construction: month six

This month lots of systems were added to the house.  They installed the pumbing, the bathtubs, the water pipes for the warm-board ratdiant heat floors and the skylights over the stairs.  My generous cousin, who is an electrician, did the electircal work and we assisted him.  He has made four trips up to Seattle so far, starting with the installation of the temp power pole, which was actually in January.   Then in February, after two long weekend work parties we passed inspection.  After that we did all the low voltage wiring, which means we installed lots and lots of cat6 wire (for internet), coax cable and speaker wire.  There was a lot of pressure to install these “extras” now, while the walls are open when it is relatively easy and cheap.  Nevertheless, it took a lot of time and we ended up doing most of it in the dark, with headlamps.  We learned a lot and enjoyed the chance to do hands-on work for a change.

We had lots of helpers, including my uncle, Jack’s brother, our friend Read and a lot of babysitting time from D’s grandparents.

Exterior with wrapping and temp power pole:

There’s still no door so we have to do a little B&E to get in.  

Here are bunch of interior shots, giving a sense of how much wiring we did.




Here’s the bathtub and the warmboard with the tubing installed.  If we ever can’t find Emo, we’ll look in the “hot corner” where many tubes converge.  A bunch of family did a walk through after the funeral.


They’ve got big heaters running now and drywall is coming soon.

Mark/Dad/Grandpa

 

It’s been almost a month since Jack’s dad passed away, unexpectedly, at home.  It’s taking time to process and it’s impossible for me to sum up a person so close to us, so for now I’ll just say that he was one of Jack’s greatest fans and was thrilled with his new role as a grandpa.    Here are a few favorite pictures of him.

Drip, drip, sip, board the coffee ship!

 

Between the two of us, we’ve spent 6 decades not drinking coffee.  Jack has been known to drink a Frappuccino once or twice a year, but that’s mostly about the sugar, I believe, and I’ve often expressed shock and awe at the discrepancy between the delicious aroma and wretched taste of coffee.  I used to try it every couple years out of curiosity and it always confirmed my dislike.

But now we drink it.

Jack lead the charge to develop the taste for it.  As of this week we have a cold brew Dutch coffee brewer.

What changed for us?  We are eating less sugar and for about a year we’ve embraced the bitter flavor of %100 cacao, which is remarkably similar to coffee.  I think that laid the flavor groundwork.  Even though D sleeps through the night (except last night when he was sick and/or getting a molar) we’re tired.  We’re also fairly stressed out these days and frankly, we could use the boost.  It’s hard not to notice that the rest of the world is pretty excited about coffee, so now we’ve come aboard.

The cold brew coffee is supposed to be less acidic and easier on the stomach and we’re both committed to drinking it black.  I hope we can drink just the right amount to get the amazing clear-headed boost that I have right now, without falling into the grips of addiction headaches and dependency. 

 

 

winter picnic 2016

This year we had another small, fair weather winter picnic. 

Jack and I moved up in the egg toss standings, tying with my cousin Brad, the reigning champion, and his daughter, Jennifer.  Trish won at bingo.   My great aunt Jean opted out this year, so my dad was the oldest of the original picnickers, going back to the 1960s.


In search of a nap, D and I walked the upper part of Lincoln park and it was beautiful.  For all the times I’ve been to the park, I had barely explored the higher elevations and I look forward to walking there again.