An Interior Trim Photo Montage!

 Well, since I haven't been very good at posting all year, I figure I'll just throw up a few photos that I finally downloaded from my phone tonight.

In no particular order:

The broom closet door, pre trim that is the mirror image of the pantry door I posted a couple months ago. 

Hal after installing the trim around MY bedroom closet. ALL MINE. I gave him the walk-in. Yes, it needs doors, but that will be next year. 

A piece of stained threshold. Hal shaped it from an oak board then I stained and varnished.

And how it looks in the doorway. This happens to be the front door. The back door got the same treatment.

I know I've posted the next photo before, but this is the front door with the trim. Since this photo was taken all the baseboard in the living room/dining room/hall and foyer is installed.

And I am certain I've posted the pantry door before as well. Nevertheless, here it is again. The only problem with having a door now, however, is every time I open it, the dogs think they're getting a treat. Silly dogs. 

I don't remember whether this is the door to our bedroom or to the TV room, but they both were taken down as working on them in the garage, horizontally was much easier. I had painted all the interior doors while hanging. While that was a little awkward, they didn't require 3 coats of polyurethane on both sides either.

This is the door to our bedroom and bath.

The baseboards in the living room, dining room and hallway are all done, as well. Because there is so much furniture in front of it, this shot of the foyer shows best what it looks like everywhere.

And of course, Kaylee photo bombed. 

I've Been Negligent in Posting!

 I wasn't even planning on making a post today, but I came back looking for information from last summer, and couldn't find it, ah, well. But since I'm here, a few highlights. I'll even throw in a few pics.

• We finally got someone to come turn on our HVAC unit! It's not been officially commissioned, but it's running and keeping our home at a nice even 73 degrees. At some point the guy is supposed to return and install something between it and the water heater. No clue if and when that will happen. But at least it's progress! Hal installed a check valve between it and the pressure tank and that is working well, too.
• I went on a cruise to Alaska in August, the inside passage with Hal's sister, youngest brother and his family. It was great, good weather, got to see Glacier Bay, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. Took a couple of excursions, mushing on wheeled carts with sled dogs and a train ride up into the mountains. Whale watching, too, though we didn't see much other than a few tails.
• Hal and I got a lot of trim work done on the interior of the house. We still have more to go but the dining room and guest bedroom have all the baseboard. The guest room and our bedroom even have the closet jambs and trim finished. No doors yet, but it is more progress.
• I'm still playing guitar and am finding it easier to play my acoustic, finally, the strings are a lot thicker and stiffer than my electrics, so it took some getting used to.
• Yesterday we started setting up the TV/Music room properly by moving the wall units and speakers from the living room. Hal set up a sound bar he got from his sister in the living room. It will suffice until I buy better speakers for it.

  

  TV Room with Shelf Units

  
  

  

  New Pantry Door and Trim

  
  

  

  Me at Glacier Bay, Alaska

  
  

  

  Living Room without the Shelf Units

  
  

  

  Hallway with Finished Trim

  
  

  

  Foyer with Finished Trim

  
  

Another Very Late Quick Update and Finished Windows

Well, we've been busy! In a nutshell: My sister and M hung out till mid-January, in late February Hal tapped 16 trees but the weather didn't cooperate much, and we only got 2 gallons of syrup. We had to quit early because we took a road trip at the end of March all the way to Texas. We left on a Wednesday afternoon because we wanted to stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana to visit the Sweetwater music store and look at some guitars. (I had a list.) And yes, we each bought ourselves a guitar. I got an acoustic and Hal got an electric bass. We spent the night there and left just after noon on Thursday to continue the trip to Texas. 

I will, hopefully, I'm so busy I may or may not get to writing more, but I'll try to go into more detail later.

We returned home a day early as our SIL had to rush off to see her middle daughter who had a baby a week early up in Fort Worth and got home 2 days later. We thought about stopping at Sweetwater again but figured we'd spent enough money for now.

I also picked up the dogs from our friend John's house because the dogs didn't go to Texas with us, they seemed to do okay while we were gone but I didn't get the "happy to see you" reaction I was expecting, maybe because they like John and his dogs.

We took a week off to do "stuff": unpack, wash clothes, decompress, organize Hal's walk-in closet by buying some short shelves he placed under the hanging rod. And we bought a pellet smoker. And we went back on the keto diet as the low fat one we were trying before the trip wasn't getting great results and we gained all the weight we had lost while on vacation.

Second week back we started on the house. I began staining and varnishing window trim and Hal installed it. The 3 windows we had left (not counting the 2 in the garage, those are not a priority) are now finished, 2 in the TV room and the one in my room.

A TV room window

My window

Now that these are done, we've started on the front door. As of yesterday, it is squarer in the frame and has a deadbolt so now we can finally go through it. After the lever handle goes in Hal will start on the jamb extensions which I will then stain, etc. I already finished the trim for it. Not sure which door we will do next, possibly the one into the main bedroom, that door still needs to be stained. A big job.

Passed the Rough Electrical!

 We passed the rough electrical inspection on Tuesday! One hurdle down. Apparently the inspector liked the fact we had a sub panel in the laundry room. I don't know why that was particularly pleasing but whatever works. He seemed to think Hal does good work. Well, he does!

That same day I met with one of the 3 kitchen designers, and so far the only one who gets back to me when she says she will. I'm ready to tell the others thanks but no thanks, as much as I like their cabinets. We spent about 90 minutes perfecting the design Hopefully we will finalize things by next Wednesday when I go back so we can order, Prices are going up on July 2nd. I have my fingers crossed they won't break the budget but don't hold out much hope, too many things are an upgrade like full extension drawers and 42" tall upper cabinets. Those are included in the local company but as I said, she isn't getting back to me.

Then looked at and selected faucets for the master bath and guest bath. She is ordering the ones for the master bath, I need to bring in the guest bath light to see how well the brass matches since they are from different companies. The master bath faucets will be matte black and are the Delta Stryke series. They are new and pricey, though with her discount, not as expensive as the link to Home Depot shows. I was just looking around and saw another less expensive one I also like called Lahara. Perhaps that would do for the guest bath.

Random Bits

 Today I finished the furring strips in the kitchen. Yesterday I finished the hall. So the great room, which is the kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer and hallway is done and ready for drywall. Now I have to finish each of the smaller rooms and their closets, the fiddly, annoying bits. Temperature inside was above 82 but there was a nice breeze. Will miss those breezes once all the drywall is up. 

Been planting little plants in my perennial bed. The many seeds I planted in peat pots back in March and April barely grew, a green thumb is not in my blood. However, I planted these tiny lupins and other flowers, many of which are now unnamed as the words melted off the plant sticks, and they are so tiny I had to put flags by them to keep from accidentally stepping on them. I really need to spread more mulch as the lack of rain is still a problem.

Below are 2 photos of flowers I either transplanted from our old home last year or bought locally. I'd say the dianthus are doing wonderfully!

Iris closeup

Dianthus I planted last year 

Yesterday afternoon we had lightning and a little thunder but all the rain by passed us to the east. This photo looks southeast. We still desperately need rain in Spruce.

faint rainbow over the cow barn

Back to work on the house again tomorrow and watering the gardens.

An Update on the Build and the Gardens

 We've been busy. Mostly I've been planting seedlings while Hal works on the electrical. I've planted over 370 trees and bushes. The last 100 tree seedling arrived yesterday. I won't plant those for a couple more days (I have to figure out where to put the 50 spruce) as it's been in the 80s for the most part and that is too hot to do a lot of digging. Spring sort of went straight into summer though by the end of the week we'll be having early April weather with highs in the low 50s. And we've had no rain to speak of so the seedlings are in danger of dying. Weather has been a little wonky.

I've also managed to do a lot of weeding in the perennial bed and managed to plant the sadly dried out roots I bought at Walmart. Some of them have still sprouted, a few aquilegia and one each of the 2 clematis and 2 yellow hollyhocks,  but it just took me too long to prepare the bed for them.

I put up netting for the snow peas which also were planted a month late. But many have sprouted and hopefully I'll still manage to get a few for at least one meal. As you can see the garden is in desperate need of weeding. I'll use the tiller again though in the long run that will probably make things worse. I really need to lay down plastic mulch to kill the grass.

As I said Hal has been moving right along on the electrical, most of the boxes are in and he's pulling wire. He even lit up a few of the recessed cans so we can have light when necessary.

This is the dining room wall

Soon he will install the boxes for the exterior lights. I've ordered a different style of barn light from the first one I ordered, that one seems as though a strong wind will bend it out of shape/alignment though I do like the looks of it. it shipped today so hopefully I'll have it figured out by the end of the week.

Time to put up some more furring strips.

Master Bedroom Closet

So Hal built the front closet wall for the master bedroom. I helped him stand it up, it was very heavy due to the header. The plan is for a 10 foot double track with four sliding doors. Has will be building 5 foot doorways for the other bedrooms' closets, 2 will also have sliders, but the guest room will have bifold because we bought them early before we knew what we wanted. 

These are the doors for the guest room, they are Kimberly Bay. I will need to stain, paint or varnish them.

House Build Update

 Well, better late than never.

We haven't been totally negligent in the house build since my last post, though we did take off 3 weeks for the holidays while my younger sister visited. 

First thing we did after the concrete garage floor went in was to install the garage doors so that we are really closed in. No more wind or weather blowing in. We haven't installed the ceiling tracks as there isn't a ceiling to attach them to so they don't operate yet, but it's a start.

First door installed in November 2020.

The garage door for Hal's truck

Then Hal added temporary lighting in the garage so we can work then started putting up the walls in the garage for the utility room and his workshop. 

Above is the workshop.

These walls also have wiring in them for outlets and ceiling lights.

The stairs into the kitchen. All the above photos were taken before Christmas. In January, Hal cut up some 3/8 sheets of plywood into pieces to fit between the purlins (rafters) at the 3 gable walls to block wind and, of course, weather, like blowing snow. It was a suggestion made by our building inspector. We figured, besides being a good idea, anything that pleases our inspector could help us along.

Yesterday we got back to installing OSB subfloor in the house. Today we added two more sheets. We will finish the row tomorrow and then have to add more bracing between the joists in the next section before we can start the next 3 rows. This photo was taken yesterday.

Next week it's doubtful much will be done, the temps are dropping dramatically and it will be too cold to get very much done at all.

It's Done, We're Moved, The House Sold

So we did close on August 28th and took 5 days to finish moving out and cleaning the house. We were out on the September 2nd and the new owners arrived the next day. Heard from the wife a couple of times about internet and how to turn the heater on, they used the thermostat for the wood stove rather than the propane furnace, I forgot to mention they were separate systems. 

We are in the farmhouse that was Hal's parents' and is now owned by Hal's older brother, MSS. Plenty still left to unpack but things are a little tight because the small kitchen attached to the family room as well as a part of the family room has stacks of things purchased for the vacation home MSS and wife are building right next door. Hal's sister, C, is also staying here for a bit (leaving today) and has been extremely helpful with the cleaning of the old house and and unpacking and finding places for things. I'll have to take some photos later of the chaos.

The dogs are a little confused. We've been here a week but I'm pretty sure Ziggy thinks we can go home anytime. Kaylee seems to be handling it a bit better, but she only lived there  2 years, Ziggy, more than 9. But they got to see my neighbor and Seamus 2 days in a row when they came for a visit, so that helped. Plus as there is no fence around the house, they have to stay in the old pheasant pen which is very large and grassy but as they can't run in and out of the house anymore, they spend a lot of time barking, howling and whining. I hope they get used to it, but we're too close to a busy road to leave them loose, and Hal's cousin, who has lived in the mobile home across the driveway for more than 20 years, seems to be afraid of dogs and threatened to pepper spray them, so, better safe than sorry. Just makes things more stressful.

Hal is finally getting back to work on the new house today, he rented a trencher for laying the electric cable between the utility pole and the house, so that is a good thing. He hopes to have it done soon so the garage floor can be poured and the large doors attached so we can heat it in winter and work all winter long. We shall see.

Time for a walk.

Still Waiting

Well. we're still waiting on the actual closing of the sale of our home. First date was August 3, new date is August 14, this coming Friday. Their home appraiser took his sweet time showing up, didn't come till last week of July, and his report wasn't made till sometime after the 3rd. I still have no idea if the buyer's lender even has it yet. Our unfortunate luck was the buyer wants a VA loan and those are notorious for falling through for a myriad of reasons. The inspector wanted all kinds of things fixed. We did the safety ones; deck railings to code, new GFCI outlets where required and new lights in the bedroom closets. Also screws added to deck boards where the original owner didn't have them. But we were done in mid July and still we wait.

During this waiting/fixing up we have not been able to work on the new house. Instead after the fixes we started packing and moving things we figured we wouldn't need for the duration of the new house build. Hal become a bit panicky in my mind and essentially had us pack up everything, assuming the sale WILL GO THROUGH though our realtor (whom we almost never hear from unless I call him) keeps saying not to assume this will happen because VA loans are so fickle. Yet now I sit in a house without a guest bed, dining room chairs, the cabinets that hold the stereo equipment, and many other things. Even pantry food is being moved.

We will be staying in the farmhouse Hal's older brother bought from their parents. The location is ideal, only a mile up the road from the build site. The house itself isn't the greatest but it's good enough and the price was right though we will have to share the family room during hunting season and any family gatherings. Most of our stuff is being stored in various buildings at the farm. The only things I am worried about are mice getting into the stuffed furniture. 

As much as I will miss living here, 20 years is a long time to stay in one place, I do want to see how our new house finishes up. It all depends.

We Got an Offer on our Home!

We got an offer on our house nearly 2 weeks ago and after a little back and forthing, we accepted. Yes, it's less than we paid for this place 20 years ago and we've done some improvements, but it was on the market 3 years. Even though "they" say the market is turning around, we decided to take the money and run. Besides, I met the husband and wife and I like them, they love the place, they seem very nice and should make good neighbors to the good neighbors we are leaving. Heck, she even said I could come back and harvest my potatoes!

So while we wait for all the inspections (one has happened and we need to rebuild the deck railings), Hal and I are moving "non-essential" items into storage at the farm, the pole barn where we are building, and a few things into the farmhouse where will be staying, courtesy of Hal's older brother who bought the place from his parents. It will be convenient because it's only a mile down the road from the build site. Twenty years ago we spent 4 months in the single wide next door. With all the things left to do in the new house we'll probably be there at least a year.

In building news, Hal got the electrical permit from the county, a mere $340. They charge per outlet and recessed light, etc. He had started on a plumbing plan but it's taking a back seat to moving. The whole build is taking a back seat for the moment. We have 20 years worth of stuff and they want to be in before Labor Day.

To facilitate this, I am meeting next week with the gal who ran the estate sale for his parent's ranch. If she thinks it's feasible within the time frame we'll have a moving sale here in August. We've decided to try and sell a lot of the furniture, it will be fewer things we will have to sell. Clothing and other various things will go in the sale as well, We just need to get rid of stuff. (So I can buy new stuff!)

And we're having a massive heatwave and drought. Going to be a hell of a busy, stressful summer.

Plugging Along

Hal and I have been working on the electrical plan for the last 3 days or so. How many recessed lights, how many ceiling fans, how many receptacles. Where do the switches go, are any dimmable, 3-way, etc. it requires a lot of thought, back and forth discussions, it's rather complicated. Once we figure out where everything should go he has to add up how many of everything, how many circuits will be required, the amperage, etc, and then he can take the info to the building office and pull an electrical permit.

This is not the final plan, but as you can see, there are lots of little symbols all over it. Installing all this will be a lot of work, we are doing it ourselves, we've done this sort of thing before, just takes planning and time.

We still have to install the crawlspace vapor barrier, only one sheet is in, and put down all the OSB subfloor, plenty to do, just have to keep on truckin'.

Look at all the Floor Joists!

Hal went wild yesterday and finished installing the floor joists, all 125 are now in and it looks so cool!

He wants to install blocking to strengthen and stabilize them which isn't in the plans but should help with minimizing squeaky floors. Looking forward to more progress!

More Floor Joists

Hal got another section of floor joists in yesterday, this is the other half of the living room. He put up a couple more temporary pieces of subfloor so we can gaze outside when we feel like it. More and more it's feeling like a house. He also ordered the plastic sheeting to lay on the sand to insulate the crawlspace from dampness.

3 sections along the back wall

A few days earlier he also completed the floor joists in the front bedrooms so now 5 sections are complete.

left side is the sewing room, right side is the guest room

Today he plans to do the ones in front of the kitchen window, then the whole back wall will be complete! This photo has Hal adding more sand to level out the space beneath the future kitchen joists.

A Rambling Update

I've been neglecting my blog again so I will attempt to catch up on a few things.

kennebec red pontiac and short row of yukon gold

My potatoes I planted have finally started sprouting a couple days ago, I counted about 35 out of the 60+ I planted. There are 3 varieties, red pontiac, yukon gold, and kennebec. I also bought flowers from my favorite nursery, Harger's in Glennie along with some tomato plants.

almost filled the back of my car

I gave a few tomato plants to Hal's cousin along with some pea seeds and peppers and potatoes. I suspect more will be up today. Most of my snow peas are up, a whole row I planted in Spruce shows no signs though the first row is doing well, none of them are more than a couple inches high. I blame the random cold snaps, 3 nights in the mid 20s in the 3rd week of May, killed any chance of my yellow delicious apple tree flowering at all. And 2 chances for frost this weekend with lows in the 30s so I'm not planting my tomatoes in Spruce either till afterward. I will  cover the ones I have in pots here at home.

I planted a couple apple trees I bought from the Alcona conservation district behind the new house. Hal dropped a couple loads of top soil in 2 mounds to raise the roots up a bit because it's pretty wet there in the spring, they are already leafing out. I also planted 5 Saskatoon serviceberry over on the hill either side of Luna's grave. Got 5 forsythia which I planted in pots till I figure out where they are going. Need soil around the house before I can plant them as landscape shrubs. Was thinking about the north side of the house but maybe I'll put them near the apple trees, who knows? I certainly don't!

We also got the house cleaned up and listed with a new agent, the Scofield Realty in Hale that had the original listing when we bought 20 years ago. With the insanity of the pandemic going on I don't know if it will hurt sales (more than likely) or possibly help by someone wanting a place to get away from the cities. Guess we'll find out eventually. It only listed on Memorial Day weekend so it's too soon to tell.

While I deal with veggies and flowers and keeping the house clean Hal has been spreading and leveling sand into the crawlspace and starting the internal build by adding the floor joists one 12 ft square section at a time. He temporarily put up a couple pieces of OSB subfloor so we could sit in the living room and finally see what the view looks like through one of the windows.

Two 12 ft square joist sections out of 14

You see more sky than land because we were sitting on plastic Adirondack chairs and those are rather low. Real living room furniture heights will make a difference. Not too bad though.

We've had a miserable heat wave with high humidity the last few days so it's been hard working outside (and inside for Hal), and now there could be a possibility of frost this weekend so I'm holding off planting the remaining plants. It's been a bizarre spring, an even more bizarre year (I do not want to go into the idiocy going on within Michigan right now)  but I am hoping something good will occur sometime this year. 

The House is Dried In!

This afternoon Hal screwed in the last 2 pieces of vented ridge cap. Theoretically, if it rains now, it shouldn't rain inside. Hal joked about now we look for leaks.  I hope there aren't any! While he finished up there, I started painting the fascia in case the weather doesn't allow us to get the fascia trim up this year (the horizontal edges).  Hopefully, we can at least get the remaining rake trim up (the angled trim he is standing in front of). Either way we can now breathe a little easier.

Check Out the Front of the House!

Two sheets of steel make all the difference. As well as moving the scaffolding, of course.

We moved a lot of steel sheets around, too in order to find the next piece for the north side of the house.

The Front Door Wall is FInished

Three wall panels and the front door is framed in. Looks pretty good to me.

Afterward we prepped another bay on the back wall for the next window.

Soffit on the Reverse Gable

Today I climbed onto the scaffolding, which Hal was nice enough to move when I needed it to,  and put up all the soffit on the small bedroom wing reverse gable. It doesn't seem like a lot of work but it is required before vapor barrier, wall steel and windows can go up. Still need to put some foam insulation on the base of the wall, that will be my next job as we wait for the door sill pans to arrive.