After a big push taking four weekends in a row and a bunch of weeknights in between, I finally got the garage all sided and caulked and otherwise prepared for painting and then finally painted. I'm very excited to be over that hump - it was looming over me and I was racing the arrival of wet fall weather.
We thought we were pretty set on barn red with white trim. But shortly before we had to choose, Carol drove by a navy blue house that she liked. I agreed. We painted five color samples on the garage and house: three reds and two blues. We both really liked the darker blue, so we went with that.
I left my old job a day early, taking Friday off. I spent the day doing the last of the caulking and masking. I also rented scaffolding again. Saturday I rented a paint sprayer and hired Jose from the Home Depot parking lot to mask the house. I had started that task, but there was a chance of rain on Sunday so I really had to get the painting done on Saturday. It worked out very well. Jose got the house masked while I painted the garage. I've never used a sprayer before. It only took about two hours to paint the entire garage, including moving the scaffolding.
By the time I finished the garage the house was pretty much ready to go. It went very quickly too, and we were finished by 3:30.
So now the garage is completely weatherproof and ready for winter. It is such a relief to have gotten to this stage. Now I can just relax and work on the interior at my leisure. Carol will like having her husband back on weekends. She was getting pretty burned out on doing 95% of the childcare 7 days a week. And a bonus: we got rid of the teal house color that we have never liked.
This morning the electrician came and roughed in the wiring inside the garage. He'll be back Thursday to finish the interior and also install the new panel and meter on the garage. Then we have to wait for City Light to come and move the "tap" - the main line from the pole. We are moving it from traversing 70 feet from the alley to the house to traversing only about 25' from the pole to the garage. Service to the house will be underground in conduit that we buried at the beginning of the project. We'll be doing the same with the telephone and cable TV lines.
Next up: plumbing the toilet and sink in the studio. Then final framing inspection, insulation and drywall. All in good time...
Monday, October 2, 2006
2006 MS 150 Bike Tour
Labels:
cycling
On September 9-10, I rode the Washington edition of the MS 150 Bike Tour, a fundraiser for the National Mutliple Sclerosis Society. It is a two day ride with 50, 75 and 100 mile options on Saturday and 50 and 75 mile options on Sunday. I rode with Team Copaxone, organized by Maureen "Mo" Manley. Mo is a former elite level cyclists who was selected for the 1992 US Olympic Team before being diagnosed with MS.
I drove up to La Conner Saturday morning and it poured rain all the way from Everett to the exit south of Mt. Vernon. But in La Conner the cloud ceiling was higher and it wasn't raining, although the roads were still very wet. Saturday's route circumnavigated Fidalgo Island, through Anacortes and past Mt. Erie and then over Deception Pass for a loop on Whidbey Island before re-crossing Deception Pass and winding back to La Conner. It was a hard route with constant rollers and some long hills, and wind all day long. We were all tired by the time we got to the 75 vs. 100 mile decision point at mile 40 - we all chose 75. I felt really strong all day, but my legs were tired for the last 20 miles or so. The most notable part of the day was crossing a bike trail bridge over Fidalgo Bay. Apparently the shore birds use the bike path to crack open shellfish, and the path is littered with broken shells. It was like a war zone, with dozens of cyclists pulled over to fix flats. We were lucky to only have one puncture among our 10 or so riders.
Sunday started out clear and beautiful. It was cooler due to lack of cloud cover, but sunny. Sunday's route went through farmland (tulip fields if it were tulip season) and then crossed east of Interstate 5 for a while. Then back under I-5 and along Lake Samish before turning around in the south part of Bellingham and heading south on scenic Chukanut Drive. After that it was back down to farmland for the final 15 miles back to La Conner (another 75 mile day).
We had about 15 riders in our team Sunday. For the first 40 miles we rode 2 abreast at about 19mph. Along Chukanut Drive we split into two groups. but riding along with a team on such a gorgeous day was fantastic. A 10 in terms of quality cycling days. Once back in the farmland three of us went back to help bring the slower group home in the headwind. Even that was really fun.
This was the best organized ride I have ever been on. The registration included a beer garden on Saturday including three beers per rider and a spaghetti dinner, as well as breakfast Sunday morning and hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers after the ride Sunday. Saturday night after dinner there was a presentation focused on MS that was quite touching.
This year's ride raised $1m, which is pretty impressive for 1600 riders. I only raised about $350, but you can bet next year I'll be hitting you up for more. In fact, you can donate right now at my personal MS 150 page. For 2007 I plan to raise at least $1000.
I drove up to La Conner Saturday morning and it poured rain all the way from Everett to the exit south of Mt. Vernon. But in La Conner the cloud ceiling was higher and it wasn't raining, although the roads were still very wet. Saturday's route circumnavigated Fidalgo Island, through Anacortes and past Mt. Erie and then over Deception Pass for a loop on Whidbey Island before re-crossing Deception Pass and winding back to La Conner. It was a hard route with constant rollers and some long hills, and wind all day long. We were all tired by the time we got to the 75 vs. 100 mile decision point at mile 40 - we all chose 75. I felt really strong all day, but my legs were tired for the last 20 miles or so. The most notable part of the day was crossing a bike trail bridge over Fidalgo Bay. Apparently the shore birds use the bike path to crack open shellfish, and the path is littered with broken shells. It was like a war zone, with dozens of cyclists pulled over to fix flats. We were lucky to only have one puncture among our 10 or so riders.
Sunday started out clear and beautiful. It was cooler due to lack of cloud cover, but sunny. Sunday's route went through farmland (tulip fields if it were tulip season) and then crossed east of Interstate 5 for a while. Then back under I-5 and along Lake Samish before turning around in the south part of Bellingham and heading south on scenic Chukanut Drive. After that it was back down to farmland for the final 15 miles back to La Conner (another 75 mile day).
We had about 15 riders in our team Sunday. For the first 40 miles we rode 2 abreast at about 19mph. Along Chukanut Drive we split into two groups. but riding along with a team on such a gorgeous day was fantastic. A 10 in terms of quality cycling days. Once back in the farmland three of us went back to help bring the slower group home in the headwind. Even that was really fun.
This was the best organized ride I have ever been on. The registration included a beer garden on Saturday including three beers per rider and a spaghetti dinner, as well as breakfast Sunday morning and hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers after the ride Sunday. Saturday night after dinner there was a presentation focused on MS that was quite touching.
This year's ride raised $1m, which is pretty impressive for 1600 riders. I only raised about $350, but you can bet next year I'll be hitting you up for more. In fact, you can donate right now at my personal MS 150 page. For 2007 I plan to raise at least $1000.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Garage Siding Complete
Labels:
house
Tonight I finally completed the garage siding. My father Doug gave up two of his weekends helping me and we had all the walls done. This weekend my dad was out of town, but I rented some scaffolding and hired Bernardo from the Home Depot parking lot and we got the gables all sided.
The scaffolding was definitely the right way to go. Hefting those heavy pieces of siding up and down on ladders would have been exhausting as well as pretty dangerous. The angle cuts are harder than they seem like they should be, even with a template. So most boards in the gables require at least a couple of trips up and and down the ladder/scaffolding to get the fit just right.
Carol bought quart cans of five different paint colors today. We've put off the decision as long as we can. We've been thinking barn red with white trim (for both the garage and the house), but recently Carol saw a house nearby that is navy blue with white trim. We both like it. Today Carol bought three reds and two blues and painted patches on the garage and the house so we can see them in different lighting. We're both liking the darker, duskier blue she chose. An advantage of blue is that it is closer to the existing house color. We can already tell that red is going to take several coats to cover the existing turquoise.
Carol, artist that she is, has a very finely tuned eye for color. We've been trying to identify exactly the right red. Many reds are too orange, too pink, or too blue.
I'm switching jobs after this week. Currently my plan is to take the first week of October off and get the garage painted. The weather is looking amenable right now, but long range forecasts are pretty likely to change. If the weather holds and I'm feeling energetic, I'll paint the house at the same time.
I'm very excited to have the siding complete. Now the garage really looks like a completed building.
The scaffolding was definitely the right way to go. Hefting those heavy pieces of siding up and down on ladders would have been exhausting as well as pretty dangerous. The angle cuts are harder than they seem like they should be, even with a template. So most boards in the gables require at least a couple of trips up and and down the ladder/scaffolding to get the fit just right.
Carol bought quart cans of five different paint colors today. We've put off the decision as long as we can. We've been thinking barn red with white trim (for both the garage and the house), but recently Carol saw a house nearby that is navy blue with white trim. We both like it. Today Carol bought three reds and two blues and painted patches on the garage and the house so we can see them in different lighting. We're both liking the darker, duskier blue she chose. An advantage of blue is that it is closer to the existing house color. We can already tell that red is going to take several coats to cover the existing turquoise.
Carol, artist that she is, has a very finely tuned eye for color. We've been trying to identify exactly the right red. Many reds are too orange, too pink, or too blue.
I'm switching jobs after this week. Currently my plan is to take the first week of October off and get the garage painted. The weather is looking amenable right now, but long range forecasts are pretty likely to change. If the weather holds and I'm feeling energetic, I'll paint the house at the same time.
I'm very excited to have the siding complete. Now the garage really looks like a completed building.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Charlotte Goes Mobile
Labels:
family
Sorry that it has been almost two months since I've posted any photos of the girls! I guess I've been kinda busy. The garage is keeping me occupied (see below), as well as just helping Carol and all the other stuff of life.
Charlotte is nine months old today. She's been standing holding onto furniture for about a month now. This week she started letting go for a few seconds. She has already developed fairly good balance. And when she falls, at least she sits down rather than just toppling over like a tree. She can also "cruise" a little now from one object to another (e.g. from hanging on to my knee to holding on to the ottoman). And then today she crawled 10 feet for the first time! So long to the days when we could just put her somewhere and trust that she'll stay there.
Audrey continues to develop language with amazing speed. I keep commenting on it because I find it so fascinating. We also moved Audrey to a twin bed a month or so ago, which she loves. She looks tiny in it! Her crib is still in her room. When we have time we'll move it to the other upstairs bedroom and put Charlotte in it, but for now Audrey is enjoying having two beds in her room. The crib is now her trampoline.
Carol signed up for the Danskin Triathlon back in March with a goal of training a lot for it. That didn't quite work out, but she did make it to the gym twice almost every week. Although she had last minute doubts about whether she was up to it, she ended up competing and did just fine. Her times were about what she was expecting. I'm proud of her for completing it.
I'm about to change jobs. The contract I'm working on ended mid-August but I've extended through September. They want me to stay another year, but I need to get back to a "real job". I'm used to working in software companies, not in IT, and I prefer the benefits of a full time permanent position. Previously I would have said I prefer the security of such a job, too, but there is no such thing anymore. Getting laid off every once in a while is just part of the deal in my profession. I haven't started looking in earnest yet, but I expect to find and start a new job by early October.
Charlotte is nine months old today. She's been standing holding onto furniture for about a month now. This week she started letting go for a few seconds. She has already developed fairly good balance. And when she falls, at least she sits down rather than just toppling over like a tree. She can also "cruise" a little now from one object to another (e.g. from hanging on to my knee to holding on to the ottoman). And then today she crawled 10 feet for the first time! So long to the days when we could just put her somewhere and trust that she'll stay there.
Audrey continues to develop language with amazing speed. I keep commenting on it because I find it so fascinating. We also moved Audrey to a twin bed a month or so ago, which she loves. She looks tiny in it! Her crib is still in her room. When we have time we'll move it to the other upstairs bedroom and put Charlotte in it, but for now Audrey is enjoying having two beds in her room. The crib is now her trampoline.
Carol signed up for the Danskin Triathlon back in March with a goal of training a lot for it. That didn't quite work out, but she did make it to the gym twice almost every week. Although she had last minute doubts about whether she was up to it, she ended up competing and did just fine. Her times were about what she was expecting. I'm proud of her for completing it.
I'm about to change jobs. The contract I'm working on ended mid-August but I've extended through September. They want me to stay another year, but I need to get back to a "real job". I'm used to working in software companies, not in IT, and I prefer the benefits of a full time permanent position. Previously I would have said I prefer the security of such a job, too, but there is no such thing anymore. Getting laid off every once in a while is just part of the deal in my profession. I haven't started looking in earnest yet, but I expect to find and start a new job by early October.
Garage has Roof, Windows and Siding (almost)
Labels:
house
The garage project was kind of on hold from mid-July through mid-August. Summer activities got in the way. But two weeks ago we got the roofing done, last week we got the doors all in and this weekend my dad helped me get started on the siding. I think we're about half done with that. 5 of 8 walls are mostly done, but the hard parts are left to do: the door and window tops with more cuts and the difficult high parts.
We're looking forward to getting the siding all on and trimmed out. Then we just have to paint the whole thing. If we're still feeling ambitous, we'll paint the house at the same time, in the same colors (it's looking like we'll go with brick red with white trim).
I wish I had kept track of my time for the project. It entails lots of fun little things like getting home from work and moving 1.5 tons of siding out of the alley and into the yard by hand (delivery trucks can't get into the yard). But it's going to be very satisfying when it is all done.
Of course, once we get the exterior all painted, then we have to finish the interior: electrical and plumbing and drywall and paint and trim, etc.
We're looking forward to getting the siding all on and trimmed out. Then we just have to paint the whole thing. If we're still feeling ambitous, we'll paint the house at the same time, in the same colors (it's looking like we'll go with brick red with white trim).
I wish I had kept track of my time for the project. It entails lots of fun little things like getting home from work and moving 1.5 tons of siding out of the alley and into the yard by hand (delivery trucks can't get into the yard). But it's going to be very satisfying when it is all done.
Of course, once we get the exterior all painted, then we have to finish the interior: electrical and plumbing and drywall and paint and trim, etc.
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