1-31-12 Fits & Starts...

 The bridge getting metalled...yesterday...but not yet finished.

 Mike Boyce from Clearlake Machine Shop delivers a huge load of steel that will be cut up for the railing posts.

 Jose learns that when the steel swings, you better be ready to go with it!

 Dennis working on the side walkway to the main deck.

 Another view of the bridge from the front door.

 La escalera es amarillo!  My spanish lesson this afternoon featured escaleras!  This is also the window opening in the shed...tomorrow the gutter will be installed so the roofing can be finished on the shed and then on to metal the big deck!

 Cutting up the steel for the railing posts.

 The first narcissus of 2012 are blooming right on schedule.  The first big daffodils should bloom on 2/14...that seems to be the day for me.

 Little finches at the thistle feeders and all over the yard.

Khorkina hates it when I draw attention to her, but I do it for the birds...she is so obvious!

1-26-12 Bridge, Awning, Gravel and Siding

 Moving right along this morning on the steps down to the back of the house, Dennis and RJ consult in the heavy mist.

 While George waited for the metal for the awnings, he was able to weld this post in under the bridge.

 The last piece of the awning...dang, it won't go on until tomorrow...but it all looks very cool.

 George welding on the last awning over the door to the dining room.

 Danny and Jose finally get to start back on the corrugated metal...a superb job as usual.  At least this time they won't have to be so high up with super long sheets!

 Greg delivered the trailer/dumpster out to the end of Dam Road.  This provoked a few calls wondering if it had been stolen and left beside the road...Thanks for the look out Pierre!  After I saw the effects of the first run, I told the guys to just go ahead and use it all up.  My neighbors have been so patient during all this long long process.  I know I will have to do more when we are all done or when more rain comes, but this should help out right now.

 Hopefully this will make the surrounding driveways less muddy!

 The welder and George are really outside the dining room...good thing we had some plywood for him to get that far out.  They had to take some off the front deck to extent out to where George was working.

And a shot of the finished awnings outside the dining room.  I can't wait until the lighting goes in...I think it will be really neat and shouldn't affect my star gazing!

!-24-12 Work Resumes! YAY!

 Home from Napa on a rainy Sunday, but just had to plant my sparkler.  Napa had great garden shops but I had to be satisfied with just one item since the yard is crazy now.  My daffodils are coming up...there is one right by KOKO's foot.  Errrr, Paw!

 This is the sheet metal that was one inch too wide on Monday so no work...however while waiting for it to be picked up and rebent, I did discover some other stuff.

 The only leak that I found, if it could be called a leak, was in the new window in the living room...just a tiny amount of dampness in one corner.

 The last of the shades arrived and were installed.  Gave me great satisfaction to pull the one on the front door last night.

 Todd was back to fix the receptacle that suddenly had stopped working on Saturday.  I am happy to say that I was part of the solution to this little problem.  I tell ya, that studying Spanish is improving my memory!

 I realized as I as launched out to clean the studio this afternoon, that I had never taken a photo of the guys having lunch.  Lucky for them I had put the cushions in the studio before the rain, and remembered to put them out before lunch!  Only thing missing in this photo is KOKO who is over behind Rick...KOKO never misses lunch with the guys.

 The sheet metal goes up on the shed...

 George sort of hanging out in space to get the last weld on the awning that wraps around the corner of the house.

 Dennis and RJ working on the bridge to the deck...they made rapid progress.  Glad that Kville Lumber delivered those beams yesterday though it wasn't the easiest delivery.

 The Wrap Around...from this angle it looks like a sculpture hanging off of the house.

In this view, you can see three of the five awnings.  They break up the vertical facade beautifully.  Great group effort to get this part done, and I admit I was not always totally for this part of the project, but I think when it is all done, I will be very happy.

1-19-12 Bad DAY to much better DAY

 The roof is almost all felted in preparation for the rain!  Now for the painting to keep up, and we might be ready!

 Even the ducks are getting in on the action...with the creek gaining so much ice on frosty days, they are coming into the yard more and more.  I just hope they don't eat my daffodils which are shooting up right now.  What do ducks eat anyway?  They don't go to the bird feeders, they rummage under the oaks!  Some flights bring in up to 30 or 40 Mallards!

 The bad part of the day was the seemingly never ending covering of the bays in the loft...my god, it went on and on and on...with error compounding error at one point.  But they are up now and look great as you will see below!

 It took three men and a lots of groans to finally lift the steel plate into position over the front door...

 Then getting it positioned just right for the welding took another massive push.  But they did it and made it look effortless...the guesstimate is that it weighed around 500#.

 Today, the awnings are going up on the other side...it is sure hard to photograph them...once the side is up, I can try from the yard.

 Mat getting the last, most difficult panel up...Cindy helped with one, and I helped with this one, so some woman power helped save the day!

 My new chair arrived...made up for a lot of the annoyance of today. IT is wonderful on my neck and back.  I think I was just too used to having the house back and really resented all the mess and traffic of an indoor work day.  Grrrrrr!

Early this morning when I turned on the lights, they really made a beautiful glow both inside and outside...so after all the stress and turmoil of yesterday, do have some beautiful lights all finished except for the paint.  And believe me, I might wait until Andres comes back before letting anyone up there again!

 Finally starting to put up some of the paintings...the dining room now only lacks the big sun chair that is supposed to arrive tomorrow...a big egg so I can sit out there and soak up the winter sun.

 I couldn't believe these protea just begging me to buy them when I went into the store...so here they are...love them...more decoration as a counterpoint to all the action going on outside.

 I guess I wasn't the only person to have frozen pipes this morning.

 My first problem started in the pump house and we had to put a tiny heater in to see where the problem was...now we have the room mostly insulated as it is supposed to be really cold again tonight.  I might plug in the heater.

 The faucet that was going to be moved blew it's top just after I left this morning.  I hate such water problems and was just so lucky that there were people here who took care of the problems...what a mess!  Hopefully we will get rain rather than snow, and it will hold off until Thursday...

 The painting even was delayed this morning as the sprayer was frozen and we had to get warm water from the house, once we got the water running to the house.  Sigh!

 The first of the wrap is up, and actually I think the bottom one has now been done.

Rick, working the phone, and the broom, is getting ready to felt the roof of the shed...it looks like they will the storm!

 I came home from Nevada City to find the plastic back up so that the priming of the parts of the shed and deck could start...hopefully we will get the paint on before the predicted rain comes on Thursday.

 There was a also a box just sitting around with the wheels for the sliding panels high up above.

 Work progresses on the opening but the metal is welded into place.  Am not sure why no one came to continue the work on that part of the job.

 Since the rain is predicted, and I have so much bare bare ground, we put in two orders for chips from Kville Lumber...very nice chips and for once I didn't have to spread them all around...I think tomorrow we will have to make them thicker under the deck.

 JR is new to this job, and KOKO has decided that she should bark at him and charge him at each chance.  I caught her in the act this evening.  He is being a good sport about it, but she is really being a pain.  She ended up barking at just about everyone late this afternoon.  I think having the plastic back up, and so much commotion has gotten to her today...hope she sleeps well!

The chips are spread under the deck, and almost all the surfaces that need priming are done, or close to it.  Tomorrow the dark brown paint goes on I hope, and then we can get back to metaling.  I want to see those big walls metaled soon!  I know we need rain in the worst way, but am hoping that the work doesn't get to derailed!