I lied

Didn't make it to Ikea yesterday, but we are going today because it is TOO DAMN COLD to do anything else. In fact, a quick inspection of the house yesterday afternoon revealed that the painting in the cold created some issues. We will have to do a second coat later on in the spring after we've moved in.

However, our carport has been soffited and it looks marvy.

At Ikea we're going to purchase our wardrobes for the bedrooms as well as the new bathroom sink cabinetry for my bathroom. And I may get some more towels too. we'll see how tired we are with it all.

That is Pat wearing his Hogwart's scarf in Gryffindor's colors. He is always distressed when people ask him if he's a graduate of Elon, the local university because they share the same colors.

On the Road Again

Back to Ikea today. I think that maybe the sink we bought for my bathroom isn't going to work and we're triple measuring today and maybe getting a smaller version for my bath. This, so far, has been the biggest glitch of the process. I don't know what happened, but I think maybe the pocket doors on either side of the room eliminated too much wall space. Whatever, I can live with it, worse things will happen, I'm sure.

ROLL TIDE.

A relative sent this in the family email. I have no idea of the origin of it.

We're havin' a heat wave..

The temperature made it up to a balmy 36 today and it was a slow day at the office so Pat took off and decided to paint on the house. He said it was trying to paint with paste but enjoyed being out in the sunshine.

He said it was interesting being there for the whole day, because there was so much foot traffic he didn't understand.

People come and go all day long, wandering around, checking things out. He was pretty sure he knew who the electrical inspector was. He thought he looked like someone who might attend our church, but he was puzzled by the three guys who wandered in, looked around the house and talked about farts before leaving.

Everyone seems to accept this grand central station approach and it reminded me of when I had my children. There were so many people in and out that I often thought that Joe Blow could wander in, don a surgical mask and no one would know the difference.

Now Tom, our contractor, is sick.

January

Happy New Year! We will be taking a break from working on the new house at the new house until it gets above freezing. The paint won't stick to a frozen piece of hardie board.

For the next week we'll be varnishing doors and their trim pieces in the basement of our present house, so the blogs won't be all that interesting...if they ever were.

Sweating in the Cold

There is another type of sweat equity that homeowners can contribute to lower costs. We can do the not pleasant, dusty job of cleaning up the workspace.

We went over in the freezing cold today to do just that. The paint would have frozen on the brushes and we needed to sweep, clean and place cardboard over the worn Tyvek wrap that has done a pretty good job protecting our concrete floor up to now.

It was not fun, it was not nice and we froze to death, but we would rather do this and save our skilled labor wages for making those difficult cuts and precise nailing that makes for our beautiful framing work.

A friend who knows building came by and admired the craftsmanship that has gone into this home. He was most impressed by how much care has gone into every cut and placement of the wood. We are most grateful to our workers for this.

Hotty Toddy AGAIN!

My dear friend came over last night to help us watch the Cotton Bowl (Ole Miss 21-OSU 7) and exchange Christmas presents.

As usual, the talk turned to books and she informed us she was reading The Fellowship - which has nothing to do with hobbits or Gandalf. It is about the Taliesan fellowship of architects formed by FLW.

http://www.amazon.com/Fellowship-Untold-Story-Wright-Taliesin/dp/0060988665/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262520484&sr=8-1

She mentioned Victor Hugo (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables)

"Architecture has recorded the great ideas of the human race. Not only every religious symbol, but every human thought has its page in that vast book."

THANKS BRAINYQUOTE.COM

And, of course, the conversation wound up with The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. This is the bestselling novel based on Frank Lloyd Wright written in English by a Russian refugee from the Bolshevik revolution. (more about this later.)

I just wanted to get this down now, mainly to brag about Ole Miss and Dexter McCluster.

O,and before my brother notes it, the above picture is not from the Cotton Bowl where Mr. M. made a flying leap into the endzone, but from another game. I couldn't find the picture from yesterday's game on the web.

Painting preparation

We have spent the last week painting soffits, fascia as well as siding. The siding and the fascia needs to be in place before it can be painted. The builders are amused by Pat's painting style. Usually, the painting is one of the last things to be done on the exterior. As soon as our builders put a board up, Pat has it painted.

The soffits present a little different problem, they are on the underside of the overhang. It is very difficult to paint upside down. We considered Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, and the very thought of doing that made us leery. So, while Pat has been climbing the scaffolding to paint the boards that are in place, I've been pre-priming and putting the finish coat on plywood in the hallway. That means, instead of doing ALL the work upside down, Pat can just touch up the high areas, while I-the height-o-phobic person, handles the lower level soffits.

We are also varnishing the interior, pocket doors in our basement. This is much more pleasant because it isn't so dang cold as the new house although the fumes are a bit much.

There's a picture of our sons-in-law who came over to help Pat move the scaffolding around so he could finish the trellis painting.