1.18.19

after 4 days of inversion we were really happy to see the sun in fairfield! halle & echo are chasing rocky, the neighbor's gsp, along the snowmobile tracks (where they don't sink in)

there were signs of hoar frost- it gets fogged in at night, but burned off both days we were up- fortunately.

clear at sunset-

foggy in the morning-

here are poor echo & halle being bored to death while we work (though they did have a long hike in the morning, then they chased rocky around, so you'd think they'd be tired!)

to the work part- here's steve working on making the prehung door hangable. somehow, the hinges on the ones we bought don't match the construction doors. and for some reason the contractor hasn't been able to get up to fix them. so, steve is going to give it a shot.

he did decide to wait on this project until he can get both the front and back doors tackled at the same time so we can bring both construction doors back together.

so the main projects were lights and painting. it is wonderful to be able to flip a switch and have lights! we're still a little confused about how things got wired. we have a few spots with covers- no switch, even though we asked for one. not sure why that is either, but figure if we need to bring an electrician in to fix things the way we want them we will at some point. guess that's the danger of doing something far enough away that you can't be there when stuff like that is getting done.

things that help the work go smoothly: the ipod and the reward. the dream catcher is part of steve's snow making kit.

i painted the light colored part of the downstairs walls, touched up around the ceiling edges on the back porch & painted the ceiling in the spare bedroom.

we had another good dinner at the surprisingly busy brew pub. smoked salmon pizza, a good salad & live music! along with a nice cab franc from carmela vineyards.

also painted the sconces.....they will match the walls-

steve tried out the power roller and liked it once he got past the pita edging part.

the living room is painted! we can push the couch back and clear a space in the clutter to sit.

you can tell i was painting the ceiling! camembert freckles-
then, heading home- and back to the gray......

january 11

we popped up for the day sunday, neither of us having much energy (Steve had the super crud)to do anything but watch football saturday (well, after i ran errands all morning anyway and trying not to succumb to the super crud).

stopped at home depot for paint on the way out, and ended up completing our lighting purchases. we got some pretty homely but really priced right lights (2/$15) for the back porch & upstairs hallway, and sconces for the stairway.

all of these need to be painted- the sconces to match the walls & the overhead light sanded down & painted with some faux finish that will look better than the current shiny stainless.

so poor halle and echo, like the kids who never want to have to touch each other (mom! she's crossing the line! she touched me!) have to cuddle up. i guess it's ok for echo to rest his head on halle, but not visa versa.... she looks kind of put upon, doesn't she?

the sun was out- yay!
the pups & i did a short walk- they were sinking b/c it has warmed up so much- until echo remembered the snowmobile track trick. lest you find that hard to believe, i have the evidence below:

bunnyman has the most delicate little toes- he scrapes them on the ice and starts bleeding pretty quickly. good thing the dog boots came in the mail today (that's another story).

then i finished hanging curtains, put some test paint colors on the guest bedroom wall. then we all hid while steve worked on the shower.

Steve's 2 cents worth now. While they we're out having a nice hike, I was busy troubleshooting the sled, as to why the lights and gauges had decided to quit working. Minimal cursing, actually none now that I think about it. Anyway found the relay I was looking for and got it off, changed plugs, etc...

So into the house to figure out how to make the screaming deal shower controls work. That required cursing. After their big hike they appear to be all worn out (and, for some of us, trying to stay fairly healthy). At least this is what I viewed.

Yep, looks like it was a rough afternoon for them. I did manage to get something figured out on the shower, just a little more shopping to do.

(and i, so far, thanks i'm sure to getting some sleep sunday, seem to be fending off the major nastiness).

january 4

there's a little bit of snow in fairfield now. steve had to shovel out the driveway when he got there, and here he is working on the walkway to the front door.

this is the pile at the end of the street. can only assume it will get REALLY big over the winter.

the snow was fairly crusty, but every once in a while the dogs would posthole. the snowshoes worked quite well for me. the dogs did figure out that if they walked in the snowmobile tracks they didn't sink as often.

here's the sunset from the master bedroom window. very pretty, isn't it? snowmobile tracks all over the field behind us- and sleds going through with some regularity.

the brew pub was open, so we ate there for a change of pace. it was really good- a good selection of beer & wine, yummy gorgonzola chicken pasta, and a great salad. john had ribs which he liked a lot. john and kathleen bought some really warm winter hats made out of yak yarn & lined with fleece there too- a very handy place all in all!

it's starting to feel more like a house & less like a camp. john found us the stove & the fridge on craig's list. both work just fine and were good deals.

the stackable washer & dryer also came from craig's list, also very reasonable, and both with warranty left on them....

and we have a bed! (yep, you guessed it- craig's list). mattress & box springs were still in the plastic, it had been used as a guest bed. a little soft, but not bad. the headboard is also just fine. and now we have the inflatable mini queen mattress and the foam pads for guests and helpers...

we have a shower! still need to work on the handle, but the paint is done & it all looks good. one small issue is that the electricians put in a fan without a light- the only light in the bathroom is the sconce above where the mirror will be. would be too dark even with lighter wall color. so we'll be buying a fan/light combo- which is what we have in the master bath.

there are some other wiring questions, but i guess we'll figure it out- or have electricians come back in & make it the way we want at some point.

this is the color that steve finally settled on for the downstairs. it looks very different depending on the light and time of day.
we made good painting progress. most of the ceilings are done, got spots touched up in the bathrooms on the ceilings and i got most of the edging painted.

found the handiest edging tool- since i do not have the rock steady hand of my friend carolyn. it has a pad that you put the paint on and then you roll the guides along the edge. it works like a charm!
steve also got a coat hook & key hanger up, and we brought the couch in the house. steve's kids have been great- jake & tina gave us the upstairs bathtub and the couch; john has done a lot of work- a lot of the texturing and he got most of the lights hung for us today. kathleen helped paint today. john keeps finding great deals on craig's list (the fridge & oven for example). this trip, they brought up a rocking chair and pots & pans & glasses that their roommate was going to toss out. it's really nice of all of them, and i hope they will enjoy the house in the future.

in the meantime, echo thinks the couch is just dandy! :)

Yes, winter is here!

It's been a good three weeks since I've been able to get to Fairfield and I really wasn't sure exactly how much snow is at the house. I was guessing between 2 and 3 feet.


The above photo was taken mid November. Quite a change from then to now. As you can see below the snow is piling up. One of the last pictures I took tonight before leaving is the view out of the upstairs window looking towards the fields and mountain. Still a lot of room to make tracks with the snowmobiles. Glad to see some of the neighbors have started already.

Today I made a quick run up to the house to find someone to clear the driveway and maybe keep it clear until we come up with a better plan. This was the view that greeted me when I pulled up. Looks good to me. Lots of snow.

The front and back decks had a nice drift built up so I got out the shovel and went to work. Both deck roofs had large drifts as well. So now it is nice to have those windows above the deck roofs for easy access. I tied a rope around my waist and stepped out onto the roof and with only a couple of slips I was able to get both front and back roofs cleaned off.

As luck would have it one of the neighbors knew where to find a fellow in town that does snow removal and he has the setup, 4x4 John Deere with loader on the front and a snow blower on the back. So I looked him up and he came over and knocked it out in about 20 minutes. Gotta love large equipment.

Next up is getting the electric oven/range up and plugged in. John found one for free on Craig's list, so maybe next weekend I can get someone with muscles to help me with it. We have a couch, table and chairs as well sitting in the sled trailer. Just need to get some more painting done. I did paint some more of the subfloor before I left so that if snow gets tracked in and melts it won't make a total mess of things. Going to have to live with painted floors until we can afford to get the real thing.
See you next week.

sp

12.6.08

time for a breather! steve went up saturday and sanded out some lines in the texture, did some cleaning, painted floors & finally found a wall color he can live with in the living room.

electric still not finished- hopefully before christmas.

steve's on call next weekend, then we'll be out of town, so it will be 3 weeks before we get back to fairfield, also before we post again-

happy holidays!

11.30.08

up bright & early on saturday- we left home around 7, home depot stop, in fairfield by 10. then a 2 hr hike, then back to the house to work.

the dogs, of course, have no work to do- they just romp....
and guard things.....like steve painting the back door. blue, for metal which is the right feng shui thing for that area of the house.
this was my project saturday- another coat of paint on the upstairs guest bathroom. i really like the dark brown. we may actually have a working shower at some point.

took a break for some sunset photos.....

steve painted the ceiling in the master and i cut in the edges. we also painted around where the ceiling fixtures will be so that when we get the electrical finished we can have light switch overhead lights instead of carrying work light from room to room......

to the imi for dinner & college football. soup & salad for me, grilled ham & swiss & soup for steve.

still working our way through the menu....

steve is still trying to find the right color for the downstairs...

today, i cleaned up the upstairs- the fine white dust glues my eyelids together, gives steve headaches & sticks to everything. since john finished the texturing last week, it made sense to finally clean up.

the arrows point to globs of texture that fall to the floor.

here's a detail shot.

so the first order of business is to take a flat blade shovel & pry up the globs. then sweep to pick up as much dust as possible. then the shop vac- with the tiny, good suction end. it takes a while.... but, as you can see, we have a lot less dust.

same for the master bedroom. (you can see that we have the same curtains in all windows now- when i went back for more $5 curtains last weekend it just worked out that way. which is good b/c i bet we live with these for a while).

the one thing steve really wanted to get done was to hang the real doors & get the construction doors back. you will notice that we still have the construction door here. that's because the pre hung doors didn't match up as far as where the hinges are slotted in. nothing is ever easy. waiting to see what the answer is for this little hiccup.

and here's the nicely painted back door just waiting to be put up.....

after steve realized he couldn't hang the doors, he started cleaning the downstairs. the colors on the wall are the rejected trial colors. the floor is painted so that we can bring in a couch & maybe table & chairs..... slowly but surely things are getting done..... i think the brown painted floors will be just dandy for a while with some throw rugs...

we have 2 more weekends to work before heading to mexico....... hopefully will find a color for the downstairs, get ceiling painted, some lights up, doors hung & maybe a shower- then again, of some of that happens after the trip that's ok too-

til next weekend-