October 2007

Hey, we're practically caught up! (now I'll actually have to start coming up with post titles) And... wonder of wonders, the rain quit and we were able to pour the slab, again with the help of wonderful friends (what would we do without you guys?).

Heat tubing, to keep our toes toasty:

In no time at all... the concrete was down, in One:

Two:

Three:

Then the real work began: floating, floating and more floating. With a whole lot of waiting, waiting, and more waiting in between. So what better way to kill time than to arm Anna with "her" floating tool (a butter knife) and take pictures? There may or may not have been a bottle of the Veuve involved in that one. But hey, it made killing time fun.

Here we are, hard at "work:"

It was a constant battle to keep the falling aspen leaves off the surface (it was a very windy afternoon!)

And, finally, success! A finished slab. Time to put this baby to bed for the winter. After, of course, our Halloween party...

Where much fun was had!

September 2007

Slow month, waiting for the rain to stop so that we can finally pour the slab. We did lots of research on creating a slab that would serve as our finished floor, contacting the plumber to see if our existing tankless water heater would serve our entire in-floor heat system, including the existing house and the addition (it will, thank goodness!), and ordering supplies. We also watched some football (Go Pack!) and got some well-deserved rest. We did not, however, take any pictures. So how about some interior before-and-afters?

VANITY (thank you, Shane and Sandy!):

Before:

After:

There is a new after, with completed shelf and finished walls, but in the interest of getting this post out there (amazing how I can find so many other things to do at home than to take a picture of the vanity!), it will wait until I get around to it.

KITCHEN:

Before (yep, taken through the front door before we owned the place and got a key - note my head in the reflection):

After:

My January posts will include a WAY after, as Sean promises he'll have the new backsplash and hood that actually matches our stove up before Mom gets here in a few weeks!

August 2007

August's highlight was Sean's trip to Australia, where he saw some really cool stuff:

Made some friends:

Got to ski a little:

Oh, yeah, and did manage to squeeze in a little work, too!

While he was gone, a little surprise was in the works, thanks to our FANTASTIC neighbors, who made sure a little green made its way to our little house. Our first lawn!

July 2007

July in our household was all about landscaping! And what is landscaping all about? DIRT:

(note the gravel backfilled in the addition - progress happening there, too!)

Then, while I was back in Wisconsin for Mom's birthday (Happy 60th, Mom!), Sean nearly broke his back heaving many, many railroad ties into place to make the following absolutely gorgeous (hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder) retaining wall. It's okay to say wow.

Now all we need are some stairs, huh?

Man, are we proud of those things!

June 2007

June 4th, our first "concrete" progress (couldn't resist).

How Don managed to thread THIS particular needle, I have no idea, but couldn't resist getting a picture of it (note the hummingbird feeder - this activity did not interrupt THEIR activities one bit):

Footers completed! (and looking quite lovely, I might add)

Somewhere in all this, Sean found time to carve out a lower parking spot (with the help of a very large machine) and begin a rock retaining wall (with the help of a much smaller wife):

Then it was time to pick up the insulated concrete forms (ICFs), which we'd use to build our stem walls - we got some good looks on the highway THAT day!

It seemed some days like all we did was stack rocks, dig out rocks, move rocks, swear at rocks, tell rocks that if they didn't grow up and get a job, they were outta here - oh, wait. Not that last one. But let me tell you, there are really a whole lot of rocks here in the Rocky Mountains, most especially in our little 8,000 square feet of the Rocky Mountains. But they do make a lovely retaining wall, no?

After the ICFs were in place, it really started looking like something we might eventually live in... someday!

And now, on to July - here's a little preview: big piles of dirt, a second attempt to backfill, lots of railroad ties and a birthday party. Intrigued?

May 2007 Continued

Holy crap! Turns out we did more on the house in May than I thought we did, not to mention finally getting our rears out the door on some sort of a honeymoon (if you call two weeks of camping, climbing, hiking and visiting family a honeymoon - oh, wait...)

White Sands, NM

Repeat camping spot (not IN the tunnel, just past it up the road a ways)

We got to introduce Grandma Ruth to her great-granddog, Denali:

And spend some time wandering around one of the world's most amazing cultural sites, Chaco Canyon

These structures were all built between 900 and 1100 B.C. by the former inhabitants of the Chaco Canyon, believed by some to be the first stone masons. Really worth the trip if you are anywhere near there. Ever.

But... real life was waiting for us in the form of a big hole to be dug and concrete footers to be poured, with the help of our amazing friends.

Including the Rebar Bitches - perhaps my favorite working team ever!


This gives a really good idea of just how torn up the yard really was:

Then it was time to schedule the concrete truck, which conveniently happened to arrive next month, in June!

May 2007

I promise I wasn't lying - nothing much really did change, see? But oh, our plans are exciting. See where the deck is? That will become a 20 x 24 foot addition, with living room and half-bath downstairs and bedroom, office and full bath upstairs... someday.





That is, nothing changed until we armed Sean with a chainsaw:




And Doug-O with a backhoe (do you think three horseshoes and a string of prayer flags is enough? No? More luck?):




Yep, big nasty hole, wet nasty day. The weather in April is supposed to be better, right?

August 2006

We (I know, I know, you already know this, but what if we make new friends?) got married:

And then bought this (why, yes, that IS the For Sale by Owner sign in the window): And since we closed on August 29th, I must close the month, and skip to May 2007, which is the next time anything actually happened (besides a whole lot of skiing and shoveling snow, not necessarily in that order).

A Little Behind

So that I stop doubling-up posts to family and friends (those of you who have gently reminded me that you have already received pictures/news know who you are!), here is a one-stop, comprehensive look at the things we get up to out here in the mountains, including adding on to our tiny little house. All by our little selves, with little to no starting knowledge (on my part, anyway - Sean has a clue. A big clue.).

But... turns out that we have already been getting up to some things, so a little backstory may be necessary (for those of you who may have missed out on an email here and there. Or all of them completely, because I have been BAD.)

So, check in for the next post, where we will magically travel back in time to August 2006, when we bought our (did I already say it was tiny?) new home, and started our married life...