We have received numerous notes from friends and family wondering what's up ... why no new blog postings ... well it's like this ... my sister suffered a stroke in October and after brain surgery and weeks in a rehab facility she was released to go home ... I went to New Jersey and spent two weeks with her helping her adjust to living solo and working around her (temporary hopefully) mobility limitations. She's got wonderful neighbors and a weekend husband (he lives 4 hours away because of work) who will assist her with things she can't do ... also an emergency button on a necklace she wears 24/7. She is getting better every day, but complete healing will take time.
Our dependency on giant dumpsters has been severed but we are still generating construction debris which needs to be disposed of. It is horrific how much trash accumulates when one is building a house. We discovered our local dump and found it to be a very nice place ... user friendly and with lovely vistas in all directions.
The big thing that happend while I was away is that the beginnings our kitchen was installed ... base cabinets and the main skeleton of my laboratory. Those who were familiar with our Lahaska kitchen will perhaps see a strong similarity ... I loved my Lahaska kitchen and saw no reason to design some other version when I really just wanted exactly the same thing. Next week the soapstone counters are scheduled to be installed and and after that the kitchen man comes back and finishes the innards of cupboards and drawers and doors and everything else in the kitchen and the pantry.
Here is another view ... I am so excited ... I can hardly wait to be able to function in the new space.
The newest member of our crew is Abbi. She was biking across America all by herself and chanced upon Evan in Salida. One thing led to another and when her knees caved in after making it all the way from California to someplace in Missouri, Evan went and got her and that is just the beginning of a very good make-you-smile-from-ear-to-ear story. We are amazingly lucky she found her way to us for she's a real hard worker now in charge of oiling beams and painting the humongous basement.The shower stall in the guest bath gets it's final adjustments and a door is installed in the same bathroom.
For a long time, the elephant in the room has been the spiral staircase installation ... when would we get to it? Everyone has been nervous about it. While I was away Evan and Chris bit the bullet and carved out the hole in the floor ... a huge gaping circle. Here is a view from the basement looking up, you can see all the support studs which the bendable "wiggle" board will be attached to so the hole will have a nice surface ... Evan is guiding the wiggle board into a saw and cutting it to size in the other picture.
At the top of the spiral is a round bannister to keep folks from falling into the abyss below. It is taking a great deal of fitting and refitting to get it all right. The stairs are a lovely red color with oak treads and hand rails.
Chris's focus of late has been the spackling and prepping of the walls in the upstairs studio space. He got the final coat of paint on just before I came back home ... it was a wonderful surprise ... isn't it beautiful? Can't you just see my big Swedish loom there?
Here the guest room's jewelry is installed. It is a stained glass lamp with a pine cone motif (we live among lots of pine cone producing trees). Evan finished the window seat in that room and Abbi painted it. It is a perfect place to stow extra pillows, blankets and comforters and such. My next task is painting the baseboard and remaining trim in that room after which it is just about done.
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