Oh so pretty and witty and bright! *quack*

Look at my pretty radishes.. French Breakfast Radishes to be more exact. I just yanked them out of the ground in the garden at Jerry's house. I had to set them down to chase the dogs down the road but they cleaned up nice and I will add them to the dinner tonight... can't you just feel them shuddering with that samurai sword of a knife sitting there waiting for them? Mean.

French Breakfast Radishes are super mild. I have always liked radishes but I don't like it when they are strong flavored. These are not. With these suckers popping up leaves a day or two (it seems) after you plant them ya might want to find something else to do with them. They are great sauteed, drop them into soups (like turnips) shred them whatever. Ya know.. I remember as a kid planting radishes in our neighbor Sally's garden. I was so jazzed when I pulled one up... I took a big old bite (the radish had gotten pretty large) and it was hot.. I tried to like it since I grew it but .. I didn't... it kinda spoiled the fun of one of my first gardening experiences. But I digress.

David is finishing up the pex plumbing and the sheetrock with Jim. Jerry and Woody completed my front deck/steps/porch whatever you want to call it, and are measuring out the steps off of the back deck. You will see pictures below, be patient dangit!

I am so pleased because the front deck is exactly what I wanted! Steps can go down all the way around and I can put pots or some kinda crazy decor wherever I want.

What I also noticed when I went out to the site today was that they have cleared a bunch of construction stuff out and have started hardscaping! A retaining wall is being built with rocks we uncovered while moving stuff around. There are a zillion things going on at once out there.

So... after tending the lake garden, I wandered around with my camera, photographing what was left of the job site garbage, feeling a bit like an arteest and finding interesting vistas everywhere I turned. I should throw a tantrum, die my hair purple... or maybe interject quacks out of the blue into my conversations or something. If you are lucky maybe I will show you what these original pics looked like later. ;)

I am enjoying playing with Picasa and my photos. You really oughta try it.. its free! The link is on the right side over there somewhere
Ok finally, here is the front minus job junk plus a front deck.

Just LOOK at all that planting space!!!

I need to come up with a design where people do not just drive right up to the front door... and I am thinking a skinny tree or trellis or something with a couple big rocks there on the pantry side to break up that wall and disguise the path we made down the side of the house. We are also trying to decide if we should paint that cement block that is showing at the very bottom the same color as the house or darker.

Here is a close up of the front deck below.

(It has cardboard on top to protect it from all the guys and their nasty boots.)

Isn't it great!?

Can't you just picture some pink flamingos staked along each side! HAH.. just kidding.. more like some pots with geraniums, sweet potato vines, or coleus collections or something very Sunset magazine.

and lastly.. here are my compadres, my sidekicks, mi amigos.
I think they are a welcome sight sitting like that on the porch.
Geez... they have such serious looks on their faces...
so once again I said...

SMILE!

No folks.. that is not a Picasa induced smile... that is all them.

Eek gads! Snow?

No. Don’t worry. It’s not snow… yet. This is just a close up picture of the spray foam insulation we used.

This was a pretty groovy deal. I watched an episode of This Old House featuring this process about a year ago and we put it on the list of things to research for the house. After weighing the pros and cons we decided to forgo the itchy pink fiberglass stuff and chose to do this instead.

The insulation guys come in, don their space suits, and spray the stuff into the walls with these gun like wands. It leaves a fog in the room where they are working but it was nothing really toxic... or was not supposed to be. They seem to be ok anyway.


Hmm. Anyway, it expands to like a zillion times its size or some damn thing… but as you can see it fills in all the empty spots.

It cures really fast and then the next thing you know they are trimming the excess and are all done. The manufacturer claims there is no off-gassing etc and that it is a very efficient type of insulation. The guy who came to give us an estimate said we might just be cracking a window in the winter.

Uh huh. We’ll see.

On Friday morning they arrived at 7:30 a.m. and by 3:00 p.m. they were finished insulating the house and rolling out of the driveway. It was a good thing they moved on out of the driveway because within a half an hour or so here comes the truck with the sheetrock/drywall delivery!

This is going fast and furious. Any construction gets down to a timing thing and its all kind of a puzzle. One thing has to go in before the other that kind of stuff. Good thing we have some pretty experienced help to let us know what to do next each step of the way.

By the time the weekend was over the guys had put up all the drywall that could go up until the pex plumbing was completed. Here is what I saw when I walked in the front door... standing in mudroom doorway looking into the kitchen with the living room and the deck beyond. There is a big sheet of drywall in the way in case you were wondering what that was.. it is not a wall. That entire space will be open.

From the same spot I turned to the east (left) and took a picture of the kitchen

and then in the living room back towards the stairs up to the loft master bedroom...

Then from the living room back into the kitchen out the mudroom and front door beyond. That is the big golden Delta beast in the doorway if you were wondering what was blocking the sun.

Next?

Larry came on Monday and he and David got started right away on the pex. They plan to have that done today, and then the rest of the drywall can go up.

We have electricity to the house and now the water has been piped in and is getting routed through the pex. Getting closer to being able to live in it every day!

Hang on! Lots of Photos

Ok.. now that the exterior is mostly done I thought you might like to see some before and after shots. Of course the details are not completed such as landscaping, lights, all of the interior... etc but well... you can at least see whats happened in the last 4 months. The before pictures of the cabin were taken in summer/fall of 2007. When we arrived.. if you remember.. in April it was snowing. I will be sure to post a couple of those pictures as well to see the real deal.

Before and after view from the lake:

Before and after from the east side:

and then from the road:

And here it is all in order... for the most part...

Here is a view from the loft towards the lake..
in the first there is a glare on the center window so I refocused
so you can see better:

Again from the deck and then towards the deck: