Kingfisher Cove

Ass-Kicked to Harstine (finally!)

Both John and I had godawful work-weeks and neither of us could entertain the idea of driving the long dark road to Harstine last night — not to mention that it was stormin’ outside with gusts that ranged to 50 mph. So we got up at a reasonable time this morning and drove down—in daylight for once! Seems like it’s been ages since we were able to SEE to haul stuff into the trailer. I hadn’t been here for two weeks (John came down last weekend) so my eyes had some catching up to do on the progress around here! It’s even sunny! (Very breezy, though, and it definitely feels like winter).

Here are the “two Johns” pow-wowing on the trailer deck over the plans in their (much-needed) stocking caps:

The shop wall forms are now in place and ready for the concrete pour this coming Tuesday:

This is now the view from the trailer deck (below). Once they start building the wood-framed garage on top of the shop and roof it (whenever that takes place in the order of things) it’s sure going to obliterate the trailer deck view!

Here are the “box” and the shop (which will soon look like another big box!)

Last weekend John backfilled the box and pole pads so that all you see sticking up now are the plinths: [reminder: click pics to embiggen!]

He also pulled out all the logs in the gully—a HUGE effort that really tested the mettle of his rented excavator and his operator skills (as you can imagine, he’s gotten damned good with that thing!)

Before picture with the logs in the gully (which made it much easier to traverse the gully either on foot or with the excavator):

After the log removal. It took John all day long last Sunday to haul them out of there:

There is access to the beach again! (However…it is so butt-cold out there…)

This Day…

I can only handle this with bullets.

• Updated iTunes for my iPhone this morning (I allow myself about a half hour to have coffee from my Keurig and to wake up via social media before I have to leave for work). iTunes hiccupped, then ended up taking much longer than I expected. Dashed out the door 5 minutes late! Ugh!
• In the midst of my commute, learned a semi had jack-knifed just north of the 1st Ave. So. Bridge and it took me an hour and a half to get to work. (Yup, nearly a half hour late).
• Also in the midst of my 1-1/2-hour commute? I had to poop! Shit!
• My first work email was from the Portland-based engineer guy (also my “boss”) regarding the killer proposal we’re working on – he’d “updated” an old version of the proposal that I had edited and changed a whole bunch since, and he hadn’t used Track Changes. “Just use this one,” he said. It was a hot mess, completely hosed, with a gazillion different styles dropped in (if you know Word, you know that’s worthy of popping a gasket), and with all the edits I’d already made, there was NO WAY I was going to “use this one.” I had to read through and compare every damned word to see where his changes were, and then incorporate them into my live version. (And yes, I gave him a verbal spanking! So what if he’s my boss?)
• In the midst of all this tedium and feeling like this proposal was totally in the weeds (uber-stress!), I had to pull the plug/put the kibosh on two other proposals that a couple of dimwits decided to pursue this week with 2-days notice. IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY. It takes a good 40+ work-hours solid at least, to do a proposal! No, you don’t push a button to make it happen. No, not any dog/monkey can DO this! Plus, I’m 100% committed on this HUGE proposal that is taking every. single. minute. of my time!
• I’ve never had to put pull the plug/put the kibosh on a proposal before! And two in one day? Is there something in the water that is making people stupid?
• Worked late tonight. I hate working late. They get the “all” of me as it is.
• We’re heading to Harstine tomorrow night and laundry is out of hand, so I’d emailed John to start it, which he did. But I mistook a basket of laundry as clean and actually folded it. IT WAS DIRTY. I ACTUALLY FOLDED DIRTY LAUNDRY.
• I was notified today that I got a raise! First raise I’ve had in 2-1/2 years. It’s enough to absorb the payroll tax increase that had significantly reduced my take-home pay since the first of the year. So I’m happy to report that my take-home pay is now back to what it was in December 2012!
• Can I retire now?

Memory Lane

My BFF, Helen, came up from Oregon this past weekend to visit her mom and she and I attended Margaret’s husband’s Celebration of Life event in Orting, which was wonderful! So many people, food, music (John Denver, his favorite!), slide shows, memory table—ultimately very uplifting and classy. (So much better than a FUNERAL. Nope, there will NOT be a funeral when my time comes, nor John, either!) This is what we should have done for my mom. She made it clear she didn’t want any kind of service, and we honored that. But something like this would have been nice. Helen was telling me about a co-worker’s mother’s memorial—the mother was well known for always wearing lots of BIG, TACKY costume jewelry, and she had a ton of it. At the memorial, everyone draped themselves in the mom’s BIG, TACKY costume jewelry! It was the ultimate of fondly remembering, paying tribute, and having some fun.

I’d driven (my new car) to Helen’s mom’s to pick her up, which was quite the experience for me. South Hill Puyallup is where we grew up, and even though it’s only 20 miles or so from where I live now, it’s become quite a stranger to me. I used to SPIN to Helen’s house almost daily back in the day with my ‘65 Barracuda without a thought! SPIN up those wooded hills and around those wooded corners on the old (wooded) country roads. Now? It’s traffic light after traffic light. Houses everywhere. Woods? What woods?

After the service, Helen and I did a tour of our roots. We drove by (and stopped across the street and peered) at the house where I grew up (from the age of 7 through 17. Really? Only 10 years? It was a lifetime to me). The house was almost unrecognizable. An upper level had been added on, it was a butt-ugly mustardy color (used to be a soft teal green), and the yard was in sad disarray. (Mom and Dad always kept that yard pristine). Then…I realized, that house is 50 years old! Mom and Dad bought it brand new in 1963! Holy crap.

We then motored on to see our old high school where Margaret also attended and has taught French there for the past 30+ years (good ol’ RHS); and our old junior high, which was brand new when Helen and I attended—with the new-fangled “open concept” design of the early 1970s. It’s now completely gated in. Rather imposing. Rather depressing!

In fact, overall, the whole area seemed“tired.” The middle class exploded in those 1960s and so a lot of the houses are of that era, but not very well maintained (with new growth in areas with side-by-side McMansions). Suburban sprawl at its worst. I sure do miss all those woods. We spent a lot of childhood time in those woods. (“Oh! There’s an owl peering at me in that branch above my head! And look at that giant ant hill!”) But it was also interesting with suddenly familiar structures enroute between our old house and Helen’s. “Oh My god, I remember that!”

I also enjoyed dinner with Helen and her family — her 87-year-old mom, and her older brother and sister-in-law whom I’ve known forever but hadn’t seen forever. They were 3 years ahead of us in school and thought we were silly idjuts. Now we’re ALL just old farts. It. Was. Fun.

And now I’m in the midst of work-week hell. Is it Friday yet?

Nate Shares Some Awesome (subtitled: cell phones suck)

As you may (or may not know), Nate has struggled with swimming. It’s been a frustrating part of his Navy life, time and time again unable to achieve certain swimming requirements to qualify for naval special ops teams, and he’s beaten himself up over it. He sinks. I know that he’s very muscular and has very little body fat, so I’m sure that’s the main reason, and he’s overall come to terms with that. But it has been a thorn in his side!

He (and his ship) are currently in Hawaii, supposedly to change over the ship’s sonar system. Apparently that isn’t going so well as the upper brass keep having them do silly tasks unrelated to the purpose of being there. Pretty much the equivalent of “haul these rocks up the hill and then haul them back down again. And then paint those rocks white.” (I have to wonder if the upper brass are waiting to see if the GOP blink about the upcoming  sequester issue, because if they don’t, there will be unprecedented automatic cuts that will affect defense spending). 

Anyway, Nate called me from Hawaii last night (first time we’ve talked in AGES) – and it was a challenging phone call because face it, cell phones suck. There were times when what I was hearing sounded just like the adults in Peanuts’ cartoons. You know: “WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA-WHA!” Like he was talking underwater.

And speaking of “underwater,” the reason for his call was to share an awesome experience! They’ve had some liberty time to experience Hawaii, and yesterday he and a couple of his sailor buddies went snorkeling. Nate had never done that before and he was pretty nervous about it, considering his swimming history. They had to watch an instructional video and then were issued snorkels and flippers. They were told to not expect to see large creatures, like dolphins or sea turtles, which were quite rare. He figured out the snorkel action pretty quickly, but what really impressed him were the flippers! “I’d kick and shoot 30 feet!” They stayed in pretty shallow water and saw lots of cool fish and he was diggin’ it, gradually gaining some confidence. And then they ventured out in deeper water. Nate wasn’t thrilled about that (“There was 20-30 feet of water under me!”), but he also knew his buddies were strong swimmers and would likely save him if he ran into trouble.

And then they saw a sea turtle! He was feeding on a reef, and he floated up to Nate and peered at him! Nate said, “He was no more than a couple of feet from my face and his eyes looked me up and down – there was so much intelligence in those eyes!” THEN – Nate did something he really shouldn’t have but how could he not? – he slowly extended his arm toward the turtle, pretty much expecting him to scurry away, but the turtle drew closer, as if inviting him to touch him. And Nate did. “I touched his shell and his flipper!  I petted him! It was so amazing!” He was giddy with the experience.

What’s cool (but unfortunate in the short term) is that one of his buddies had an underwater camera and apparently got some great shots, of which are now on Nate’s computer. BUT – the !#$%&! Navy ship doesn’t have Wi-Fi so he’s going to have to wait until he has access before he can send them to me. Crap! (I’ll be bugging him until he does!)

(Wish he would just take his ‘puter to a Starbucks and send his mama those pictures!)

It’s a Graveyard! With Prison/Torture Outbuildings!

Things are kind of at a creepy stage, at least in my mind! The skeletal  elements of the house’s underbelly are starting to emerge. John is a a little frustrated at the slow pace of the concrete contractor’s progress. He drove down by himself yesterday afternoon and began backfilling the “box” and the plinths, a tedious but necessary exercise (that saves a bundle of bucks to do himself). He sent me this picture of the rebar and forms going up on the shop/garage:

(I think it looks a lot like a jail!)

To be clear, the shop and garage will be one structure (well, eventually connected to the house itself) with the garage on top of the shop. In essence, the shop will be partially underground once it’s backfilled.

Today, he sent me these. The first one is a little blurry, but you can see the perspective from the back side of the box looking across the gully to the shop/garage structure:

(See where he’s been backfilling?)

This is the one that sort of cracked me up with those headstones  plinths sticking up all over. (Again, they will support the poles).

What with that concrete box and all the shop rebar (soon to be another BIG concrete box) and then the plinths, it looks a bit like something out of a horror novel. Or maybe that’s just my weird imagination. (Maybe too much Stephen King…)

I’m staying home this weekend to attend Margaret’s husband’s “Celebration of Life” observance. Laundry and dusting out my new car are also calling my name!

Flat Spots!

I think that’s what intrigues me the most. Never, ever have we had a flat spot on our Harstine property. (Even the trailer leans). But now between the “box”* and the shop/garage foundation, we actually have FLAT SPOTS!

*John has decided that we should call the “box” the “wine cellar” because “Houses with wine cellars are a whole lot more appealing than houses with concrete boxes.”

Hello, Harstine!

While I’m waiting for the mopped floor to dry here in the (tired ol’) camping trailer, I thought I’d show you a quick (30 sec.) video of the foundation progress. You don’t have to listen to my voice this time, but there is a small plane buzzing overhead. (Oh, and squawking crows!)

You can see the pole pads with the “sonotubes” that are forms that are set with rebar and will be poured with cement to support the poles (that will support the house!) You can also see that the forms are ready for the shop/garage footings. Cement pour on Monday!

Foundation progress of Harstine house as of Feb. 9th 2013

Not long after I uploaded the video (which seemed to take forever considering how short it is), the sun finally burned through the fog. So I took a few (sunny!) stills. Remember to embiggen!

Overall, things are going pretty smoothly. But there are some issues (albeit rather humorous) with the construction guys. Some of the crew are box-of-rocks Neanderthals. Also some drama between the concrete contractor and our next-door neighbors (the concrete guy owes them money for something or other). Also, a leeeetle bit of tension with the neighbors because the workers have been using their driveway for access to that side of our site, which was given with permission but creates some angst on the weekends. (Especially since the concrete guy owes them money…) Kind of like something out of The Deadliest Catch or Gold Rush. Sigh. I’m sure this is only just the beginning…

John said that once this concrete part is done, the pole/beam contractor work should go pretty quickly and certainly by early March we’ll be looking at the skeletal foundation of the house itself spanning the gully.

Dinner tonight? Tenderloin steaks and little lobster tails. Consider it a Valentine’s dinner. As it were.

Update:

I walked down traversed the slopes and shot a few up-close pics. Here’s a good view of the shop/garage footing forms:

And here you can see just how DEEP that hole is! Talk about a wall of dirt!

Hello there, trailer up in the nose-bleed section:

Here’s a view of the “box” and a close-up of the pole footings with the sonotubes. They’re capped with plastic garbage bags to keep rain out, awaiting the cement pour. Sort of looks like a cemetery…

So what’s it all about, Alfie? THIS!

Shaking My Head

I’ve been puzzling over this all morning. I’ll put it to you:

If you sent a template to a coworker in another office who was tasked to produce a proposal—you know, a page or two of a Word document that incorporates the headings and text styles in greeked text, provides guidelines on size and placement of text boxes and images, and includes the style standards and company colors in the headers and footers—how would you respond if you received this email?

“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this. And why is it in gibberish?”

I’m still speechless, and I don’t dare respond because I’d be way beyond snarky. “Seriously? You’re putting together a marketing proposal and you don’t understand a template or what greeked text is?”

Head>>desk.

The problem is, they hire non-marketing people because the thinking is, “any dog can do this.”  These non-marketing people wouldn’t know a style guide or the proper usage of “there, their, and they’re” if it bit them in the butt.

Monday Update

I learn interesting things as this drama unfolds. For instance, the speed that concrete cures! Holy moly! John said, "But it takes a while longer for it to strengthen."

Here you can see that the forms have been removed from the "box" walls, and they've begun work on building the footing forms for the shop (in the foreground):

They are aiming for another concrete pour this coming Friday.

In other news, poor John has the flu. He is a miserable puppy complete with fever, blood-red slitty eyes, a nose leaking like a seive, and nasty cough. This will be a true test of whether my flu shot WORKS. (It had better or I'm going to be pissed!)

The Voice of Reason

Plus? Bwahahahahaha! Snort!

 

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