Downsizing

June 22, 2008 - Woke up this morning with the expectation that it was going to rain for most of the day, so we got up, picked up some coffee and bagels, and went straight to the house to try to get in a few hours of work before the storm. Upon arrival, Joe decided that a piece of the house had to go. So here's the pictoral demonstration of what happened. The boys should like this.

Here's Joe after he has peeled off the roof, cut the walls from top plate to sill, and severed the ridge beam, so that the left most 6 feet of the house are just hanging there, ready to go.

Crouch down, and kick...

Kick harder....

KABOOM! Cool.

Here's how it looked from the inside -

Right after this was done it started to drizzle, so we went to work getting all the big pieces of drywall and insulation that came down into the dumpster, cuz that stuff is no fun when it's soaking wet. Then it started to pour. We couldn't leave yet because we had a fire going that wouldn't quit, so when the storm was directly overhead we ran to the truck and hung out there for the worst of it. Then we figured, since we can't leave, we might as well be working, so we got to work dismantling the piece we knocked down. I impressed Joe with my sledgehammer skills, knocking apart the lumber as he stacked it up out of the way.

By lunch time, here's what it looked like -

This afternoon was spent taking care of miscellaneous things, including talking to Kelly for a good long while about the plans. I just cannot stress enough how much work this part of it takes. There's just so much to think about and work out and for someone who's never even built a house, planning one is kind of tricky. But we discussed some modifications to the floor design, the roof trusses, as well as a complete cross section of the house with all the dimensions needed.

And now for some garden pics, finally -

The romaine lettuce probably makes me the most proud. I just think it looks so healthy and beautiful. We actually cut a small head for lunch today and it's soooo good.

Here's one of our first zucchini!

And the tomato garden which is growing more and more every day.

Here is the broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, celery, and celeriac. There's also a small row of basil in there, and once we eat all the collard greens, I'll fill it in with some more basil plants that I still have in cell packs.

The winter squash is getting real big -

And I think the corn is on track. I think they say, 'knee high by the fourth of July?' So we'll see.

And then a pepper plant. They're definitely the slowest to grow, I think because they like super hot weather. But they seem relatively happy.

And that's it for now. Night!