We did start last month with at least two fun activities....
We went down to Coos Bay to help Melody and Dwayne celebrate their 40th anniversary. Being from about as informal of a family as my own, it was pretty low key, filled with activities such as tearing off a roof, walking on the beach, getting back rubs from Melody (wait...wasn't it her anniversary?), and then a full day of fun spent south of Florence at Honeyman State Park where we had a scorcher of a day and got some good swimming and BBQ'ing in.
Go to our Flickr website to see more fun 'oldies' like this one:
They haven't changed a bit!
Then we had an anniversary of our own. Three years under our belts! It was funny getting dressed to go out to dinner, I realized it was the first time in a long time where I wasn't putting on either scrubs or my old work jeans and ratty old t-shirts. Kind of sad, but true.
So, onto the house. This will be really fascinating stuff, so hold onto your seats! There are always at least four different projects going on at once. No real new updates on the foundation. It's staying level, and Keith has got it pretty well secured. There are still jacks sticking out here and there, but that project got put on hold a bit so that we could get started on the ditch. We are digging a trench around the entire house and installing a french drain so that (hopefully) the house will not move anymore. In other words, this is how we hope to fix the fundamental problem that created all this work. And it has been a really fun project (interject sarcasm).
And I must disclose, that this is where I play the "I am working full time" card and let Keith do all the dirty work. First step was to deface the beautiful RV pad the previous owners had installed. In order to dig a ditch you have to get the concrete out of the way, so Keith spent the better part of a day bent over in a less than favorable position for the lower back, sawing through concrete.
Then he spent half a day with a jackhammer breaking up all the concrete and another day lifting all that broken concrete up out of there and into the trailer. Yep. Glad I had to work that day. Next machine to rent was the Ditch Witch. This "tiny" little thing would dig us a 3 foot trench all the way around the house in "four hours max" said the guy at Beehive Rental. Nine hours later we took our weary bodies home with the job completed.
The Ditch Witch.
It worked pretty well, but things that made it hard were stumps and chunks of concrete two feet down that would get in the way, and some very rocky soil under the driveway.
A look at the aftermath.
This was only about a week ago, and it was a gorgeous, sunny day when we did it. The very next day it rained like crazy - the first real rain of the fall, turning all these nice piles of dry dirt into mud. And if you know Eugene, you know that it is a clay-based soil. If you know clay, you can imagine how miserable it is to move around. You step on it and you are instantly an inch taller. You shovel it, and all but a teaspoon stays on your shovel. We didn't want to leave these piles around, so we (mostly Keith...remember,....I have to go to work!) set to the task of moving earth. The late fall rains turned a two hour job into a two day one. But it got done like things do when you keep at it, and we are now finally laying the drain pipe into the trench. Of course the Ditch Witch did not do a perfect job of getting all the dirt out, so we (Keith) have to spend a lot of time digging out more wet dirt/clay from the skinny trench to get to the right depth. I do help. Really I do, I just split my time between helping outside, and prepping walls inside for painting.
Look at our beautiful back yard. This is where all the dirt is getting moved to.
I spent a couple hours today spreading it out. We have hopes to get some seed planted soon so that maybe we'll get some grass before winter really sets in. Gracie might just have to turn into a full-time indoor dog this year. After getting the ditch to the right depth, we place a liner, then the pipe, fill it with a little gravel, get the right slope using a transit, then stabilize it all with more gravel. We are two-thirds of the way around the house as of today.
Moving inside....we have officially completed one room! The office is done. We laid bamboo floor without too much difficulty and painted it a fun color to match one of our paintings we bought in Indonesia. That's it. That's all we did to it, but it sure took a while to actually get it all said and done.
Now we can finally move some stuff in here and clear out a little space in the dining room which is jam packed tight with boxes.
Here's a look at the living room. If you remember from earlier photos, there used to be a fireplace here. Keith ripped that out (couldn't fix the settling problem around it) and then built this new wall.
And in the master bathroom, progress on the shower. After doing our shower in Lebanon Keith swore he'd never tile another shower floor again. Well, he changed his mind and has been making nice progress on getting the shower ready for tiling.
The hardibacker is all in now, but I figured you didn't need to see another picture of it here.
What do the dogs do all day? Well after getting reported to Animal Control (and getting a ticket!)by our neighbor (long story there) we have to keep both (especially Gracie) on a short leash. Wiley has to stay tied up anyway as he is a Houdini and can disappear on you in a second. He is getting used to the routine though, and spent the better part of yesterday watching the neighborhood go by from his perch (he likes to be on high things).
And Gracie literally spent eight hours yesterday doing this.
We decided we are going to get her a squirrel for Christmas.
