Thanks everyone! Now the fun begins. Digging starts today. It is a race against winter. Babies are definately exciting. My wife has not been feeling well at all, which is not fun. It also leaves me with a ton on my plate. I get a 2.5 yr old to take care, trying to keep the house decent, we just started a new year of school and my class is almost double what it was last year, and now I am building a house. I think I can see the hair turning gray daily. We are pretty far north of the moonlight fire (75 miles), but are feeling the effects smoke wise. Yesterday was a lot better than the last three days. It was like it was overcast, but you could taste the smoke. kats - it is amazing the power the FD can have. Our fire board hired a chief 2 yrs ago that had been fired from his last three chief's jobs. Smart huh! His practices pretty much halted growth. He made regulations that were much stricter than county code, such as needing 20ft wide driveways, super high flow looped hydrants, paved drives, ect. He also tried to implement a mello-roos district. The board backed him the whole way. It was ugly but we fought it and won. We now have a new chief and a reeling board (who will most likely be recalled). thanks again for the encouragement. I had some family and friends who have not made it up here request a video tour of our property. I now just need to edit it small enough to get it online. I will share when I am finished.

Well, the DIY seminar on waterfall building was mainly a dudd. But I did pick up a few ideas about the sound of the waterfall. Apparently, concave backdrops make the sound project (because it doesn't have anywhere else to go). Also, the sound of the waterfall is a deeper pitch when it falls into deeper water. OK, well the final drop into the pool is deep already, I'll just have to apply that to the intermediate drops as well. I'm working on a revised drawing of the waterfall (This waterfall going to be a project in itself! But it will be fun.) I'll post the design pic in a little while. I'm ordering the pool kit today. The clearers/diggers will be here in the next few days. I hope that I have this right!! -Renee

The kitchen, which is below the area that is now a one-story, is intact save for the pantry which we had to clear out for them to remove an abandoned chimney and put in a support post. The two other rooms, also in the now one-story area, the bathroom and a bedroom (which we don't use as a bedroom) are also intact. The living room, which is under the existing roof, well, we SHOULD have moved everything out of there. We didn't realize how much they would need to plastic everything off in there so all the furniture (which I covered with sheets) is piled up. We do need to get it out of there at some point, but we were waiting for an enclosed work trailer to become available so we could stick all the furniture in there and not have to rent a POD or something similar. Once they get the new area roughed in and shingled, they will remove the ceiling in the living room to shore up the rafters. The roof was sagging in that part of the house because the structure was underbuilt. I didn't really want to deal with the mess of that but we figured as long as we're doing this much, this is the time to just make it right.

Shades, the timbers for the framing are 2x6 and then some are larger. When they were doing the verticals, they were 2x6 also. I see some 2x4s on the ground waiting to be used, but do not know where they are being used. I believe even the "eyebrow" pieces which will cover the back doors and all the windows in between (using metal roofing on that part) are 2x6 as well. I'll pay closer attention to it when I go out. They are working hard to get it closed up to weather before it rains. I see a stack of plywood for the roof deck, ready to go, but they must get in all the work while they can stand up and move freely up high. When it is closed in, and the windows/doors are installed, they'll open up the interior walls for demolition. The lead carpenter framed in the doorway to take my 83" tall old cypress door, and will add more blocking at the top to handle the heavy hardware for that. I must scrape off the old paint and get the rustic look I want. I mean, it is very old and I want to keep it looking old. I might just oil it, with mineral oil and beeswax. It would be very warm looking. Yesterday I removed all my RevAShelf cabinet inserts that I want to use in the new cabs, cleaned them up, removed all the cab doors, took out a 15" wide cab that I will salvage for the Teahouse. I'll have two now, and put a top on them for fabric cutting and such as that. I'm thinking something must have wheels on it, or I'll be breaking my back when I get an urge to MOVE FURNITURE....which will happen sooner or later, knowing me! Trying to plan ahead, and remove as much unnecessary items now before the crew squeezes us into the living room and sun porch and front bedroom. We'll have to access the small bath with the shower, most things from the bedroom will be moved into the walkin closet and master bath. I'm already doing laundry at the laundromat twice a week. Oh yes, I also removed the door jambs and framing (??) so the fridge can once again be moved further into the house, like maybe the living room where there is a 3-prong plug. DH does not like his routine messed up, but I already have him down to 1 chair--his desk chair on wheels--for dining table as well. Chairs take up so much space. I don't know what we would have done if it were not for the Teahouse being so roomy for storage. It is PACKED FULL, and will only have wiggle room when the flooring begins to be laid. Speaking of flooring, I noticed the old KITCHEN FLOOR has hardwood beneath a 1/4" sheet of plywood and then about 2 layers of linoleum or sheet vinyl, and then DH's sticky back tiles. All that must come up and hopefully it won't damage the original hardwood too much in the process. I tried to take some up yesterday, but it was beyond my ability or my tools were inadequate. "Back in the day" I could have demolished with the best of them though. :) My sleep schedule is greatly disturbed by having to arise soon after daylight. The dogs must be fed and given a run out to the back yard, by way of the front door. Then the crew arrives about 6:30 to maybe 6:45 I barely made it inside before they arrived last two days. It takes me a while to fall asleep, since I am imagining what I must do to keep ahead of the work. It is great to see the building process and finally know the sequence of work. Watching it come together is interesting. Adding the closet in the hall (utility type) will be a godsend for ugly stuff like the vacuum and bulk supplies, as well as a couple of shelves to hold electronics and WIRING for the DVD. router, all sorts of chargers on a shelf. By having the WiFi router in this spot, it's signal should reach the entire house, every room. Valerie, I've stocked up on paper plates. Keeping the soup bowls close to hand though. Perhaps plastic hot/cold cups are something to remember next shopping day. I go out each evening after the crew leaves and use the magnet to pick up nails. And I take pictures then. However, they've worked for almost 3 hours now this morning, trying to cover the roof before rain begins, so the picture below I took from my bedroom window--the one which will come out along with much of that back wall to join the old with the new. And, the contractor says it will be finished near the end of the year. Not too bad, actually. Based on weather of course. We usually have a wet winter, so closing it to the weather is a top priority right now. Then the inside demo can be done without making mud pies.