Blueberry Hill

Well, I can't say that I found my thrill really but I was excited later to find out this is a wild blueberry bush. See, I had gone out for an explore one day after work and proceeded to climb up to the top of this rock bluff that runs across my drive. I was searching for wild azaleas, which I found plenty of, but also found this shrub. I had no idea what it was but it was covered in these little blossoms. I know the photo is crappy because the camera focused on the leaves behind my hand but I think you can pretty much tell what it looks like. I was going to post the photo and see if anyone could tell me what it was. I also found some really pretty little, red flowers growing up amongst the rocks that I was going to put up. When I got back to the house and got on the 'puter, I went to Rurality and lo and behold, there were my little, red flowers! Karen beat me to it except she already knew what they were! Dang it! Every time I think I have found something she posts about it first.....of course, she always knows what it is, so I do learn what I was wanting to know to begin with. LOL! Anyway, back to my story. Today I decided to check out this local nursery and see if they had any unusual plants for my place or at least something different than the same ol' stuff that Lowe's or Wal-Mart carries. Well, they did, some wonderful shrubs and they had this bush that looked just like what I had found on my rock bluff. The lady said they were blueberry bushes so I was real happy to know I have quite a few growing on 2 different hillsides. I don't actually like blueberries all that much but I do like to make muffins and I figure I can bake some things for the guys with them.
This is one of the wild azaleas that I went looking initially. They are very pretty and are usually pink although I have seen a few white ones. Unfortunately, most of them grow way up on the rocky hillsides, with the blueberry bushes, where you cannot see them easily. This one just happens to be right at the top of a curve in the drive. They get pretty large also, for an azalea.
This is part of my driveway with the rock ridge. I guess it has been awhile since I have shown much of my land so recent readers have probably never seen this. I am very blessed to have some beautiful land. There is a nice creek on the other side of the drive. You may just be able to make out that azalea bush right above where it looks as though the drive ends. The road makes a sharp turn back to the right there and you can then see the house.
This is some of the rock formation at the top of that ridge. The rocks are very large. I think it is very pretty. I always wanted land that had big stones and such and a creek on it.
This is one of the many, many dogwoods that are still blooming around here. They last for several weeks and look so nice scattered throughout the woods.
Working this land and building my house has been very hard at times but I am so grateful to be able to live here and in this manner. I told my mother that even if my house never got any more completed (other than lack of siding) I would be so happy and think I had the best place in the world. I was listening to a song today (you can tell music is important to me) and the guy singing was saying that the secret to life was to be thankful and I think that is true.

I used to think I didn't have a lot
Now I realize just how much I've got
Now every day I'm gonna take the time and stop
and be thankful, thankful.


*Fats Domino
The other song referred to is "Thankful" by Jonny Lang.

Garden Party

These are some of the seedlings from the seeds that karl sent from Pile of O'Maleys! I think I did something wrong with the first batch of seeds because the little seedlings promptly croaked. So, I tried again and had better results. These are Cherokee Purple and the Pantero Romanesco tomatoes. I have never been good at starting plants from seed unless I just sow the seed directly in the garden. That I can do. But starting seedlings ahead of time and having to keep them inside and harden them off etc. just gets to me. I guess I get distracted or bored with them and neglect to water and such. I prefer to buy the plants already started and just set them out. Partly this is just because I have so much stuff going on it is less trouble for me. However, it is getting more and more that I cannot find the plants I want because I have turned more towards growing heirloom varieties and most gardening centers carry hybrids.
Anyway, I also have some pepper plants started and several paprika plants. I am very excited about that. Apparently you can eat the paprika peppers just like others types but if you want it for the seasoning, you let the peppers turn red on the plant and then pick and dry them and then grind for cooking with. This is many more tomato plants than I need but I am going to share some with a buddy at work.
I have several things going on at the house that I hope to post about soon. I am trying to get started on the siding but need to do just a little more research on some stuff before I buy the trim. When I finally purchase the stuff I may see about taking a week off from work so that I can really get a good portion of it done. Allen wants me to do the trim his way but I am not sure about that. I think I may want to do it another way. That's why the song says, "ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself".

*Rick Nelson

Working Too Hard

Hey folks! I'm back! This has been a rough week to say the least. It's my second week on the new job site and I'm back to pouring footings and piers and tying rebar and I get to do it all in several inches of mud! The last couple of months at the railroad job spoiled me bad. Easy door hardware etc. and all gravel. It takes a few weeks to get accustomed to the rough stuff again and they have been pushing us hard to get a certain amount of piers poured per day and all that. This job is also a little further away and I have to go right through downtown Birmingham, so it takes longer to drive home and I am usually pretty tired by the time I get here. Perhaps after things calm down a little I can post more. Btw, that is the same pair of boots that I was showing off here back in August. They look a little rougher now. If I get 10 months out of a pair I am doing good. And these are $130 a pair Wolverines.
I have been so filthy after work that I have taken to keeping some extra clothes in my truck because I have to stop after work one day a week to buy groceries. People look at you bad enough if you go into a public place with work boots on much less dirty work boots.
One of my good buddies that was on the railroad job got transferred over to this new site this past week so that helped my feelings a lot. He is just a couple of years older than me and we have a good time working together. However, he accidentally dropped a 16' form on me so that didn't help a lot. It skipped down my leg and made a nice pattern of bruises though. Times like these make me wonder why I do this kind of work and I really don't have a good answer. I mean, we leave work a lot with our clothes torn, mud and blood caked all over us from building things that society needs (hospitals, schools etc.) and all to have people just dog you because of your profession. A craftsperson used to be respected but now we are all regarded as the dregs of society. I had one lady (?) tell me I could not drink from a public water fountain. A lot of the hospitals we work on will allow us to buy food from the cafeteria but we often have to go outside to eat. When we can eat inside we have to sit far away from everyone else and have actually been told not to look at anyone other than our fellow workers. I have never been invited to attend one church that I have helped build.
I didn't mean for this post to be a rant or anything, I have just been tossing a lot of things over in my head lately I guess. I have tried several times to find other employment but I always seem to get pulled back to construction, which is really weird, me being a woman especially. Are we destined to take certain paths in life in order for particular events to occur or to meet certain people? Is the wisest choice in life the one that you feel most drawn to or the one that makes the most practical sense? For me they rarely are the same! At times, I think I have made the biggest mistake of my life by not having another career and at other times I think I would never be able to have the life I really want if I had left it. I know I would never have been able to build this house as I did, had I not been in this industry. And seems like whenever I need something that I cannot provide myself, one of the men I work(ed) with will just appear with whatever it is that I was looking for. Is this Someone looking out for me or just the power of our unconscious minds' desire that created enough positive energy for these events to unfold? Or, is that positive energy in our minds how the Someone works? Maybe these thoughts are way too profound for a lowly construction worker.
I do know that in the next several years I will get to where I cannot do the work anymore. Parts of me hurt now that should not and may eventually require surgery. The guys are beginning to fuss more about me doing certain things and try to run me away from the harder jobs. I know I will quit when I begin to feel that I am causing more work for them. But I'm sure that when the right time comes a new door will open for me and I will start a new adventure.

*Lyle Lovett/ My Baby Don't Tolerate album

Kiss

Can anyone tell me if this is kiss me over the garden gate? I found this plant growing down by the creek next to the road. It is a very tall, kind of bambooey looking thing and just covered in these flowers. I hope it comes back this year as I would like to transplant some of it closer to the house. If it is KMOTGG, does anyone have experience with it? I read that it can be invasive in some areas.
I am working on cleaning the basement up this weekend (did I mention that already?) so to be able to do some pottery and such. I made a lot of progress yesterday and am going to try to build some shelves today for my supplies.


*Prince/ the only song of his that I can even tolerate much less like. Also, done by Tom Jones.

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

And it did too! Some strong winds also as you can see from the top of that tree now laying on the ground. I'm glad to see that because that top had actually broken out of one of the trees some time back and had gotten hung up way out of reach. I could not figure how I was going to get it down but the storms yesterday took care of that for me, so now all I have to do it cut it up. The recent rains are helping quite a bit to get our water levels back up to normal but I think we are still in a "considerable drought". The dogwoods have really been opening up this past week too.
I love these trees and have been ecstatic to see how many are around here. There are lots of redbuds too but they don't show up in the photos as well. Hopefully, these rains are helping my grass seeds get started.
This is a discovery I made last year and have been meaning to post about it but just never quite got around to it. At first, I thought (hoped!) this was a witch hazel bush but finally found out it is a spicebush. Lindera Benzoin. It is over near the creek and has these little blooms that open around mid-March. I think it is native but have never seen one before. Of course, unless you happen upon it while it is blooming you would never pay much attention to it as it's summer foliage is somewhat unremarkable. It's leaves and branches do have a spicy smell and my book says it can be used to make teas. The female plants produce small red berries (this is apparently a male) that can also be used as a substitute for allspice.
The weather is still kind of crappy today so I think I will spend most of the weekend trying to clean up and organize the basement. I must get that area in order because it is also my studio and I need to start producing some more pottery. I also have several stained glass projects to do for myself and others that I must start soon. One of them is a window for the bathroom but I need to come up with a design first. It will be something abstract, maybe with vague references to the movement of the sun etc. Speaking of the sun, it has just about disappeared from the house at this time. I was hoping to see today how much was left but it is so overcast that no sunshine can be seen. The past week or two the temps have been in the mid to high 70's during the day and the house warms up to about 73 degrees. It is very comfortable and it holds this temp throughout most of the night, only dropping 4 or 5 degrees in the early morning hours. The heat has not been used more than just a few minutes in some time. I'm not sure if the warmth coming from the ground under the house and through the uninsulated floor has anything to do with this or not. I believe this will affect the temperature in the house some though and am glad now that I have not insulated the floor. Next winter when I have the wood burning stove in the basement it will help warm the house also through radiant heat. I believe I will install some vents in the floor also which will facilitate the cool air from the basement coming in during the summer and the warm air (from the stove) in the winter. Of course, these vents can be closed so to help regulate things also. It's sort of like the house and earth is telling me what to do next if I will listen to it. OK, I'm not weirding out on you but from just observing what happens when I build a certain thing, you can learn a lot. Everything is working it's self out, even the perceived catastrophes have shown me which direction to go next.
A favorite quote of mine from the writing's of Joseph Campbell is, " We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
Now, that is not to say that I don't believe in any planning of life (I think you really need to plan a house well) but we shouldn't hold on so tightly to our little life plan that we strangle any serendipitous fortune that comes out way. It seems sometimes when I quit trying so hard to do something a certain way that a much more simple and elegant way just presents itself. Some would chalk this up to good karma or luck or the will of God but, Go with the flow, dude...ya know?

*Bob Dylan

Good Intentions

I have recently been trying to make more of an effort to tidy up the landscape around here. During construction things get so torn up and you get to where you don't really care but I have gotten tired of looking at just dirt and mud. My dream is to have a mostly naturalized landscape with native plants and grasses. Something that does not require a lot of maintenance or resources. This area was clear cut about 10 years ago and so it was very thick with undergrowth and small trees when we came down here. About all you could do with it was just bulldoze it and start over. I want to restore the forest areas; clear out the privet hedge and briers. Well, a friend was telling me how he his trying to do similar work on his land and has gone to the National Resources Conservation Services for help. I had never heard of this but basically, the federal government, if they deem you fit, pays you to restore your own land. An agent will come out and advise you , after viewing your property, on which programs you may be eligible for. Most all counties have an agent; it's something like your county extension office. Then they give you money, a written plan of what you must do and a certain amount of time in which to do it. My friend has gotten money to restore some watersheds and help restore the quail population in our area.
Part of the quail program is that you must plant a certain amount of native grasses for them. I have been needing to plant something in front of my house because the runoff is horrible and it looks terrible too so he gave me some of the seed he had leftover. It is a mixture of 3 grasses and 2 wildflowers. Indian Grass, Little Bluestem, Switchgrass, Partridge Pea, Illinois Bundleflower and Blackeyed Susan. He also gave me some Tickseed and Mexican Hat seeds. So, Allen and Oliver boxbladed the front area smooth again and we got up a lot of the rocks and sticks and then I sowed these seeds. Now, I didn't have that much so, on the friends advice, I sowed these along the edge of the woods and then just did a short fescue grass in the big open areas. I did sow the wildflower seeds in with the grass and might get some more flower seed. This is the mixture I was given. I know you can't tell much from the photo but it did have a wonderful silky feel. I did this on Sunday and Monday and it rained good today so I hope the seed takes and begins to grow.

I also built a little temporary retaining wall along the drive to stop dirt from washing onto the driveway and planted some more daylilies and daffodils and some other stuff. I will try to show that soon. I have tries to start a few things in the garden but need to do a lot of work there as the ants and grass are fighting for control within it's borders.

Well, time for bed. I have to get up earlier these days because this new job is about 20 minutes further from my house. Ack!

*Lyle Lovett and his Large Band

Since The Last Time

I completely finished the handrails on the deck this weekend. I am very pleased with the look and cost.
Just a little close up so you can see the details better. Now, I need some outdoor furniture and a grill! This is a cross section of how we ran the cap. That is just a five-quarter deck board on the top. All of this is fastened down with galvanized screws or spiral nails. You could use stainless steel fasteners but they are very expensive. Either one will not cause a discolored spot on your lumber and of course, won't rust.
I love the shadows that the rebar casts.

I did not get a whole lot accomplished this weekend but did get some much needed landscaping done. I'll show you that later.


*Lyle Lovett/ Joshua Judges Ruth album

Dark Hole Again

Last weekend we pumped out the spring repeatedly in an effort to remove as much of the sludge that I allowed to wash down into it. The recent heavy rains had the underground springs moving swiftly which helped tremendously. The spring would recover quickly each time we pumped it down, in fact, the pump could never quite overtake it, so it kept all that muck stirred up good and allowed it to get sucked up and out. I was quite fascinated to see the bottom of the spring. The photo is not very clear but maybe you can make out something about it. The spring consists of a vertical shaft that goes down about 10 feet. There it meets a horizontal shaft of about the same diameter that flows into and out of this vertical shaft. They both appear to be lined with big boulders of sandstone. There are 2 other separate horizontal shafts up closer to the surface that allow water to flow out a little bit down the hill. This is partially where my little spring creek comes from.
You can kind of see how muddy the water was as it came out. In this photo, the rate of flow had slowed down somewhat due to the line clogging some. At times it spewed water 2-3 feet in the air as it left this hose. We emptied the spring many, many times over the course of the day, sometimes letting it recover for an hour or 2. We removed a lot of sand and muck and also leaves and roots. During one of the sessions I saw an enormous crawfish running around in the bottom! He was probably wondering what the hell was going on... there had been water here a minute ago!!
I was ecstatic to see how fast the water flowed into the spring at the bottom. It would refill in just a matter of minutes. Of course, I know it slows down at times, depending on how dry it has been but I think this is a very good source of water. Anyway, I think it did a lot of good. I have been checking the spring on and off this week and it is getting clearer and clearer. In fact, you can see clearly 16" or so down into the water. I think I may do one more good cleaning session maybe next weekend, before we reconnect the supply lines. The alternative spring is working fine; the water is very clear and the filter has been able to clean itself properly with this clear water. I set it to purge itself once a day for about a week to get all that sediment out from when the water was bad and it seems to have cleared up. So, things are looking up. Knock on wood.
This 3 day weekend has been great and we have just about finished with the deck handrails. Tomorrow I need to finish up the rebar at the entrance and apply a coat of linseed oil to the whole deck and it will be done! Time to start bringing out the potted plants and such. I will post some photos of the finished product a little later.
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend if you celebrate Easter and even if you don't! The weather here lately has been a beautiful celebration of spring itself. Lots of things budding and blooming and sprouting. My tomato seeds that karl sent me have sprouted and I am very excited about that. I shared a couple of the varieties with the Switchman, as he is an avid gardener also, and he reported to me the other day that all of his had come up. He seemed quite happy about it. I can't wait to taste these new varieties.

*Cowboy Junkies/from album "Open"

Don't Fence Me In

I finally started on the deck handrails this past weekend. Any free time I have had lately has been spent trying to fix problems or kill bugs etc. so I was real excited to finally get to start something new. However, it did not get off to a good start. I woke up Saturday with a rare but potent migraine headache. I only get them once or twice a year but they are usually doozies when I do. It was storming outside anyway so I guess it was as good a time as any if I was going to have to be sick so I doped myself up enough to go to sleep (sorta). Mid afternoon I awoke with some relief and it had quit raining so I took the water pump I borrowed from work down to the spring and Allen came to help me start pumping out the muddy water. We did a lot of good I think and the spring is much clearer.
Anyway, we started on the deck Sunday and got about halfway. I brought home 2 big loads of leftover rebar from work and incorporated that into my handrails. It is an effort to save money and have something that is a little different. You know, think outside the handrail. With a little imagination and luck finding a lot of scrap material you can come up with some unique things. Of course, it is very strong also. But, I cannot take all the credit for the design as I saw something very similar to this in a magazine. I think I have mentioned before that out here I don't have any building inspections but I do have certain code requirements for the insurance company. Handrails and smoke alarms I think are the two main ones. So, the International Building Code states that: Porches, balconies or raised floor surfaces located more than 30 inches above the floor or grade below shall have guards not less than 36 inches in height. Required guards shall have intermediate rails or ornamental closures that do not allow passage of a sphere 4 inches in diameter. Now, it goes on to say that you cannot have horizontal rails that result in a ladder effect but I am going to try to get around that one. Almost every handrail I have ever installed on a commercial site (houses included) has had horizontal rails and nothing was ever said.

The posts were installed one at a time and the rebar threaded through as we went, with the longest pieces of rebar passing through 3 posts. This will be capped with a horizontal 2x4 and a 5 quarter deck board on top of that. I liked the use of these bent bars to do the corners and it is very sturdy. After everything is up I will come back and clean the rebar up with a wire brush and spray it good with a matte polyurethane. I am anxious to get this completed so I can get all the potted plants on the deck now that it is warming up. I thought I would plant some of the morning glory seeds that karl, over at Pile of O'Melays sent me, in a big pot and let it roam around the handrail.
Here you can see how the posts are attached to the deck. I notched the deck boards to let the posts come in flush and notched 3/4" out of the posts themselves. This lets the rebar that is centered in the posts fall pretty much right over the outer edge of the deck. The posts are through bolted to the band although in a few places I am going to have to use lag screws because the layout hit directly on some of the joists. Not a problem though. Allen put that little bevel on the bottom of the posts just for a little nicety. I get a three day weekend this week so I am very excited to get all that time to work on the house. I can finish the handrail in one more day I believe, now that all the posts are drilled, and have the other 2 days to work on the inside of the house maybe. The next big project is siding. I am so sick of looking at that Tyvek.

Lots of stuff going on now that the days are getting longer and I really want to get started on the garden too. There is still so much to do I get overwhelmed continually but try not to think about everything. I have made a list and just try to do one thing at a time. I saw my brother and sister a couple of weeks ago after a long absence and it shocked them a little how gray my hair is now! Don't know if it is the house or just genetics.

It's Raining Again

My creek is up quite a bit. I can hear it's rushing waters from the house. It has been raining here pretty regularly and we are all very happy for it. I hope it continues until we get out of this rainfall deficit.
In between rain storms we have had some gorgeous spring days. Temps in the 60's and 70's. On these days the house warms up to around 70 degrees and will stay stay at that for most of the night. I do have to let the heat come on some in the wee mornings hours but the house seems to retain heat well.
I am trying to expand my collection of daffodils. These are planted in an open area as you approach the house. I like the fact that they all seem to face towards the driveway, as if to greet me when I come home.
I hope to be working on deck handrails this weekend. I'll post any progress I make on that.

*Supertramp.

Train Kept A-Rollin'

Today was one of the coolest work days that I have ever had. It's not very often in construction that we, the construction workers, get to witness the occupation or use of our buildings. A lot of times we will be sent to others jobs before the current one is over or when we get it finished the owners just say, hey, that's great, now get out! But today was different. This is a shot of the building when I got to work this morning, just as the sun is coming up. I think the lights are cool.
See, today was the day that they brought the first locomotive in for fueling. There are 2 tracks inside the building and right now only one is connected but the other is all ready for use. The railroaders have been coming over to the building a lot this past week, checking everything out and looking so everyone was very excited today. All the big wigs from Atlanta came and they let us stop work and watch them bring the train in. I realized after I saw these photos that I should have gotten one alongside the train. There were actually 2 locomotives but you can't see that. They were fueling them up as we left. These things are enormous when you are standing next to one in a building. Anyway, it was a great day.

* there were many songs to choose from about trains but I liked this one by the Yardbirds, one of my favorite groups as they are one of Clapton's first bands.

Too Many Dirty Dishes

A lot of people have asked me if I eat out all the time because I don't have a kitchen. I sometimes cook for the guys at work and they are completely confounded that I am able to prepare decent meals without a stove but it is really not a big deal. I guess it does take some getting used to but with a little thought you can prepare most any meal with just a few things. I do try to keep it simple, mainly because I just like foods that are cooked quickly (the meals feel lighter) and because I am pretty busy, as you might guess, and need to get the cooking over with. I like to cook a lot, which surprises the guys too. They think that any woman that is "liberated", as they like to say, would not like to cook. They're so funny. I try to cook a full meal most evenings and that means a meat, at least one veggie (usually two) and one carb, usually rice or couscous etc. This is a really easy recipe for just about any cut of pork. You take about 2 T. honey (local beekeeper), 2 T good, stone ground mustard, a little garlic, about a T of olive oil and salt and pepper. Mix all of that up and pour over the pork. Roll it around to coat the meat and bake for about 30 minutes for a tenderloin or pork chops etc. A little longer if it is a bigger roast or so. As you can see, I don't really measure or time stuff; you just know when it's right. You may need to make more sauce for a larger piece too and sometimes I'll add a teaspoon of hoisin sauce.
I use this toaster oven, which works great for baking lots of things. The guys kid me and say that I'll never be able to cook in a full size oven again. I have made them many homemade biscuits in this oven. Plus, the toaster oven works wonderfully to warm your plates on as you are cooking. I mostly use my own pottery to eat off of and stoneware will draw the heat out of food if it is not warmed up itself. I have a microwave and a little, one burner propane cooktop and that is about all I need really. Of course, I don't cook for several people either. I am going to buy a nice grill soon for the deck and that will help a lot.
Several of the younger men I work with say that their wives don't cook, in fact, don't even know how. How is this? Mama never really taught me much but I guess I just wanted to know. The guys often have to go home, bathe their kids and cook supper. I don't understand these younger women. There is nothing wrong with these men doing some of this but the women ought to know how just for their own sake. They seem to have an attitude of, oh, he'll do it for me. I have talked to some of them myself and so it's not just what the guys are telling me. It seems some of these younger women think that being a feminist means sitting on your butt and talking some man into doing everything. I guess I lost my handbook when I was little because I never have figured out how to find a man that will do all these things. But what these women don't realize is that they are dependent on someone else then for their well being and that is a bad thing. All women, and I guess men too, should know:
1. How to cook at least a small variety of meals.
2. How to sew a little, at least to make repairs on garments.
3. How to mix one good drink.
4. How to change a flat tire.
5. How to properly drive a nail.
6. How to weld.
7. How to wash clothes. You'd be surprised how many don't.
8. How to grow something you can eat.
9. How to balance a checkbook.
10. How to write a good thank you note.

Was this all a rant? Did I leave out an item that you think everybody should know?


*title is an old blues song by Albert Collins.

What's The Matter Here?

This is the creek that runs from my spring; it is supposed to run clear. I think my efforts to prevent more mud from washing into the spring have been successful, however, so much is already in there that the recent rains just keep it stirred up as the water eventually makes it way through it's underground crevices and into the spring. Last Sunday it got so bad that I have just had to temporarily abandon the spring and jump over to another one. There are 2 springs on my land. The other one is very clear but it is a surface spring; the water just bubbles out from beneath a tree. It is a large volume of water but it is more exposed to the environment. Any deer or possum walking by can just poop right in it or whatever so I don't want to stay on this water long. It is my plan to help the spring purge itself by pumping the water out and as the spring fills back up, pump it out over and over until it is clean. I don't know if this will work but I have to try.
Last weekend also had me fighting it out with the wasps. It warmed up some and I came home to find about 20 wasps in the house. I had had it with those damn things so it was war for about 2 hours. I think I got most of them and stopped up the bottom of the clerestory wall so any more can't come down that way.
I still have to fix the spring and I may have to redo the media in my water filter but things are improving. It is kind of two steps forward and one step back all the time. This weekend I got the posts for the deck handrails and have them cut etc. They are almost ready to start installing. Tomorrow I must attend my brother and his wife's 25th wedding anniversary party so I will not get anything done on the house but I don't see them much as it is.
It is gradually getting warmer here so I planted a row of lettuce and 2 rows of brussel sprouts the other day after I came home from work. I plan on starting my tomato seeds soon. I am very much ready for warm weather and longer days.
Another carpenter left the job to go to another one so I am one of 2 left. Not sure how much longer I will be there or where I will go afterward. The Switchman must have noticed that I was looking kind of down at work Monday (after the wasp fight, etc.) and he yelled for me to smile as he went by on a train. I guess I didn't do a good job of it because he frowned and asked did I not have anything to smile about? I just shook my head as he was out of earshot at this point. About an hour later he came out and found me to ask what was wrong and so I told him some of my frustrations. I tried not to rant, lest he think that I am more of a nut than he already believes. He did offer a sympathetic ear though and cheered me up some.
Hey, speaking of switchmen and trains... did you know that locomotives are full of sand? I know you know, Woody, so you don't get to say! We installed a huge sand silo at work and we heard that it was somehow used for the trains but I did not understand until the other day that the locomotives actually have big compartments up front and carry it with them!

*10,000 Maniacs/ In My Tribe album

Mama's Hand

I took advantage of this past weekend's great warm weather to wash some big things and give my new dryer a break. This is an old quilt my grandmother and mother made (and probably an aunt) many years ago. These old quilts have a certain quality that quilts made today just don't have. They feel much weightier for one thing and I like that. This one was made with actual cotton lining whereas the ones made today use some kind of synthetic crap. Of course, the pattern is a little rough and not as artistic as, say, the one I have hanging in my bedroom (http://edificerex.blogspot.com/2007/12/ill-be-home-for-christmas.html ) and the stitches not as fine but I love it anyway. One fond memory I have as a child is sitting on Granny's front porch in the summer with her and my aunt Corinne and watching them piece quilt squares or snap beans. Her porch was very shaded and made of concrete so it was very cool there and we would have plenty of iced tea. Quilting is one art I have never been able to get the hang of so I have always had a good appreciation for the work that goes into them.

Milestone

I am now posting from my house!! The final connections were made yesterday by the utility company so I am now totally connected! Well, to the Internet, maybe not to reality. I bought a new computer, a new TV and a cool new set of stainless knives by Kitchen Aid! I am more excited about the knives than the TV. I don't care for TV much but do watch a couple of things so I only subscribed to the very basic cable service, which is only like 10 channels, most of which are crap. I do get about 30 music channels though, which I didn't expect, so that is a pleasant surprise. The computer I bought is great! It is so lovely! There is a great little computer company here in town where I just had them build me one. In fact, they are about a half a mile from me. I could walk through the woods to their place. Very nice people and they came and set it all up for me which is a good thing. I mean I could do it but it is nice to have someone who really understands that stuff to get it going. The name of their company is O'Gosh Computers and they do have a website. If I were more organized I would have a link for you right now but I am still fumbling through everything. My photo editing program has changed and how I download to Blogger so I am still trying to figure all of this out. The text of the post is not aligned over to the left either and I cannot seem to change it and I am not able to view the photo that I am trying to post so God only knows what this post will look like. I don't know if this is Blogger or something in the computer. I suspect it is Blogger being a butt right now.

Things are going better here although most items are still in the process of being fixed. I plan to do a little more work on the spring today and try to run some trim inside the house. I have been a little slack lately on the house but much pick up the pace some.

High Hopes

These photos are a little out of sequence so just bear with me here. I don't have the patience to try to fix them. This is my attempt to fix the problem I am having with rain runoff clouding my spring. Basically, I am trying to build a dirt cricket. A cricket is a small roof that diverts water behind a chimney for those of you who may not be familiar. I discovered 2 holes in the ground on the uphill side of the spring and I believe the muddy water flowing down the hill was then entering the spring underground before it actually reached the mouth of the spring. At least, that is what I am hoping. I hope by backfilling the uphill side it will cause the water to run around the spring and not down these holes or into the mouth of the spring. I put that meter box over the shutoff valve so that it is still accessible, plus the pipe needed to be covered anyway to keep it from freezing.
Here I have backfilled a good bit of the area after putting down a layer of poly as extra protection. I need to lay up another course or two of the stone on the uphill side so that there is a curb of sorts for the water running downhill to be diverted around the spring.

This is the beginning of the project. I got some Sonotube from the job (leftovers) and it was the perfect size! It is 2 feet diameter. Sonotube is great stuff if you need to pour something round. It comes in many different sizes and you can get it at Lowe's or some other similar devil store. Now, in this instance, I poured on the outside of the form where you would normally use Sonotube to pour the inside. Don't laugh at my formwork; it was difficult to get that stuff down in that crevice! And I had to cut the Sonotube open to get it around the water line. Anyway, a few nail pins (also invaluable) and we are ready. I didn't get any photos of the footing but I'm sure you can imagine.

I thought the tube was going to be too big but turns out it was just right to go around the mouth of the spring.
Here I am in my Superwoman pose! I had to haul the concrete and mortar down in a wheelbarrow but the stones I did bring down in my truck. Still, it was a pretty good workout. I kept the Sonotube in place to help me keep a good circle going with the block. When you are through, you just peel the Sonotube off or out of the concrete.
Here you can see the footing and the stone work. Most of the block is some old stuff that I busted up out of the BFA's driveway. I thought it was kind of cool looking because it is so old it was poured back when they used slag from steel mills as the aggregate, so you get these bright, glassy bits in the block. They are pretty much all a uniform thickness too so they lay well. I pointed the outside of the wall on the uphill side to help seal it up and put the poly against the block before backfilling too. So, we'll see. As I said, I need to go a little higher with the wall and build a little berm uphill to help divert more water.

Thank you all for your kind words recently. I am not going to give up on my house. It is just like any construction project; you always run into problems that you did not forsee but you fix them. Everything is just one thing at a time and you keep going. I think I may have not explained my work situation clearly though. I may have to go out of state but we do get to come home about twice a month. Sometimes you can come home every weekend; depends on how far away you are. Anyway, I could make a lot of money if I go and afford to build the other side of the house (much faster) when I come home for good, so it has it's advantages. And if I go with mostly the crew that I have worked with on this last job it will be a hell of a good time. We have already decided that we are going to get up a bowling team and join a league down there and I told the guys we are all going to learn to dance to the Zydeco music too! It will be an adventure for sure.

Something Warm

I rarely make food posts but here is one for a change. It has turned off cold again here and I really enjoy a nice bowl of hot steel-cut oats in the winter. I don't care for the regular rolled oats that most of us are used to in oatmeal but steel-cut oatmeal is a totally different texture and taste. I just put a little honey (bought from local beekeeper), chopped apples (organic if possible) and pecans (a required staple in the South). That is a cup of organic milk and yikes! some bacon in the background. I would like to raise my own hog someday. We raised them when I was growing up (beef too) and the taste cannot even be compared to store bought pork. Plus, you know, there is the thing with no drugs or hormones etc.
Things have not improved with the house as we have gotten even more rain but at least I have this weekend off to be able to work on correcting the problem. Well, one of them anyway. I am very glad for the rain but must find a solution to this water problem. The creek is way up and I can even hear the rush of the water up at the house! That is very nice. Well, got to get to work; I'll try to show some of my work this weekend.

Nobody Knows You (When You're Down And Out)

That's a crappy title, huh? I am in a bit of a bad frame of mind right now. Things are not going well. I have made an effort through this blog to try to show all of the joys and frustrations of building something as significant as a house and how it affects your life (or has affected mine anyway). I don't know if anyone out there who reads this blog is even remotely interested in building their own home or gets any worthwhile information out of this. It is very satisfying to build your own home but I have chosen one of the hardest ways to do this, as usual. Building out of your pocket is very hard and takes a long time. I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it as I will not have a mortgage but I want to finish this house so badly.
I am having trouble with the water again. I have begun enclosing the spring with masonry but this weekend we had some torrential rains that muddied the spring tremendously. The filter that I have is good but cannot handle that much silt and mud so the water is not fit to drink at the moment. It will take it 2-3 days to clear I am getting very frustrated with this. I am very grateful for the rain here but I cannot tolerate the water in this condition. I believe there is a hole on the uphill side of the spring that is the cause of this, combined with the disturbed soil from trenching. As I said, I am in the process of backfilling and moving soil to keep water from even running to the spring but I thought I had made some headway, not made it worse.
Another bizarre problem is that apparently, back during warm weather, wasps got in the house and built a nest (a big one) somewhere in a wall without being noticed. Now, whenever we get a warm spell, wasps start crawling out of the clerestory wall. I mean lots of them. One small section on the back of the clerestory is still open (on the inside) and they must be coming from there.
Another problem that I am having is purely my own fault for not doing enough research. I noticed after moving in that I was having a real problem with moisture in the house, as in condensation on the windows. Now, I paid good money for double insulated windows and knew that they should not be doing that. After a little investigation I learned that it is my propane heater. The nice, cozy fireplace. It puts off water!! Plus, it is just not adequate for heating the whole house. Also, I called today for a refill on my tank. I was disgusted to see that the first 200 gallons barely lasted 2 months and now propane is hitting near $4.00 a gallon. This is double what the first tank cost me. This is just not what I had in mind for affordable heating. I mean, I can technically afford it but I don't want to! I think I talked about this in a previous post and my decision to install a wood burning heater in the basement. All of this can be fixed but I am very aggravated at myself for not investigating all of this better before now.
And to top all of this off, work is slowing to a crawl in town for my company and I have been asked to go to Louisiana for the next 2 years. I just moved in my house and now I may have to leave it. I must keep working in my present occupation in order to finish my house and as quickly as possible because the work that I do is beginning to take it's toll on me physically. I cannot make the same amount of money doing my pottery or something similar and I don't believe I can make it in construction for more than 5 or 6 more years. Also, some of you may have noticed a revision in my profile. Allen is beginning to build his own house elsewhere. This is not a new development though. This was decided over a year ago but we do continue to help each other out when we can.
I know everything will work out fine eventually and this is all my own doing anyway as I always want to try something new and do something different. Everyone told me I was crazy to become a construction worker! I guess everyone wonders throughout their lives if the decisions that they have made have always been the right ones. Should I have done this or that differently? Should I have taken other people's advise or followed my own heart? I have always followed my own heart ( but taken other advise seriously too) and it's been a hard row to hoe sometimes but I guess it is for everybody.
I am still working on getting internet service at the house and a new computer but I think it will still be around the end of the month before all of that is completed. I hope to post more frequently then, if I don't give up on it all together.

Hey, Good-Looking (Whatcha' Got Cookin?)

This is the temporary kitchen that I have built. It's not so bad really other than I do not have a stove. But I still make do even without that. The small, unfinished room that you see beyond the kitchen is the pantry. It's an 8'x8' room so that is not bad for a pantry though. Completing the kitchen will probably be one of the last things I do. I don't know why really, it just seems to be working out that way but I might change my mind. Having it like this is almost a good thing too because I can live with the space for a while I see how I actually use the area. You know, where does it actually work to store such and such or use this appliance here or there. It's like a construction project I read about once. This company build a school and at the architects request, did not pour any sidewalks. The builders packed up their stuff and left but then came back about a year later and poured all the sidewalks where the students had naturally created their own walkways, which were the most convenient paths.
I built this quick little shelf unit to store my few dishes. Most of these are my own pottery although I do have a couple of pieces from other potters. I will not have any space for wall cabinets but that is OK. I don't really like them anyway but I will keep some nice open shelves for dishes I use often. Many people have asked me if I intend to build my own finish cabinets. No, I do not. Being a form carpenter and not a cabinet maker I intend to save myself the frustration of such and just pay a small but good cabinet company here in town to make them for me. I know of a good company here that does nice work. I will pour my own countertops though as they will be concrete. I like to do as much of the work as I can but sometimes it is just worth it to hire people that do that thing for a living. They are much better at it than me and I am helping the local economy.
There is still not a lot going on at the house; just little things here and there. I have had other financial obligations that have taken my money that could have been used on buying material for the house. I am scavenging more material for the house and think I have come up with a really cool idea and material for the deck handrails. One nice thing about being a female amongst so many men is that they will give you about anything you ask for. Of course, we give leftover material away to lots of people and I do have to wait until the job is over.

By the way, my spellchecker on Blogger has decided to stop working so if you see a bunch of misspelled words now, that's why. I try to check things but I am usually fairly tired by the time I write this.

Gloomy Sunday

These photos don't look gloomy but they were taken last weekend I believe. This weekend is drizzly rainy and dark but not too cold. It has been raining on and off for several days now and we are all very glad. So maybe it's not so gloomy after all. I actually had to go into work today as someone from our company has to be on the job if a subcontractor works, so I was the lucky one to get to go in. Anyway, I have been working on some stuff at the house but not anything really big or exciting. I ran some trim around the windows and worked on getting more of a temporary kitchen set up. Things are going well; just not enough money coming in fast enough to do some of the big projects that I need to do. You can see from these photos a little better the amount of sunlight that comes in. The book that I went by said that for people in our region, we should not have any more than 7% (of your square footage) in glass on the south side. I think that is actually a little slim. I think I could have gone with 10% and done OK. Of course, unless I just ran windows solid across the back, I could not have gotten too many more in. I did need some wall space. This is taken from the other side of the living area. There is a lot of work still to be done. This wall obviously needs sheathing and the tile work done and I think I will build a small hearth under the little heater. I am not really satisfied with the supplemental heating of the house. Even at 70 degrees inside the house still just feels cold. So, by way of an experiment and at Allen's insistence, we started heating the underside of the house, the basement area and turned this heater in the house way down. We put a propane heater under the house and directly under the bathroom where I had poured a small concrete slab for the water pump that did not end up going there. Well, the results have been astounding. That slate floor in the bathroom heated up (and the bedroom floor too) and it just warmed that whole area so incredibly. Before, that slate was so cold I could hardly stand to step on it. I knew it would be cold before I installed it but it seemed to chill the entire space. Now, it is so nice. When I have it heated you can't pry Grendal off that floor with a crow bar. I even laid down on it myself. It is really amazing how much difference having a warm floor makes. It warms the whole floor too; even out in the living room etc. Now, I have noticed that at 67-68 degrees the house actually feels warmer. I think that psychologically, having cold feet makes you cold all over. I was afraid that this would double my gas costs but the heater in the living room rarely comes on when the one in the basement is going so I think that it will not add that much at all.
I'm thinking now that if I install a good, efficient wood burning stove under the house and some vents in the floor, I could heat the house very nicely at very little cost. And on days that I don't feel like fooling with the wood stove I still have my gas back up. There is plenty of head room for such and it's all on concrete down there. I just need to figure out where to vent the smoke from a wood burning stove. I don't want it coming up right beside the house. As I mentioned before, I would also like to preheat my water through the use of a wood stove because that would save money on the water heater and I am also having some trouble with condensation in the house. The water going into the toilet and kitchen cold water line is SO cold the tank on the toilet and water lines sweat almost constantly.
I tried to get a decent photo of the bath since it has gotten a little more completed but there is not much room. This will one day be the guest bath so Pablo, if you and Libby come visit, this will be for you. I'll make Grendal stay on the other side.

I Should Have Known

Well, I guess I should not have said anything 'cause it wasn't but just a couple of days after that last post that we had a guy squashed on our job. A crew of guys came from Kansas to install some heavy equipment and as they were unloading some of it, on just their second day on the job, one of the pallets tipped over and fell on one of the men. Thankfully it did not kill him but it mashed him up pretty bad. At first we thought it broke both his legs but I think it only broke one. Our guys did very well and reacted quickly, flagging in the fire department and ambulance. The last I saw of the poor guy he was still laying in the middle of the gravel road and the paramedics were putting the IVs in etc. Fortunately, and I know that may sound weird, that is the worst accident on a job that I have ever actually seen.

The word spread fairly quickly and soon the railroaders were coming out to see what happened. The Switchman (some of you might remember) came out and found me to see what was going on. He sternly told me I better keep my little hind end away from anything like that going on. I assured him I try to always watch myself as I have a big aversion to pain and blood. I felt bad for the young man that was driving the forklift (who was picking the load when it tipped) as Steve said he was having a rough time of it after the accident.

I hope maybe to post again today or tomorrow and show a little about what is going on at the house.

Over Before You Know It

I'm not sure if this is an actual title to a song but I know that it is some of the lyrics to a favorite song of mine by Natalie Merchant. This week in Birmingham, not far from our job, a rival construction company had a man killed on the job when a large pipe fell on him and crushed him. Of course, when something like that happens it gets around pretty fast. Deaths don't happen a lot on construction sites nowadays but I have known of several since I've been in the business. There have been some deaths with my company, on our sites, but it has always been a subcontractor, not one of our boys. Our lunch time conversations sometimes turn to the morbid but it is a reality that we keep in the back of our heads. You have to constantly be on the look out for hazards but if it ever comes, we'll probably never see it until it's too late. Just the other day we were talking about stuff like this and we all agreed that the worst place or situation to "buy the farm" would be while you are in the Port-A-Pottie. I mean, when you are in there you are essentially blind. You really can't tell what is going on around you and they always put those things pretty close to the actual work. Nothing sends chills racing up your spine quicker than to be in there, doing your business, and to hear a back-up alarm very close to you from one of the pieces of machinery. I mean, if we have to leave this world on a job site please let it be doing something somewhat dignified; you know, saving a buddy from death or injury, something. Not squashed while you are trying to take a dump.
The photo is from our Christmas lunch but it is only part of the crew. This is probably the best bunch of guys I have ever worked with. We have all gotten along really well and had a great time. We have had several guys sent to other jobs already and today we had two more leave as our job is beginning to wind down. I suspect that I will be next to leave. I am usually a little sad when jobs end if I have been there for a while. You go through so much together on these jobs that you either end up hating each other or become great friends. We all thought we were going to die of heat strokes when the job started and now we are all freezing our butts off together. It has been very cold this week. I was working grouting handrail posts in today and one of the men that works with a subcontractor brought his little propane heater over and set it up right next to me so I could warm for a while. Of course, I could not stay in that spot for long but it was sweet anyway.
I plan to run some trim at the house this weekend and maybe work on enclosing the spring. I am still having a little bit of a problem with murkiness in the water from storm run off. We'll see what happens and hopefully I will show you my new washer and dryer too!
Be safe!!

Move Over

I think I have mentioned several times how happy I am with my shower but even Grendal loves it too. She gets very impatient for me to get out and will stick her head in and whack on the curtain with her paws. She wants to lick the water off the walls for some reason. I don't know. She has plenty of fresh spring water in her bowl, which she drinks, but she likes this. If I could just get her to clean the shower somehow...
She loves to lay in the patches of sunlight around the house too. I figure she may be adding somewhat to the heating of the house because she is dark colored and very large so her thermal mass is significant. When I mentioned this theory to Allen, he said that molecules produce more heat when they are agitated so therefore I should let Grendal soak up a lot of the sunlight and then kick her in the ass. That should agitate her pretty good and she would release a lot of heat. I said I did not think much of that theory. Seriously, Allen doesn't kick my cat but he likes to talk bad about her. Grendal is enjoying the house very much though. She plays a lot more than she used to.

I have been working on the kitchen some lately; mainly trying to get it more organized. I put up some temporary countertops and a wall shelf for dishes. I've run some more window trim and OH! Man! I almost forgot!!! I bought a new washer and dryer! They are beautiful! They are GE Energy Star models. Wonderful appliances. I will post about them soon. I know you are on the edge of your seat! But they are very nice and work so quickly; it's amazing.

The phone company came out this week and ran my cable for phone and internet, etc. it is not completely hooked up but it's getting close. Hopefully I will soon be posting from actually inside my house!! That will be so cool.

Frequent Visitors

I took this pic up at the old apartment where Allen now has his office and the computer. I was standing maybe 30 yards from these deer. They were all does but that one was a really good size. I have counted as many as 9 at one time in this area. Fred has been putting a little corn for them. I have heard from some of the guys at work that their food sources are going quickly this year due to the severe drought. They say that deer will normally wait until about February to browse the acorns and such but that all the acorns have already been eaten this year. There seems to be plenty still to eat in our area but I don't know much about deer and their habits. This bunch looked very healthy. I do remember years back when you could only hunt does on certain days but now, due to the population, you can take a doe a day here. My house is just down the hill so these make the rounds down there too. I don't leave any food for them though because I don't want them to associate my place with eating! They got all my azaleas as it is.

We got a little snow today and everybody down here is going nuts. It is embarrassing. We all seem to remember much more snow as kids but I'm not sure if that is true or just nostalgia. I know it rarely snows here anymore; at least anything that amounts to covering the ground.

The house is very cozy today although I have discovered a slight leak in my propane tank. I am not quite satisfied with the heating of the house though as the bathroom remains kind of chilly so I am investigating alternative ways of heating. I had the idea of a wood burning heater in the basement and perhaps even devising a way to heat my water with the wood. I have seen this done at a earth sheltered house near here. They say it works very well. It's nothing very pressing though and will probably be a project for next winter.

Happiness Is A Warm Toilet

Ok, so I took a little bit of liberty with that song title but it works anyway and does actually have something to do with this post. I don't actually have photos of the toilet ( I know you are disappointed) but I think you can imagine what I am talking about. I have been trying to observe the effects of the sun on the house lately and over the weekend I had a good chance to watch things. Yea, I had the weekend off finally! Anyway, I was a little surprised to realize that the sun does not start coming to into the house until about 9:00 a.m. Being down in a valley delays this and speeds the suns retreat in the afternoon. Not by much but some. Of course, the sun first enters through the east windows but moves quickly to the south facing ones. I basically have 2 rows of south windows; one high and one low. The clerestory windows sun the living room and the low ones in the kitchen and dining area sun the kitchen and parts of the living area. In the photo above you are seeing sun around 10:00 a.m. I am having one small problem though. If you look close at the sun in the lower corner there, you will see that it has a lot of shadow in it. I have 3 fairly large oak trees on the south side of the house and one of them ( the closest to the house) insists on keeping it's leaves as long as it possibly can so it is actually blocking about 50% of the sunlight coming through the clerestory windows. If you look up at the windows at the right time this is clearly visible but I could not get a decent photo of this. So....I may have to cut this tree. I have plenty more back there and actually might not have room for all of them when they begin to get bigger and spread out.
But back to the title of the post. By afternoon the sun is coming into the bathroom and bedroom windows, warming those rooms before going down for the evening. Just by chance, the sunlight falls directly on the toilet seat for a good amount of time and I have to say, that really feels nice. It's a small luxury but I have read about people who pay big bucks for toilets with heated seats and here I get mine for free! Of course, like all good things it doesn't seem to last long but it's nice while it's there.
As far as technicalities, the temps this weekend were in the 50's and the house regular maintains an inside temperature, in the daylight hours, of between 65-70 degrees with no additional heat source. I think if I install ceramic tile in the kitchen (walls and floor) this will help the temps stay up longer because the kitchen really gets a lot of sun. I still have not insulated the floor so this may help also, and installing siding on the house. The walls are not up to the best R-value yet. My power bill for this past month was $64. I was not real happy about that. I know it's that crappy hot water heater. I must start saving money for the solar water system. Also, it looks as though my yearly gas bill will probably average about $65-70 a month (although most of it will be used in the winter). Not really happy about that either so I am looking into some additional solar heating ideas. At any rate though, my house is beautiful and wonderful and I am very happy and thankful for it.

Stormy Weather

Well, this photo does not look all that stormy but we have really gotten some bad weather today and more is coming. They called a rain out today at work so you know it was bad. We always joke that we don't get rained out anymore unless they hear the tornado sirens go off. The lightning finally convinced them today.
Not much going on at the house. I think we may try to rough in for the washer and dryer this weekend and I am going to trim out some windows on the inside. The next big projects are going to be the exterior of the house. It looks awful on the outside and I have got to get something started there. I did find out this week that there will not be any construction costs for the phone company to run lines to my house though, so that is some good news. I guess I will have a land line but I am more concerned with getting Internet connections and maybe some TV. I haven't been able to watch CBS Sunday Morning lately. That is about the only show I much care to watch. Well, Antiques Roadshow too. Am I a nerd or what?
The water filter seems to still be working fine although I did have a brief period of dirty water about a week ago that I can't figure out. It was right after a very heavy rain so I suspect maybe it was from runoff into the spring. I am going to observe everything after this rain and see what happens. I guess the filter is backwashing itself. It is set to do it after midnight and I never hear it. I am tempted to get up during the night that it is scheduled and see if it is actually working.
Several people have asked if I have noticed if the house seems to be functioning as far as absorbing the heat from the sun during the day etc. I want to keep some records of temperatures inside the house to see what it is doing. The last weekend I was off I did notice that the heater did not run any during the day and the house was staying about 69-70 degrees. I believe this was with the outside temps being in the mid 50's. But does this occur in regular houses? Does anyone out there have to run their heat in the daylight hours under the same conditions? There is quite a bit of sunlight coming in the house at this point. If I can get a day off so that I am home during the day I will try to photograph some of this! We have been having warmer than normal temps this week (after that terrible cold the week before) so anything I would record now I don't think would really count. I do know that the underside of the house stays fairly warm now even when it is really cold outside. When I backfill that concrete wall it will get better still I believe.

Well, I'll try to have something a little more interesting next post. Right now my big excitement is to turn the stereo up and take a good hot shower. I have to say, that shower is worth the money and effort I put into it. Allen said the only problem with it is that you don't want to get out. Amen.

The House Is Rockin'

My decor is still a bit sparse but there is one important new addition to the house that you can see here. If you look up near the ceiling you will notice a small white rectangle on the left and right up near the rafters. These are my new Polk Audio stereo speakers. They are soooo cool. I tried to be very conservative in some areas and use reclaimed materials etc. when building the house but this was, in part, so that I could splurge on some few items and still keep a good budget. Now, these speakers are nowhere near the most expensive that I could have bought but they were not cheap. I don't care much for TV but I love music of all kinds and have always wanted I really killer stereo system. If you like music and don't have the speakers installed in the ceiling or walls, stop now and go buy them. They are worth it. I have enjoyed these things so much this week. I still don't have cable or Internet service yet (the utility company is estimating things now) so listening to music is my entertainment. In the mornings, I like to listen to NPR as I am getting ready for work. Clapton sounds incredible; it's like I have all new CD's! It's a good thing no one lives nearby. I really don't play it that loud but occasionally I will turn it up.

My postings have been a bit sparse lately too. We are working much overtime lately. Saturdays and Sundays. I think my last day off was New Year's Day. I'll make enough money to go pay cash for a washer and dryer (yea!!!) but I'm getting tired. During the recent cold spell, we were having to make 3 big concrete pours at work, one right after the other for 3 days. If you read Rurality, you know it got down around 7 and 8 degrees one morning down here. Not good for pouring concrete. The batch plants freeze up which means you are delayed pouring until it can warm up. We finally got mud around 11:00 a.m. But concrete doesn't set up fast in cold weather so you have to stay with it and put tents up over the pour and run heaters blah, blah, blah. Our poor finishers did not leave the job 2 nights until about 12 midnight. For some reason, I am never asked to stay on nights like that. Some carpenters will stay to saw cut the slab after the finishers are off of it. I think the men don't want me to have to go through that so they let me off.
Well, I must go to get some rest for work tomorrow. What day is this now??