can start demo’ing the old home anytime we want now, so during these next couple of weeks, the little house will be coming down…one way or another. We’ll try to get the excavation done so that once the funding goes through, our site is ready to go!!

Unfortunately, the bank really took the wind out of our sails this week. Tony and I were a little more than frustrated and (probably me more than him) took it out on each other with defensive, hurtful attitudes at times. So, I’m including this video to remind both of us (me especially) and (to appologize to Tony) that there is a reason we are doing this….and there is a reason our 25th Wedding Anniversary is coming up this November. In the midst of the frustration, this is the reason for it all…….

It’s about you and me…….and the four of us (10 of us if you count the four legged members of this family.)

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, I love Lucy, moving to Oregon

Getting Closer!!

Kind of a quiet week on the home-front these past 7 days. :o/ ALTHOUGH…..we did have a septic inspection!! Okay, I’m glad I didn’t have to do that! Tony talked with the guy handling our building permit at the county office, and he said that we should have the building permit in hand by the end of next week….meaning this week since I’m posting this on a Sunday. That is outrageously GREAT news! Our construction loan is taking longer than either of us had hoped. Part of this is because we have more than 10 acres, we had to go outside of Adair’s funding company. I think the new finance company is stringing things along a little until I get my first paycheck at the end of the month, to prove that, “YES,” I am employed. Having an already existing mortgage in CA doesn’t help either, but…………

OK, here’s the “but”………we entered into contract for sale on our Mountain View, CA home!!! I can’t tell you how awesome this is!! Truly this is God’s handiwork to provide us THIS buyer so quickly! Our home went on the market (in the MLS) on Monday the 22nd….we got an offer on Wednesday the 24th…., AS IS, no inspection other than what we provided (we paid for and received a home inspection and pest inspection ahead of time), they want a short close, do NOT want us to fix any of the items on the home inspection list, and……offered us a bit more than our asking price!!!! So, we are in the middle of a 7 day contingency (apparently it is usually standard to have 12 days), and close in 30 days!!!

So, with this, and my first paycheck a few days away….nothing should hold up the funding of our project! In the meantime, we hope to start some excavating work that we have to do around the building site including building a retaining wall this week.

This is the area where the grade is to high - low for excavation. We need to build a retaining wall with steps leading up to the barn.The difference in grade looks a little more prominent here. It meaures about a 5 foot difference.This is from the barn side of the top of the grade. It is a 5 ft. difference toward the house.

This one shows the grade a little better. It is from the top of the grade on the barn side looking toward the house. It turns out to be a 5 ft. difference.

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon

Building Permit Time

ALRIGHT!!! We’ve got our plans in hand, the permits filled out and ready to submit on Monday!! I’m pretty sure that the building permit process will go pretty smoothly…..check back with me in a week or so..HAHAHA. We’ve also got a septic eval. coming up this week. Actually though, because we are county, and not city we have a few less restrictions in some of the nitty gritty stuff, and that seems to be the case with what we have had to file so far. So, let’s keep our fingers crossed, and throw up a few words to the man upstairs for a smooth process. :oD

Anyway, to put it lightly….ADAIR Homes did an AWESOME job in getting all of our plans and building permits together. They handled the whole process, handed us the whole package, and all I have to do now is submit it to the building department….along with a check, of course. That’s one huge headache that we don’t have to deal with. Charlie, is our go-to-guy who has handled things for us from the very first contact. In fact, the entire office team in Aurora has been really wonderful. I highly recommend these guys and gals.

The big question is….how are four cats, two dogs, and 3-4 grown people going to live in a trailer for the months of demolition and construction?Hmmmmm…….stay tuned for the next exciting episode!!

This big guy cracks me up!!

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon

Getting tests back, approvals, etc.

Who would have thought that small, microscopic, tiny fibers could cause such BIG concerns…but that is exactly what they have been doing to us this past week. I’m talking about the dreaded word……..AASSSSBBBESSSTTTOSSSSS…asbestos!! Before the demo / excavator could get moving with his end of things, we had to get the little old house tested so that he would have paperwork to show the guys at the dump. Today we got the word……………….it turned out really GREAT!!! Basically, the test went something like this…..NOT DETECTED, NOT DETECTED, NOT DETECTED, NOT DETECTED……!!!! Needless to say, Tony and I are VERY HAPPY!!

We also found out today that we may need a demolition permit for the little old house. Another trip to the county planning department….sure, why not.

So items on our “to do” list are slowly ticking away…..and so are the days of sunny dry weather. I’m still stressed that we haven’t broken ground yet, but I know it will happen soon. Tony has been praying, seriously praying, for the weather to hold out until we get the walls up and roof on before we start seeing the rain…he feels pretty confident….I’m clinging to that!! :o)