Bradley

Foundational

Here is what Jude & I found when we arrived on the job site Friday driving Jude’s Truck (more on that later). Now that the foundation has been stripped we are ready for drains, backfill, and framing. Our lumber package begins arriving later next week. “This is where the fun begins”. Of course I am getting ahead of myself since there is still so much to do with the grading of the lot and all the hook-ups, but it is wonderful to see everything progressing so nicely. New construction is so much more straightforward than remodeling. It is night and day between this project and the Bellingham house.

Another thing to celebrate was the temporary electric connection.  Two weeks ago I raced to hook it all up, finding a pole with boxes on wonderful old craigslist for $125 and avoiding the $1500 I was quoted by electricians.  We hooked it up, my dad helped me drive the eight foot grounding electrode into the ground (Uff Da), and we waited for our permits and hook-up.  When we arrived Friday it was magically connected with no sign of the lovely souls who made the connection.  I didn’t even notice until I was checking the permit box and the cables weren’t dangling down.  It was like Santa had a love child with Thomas Edison and he took over the family businesses.  Now I can frame the house with the joys of nail guns, skilsaws, & stereophonic goodness.

Posted on 09.12.09 to Bradley. Grab the feed. No comments yet. Comment or trackback from your own site.

Bradley

One Year Anniversary

Today marks the one year passing of Grandpa Kobs.  It doesn’t seem like so much time has passed, but it has.  Last week I picked up some bags of clothes that Julie & Grandma were going to get rid of.  I didn’t expect it when I opened up one of the sacks and grief just washed over me.  I wish he were with me to build this house;  he would have loved it and we would have been inseparable. After the funeral last year I was afraid that he would just fade out of my life but it hasn’t really played out that way.  The thought of carrying all my memories and grief forever and ever is both daunting and wonderful at the same time.  I don’t know how I could continue being me if I weren’t modeling myself on him anyway.  It seems really, really odd to grow old and continue to bear Grandpa as a standard for my own life.  I could theoretically become a 94 year old man, older than grandpa, and looking up to someone “less experienced” as a role model for my life.

Posted on 09.05.09 to Bradley. Grab the feed. No comments yet. Comment or trackback from your own site.

Bradley

Concrete Thinking

The first week of work on our house began this week.  Considering the fact that I am not the one excavating and pouring I am ridiculously tired.  Guinevere and Jude have accompanied me all week and they are mesemerized by the process, but it is a lot to expect them to be good little Victorians who are seen and not heard along the sidelines of this whole affair.  Granted, their park time has gone through the roof while we are out and about, but I am still looking forward to kindergarten for Gigi and some Mimi time for Jude, since each day has unraveled itself slowly, devolving into a moan of tired children and parents.

The high of seeing a big hole dug for our footing was countered with the low of having to deal with all the dirt coming out of that hole.  I will cringe every time I see a sign reading “free fill dirt”  since free only applies to the recipient of the dirt.  The giver is trucking it over at about $100 an hour…bleh.

I am excited to be moving on to framing, and my lumber package will be making an appearance this Friday.  Cal from Bayshore concrete has been absolutely amazing and a terrific match for me in starting my project.  I will miss him and the crew when we are through.  They have been so helpful and involved in my work and my family I didn’t even consider the people side of building and in huge contrast to working with the strange and psychotic people who populate the world of Puget Sound Energy (sorry, Heidi).

Please also note phtoographs # 3,7, & 8 are by our own staff photograher Guinevere.

Click on any image for a photo gallery view.

Posted on 09.05.09 to Bradley. Grab the feed. No comments yet. Comment or trackback from your own site.

Tamara

Finding the Light

The Littlejohns are facing many challenges presently.  Our property is being excavated right now and some surprises have come with the process.  I won’t go into the details, but Bradley has been having to think on his feet and make quick decisions.  Snap decisions that have big impacts on our project in a few different ways.  It has been REALLY hard.  Add to that mix two children, and Bradley ends up as one tired papa.

I started work this week.  No students yet, but still, I am gone and my share of daily child rearing is gone for Bradley too.  He is a single parent building a house this week.  At school, we are facing severe budget cuts and have to ‘think creatively’ to problem solve a few issues.  It will be interesting.  I also had to make a difficult decision at work based on my family’s needs which set off a chain of events that are making me uncomfortable in a place where I usually feel so empowered and embraced.  Bradley and I have both come dragging home at the end of each day, worn out with little left for one another.  So, this evening, I decided to embrace the melancholy.  I did the dishes, tidied up the kitchen, wiped down counters, put away laundry (because a messy house  would be one thing to make me feel even worse) and hopped into the shower.  I crawled into bed, all set up to feel awful.

Then I started thinking about my new (and so far WONDERFUL) principal today and her message about these ‘dark times’ we are facing as public schools.  She spoke about finding opportunities to raise one another up, to look at the situation from a different point of view, to find the light in our present situation.  I am a believer in the silver lining.  The glass is always half full.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I was thinking all of this when I became aware of what was happening in my living room.  While I had decided to succumb to sadness, my exhausted husband had gathered our babies around him for stories.  He sat there reading book after book to the kids, sounding out words with Gigi and taming torn pages gently away from Jude.  Here was my light.  Here was my full glass, my silver lining.  Here was my lesson.  Bradley was embracing the light, even though he was every bit as tired and challenged as me, while I was embracing the dark.  I changed course and chose the light.  I am off to read dear Gigi a book before bed.  Much better than laying alone in the dark thinking morose thoughts.  Thanks, Bear.

Posted on 09.02.09 to Tamara. Grab the feed. 2 comments. Comment or trackback from your own site.

Tamara

Four Corners

We paid a surveying crew to come up tp the property to define what’s ours and help us figure out how the house has to sit on our lot.  Here is one of the four stakes that designate the corners that make up our property.  In the background, you can see my husband and daughter ceremoniously defacing the old pole.

Posted on 08.31.09 to Tamara. Grab the feed. No comments yet. Comment or trackback from your own site.