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This is probably the closest we'll ever get of capturing all four of 'em together in the same place at the same time. Tommy is the one on the floor. Max is the one on the bed. Ginger is the one sitting up watching Tommy like a hawk, and Spicey.... he could care less about Tommy or Max. He just wants to get back into that dream with all the bunnies and squirrels and birds... what a great dream.
Max isn't feeling so good right now, so any extra happy puppy thoughts for him that you can spare would be much appreciated.
We love you Max! You'll be back out chasing crows and squirrels again before you know it :-)
xoxoxo
Well, not really... but that's what we did! Tim was working 107.7 The End's 13th Annual "Endfest" this weekend, and Janel and I went to see the show (and I went to see my wonderful husband at work, doing his thing which I've heard from many many sources that he does EXTREMELY well, but that I had not yet had an opportunty to see myself!)
Tim mixed the sound for the first act - Metric and we got there just in time to see it. I wasn't actually expecting to be able to actually see Tim close up while we were there, but when we walked into our section there he was in the sound mixer area (I'm told that it is actually called the "Front Of House Mix Position") doing his thing and looking very much in his element.
Yes - I pointed and giggled and said "Look! There he is!". Me, his 33 year old wife.I felt like such a groupie :-)
After composing ourselves from the "sighting" of Tim, Janel and I stood behind him for about 5 minutes or so snapping pictures with her cell phone camera (I don't have the photos yet - we have to figure out how to get them from her phone to my email... probably at the next Friday night movie night, if not sooner :-). I'll post them when I get them). Tim of course, was completely oblivious to us :-).
So we slipped quietly into one of the rows next to where he was, and enjoyed the show (and every once in a while I'd sneak a peek over to my left to watch Tim :-)).
As I said, the first act was Metric. Never heard of them. But that's not surprising. Janel and I were both feeling a little... ahem... "older" than the average age of the crowd that was currently surrounding us (the crowd changed throughout the evening though, as there was a mixture of "newer" and "older" acts throughout the evening). But I did find them highly entertaining :-)
After the set I called Tim on his cell phone and showed him where we were sitting.
Next was another band I had not heard of... Muse. They were great - really liked them. Will have to go find a CD.
When Muse ended, We went over and chatted with Tim, and Steve (friend & coworker of Tim's, who I'd met through many football games :-)) and Steve was kind enough to take Janel and I on a little back stage tour.
The End had made a big deal in their advertising about the fact that they had this rotating stage set up, so that there would be no wait-time between sets. We watched them setting up the back side of the stage, and Steve showed us the different stations on either side and how they were able to sound check the one in back while the band was playing on the one in front.
By this time, the Psychedelic Furs were on stage, so I was finally recognizing some of the songs ;-)
We returned to our seats, enjoyed the rest of the Phsychedelic Furs. Following the Psychedelic Furs was a band called Yeah Yeah Yeahs Who I gather have been around for a while, but I think I only recognized one song. Wasn't terribly impressed with their show though.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs were followed by X, who were pretty good. And they in turn were followed by the Violent Femmes, who were great! And next came Franz Ferdinand, who was really great! (another gotta get one of their CDs).
By this time the crowd where we were had grown in anticipation of the next act to grace the stage - Echo and The Bunnymen.
Echo and the Bunnymen... what can I say?
My personal opinion: They stunk. They reeked. They were absolutely horrific. Dude was arrogant, egotistical, rude, and whiney to say the least. His constant stream of complaints and insults were dull, childish, witless and annoying. I'll never pay money to see them perform.
The final act was the Presidents of the United States... who... ROCKED! We left before they ended (it was getting cold, and I was getting sleepy - having gotten up at 6am that morning when Tim's alarm went off, to help make sure he got out of bed :-)).
There will be no doubt much more information about the show, and the acts, and lots of cool photos in Tim's entry at crappymusic.com so I'll just finish off here.
All in all, a VERY fun day! Thanks Steve, for the back stage tour! And Tim - what can I say - It was a lot of fun watching "The Other Tim" at work :-) You're the best. And the coolest. I Love you! ;-)
I bought the Franz Ferdinand CD, cus they're dreamy.
I love you too Tim!!
Posted by Janel on October 9, 2004 2:22 PM.
I got my first comment spam today! How exciting.
Heather's Tool Tip of the Day #2: A Stinger is a tool used to vibrate the concrete after it is poured to help remove any air that might be trapped in the mix. According to architectureweek.com,trapped air will form bubbles that create small holes and pits in the surface of the concrete as it sets up. Plunging the stinger into wet concrete vibrates the concrete and releases the trapped air. Also sometimes referred to as a "stick vibrator", a stinger looks like a large metal rod attached to a hose that is in turn attached to a motor. When it is turned on it vibrates and hums. "Stingers" come in a variety of sizes and configurations. Some are round and some are square. The dude that was "stinging" our concrete was using a round one.
Now - if you're using a stinger in the pour of a concrete countertop (ie, a much shallower container), architectureweek.com suggests that you "run it along the surface of the wet concrete, taking care not to let it dip into the concrete..." According to them, "this technique is very effective. It's also very messy".
If, after reading all of that, you need to take a break now to go have a cold shower I completely understand. Do what you gotta do. (In about a week I'm gonna see people arriving at our site via some really interesting search strings thanks to this post).
So... now that you're back, as I'm sure you've deduced by now, our footings did in fact get poured today! Here are a few pictures to give you a sense of what was going on.
Oh - before we get to the photos, let me share a couple of additional factoids I picked up from George:
1) there's about a ton of rebar in our footings right now, and I believe George said that they poured about 20 yards of concrete into our footing forms all told.
2) they are using a special concrete mix containing fly ash (I think between 15 and 25%) as specified by Rob, our architect. This mix is also apparently referred to fondly in the industry as "eco-mud" :-) According to the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild web site, fly ash increases the strength and workability of the concrete, and substitutes energy intensive cement with a waste product. Yet another green element to our cool house :-)
In that last photo you can see the dude in the background "stinging" the concrete as it is being poured.
And here's a little video (yeah - I know it's sideways but my version of breezebrowser doesn't rotate AVI files... and I forgot that when I shot the video. Still, it's kinda fun. :-))
There are even more pictures from today in our House Building Photo Album.
Apparently, the Rebar inspector was scheduled to come this morning. I assume he did, and that we passed.
I tried to find something interesting on the internet about rebar inspectors to share with you all. But there just wasn't anything interesting on the internet about rebar or inspectors. Not to knock the trade! It is a necessary step in the building of a home that is intended to last many many many years.
So let's see... how about some factoids about rebar:
I also did find this checklist for the "Footings Stage of Inspection (pre-pour)" and what I believe is what the Rebar inspector was there to do:
Uh. Ok. Whatever. Anyway - here's a picture of some of our rebar that was being inspected this morning. Because that is infinitely more interesting than the above commentary (That's sarcasm; I'm not fooling myself :-))
It also makes a great grounding rod to keep your home safe and grounded. I would have expected more rebar than what I see in the pictures. Make sure u r there for pouring day. Watching the pumper truck is really fun. It's really a lawn chair and lunch thing. The concrete people doing the work might not apprecitate it, but it's still oodles of fun to watch happen.
Posted by BlueNiner on September 23, 2004 10:34 PM.Just wait until you get new sod put in. You can back with a glass of wine and watch your lawn slowly lengthen. ;)
Speaking of rebar: there's a highly entertaining Far Side comic in which a caveman experimenting with fire for the first time manages to burn down his cave, and his buddy comes along and says something like "Whoa...nothing but rebar."
Speaking of Far Side comics: I now realise that describing one is akin to dancing about architecture. I will stop now.
Happy Birthday to my Smart, Beautiful, Talented sister, Sarah!
Looking cute as a button in the parka that my grandparents had sent that year for Christmas, I think.
I think you were about 3 or 4 when this picture was taken? I know it was in London.
Anyway...I love you Sis!
Ahhh, the old swingset that the "Bunny" so painstakingly erected in the snow the only time London ever saw a white Easter.
Thank you Heath. :)
While I'm posting old pictures, here is one that means a lot to me. This is the farm we lived in, in Pembroke. I think we moved there when I was 2 or 3 - drove out from Edmonton. I actually think I remember parts of that drive.
I only lived in the house for 3 years of my life - 3 very early years at that. But it formed a very strong impression of what "a house" is in my mind, and also what "a home" is.
It was interesting when we first set out on the adventure to design and build our dream house. Our architect, Rob Harrison, has a pretty detailed questionnaire on his web site that he likes his clients to fill out so that he can really get to know his clients' likes, dislikes, what is important to them in a house and a home, what their day-to-day lives in that home will be like, etc. And as we went through the process of answering the questionnaire, very vivid memories of this farm resurfaced and wove their way into our responses. Not just the structure or physical features of the house - which to this day still characterize what a real house looks like for me. But also the memories - of birthday candles being blown out at our dining room table; my dad trying to teach me how to whistle in the family room; galloping across the room on my "horse" that was really the antique trunk in the corner; My parents waking me up on the couch to go to bed and my sleepy protests that I was just "resting my eyes"; Mom making peanut butter cookies in the kitchen and letting me put "the dents" in them with the fork; "Old Heck" sitting at our kitchen table telling Mom and Dad his stories; Squeaky giving birth to kittens in the bottom drawer of my dresser; Picking fiddle-heads with my Dad and searching for old glass bottles in the swamp behind the house; stockings hanging by the fire at Christmas, phone calls from Santa on Christmas Eve, and reindeer hoof prints leaving a trail in the snow that mysteriously and abruptly ends... Good memories.
When we moved to Germany we lived in an apartment. Which I thought was cool too, in its own way. And in the PMQs we lived in, they would hold a window painting competition during the Christmas holidays. One year, for our entry, Dad reconstructed this photo (but in colour) on our living room window. We didn't win the competition. But I thought it was the greatest artwork I had ever seen.
Someday Tim and I will drive past the farm. Maybe even knock on the door, and ask if we can look around :-) I'm sure it'll seem much smaller than I remember. So maybe it's best if we just drive by. I'd like it to be winter, though, when we do.
Got this great photo of my grandfather (Mom's side) with his parents and siblings from my Dad, who received it from my uncle (Jamie? Tom?). If I have to guess, he's the one on the left standing up. (If Mom, Dad, or any of my relatives are reading - maybe you can drop me a comment or an email and let me know if I got that right :-).
And if you have more, send 'em! I'll add them to the Family Photo Album :-)
I believe he is the one standing in the doorway. The cigarette in his mouth was likely unfiltered. :(
There is probably some kind of netiquette that says "thou shalt not post search strings used to arrive at your site" but I just can't resist. It's not like I know who these people are or where they came from. I don't. I find it amusing that among the top 17 search strings people have used on the internet to arrive at our site are the following:
1 - buzzlightyear
6 - timothy hassleback
10 - name the 7 dwarves of the tale snow white and the seven
11 - archives of authentic ancient greek outfits
and my favourite
17 - used escape playcat
Just what *was* that person looking for in that last one, I wonder?
This Just In...
according to MSN Search the Escape Playcat is a boat.
And sure enough, there we are - result #15 at the bottom of the page :-)
How does one find this information?
Lemme know if the instructions Tim and I sent helped you. Enjoy :-)
Posted by Heather on September 21, 2004 7:34 PM.I must have missed those instructions...
Posted by BlueNiner on September 23, 2004 10:31 PM.
Well, last week they finished excavating!
As of today, they now have the forms laid out for the concrete footings. They should be pouring the concrete next friday I think.
You can see from the photos that we've had a little rain :-). It's pretty mucky, and our stream is running pretty fast too.
You could really hear it, even from the far end of the property. And just because I can, and because I'm a geek, I've brought those sounds to you :-)
Here are a few more construction pictures from last week and this week.
It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I haven't made our bed yet because doing so would disturb the kitties from their warm and peaceful slumber.
We're pushovers.
Twice in the last two days, we have been interrupted by solicitors knocking on the door. We have a big red sign on our door that says "NO SOLICITORS". But they knock anyway.
The first was last night during dinner. Tim hates dealing with them so I go to the door. It's pouring rain outside and there's a guy on our doorstep soaking wet. Keeping the summer door closed, I ask through the glass "What can I do for you?" Thinking it is possible he has car trouble or is locked out of his house. I'll give anyone the benefit of the doubt once. He says "I'm with an oil change company that is coming to your neigh..." and that's when I cut him off. Pointing to the big red sign I say, "No solicitors". "I get it - I really do" he says. "Then why are you still standing here?" I ask. "I'm not - see I'm on my way" he replies and sure enough starts turning to go, but as he's walking away he's yelling back at me "$6.00 oil changes - it's a great deal! Think about it".
The second was just this morning. Tim's gone to work Farm Aid today, so it's just me and the puppies and kitties. Door bell rings, so I go to the door and ask my usual "What can I do for you?" He says "I'm with Statewide Energy Services". I point to the big red sign. "No Soliciting". He says "I'm not a solicitor". I say "How's that?" He says "We're coming to your neighbourhood to do a free evaluation of the energy efficiency of your windows and..." I cut him off with, "You're soliciting. Not interested. But Thanks". He keeps talking! So I close the door on him. As I walk away, I look back and see him still standing there talking. Amazing.
I give credit to the first guy for at least recognizing the fact he was soliciting. The 2nd guy is what prompted me to tape the following sign up on our front door above the big red sign. Now - I doubt anyone will actually read it, but it amused me to create it, and that's all that really matters.
How married techno-geek couples spend their anniversary:
Yes - Apprentice Season 2 has started! While I have no interest in the job they're all vying for, even if I didn't have to compete for it with a bunch of whiney, back-stabbing, every-person-for-him-or-herself think-they-know-it-all trump-butt-kissers, I have to say, I'm as hooked this season as I was last.
Bradford got fired this week, because he got caught up in the moment and in a foolish act of bravado, gave up his immunity. Even though he sold the most ice cream (or whatever the hell he did; everyone agreed he was the best but I just tuned in to watch the boardroom) it wasn't enough to save him from himself.
I never went to business school. But that has to be in the first paragraph of every business 101 text book, right? Well hell - it's not just business - Any athlete, politician, military leader or chess player will tell you the same thing: Never give up your advantage.
Ah well.
Uh... you do compete with with a bunch of whiney, back-stabbing, every-person-for-him-or-herself think-they-know-it-all trump-butt-kissers on a daily basis... ok... perhaps not trump-butt-kissers, but it's really a semantic issue at that point. ;-) I love being retired... (gotta admit you walked into that one. ;-) )
Posted by BlueNiner on September 17, 2004 7:55 PM.
MRA came back negative. It has been confirmed that while I DO have a brain, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it (some friends may argue that point :-)).
Yay!
I got to see the pictures on the computer screen, but didn't get a printout - much the same experience as Dave's comment in the last post. I did bring my digital camera with me, but at the last second chickened out from pulling it out and snapping a photo. D'oh. Oh well.
It was pretty cool though to see.
I am relieved as well, to have finally put that particular bit of paranoia to rest. On to bigger and better things!
First off, I just want to mention I am writing this entry in 12-minute increments, while I bake 5 dozen cookies for my coworkers. Cookies, I might add, that I myself will actually NOT be able to enjoy, because they have chocolate in them. But it's what they wanted. How good a PM (PM = Program Manager, which is what I do) am I? I have to admit that I do get something out of this effort too. The cookies are a bribe to get test costs by tomorrow for a bug that I care passionately about getting fixed before the end of the month.
This is how decisions are really made in the software world.
But this entry is not about cookies. Or bugs. Or my fantabulousness as a PM. So - on with the real story.
This morning I had an MRA. Before friends and family reading this start panicking - DO NOT WORRY. I had this done of my own accord - not because something is wrong with me. "Then why?", you ask? Well - it really it comes down to the combined scientific principles of "We have the technology, we should use it" and "better safe than sorry", spurred along slightly by my own 26-year paranoia about matters of the brain, and I'll just leave it at that. I didn't meet the recommended screening conditions for having the test, The doctor absolutely didn't think it was necessary either and left the choice up to me, but I wanted it done for my own piece of mind (pun intended), even if insurance didn't cover it and I had to pay for it myself.
The focus of the MRA was my "Circle of Willis". Who knew I had one? You have one too. For those of you thinking that would make a great band name - I already checked - it's in use. In addition to being a vascular structure located on the floor of the cranial cavity where the system of arteries that conduct blood to the brain terminate, Circle of Willis is also a band based out of Sydney, Australia.
The band, it seems, in keeping with the theme of their own name, has some fascination with things medical, or at least bodily, if the titles of their CDs are any further indication:
But back to me.
MRA = Magentic Resonance Angiography. It is a type of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to provide pictures of blood vessels inside the body. It can detect problems with blood vessels that may be causing reduced blood flow. It allows both the blood flow as well as the condition of the blood vessel walls to be seen. It is often used to evaluate blood vessels leading to the brain, kidneys and legs.
As I already mentioned, in my case it was being used to look at my brain.
It was a moderately interesting experience... I filled out a questionnaire that asked me everything from "Do you have any metal embedded in your body" to "Do you have tattooed eyeliner". After confirming I do not in fact have tattooed eyeliner, or dentures, or a metal plate in my head, or any shrapnel from wartime activity or gunshot wounds, and after removing my metal hair clips and my wedding rings, I was taken to the mobile MRA unit.
They had me lie down on a little platform, gave me some earphones that I had them tune to KEXP 90.3 FM (as Tim and Dave will tell you, and I would have to concur, the greatest radio station on earth), put a cloth over my eyes, a cage over my head, and then slid me in to "the tube". The cloth over my eyes was really more of a psychological comfort - so I could pretend I wasn't in fact lying in a tube whose diameter was just barely wide enough to fit my body.
The total process took just under half an hour. The MRI technician slid me in so that my head was positioned at the center of the magnet. The MRI machine in my case was a closed MRI machine - so my head and shoulders were totally enclosed - again - in a tube whose diameter was just wide enough for my body to lie in with no room really to spare. Which is fine, since I had to lie perfectly still, so I didn't really need any room to spare. But I still appreciated the cloth over my face so I could pretend that I wasn't in such tight quarters. Apparently they make open MRI machines now that are less confining.
Naturally, the moment that they slid me in to the tube and told me not to move, my nose and eyebrow began to itch.
Anyway - the process consisted of several series of tapping, clicking and thumping noises, followed by very load and powerful vibration noises lasting anywhere from 1 minute to 5 minutes, that kind of resonated in my skull more than it did my ears. An interesting sensation. Not discomforting, or painful in any way, but very powerful. Then I was done.
I didn't have any contrast material injected as part of the procedure, nor did I have to change into one of those paper robes - I got to keep all my real clothes on the whole time. (I did ask if the metal hooks on my bra and the metal button on my jeans would present a problem, and were told those were safe. In fact, my rings would have been ok too since they are made of gold and platinum but I had already taken them off and given them to Tim for safe keeping. More application of the "better safe than sorry" principle.).
I asked the technician if I could see the pictures, but she said that they had already been transmitted to the hospital downtown, and that when I had my follow up appointment on Wednesday, my doctor would be able to call them up on her screen and show them to me.
I wonder if I can get a printout. Cause if I can, you know what Wednesday's entry is gonna look like :-).
When I had an MRI for my knees (not nearly as claustrophobic as the head, by the way), they wouldn't give me the pix. "We'd have to bill you."
WHAT? I've already paid for them!
"Yeah, but we'd have to bill it out as making a copy of the images."
Posted by David Adam Edelstein on September 13, 2004 11:06 PM.
A CLOWN! a scary clown at that!
I knew there was something!
Posted by Timothy on September 12, 2004 3:43 PM.Ahh, to be young again. My skin was so nice then.
Posted by David Adam Edelstein on September 13, 2004 6:57 AM.
Ginger and I have had a routine every morning since I brought her and Spicey home from the shelter when they were kittens. This morning was no different, EXCEPT that I had the camera handy. Hehe.
Every morning I get up and go into the tv room with a big glass of milk and my breakfast (usually some kind of breakfast bar, or cereal. I don't like milk ON my cereal, but I love to drink milk WITH my cereal. Don't ask.)
Ginger will pester me until I'm done my milk. At which point, I'll set the glass down on the floor, and let her finish off the little bit that is left at the bottom.
For some reason, Spicey's never figured out how to do this, even though he's sat there and watched Ginger do it almost every morning. Or perhaps he thinks it's too much work for such a small amount of milk; in either case, to be fair, I always dip my finger into the glass and let him lick it, before I turn the glass completely over to Ginger. But once it's in her possession, she'll sit here and do this until there is literally not a drop left - you'd never know it wasn't a fresh clean glass right out of the cupboard by the time she's done.
Heather's Tool Tip of the Day #1: Fish Tape is used to "fish" wires through ceilings, walls, and conduit. I sense I will be hearing about, seeing, and perhaps even using tools that I've never heard of before, so thought I'd start mentioning them here as they come up. So now you know.
Tim used it to hook up the telephone in the job shack.
Anyway - they started excavating today! There are now huge mounds of dirt surrounding a large gaping hole that will, some day, be filled with our house! And a new machine showed up today to help push the dirt around. They also erected a silt fence to help protect the wetlands.
I hung out at lunch today for a little while and watched them dig the hole and move the dirt. It was kinda like watching kids in a sandbox - only this was a much bigger sandbox, with much bigger machines, and much taller piles of dirt :-)
I think they're supposed to start pouring the foundation middle of next week. That'll be cool.
Here are a few pictures of the piles of dirt and the gaping hole.
The grass is always greener on the other side, they say.
Apparently they are right. At least, this little guy thinks so.
Tim, Dave, Rich and I went to the Evergreen State Fair this weekend. It was my first state fair (Canada has fairs, but not states. Duh). Lotsa fun! My favourites were the miniature horses - so CUTE!
Followed closely by the baby pygmy goats, the adult pygmy goats, the bunnies, the birds of prey, the sheep, the regular goats, the ducks, the cats, the dogs, the giant horses, the cows, and the bulls - geez, the bulls. Ack.
I took a few pictures. But with both Dave and Tim with me and toting cameras as well, I figured photos would be pretty well covered (and they were - you can see Tim's pictures at crappymusic ) and so mostly just enjoyed walking around, people-and-animal watching.
I also enjoyed my first taste of Fry Bread, had a piece of elephant ear (in Ottawa these are called Beaver Tails. Same thing but slightly different shape, as I'm sure you can guess. Ask Tim. He'll tell ya - last time we were in Ottawa he had some tail) and followed that with a pinch of cotton candy. All of which followed my greasy fair burger smothered in cheese and onions. I figured it was all good though - I have a pretty strong stomach, and I don't do temporary fair rides (as much as I love rides, there's something about not wanting to get on the rides on the last day of the fair, a few hours before they're taken apart and packed up. Call me paranoid) so I knew it was all in there to stay. I mean c'mon. I was at a FAIR. When in Rome... or whatever.
Since I brought them up, thought you might enjoy the recipe.
Beaver Tail Recipe
found on www.razzledazzlerecipes.com
Dough:
1/2 cup warm water
5 teaspoons dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
4 1/4 - 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
oil for frying
granulated sugar for dusting
cinnamon
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the yeast, warm water and pinch
of sugar. Allow to stand a couple of minutes to allow yeast to swell or dissolve.
Stir in remaining sugar, milk, vanilla, eggs, oil, salt and most of flour to make soft dough. Knead 5-8 minutes (by hand or with a dough hook), adding flour as needed to form a firm, smooth, elastic dough. Place in a greased bowl.
Place bowl in a plastic bag and seal. (If not using right away, you can
refrigerate the dough at this point). Let rise in a covered, lightly greased bowl, about 30-40 minutes. Gently deflate dough, (if dough is coming out of the fridge, allow to warm up about 40 minutes before proceeding).
Pinch off a golf ball sized piece of dough. Roll out into an oval and let rest, covered with a tea towel, while you are preparing the remaining dough.
Heat about 4 inches of oil in fryer (a wok works best but you can use a Dutch oven or whatever you usually use for frying). Temperature of the oil should be about 385 F. Test by tossing in a tiny bit of dough and see if it sizzles and swells immediately. If it does, the oil temperature is where it should be.
Stretch the ovals into a tail - thinning them out and enlarging them as you do. Add the beaver tails to the hot oil, about 1-2 at a time.
Turn once to fry until the undersides are deep brown. Lift beaver tails out with tongs and drain on paper towels.
Fill a large bowl with a few cups of white sugar . Toss beaver tails in sugar (with a little cinnamon if you wish) and shake off excess. (Heather's Note: Really, this should be cinnamon sugar - you should be able to taste the cinnamon! And also squirt a little lemon on it. Mmm!)
You can also top off Beaver Tails with whatever preserves, pie fillings or even just powdered sugar.
The fact that they are called "Hooker's Beaver Tails" never ceases to amuse me.
Posted by Sarah on September 13, 2004 8:49 AM.
This morning we met George and Josh (Phoenix Construction), and Rob (Harrison Architects) and his family out at our site. The purpose of today was to orient the house and mark the lines and corners in preparation for excavation and foundation laying. Which we were able to do, now that the double wide is COMPLETELY GONE!. So is the rotting wood pile down by the well house, and the cedar that was dying that would have been right next to our bedroom. All gone, except for a small heap of twisted steel, and another small heap of concrete cinder blocks - both of which will be recycled.
The survey that was done originally had the septic tanks as well as the trees in the slightly wrong locations, which caused a problem for how the house was positioned on the plans. In addition, the topology in reality wasn't quite what it was on the survey so some adjustments had to be made in the positioning and orientation of the house. Nothing major though. We got it all figured out. :-)
Tim also hauled out our little step ladder, and positioned it at the different window locations so I could climb up and see what our view would be from the kitchen window, the dining room french doors, the bathroom window, etc. (the main floor will actually be several feet up from the current ground level, at the back of the house, due to the slope of the property). Very fun!
This one was taken by Tim. Check out the rest of Tim's pictures from today at crappymusic!
Actual excavation starts on Tuesday! We're pretty excited. I won't be there to see the start (sigh... vacation ended thursday), but Tim will. I'm sure he'll post pictures on crappymusic afterwards!
All in all a fun morning. All pictures that I took today have been added to our "Building our Dream House" photos. (I've also added dates to all the pictures in there already, so you can see which ones are from what days).
We got to the property in the early this afternoon to find half the house demolished! Woohooo!
The machine made me think of a big mechanical dinosaur with crushing jaws of steel tearing into the house like it was freshly caught dinner. The wood and metal would make this bone-crunching sound as the jaws clenched shut around it. Every once in a while some bits would get stuck on its "chin" and lower teeth that it couldn't shake loose, and the machine dude would have to get out and pick them out :-)
In the picture above you can almost see it grinning, the saliva dripping from its metal teeth in anticipation, as it stares at the pile of scrap and thinks "Mmmm mmmm... tasty. Here I come for another bite!"
Or maybe I just need to have some lunch :-)
Anyway, here's a little video. At the end you can hear Tim saying "That'd be that George Forman Grill", referring to the round thing dangling from the mouth of the machine.
The tenant who had lived there and paid us rent (I still shudder to think we let him pay us to live there!) didn't have enough space and/or money to put all of his stuff in storage when he moved out, so he left quite a bit behind. We salvaged what was usable and in working condition - which amounted to a television and barbecue -and gave it away. The rest of it - George Forman Grill included - got dumped in the bin (see the Note on Recycling below).
George (Piano, our builder; not Forman, the Grill Maker) thinks that the whole thing'll be down by EOD tomorrow. Tim's going out there tomorrow to meet him and Rob, our architect, to go over the house positioning.
Yup - it's really begun!
Here are some more pictures of "Demolition - Day 1" including the traditional and obligatory "Throwing rocks at the windows" shots :-).
Tim's also got more pictures and commentary on crappymusic including some cool "before" and "after" pictures!
A Note on Recycling
We were able to get away with dumping everything into a single bin (as opposed to separate bins for recyclable and non-recyclable materials) and not having to do the sorting on-site, because Waste Managment Seattle accepts "mixed CDL" (CDL stands for Construction, Demolition and Landclearing materials generated at job-sites; "mixed or comingled CDL" means CDL waste containing both recyclable and non-recyclable materials that have not been separated). All of the material at the job-site is put into a single bin, and then taken to a Waste Management Seattle sorting facility where materials are separated for recycling.
You can get more information on CDL recycling programs in King County at the following web sites:
King County Construction Recycling and Waste Management
Seattle/King county Construction Recycling Guide and Directory (pdf file)