2-29-12 Leap Day...rain and sun

 Banishing the grey weather blues, orchids, daffodils and amaryllis in the kitchen...like a burst of sun.  My daffs, Jody's amaryllis, one old orchid and one new addition.  Lovely!

 I didn't expect to see Danny and Jose climbing back up the front of the house but there they were this morning replacing the skylight.  It was raining, cold and windy.  These two are really awesome.  I took the interior photo with the bright blue covering still in place...sort of different.

Some problem with my layout tonight, but you get the picture!

 
The deck looking into the dining room...there were periods of sun and warmth today, but far and few between!  I took advantage of them.

 KOKO has developed a very bad habit...when given the chance to escape the yard, she now comes onto the front deck to bark, or around the side to the slider to bark...let me in!!!

 While Dennis was stringing more and more of the cabling all day long, Danny and Jose built a cover for the septic tank, and moved my prized colorado blue spruce back into the front yard.  Looks beautiful and probably loves this weather!

A different view of the ipe plant stand.

2-23-12 Quing on the Deck!

 This is the new addition to the bathroom, a combination of a new purchase from GADO-GADO who, sorry to say is going out of business, and a wonderful heavy metal spool that Kathee and Shirl gave me some time ago...It caught my eye as the perfect sculpture stand.

 Danny and Jose putting the metal on the wall under the front steps...

 Mike who is helping Todd with the outside electrical work is putting on pucks on the railing, and it looks like Dennis is ensnared in some of the hundreds of electrical cords that are snaking all over the place.

 Miguel working around the corner on the long side of the house...I must ask them how many drill bits they have gone thru so far!

 The mock up of the stairs that is now in the hands of Mike Boyce at Clearlake Machine Shop...Maybe in a week, the stairs will go in?  Probably longer....

 Luke is in town, the weather is fabulous and I decided to barbecue on the new deck...of course there aren't any lights out there yet, so I used the light from the windows and a trusty flashlight, while Luke took a photo.  Dinner was delicious!

Way ahead of schedule, ClearLake Upholstery delivered the recovered recliner.  Now that I look at this photo, I realize that it doesn't do justice to the texture of the fabric...will have to take a another.  But the craftsmanship is what I expect from Jim Scholz...Beautiful job.

2-22-12

 Miguel and Angel made a lot of progress on the bridge.

 While they were working from the south, on the north end, Dennis and JR were fabricating a gate for the stairs which access the utilities and side of the house.  I am not sure if I want the hog wire in the gate, I love the look but it might be too much different from the cabling...we shall see.

 JR dug the post holes for the rest of the fence around the yard...concrete tomorrow I am sure.

 Jose had the worst job under the deck overhang working around my prized plant...doing a great job as usual.

 The wood shop!

I take it back, while Jose had a tough job, I think perhaps Danny had the very worst of all, reaching down between the wall of the house and the shed to drill thru the metal and then put the screws in to plain metal on the outside of the shed.  He said the drilling was fine once he got it started, but getting thru the metal with little space to maneuver was not an easy task.  And the force it took to get the drill thru the metal in such cramped quarters was another challenge.  But now it is done!

2-21-12 Decking, cabling

 Got off to a roaring start this morning.  Dennis decided that since JR was sick and couldn't come in, he would do some test  stringing of the cabling.  Wow! It really looks great.

 In the meantime, Angel and Miguel continued on the front deck and down the stairs...I think I will be doing some serious tai chi out there soon.

 While Jose puts up the metal below, the cabling goes on above.

 Detail of the caps on the cables.

 The beautiful Ipe deck and the cabling that just seems to disappear in the distance.

After the ramp and stairs, they will come down this side with the decking.  The railing at the end of the walkway is cabled, and you really can't even see it.  Beautiful Beautiful.  And the weather!  Oh my goodness.  All kinds of daffodils are starting to pop...while I am waiting for rain though, I am not going to start complaining right now.

Stump Grinder

 Friday was a very busy day...the rest of the deck is almost entirely metaled and the irregularity has just about disappeared thanks to Danny.

 For Trent, a view of the deck with screws in place...really I think when it weathers, they will be perfect!

 I like this view through and beyond to the shed...I actually managed to climb out farther than ever before on the plywood laying around on the deck...glad some was screwed down, but some wasn't and I couldn't go all the way to the south end.  I did go far enough so that I can say with some confidence, that the view is great all the way down to the Land!  Also, I agree with Rick that somehow the deck seems higher...can that be possible?  I don't think I could see over the top of the studio before.

 Kyle Shields of KRS Chipping Service ( and a former student of mine), arrived this morning to grind out that old stump that had been here since before I moved in.  I was very impressed with his equipment and the precision of the job.

 Kyle was very careful of my lilac bush!

 Of even more import, he was very careful as he inched up on the cement...it could have really damaged his blade.  The whole operation was very impressive.

And here is the stump ground down as far as possible given the concrete and the lilac.  Great job Kyle!

2-16-12 Decking begins...

 The screens for the big openings are finally all on site!  I think they will be pretty cool when they are place in the openings...it will be interesting to see if they block much light.

 Danny has an elegant solution to the offset on the south side of the deck.

 Dennis on one of the awnings getting ready to put in the two turnbuckles.

 Turnbuckles in place/

 Detail of the turnbuckle.

 Rick and Trent discussing the railing system.  I got out about as far as Rick, but I think I will wait until the decking is all in place before spending much time out there!

 The first Ipe board being notched out to fit around the steel posts.

 Angel and Miguel working to place the boards and found that they have to pre drill all the holes because the wood is so hard.

 They are all also having to round the edges that butt together.  A lot of work but the details are worth the effort.

 From the east, almost all the siding is on the decks support.  One more wall to go tomorrow?

A detail of the notching around the steel rails.

2-13-12 Changes inside and out!

 Clearlake Upholstery delivered the newly recovered love seat today, a week ahead of schedule.  Wow!  is my response.  After having a heavily patterned couch for so long, I love the plain color and of course Jim did a beautiful job recovering it.  The carpets really pop now that they don't have to compete with the patterns.  He even, after much thought and discussion, took my recliner away with him to recover it in a much lighter cloth fabric.  It will be worth the time and effort it will take to do it.

 The inside corners of the deck are coming along with the same siding as the rest of the house...hopefully when the rain stops, they will be able to work on the outside of the structure.

 The deck rail system is finally welded out there, so Danny and Jose won't have to dodge Dennis's flying sparks and metal grindings as they work below.  The last of the welding will be done by Wed. out in front, and some one told me that the decking might just be delivered on Wednesday and the decking might actually start on Thursday!  That would be so very exciting!

Puttering around in the yard yesterday, I finally determined that what at first I thought might be a root, but feared were wires, were actually wires...just sticking out of the cement.  I got around to asking JR and Dennis about it today, and they confirmed that they were just wires stubbed off in the ground...who knows why or what they were for, but there they are...right where I am going to put a big barrel of Bamboo...
I sure am impressed with these four guys for showing up and enduring freezing weather and lots of nippy showers...they got so much done!  Thank you all!

2-10-12 Crises, Large & Small, but solutions found for all!

 While outside checking on the progress of the work, I was totally distracted by a singing bird!  Turns out it was high up over the dry swamp, a California Thrasher putting on a performance for all of us.

 An awkward conference going on with Danny, Trent and Dennis...

 So the question is not how this off set happened, but how we are going to correct it.

 I can't actually photograph the problem but apparently they have a perfect solution and it won't be noticeable unless I point it out to someone or other!

 All the railings are going up at a tremendous rate with two welders working at once.  We did have to find a solution to one of the new problems, but it was pretty easy as far as I was concerned.

 If you compare the two photos below, you will see that one post is continuous and the other has a brace and addition under the cross piece.  The posts that didn't go right thru the deck weren't able to hold up the top rail perfectly straight, so needed an assist.  I had been eying the wood blocks propping up part of the railing...now I saw why!

 The solution was very neat, and Dennis built a template so that once the piece is in place, he can force it into the exact position before welding.

 JR comes along afterward grinding, grinding and grinding.

 This makes for an additional few steps in cutting and welding, but things seems to be going along smoothly at this point.  I guess you could say these little glitches make life more exciting...don't know how much more excitement I can stand.

 The screws that had been screwing us up finally arrived on Thursday evening.  Sigh, wouldn't you know it, they were not exactly the same head size as the all the others we had used.  I made an executive decision on the spot that it wouldn't matter since we were onto the new structure and they wouldn't be side by side with the others...glad everyone agreed with me.  We aren't looking to the right or left at this point, but heading a la derecha!  Straight ahead!

All my red flag work paid off...when I got home this afternoon, Jose and Danny pointed out more new out-croppings of bulbs, and this little guy, blooming four days ahead of schedule!  It must be a Happy Birthday Gene Magoon daffodil!