Kingfisher Cove

The Sojourn Begins

John left directly from work today for Harstine, his pickup loaded down with all kinds of “stuff.” Plumbing and lighting fixture accruements, tools and fittings, shelving to set up in the shop to store everything, and fall protection gear. He will be down there the rest of this week and all of next week!

To install the roof.

{gulp}

Among other things. Like install the three remaining exterior doors and also get some of his hand-crafted lighting fixture wood structures in place before the insulation and sheetrock guys arrive (he needs to attach them to the rafters before they’re covered up).

The metal roofing is due to arrive tomorrow. And it’s interesting how it’s done: They have a special truck with a special cutting tool that reels out the metal from a big ol’ roll and cuts it to specifications (John spent a TON of time getting precise measurements of all the valleys and flashing and gable rakes). He also has the tools to bend and shape, and he also has three helpers lined up, two of them young and able-bodied and the third experienced with installing metal roofs. I sure hope everything goes smoothly, or at least not awfully! It will be so interesting to see photos as this progresses! It makes me nervous, but wow is it ever going to make a difference! We will have a “moss green” metal roof so it will blend in well with the trees. (It’ll really look “U.S. Forest Service” then!) (Actually, the look we’re striving for is “Pacific Northwest!”)

I’ll head down Friday after work with the doggies (maybe not the kitty…I’m afraid my car, that is so very different from the truck, will freak him out). And I’m already anticipating how difficult it will be to leave for home Sunday night while John stays down there for the following week.

 

Some bullets!

• Remember those two (huge!) (horrendous!) proposals I did that the company won ($3 million combined fees)? Found out yesterday that we also won the latest proposal we submitted on the 19th of this month! It’s not quite as big of a fee, but it’s a good project. Wow, we’re on a roll!
• This week I’m working on yet another proposal that is due this Friday, at the same time that I’m working on a big billable report (work we were awarded from a proposal we did a couple of months ago). It’s a 150-mph week, that’s for sure. Ugh. And yet, I really don’t mind working on these reports/studies for this particular project manager – he always begs me to work on them and I appreciate his appreciation of me. All of these that we’ve done so far have been very well-received! Plus, it’s billable! (For a time, I’m not hateful overhead!)
• (Just wish they weren’t both due on the same day. Ugh!)
• I have been watching (and just completed Season 2) of the most marvelous British television series (via Amazon streaming): “Call the Midwife!” It takes place in the 1950s and it’s about this group of nurses who live and work with a group of nuns in the Poplar area of East London. It is drama at its best. The acting is incredible, the writing is superb, and I’m over the moon about it. You fall in LOVE with all the characters. It’s emotional, riveting, funny, intelligent, and at times heartbreaking – the best thing ever! And now I have to wait until January 2014 for Season 3! *Sob*
• John took Bailey back to the vet yesterday for a progress check on her paw. They gave her a booster vaccination and took a needle biopsy of the sore to see “what it is.” The doc thought it looked a little better (I’m not so sure about that, but the incessant licking has subsided quite a bit). We will likely have it removed (it’s a raised growth with the open sore), regardless what the diagnosis. And we’re also looking at having some major dental work at the same time. $$$$  Animals DO tend to live a lot longer with healthy teeth and gums. Peanut has been puppyish ever since she had her dental work, and she’s 13 now! (Bailey is 11).
• The latest I’ve heard from Nate is that he will be assigned to a new ship soon. It’s between two Destroyers that are both in San Diego and both of them are slated for deployment after the first of the year. He said that leave is on hold for now, but that he will likely be able to come home for Christmas! (Possibly in our new house???) AND…he’s talking about bringing along his lady friend! Hmmm… (It does kind of sound like she’s much more than just a friend!)
• From Chucklehead: “We must deep-dive to leverage our essence.” [Can you give me a gag?] [WTF does it even mean?]
• And finally, Bertha started her engines today! The “dig” has begun! Very slowly at first, but she’ll start winding up in the next few days. Here’s an awesome photo from one of the Seattle news stations:

A Fine, Fine Weekend Not at Harstine

It’s actually OK that John has to work this weekend (not that I’m sure he would agree…), but I had some catching up to do around here. I’ve been a wee bit thwarted because there is currently a huge dead rat on the stair landing that was there when I got up, and I just can’t bring myself to deal with it. I covered it up with some TP (while diverting my eyes) and was able to pass by it and shower and put away a bunch of laundry. But then when I came back downstairs, one of the dogs had MOVED THE DAMNED THING to the floor just below the last step. No way am I hauling down laundry baskets and have to carefully maneuver so I don’t trip over the damned giant rat.

God almighty.

So I spent the better part of my morning running around – got the oil changed in my car for the first time since I bought it (wow, there sure isn’t such a thing as a $35 oil change anymore), then I took my car through the carwash and dusted and vacuumed it out. That car’s interior shows dust and grime more than my Bug did. And it didn’t help that I had to cart Bailey to the vet and so there was dog hair every-damned-where. I love this car, but I sure do miss the Bug’s leather seats. Hair and fiber and whatnot weaves in the seat fabric and even those heavy-duty vacs take a lot of elbow grease to get them unwoven and sucked up. Jeesh.

THEN I went to Lowe’s and picked up some interior paint samples and booklets. I don’t think it’s going to be a huge decision – we’re both pretty much set on the main walls of the Harstine house being a light mocha color, with the possibility of a soft teal in the bathrooms and/or bedrooms. Might even paint an accent wall or two with a darker teal. Somewhere. Once the sheetrock is installed, I think it’ll give us a better idea of what would work where.

 

 

Later this upcoming week should start to get very interesting – John begins his week-and-a-half down there to begin installing the metal roof. Gulp!

~~~~~

In other news, remember those two godawful proposals I was working on before and after our vacation? (Ugh, what a nightmare that was). We won both of them! Two huge projects awarded to the company worth over $3 million in fees! Yeah, if only I could see a little benefit from all of that. As it is, I’m taking the week of Labor Day off – without pay. Because we earn so little vacation.

And I wish I could go into more scathing detail here about “Chucklehead.” My God, what a knuckle-dragger.

Bleh.

More Pictures of Wednesday’s Adventure

My coworker who accompanied me on Wednesday’s Alaskan Way Viaduct tour of Bertha’s launch pit took a few pictures that were MUCH BETTER than mine! So I purloined them! Ha!

First, he captured sort of a panoramic of Bertha’s replica in the information center. Be sure to click it to enlarge because you can see all the rooms and also the machine’s conveyor system.

These are the scaffolding-type stairs we had to climb. It looked a bit intimidating, but they weren’t bad. Kind of artsy.

This (below) is a good close-up of the launch site. Mind-boggling all the complexity of the infrastructure.

Below is standing underneath a portion of the Viaduct as we were heading back to our cars. You can see how old it is, plus it’s cringe-worthy to think of being on it if an earthquake hit. I can totally imagine it pancaking. I think about that for the better part of two hours every day when I’m either on the top or bottom sitting in slogging traffic during my commute.

The picture below I grabbed from the WSDOT website, taken over the launch pit with Bertha’s “face” up against that wall, which will be the beginning of the tunnel. You can actually see the Space Needle way in the distance!

OK, that’s all!

Interesting Day!

Not because anything totally amazing happened, but it was a little out of the ordinary, which I welcomed.

Some background. I drive the Alaskan Way Viaduct to and from work everyday, which is an old, double-decker bridge structure built back in the early 1950s that spans the waterside of Seattle. After the 2001 earthquake, it was damaged and structural engineers determined that it just had to go. The problem was that well over 100,000 vehicles use it daily and it’s a vital passage in and out of the city. I-5 is the other passage, and it’s also clogged!

In the meantime, the Viaduct was patched and repaired to the extent that was possible, with very frequent and regular inspections. It took over ten years for the state and the city and the voters to finally figure out what in the hell to do about it. Whatever the outcome was going to be, it was gonna be hella expensive – over $2 billion. Ugh.

To make a long story short, the final decision was to replace it with a tunnel that will span 2 miles and under the city. A couple of years ago, they demolished the southern end of it and erected temporary bypasses with what promised to be years and years of phased construction. Ever since then, driving it is a quagmire of godawful traffic. Y’all know how much I hate my commute.

I’ve done a lot of proposal work with a couple of different engineering firms for the Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT), and the last firm I worked for did the Environmental Impact Study for the Viaduct replacement. Because of that (and my intimate familiarity with the damned thing from driving it everyday), I’ve been watching the progress of the approaching tunnel dig. WSDOT’s website has been excellent about keeping everyone informed, and whether one thinks the tunnel is a good idea or not (very controversial), it really has been fascinating to follow with their webcams and regular updates. The tunnel boring machine is the largest in the world, at least at this point. It was built in Japan, assembled there and tested, then disassembled and shipped here where it arrived several months ago. They’ve been working around the clock to assemble it in the “launching pit” where the tunneling will begin, which is NEXT WEEK! The public named the tunneling machine “Bertha,” and just like the new baby Prince George, I had that one figured out beforehand, too!

Because the tunneling is about to begin, WSDOT has offered tours to see the launching pit and Bertha. A guy at work notified us a couple of months ago about the tours, and I signed up!

Today was the day!

Truth be known, I was a little disappointed that we weren’t allowed to get very close to the thing, but it was still closer than not taking the tour. And it was still interesting and fun. There were maybe 10 of us on the tour (4 from our office), so it was intimate and my kind of “tour” because I hate crowds!

We met at the little museum (or information center) that WSDOT has set up on Pioneer Square, which I thought was great! They had a replica of Bertha in there.

This thing is 5 stories tall (the real thing, obviously, not the replica!) There is a lunch room on there, a medical facility, plus a barometric chamber because of how deep underground it will be going! There will be divers on board because they anticipate encountering water! It’s mind-boggling! Here (below) demonstrates the actual scale (car to machine):

It has conveyors that will transport the 850,000 cubic yards of dirt out of the tunnel (“enough to fill Century Link field above the roof”) onto a complex conveyor system topside to barges that will haul the dirt away. It lays the tunnel walls in its wake and it will take 14 months to punch through on the other end.

Here we were in our “construction vests” on our walk down to the site on this gorgeous day (we drew some odd looks):

Approaching the site where we had to climb those catwalk stairs (better than the ladders on Nate’s ship tour!):

And…the launch pit where Bertha is poised and ready! (click to enlarge)

Like I said, we were further away than I hoped we be, but I managed to do a fairly up-close via Photoshop (again, be sure to enlarge):

The thing is, Bertha’s “nose” (the green Legos-like thing) is now right up against the edge where the tunnel will begin so it wasn’t viewable. Bummer. But it was still quite a sight to see, all of the structure created to accommodate this project. Here is part of the conveyor system that will haul the dirt to the barges:

I guess part of it was just getting out of the office, away from my current proposal, and being out in the sunshine among nice people:

I desperately needed the opportunity to expand my horizons.

~~~~~

John returned home this afternoon after about 24 hours at Harstine – where he installed the bedroom exterior door onto the deck:

And once again, a total pain in the ass to install. Nothing is ever easy…

~~~~~

Oh, and I think my laptop is dying. It’s making an ugly sound and I don’t know if it’s the fan or the hard drive. Sigh.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

…we now have an entry door!

From the outside:

From the inside (a lil’ bit blurry):

We’ll paint them a nice wood tone eventually. But even white they look so purdy!

And wow! It’ll be such a nice entryway!

John is down at Harstine tonight through tomorrow and he just sent me these photos from his phone. I have to wonder what the story was to install this – every door so far has had a story! (Involving lots of angst).

~~~~~

Update: Ooooh. Just talked to John. Ugly door-installation stories. Involving the flooring not being even, making the door-hanging a royal pain in the ass to get to “plumb.”

Plus, the minimum-wage idiots unskilled laborers who came in to squirt in the rigid foam required for energy conservation (to increase R-value and eliminate air leaks) completely FUCKED IT UP. (Those were John’s words. I’m not shy about using them, too). They squirted that foam around the doors, which they are not supposed to do, so that the doors do not close now, plus they plugged up some of the outside hose bibs and then neglected to squirt many of the necessary areas! He has taken pictures and he will deduct his hours of FIXING that problem from the insulation invoice. At $50/hour. (Like he needs this problem).

The metal roofing components will arrive on July 31st! John will take 1-1/2 weeks off from work and he’s hired 2-4 helpers for that span of time. And yes, he is borrowing fall protection gear from Boeing (which is A-OK with Boeing!) and Wifey Bear is on full alert about all that, mark my words.

Bub-Bye, Trench! Howdy, Doors!

It was actually a good thing that the marine layer hung around for a while today, into the early afternoon, because there was another growing pile of wood scraps down by the garage and I wanted to get ‘em burned before that pile got out of hand. (Not that it probably will at this point; but the scrap pile in the gully is still an overwhelming SEA of scrap. It’s going to take a number of sessions to get that under control).

With the trench now nicely backfilled and the path down to the house back to better-than-normal, I was able to get that manageable scrap pile taken care of.

See? No more godawful trench! All those water, gas, phone, and power lines are deeply buried. (By this time I’d already burned the scraps and the sun came out).

Such a relief to have it walkable again.

And then looky at this! John installed four doors!

These are the exterior shop and glass studio doors:

The studio door from the inside – I love all the glass! I’ll have lots of natural light in that room:

Another view of the door to the shop:

Here is the fire door from the mudroom into the shop:

AND, SQUEEE! The door to the cozy back deck and weenie walk:

We will paint these doors. Not exactly sure what color yet, but something that will blend well with wood.

And of course they weren’t easy to install! Lots of tweaking, plus it’s really a job not intended for just one person. (John’s whupped).

The plumber was onsite all weekend long, underneath the house making all the connections. He worked his butt off! I believe he was aiming to have all of his work wrapped up today.

~~~~~

A couple of interesting views – this is what it looked like just a little over a year ago when the theme of the summer was TREES:

(All of that natural foliage…makes me sad. BUT, much of it is coming back underneath the house!)

Here it is now, from the “back” side:

Movin’ Right Along

First, some updates on my previous post.

• Turns out the electrical wire-pulling when John was at Harstine early in the week was truly a BITCH. Took him and (I believe) three electricians a good part of a day to get ‘r done, and it was a very good thing that John had his come-along to help with the pulling. But it’s in! We’ll have to wait for the PUD to transfer the power from the transformer to the new box before we actually have power to the house, but the trench has been inspected and it’s good to go!
• Bailey’s been on the antibiotic all week and we haven’t noticed any more “lickfest” behavior. It still looks a little strange, but I’m thinking/hoping we’re heading in the right direction. (Sort of gave up on the topical ointment, though, since she wouldn’t leave it alone).
• Made my work deadline yesterday. I know that I always do, but I never know throughout the course of these damned things if I really will! I have to rely on a lot of people and so I therefore have to be pretty bitchy to keep them moving along. (Plus, they never read their emails or listen! Argh. I spend so much of my time babysitting! These are such a pain, and there are more coming…)
• I finished the J.K. Rowling (“Robert Galbraith”) whodunnit book. It was good! Definitely well-written, although I do have to say this: it wasn’t the best whodunnit I’ve ever read. I pretty much guessed “who dunnit.” And while I did like the detective and his cohort, the rest of the characters were a bit over-drawn. (Keep in mind that it is very British, so over-drawn characters in that genre aren’t atypical, in my observation). I guess I have a few squabbles about it, but as a first effort in mystery-writing, it was well done.

But for now, it’s the weekend and we’re back at Harstine! It took quite a while today for the marine layer to lift (and it was downright chilly all morning), but it’s l-o-v-e-r-l-y out there! Definitely warming up. I can’t believe this July we’re having. Here it is the 20th and I don’t think we’ve had more than a drop of rain all month. And the temperatures have been NICE. Mid 70s to the early 80s for the most part. It did get pretty humid earlier this week.

John’s currently on the excavator, backfilling that godawful trench. Man. I actually crept down to the house today, very carefully, traversing the sides of that trench (that had been smashed down somewhat from all of the week’s activity), but it was dicey! I’ll be ever-so-glad to have it gone. Yuk.

BUT. All week long, the framers, the electricians, the plumbers, and the HVAC guys have been busy bees! I know it’s not the sexiest part of building a house, but they are sure important! (For us high-maintenance humans who need the power, water, heat, A/C, etc.) John and Contractor John hauled all the exterior doors from the garage down into the house, ready to be installed. (Hauling anything down into the house is an ordeal in itself). I took a few pictures of things. (As I keep harping, be sure to click the pictures to embiggen!)

First, the framers FINALLY finished the garage roof sheathing, plus punched in the garage door that opens to the entry steps:

The extended overhang (with the supporting poles) provide really nice cover for the stairs down to the entry.

Below – Plumbing and wiring and HVAC, oh my!

Here’s the kitchen door that will enter out to the cozy little back deck and the “weenie walk.” We will paint these doors. Eventually.

And this is peering into the kitchen!

Here, below, is John, Contractor John, and neighbor Brock discussing plumbing (which must’ve been pretty funny…)

There are electrical outlets and outside hose bibs everywhere! You can never have too many of those! I don’t think I’d captured a picture of the clerestory windows from the inside before. I think we’re going to really enjoy them. We’ll get morning sun through them, filtered through the trees:

(The framing makes me think of something out of the movie “Alien” with all the “ribs.”)

I’m also enamored with this – I’m standing in the dining area looking into the living room (it’s all one open space) and I just love it! I can hardly wait to actually “live” in this!

Upcoming: Lots of inspections, and then insulation and sheetrock. (I’m kind of dreading the sheetrock because I know it’ll be utter chaos, but boy will it define everything!)

Also, the metal roof is close to being ordered and once we know when all the components will be delivered, John will take vacation time and install it (with a couple of helpers). We have always wanted a metal roof for this house, and when John researched the cost early on, we were shell-shocked. It was completely prohibitive. But installing it himself, even with paid helpers, will save tens of thousands of dollars. I have a hunch it will be a hellacious job, but John’s one of those people who really can do it. And he’s up for it. Bound and determined, even. (Saving that kind of money in order to have what you really have your heart set on is quite the motivator!)

Paws, Potter, Power, and Passion

John and I noticed during these past couple of weeks that our long-haired weenie dog, Bailey, has been having a lickfest with her right front paw. Then we noticed there is a sore on that paw (it wasn’t noticeable until she started licking it because her paws are furry). She hasn’t limped, and wading in the saltwater didn’t appear to bother her.  But over this past weekend, I took particular note and decided it was time to see the vet about it. It was pretty gross. (I don’t have much of a stomach for this type of thing. I tend to divert my eyes, stick my thumbs in my ears and go “la-la-la-la-la.”) So I made an appointment with the vet for her to be seen this afternoon.

SO not a good time for this. John is down at Harstine today and tomorrow, and work is (as usual) crazy nuts. Another deadline the end of the week with an incredible amount of work to do to get there. Jeeze.

Her appointment was at 4:45, but driving from Seattle is always an issue, and I knew I needed to stop on the way and get a collar and leash for her. (Our dogs just haven’t had to be on leashes – they stick around really well both at home and at Harstine). I had to leave work at 3:30, and of course traffic was a bitch, Fred Meyer was uber-busy with l-o-n-g checkout lines (and even the checkers calling for help didn’t produce any help). So I raced home [hit every effing red light] to extremely! happy! excited! dogs, quickly outfitted Bailey with her new collar and leash, and high-tailed it down to the vet, leaving poor confused Peanut home alone, which she is NOT ACCUSTOMED TO AT ALL.

(Wow, what a busy place that vet was! Lots of big dogs in the waiting area. Bailey huddled in my lap all quivery). Nice people, though. (And those big dogs were nice, too).

The vet gave Bailey a pretty thorough exam. Of course her teeth are bad. (An estimate was given to me for over $1,000 for dental work/extractions). She also got her rabies shot (and had some fur mats trimmed out). But the vet wasn’t sure what the paw wound was all about. It could be a foreign object that got wedged in there and festered, or it could be a cancerous tumor. For now we’re treating it with antibiotics (pill-form plus topical, which I think is going to be a bust because she keeps licking it off…) If after two weeks we don’t see an improvement, they’ll do a biopsy. Jeeze.

When Bailey and I finally got home, here was a panting and frantic Peanut in the driveway waiting for us. I sense she had been a wreck, although she was  full of joy and relief to see us. THEN, soon after they’d had treats for all their angst, Mojo shot through the pet door and immediately went up to Bailey and sniffed her all over. Then licked her head.

~~~~~

Last night I downloaded a Kindle book from Amazon that sounded intriguing. I was in the mood for a good mystery/whodunnit. I read a bit of it last night before bed and totally became immersed. THEN. Today I heard that the book is written under a pseudonym — the author is actually J.K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter books! Wow! It’s called “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and I’m really liking it so far! Interesting characters, subtle humor.

~~~~~

I haven’t heard from John yet — I’m sure hoping things went at least relatively smoothly down at Harstine today. He was prepared for it to be an icky job, pulling electrical wire. Hopefully the electrician had some handy tools and abilities to get ‘r done. (However, the fact that I haven’t heard from John yet makes me wonder).

~~~~~

It appears that Nate has met a young lady that he’s completely smitten about. I knew they’d gone to see the new movie “Pacific Rim” the other night and I asked (via text) how they’d liked it. He gave it a thumbs up (mostly – said it was pretty predictable but well-done). Then he sent a separate text:

“She’s the one, Mom.”

Hmmmmm!

Can’t Get My Head Around This

Some more views of the ABYSS that was is the path down to the house. Which is completely inaccessible (unless you are John-the-gazelle).

John’s been laying the water, phone (for DSL), and propane lines, which has NOT been an easy task. The phone line in particular gave him a full morning’s worth of angst and hundreds of trips up and down the steps to feed the wire through the conduit. He’ll be back down here tomorrow morning to work with the electrician to pull the power wire through all the twisty-turny conduit and up the trench. Huge job. Important job. Gotta have power and water, and since the island doesn’t have cable or natural gas, we’ve gotta have the phone line and propane (to feed the stove top and fireplace).

Thinking we might go ahead and have a telephone landline, just to make this morning’s effort worthwhile. (Haven’t had a landline for YEARS! But you know what? I hate talking on a cellphone, and the coverage here is very lame…)

~~~~~

I also can’t get my head wrapped around the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman verdict. I feel sick at heart.

Tell me this: If it had been the other way around, what do YOU think the verdict would have been?

I mean, really?

Skittles and tampons are dangerous and threatening in this moronic country of ours. While guns get a wink and a nod.

This was the best Twitter comment:

“The fundamental danger of an acquittal isn’t more riots, it’s more George Zimmermans.”

I see less and less justice, and it makes me really sad.

Add-On Post!

Holy moly, this “trench” (more like a chasm) makes me want to sob! Until I saw Chipper the Squirrel, who doesn’t appear to be unduly affected. He even watches the excavator pass closely by. Not tame, but certainly acclimated, as long as there is seed to eat! (Click to embiggen – Chipper’s in the highlighted circle):