Merry Christmas

I know it's been awhile since my last update, and I apologize to those of you who read this every week, and for those of you who use it to waste time at work...Aunt Kate. With the holiday season things have been busy both at work and at home. I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas with family and friends. I also hope Santa was good to you and you received everything you asked him for.

Onto the house update...

Vic was up from Tennessee for Christmas for a few days. He spent last Friday and Saturday at the house with us. He did a little bit of everything. He helped me shovel out my house, helped Rick put sheeting on the garage roof, and helped put felt on the house roof in the dark. He said he's done some crazy things in his lifetime, and felting a roof in December after dark definitely ranks up there with them!

Rick and Bob came out last Saturday to help with the roofing as well. Rick did a lot of sheeting on the garage while Bob helped wherever anyone called him to.

A big surprise to me was that I actually got up on the roof...multiple times...within the last week. I'm not comfortable up there by any means, but being on the ground with nothing to do, watching the people on the roof work makes me feel pretty worthless. So I had to get up there and at least try to be useful. I actually did some nailing on Wednesday until the roof got wet and kind of slippery.

An even bigger surprise to me was that Laura doesn't like to be on the roof either, and she is more uncomfortable up there than I am! The girl who fears nothing was scooting along the roof on her butt to get wherever she was going.

Yesterday Dad finished some framing necessary to support the plywood where the garage roof meets the house roof. We put enough sheets on to put felt on the front of the house. The felting started sometime after dark. The entire family was up on the roof trying to get this accomplished before we get our 3-5 inches of snow today. However, once it gets dark it gets colder, and the wet spots on the roof soon got slippery. So Mom and Dad sent Laura and I home because we're big chicken-shits. I was doing ok, but probably wasn't going to be all that useful once the first row of felt was down. That also gets slippery when it's wet, and sitting on it while nailing is not an option because it pulls the felt down the roof. So Laura and I cleaned up the rest of the tools and went home...leaving Mom and Dad to finish the job in the dark. They both came home with bleeding fingers and Mom threatening lawsuits. So thanks to Mom and Dad, the entire house is now felted and protected from the elements.

Anyway, that's the update. I'm hoping to be a bit more regular once we get back into the normal groove. I hope everyone has a very happy and festive New Year!

Pre-Christmas Update

So do you think that Dad would be mad if I told him we were scrapping this house thing and that I’m moving south to North Carolina where it is 78 degrees in the middle of December? OK, maybe that’s not such a good idea. Don’t worry Dad, I like Michigan and the winters…I’ll be around for awhile. I will just enjoy the weather while I’m here on business.

Last weekend Rick came by to help sheet the south side of the house. Now all we have left is the front of the house and the garage. Tying all those parts together might prove to be challenging, but I’m sure between Rick and Dad they can figure out a way to do it. So much for Rick figuring we could get the roof sheeted, drip edge, and felt all done in one weekend huh? I do appreciate Rick coming out to help us get the house closed up as soon as possible. We did some more shoveling too. This time we brought a wheelbarrow out to haul snow from one end of the house to the front door.

Sunday Dad finished nailing the plywood on the south side of the roof. He also put some blocking in the trusses to support the plywood in a few places. Mom and I sheeted the south side of the garage walls. We also started to get some of the cantilevers buttoned up with visqueen wrap and Styrofoam. I’m sure we’ll continue those projects this weekend.

Maybe if I’m lucky some of this unseasonably warm weather will follow me from the Carolinas back to Michigan. I know it’s asking a lot, but a girl can hope right?

Please Don't Make Me Move

As I sit at my desk this morning at work I am very appreciative that I have a "desk job". Every single muscle in my body is screaming out in pain today. It's almost worse than the first swim practice after a long break...and that is pretty bad.

We've gotten a lot done since the last update, but not as much as we'd like. We're trying to catch up with the weather right now, and it's not working very well. All of the trusses were completed over Thanksgiving weekend. Consumers came out and hooked up power last week. That is a huge help because we don't have to haul the generator around anymore.

Rick and Bob came out to help Dad with the fascia. Most of the fascia is up, with a small amount on the front of the house and some of the garage left to finish. Rick and Bob also came out this weekend to help sheet the roof. A good portion of the west side is done and most of the north side is done. This is the reason my muscles hate me right now. I was very happy to have Rick and Bob there...that allowed me to stay on the ground. However, the job on the ground was a pretty tough one. I hauled sheets of OSB from the pile in front of the garage, through the house, and hefted them up through the rafters to Dad and Rick.

And while I thought I was sore on Saturday night, it was nothing compared to last night and today. On top of hauling plywood for Dad and Rick yesterday, I also shoveled the driveway at home, and shovelled out my house. It was a very wet and heavy snow since it was close to 40 yesterday.

The weather was less than desirable both days this weekend. Luckily it was not windy either day. That made sheeting the roof easier. Saturday was freezing cold, to the point of wearing insulated Carhartt overalls. It was 11 degrees when we started on Saturday! Sunday was warm, almost 40, but it rained on and off all day. Not just a light rain shower, steady rain. But we worked through it past dark and came home soaked to the bone with squishy wet boots.

So we will continue to sheet the roof as the weather allows, and hopefully I won't have to shovel out the house much more.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

In lieu of asking for anything for myself this year, instead I'd like to ask for a gift for my friend Tara.

As you know, Tara's busy building her house, so I don't think that she'd have time to actually compose this letter herself. Also, I think maybe she's too nice to ask for what she needs.

It's not that I don't like her third cousin Billy Bob from Arkansas. Personally, I don't find tattoos with the NASCAR emblem endearing, but I'm not the judgemental type, and you know, to each their own. And bless his heart for thinking of Tara when he brought her a housewarming gift.

I'll admit, I was a tad concerned when he told the story of collecting the last chair; how he ran as fast as he could and leapt over a broken-down lawn mower, and how just in the knick of time the doberman chasing him met the end of his chain. Thank goodness he had the dexterity not to spill his can of Old Milwaukee Light and had it to quench his thirst as he laid there, panting on the ground, thanking his lucky stars.

I don't want to hurt anyones feelings, but it's just that I was sort of picturing a different set of furniture for Tara's living room. Something with, oh, cushions and a place to recline in front of the fireplace.

Do you think you could please bring her a nice set from Pottery Barn? I promise that I'll help her move it and bring out the set from Billy Bob when he gets paroled comes to visit.

Thanks Santa,
Jenn

I Know It's Wednedsay!

OK Betsy! Here's your quick update. :) There isn't a whole lot to update though.

The garage walls were completed this weekend, without the plywood. The big trusses were set. The smaller truss jacks have mostly been put in also. Rick, Bob and Tom were out again throughout the week and on Saturday. Once again, we could not have accomplished what we did without them. Bob came out again to help on Sunday while Rick and Tom enjoyed a Lions' game at Ford Field.

We did have a bit of excitement this weekend. Just a bit of background before I tell you what happened. Dad is the president of the board at the Great Lakes SAFETY and Training Center. He has always been a big safety man. That being said, I have a question for you readers...are you supposed to stand on the TOP of a step ladder? The answer to that question is no, you are not supposed to stand there. Dad was putting some corner truss pieces in when he decided to give us his best impersonation of a chimpanzee! The ladder came crashing down, Dad was swinging on the top of the garage wall by one hand, and the truss luckily was caught on another one so it didn't fall on his head. It could have been a bad situation, but it turned out alright.

Hopefully this weekend will show some good progress. We have 4 straight days of work ahead of us. A turkey, some mashed potatoes, corn casserole, and hopefully some pie will be worked in there somewhere. They are forecasting 2 inches of snow tonight. I'm hoping the weatherman is wrong as usual.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of food, family and friends. If you're crazy enough to go shopping on Friday I hope you come home unscathed and that you win any fist fight you get in! If you are going to the Midland High football game, cheer extra loud for me. Happy Turkey Day!

Monday, November 19

Sorry there is nothing reported yet. I have a super busy day today, so I won't be able to update this until this evening. I promise I will get pictures and an update up tonight.

On a side note, please send a Happy Birthday wish to my sister if you feel inclined! She would also probably appreciate a prayer or some brain power her way as she trudges through the last 20 some days of undergrad.

One Step Closer

This weekend was a pretty exciting one. Yet another milestone has been started...although not quite completed.

Thursday and Friday evenings Mom, Dad and I finished building walls in the garage at home. If only all the walls could have been built inside where it's warm without any wind.

Saturday morning Rick came out to help us finish standing walls and getting the house ready for trusses. We also finished putting the treads on my basement stairs. So we don't have to use the ladder anymore. About noon I picked up two of his boys, Bob and Tom, to come help out at the house. Grandpa and Mom also came out to help. We finished standing all the interior walls and Rick and Dad started putting on the top plates. Bob and I took a trip to Menards to pick up some more lumber. Remember the story about sorting lumber at Menards awhile back? Well this time I was the one going through stacks of lumber trying to find the straight ones while Bob loaded them in the back of the van. I actually made the guys at Menards get down another bunk of 2x4s because I went through the one on their floor and couldn't find a straight board in the bunch. I'm sure they love us out there...they probably see our van coming and run in the opposite direction now! By the time Bob and I got back to the house the rest of the crew had built a couple garage walls and stood them.

Sunday morning we finished putting the top plates on the walls. When this was finished Rick finally got to show us what he had been prepping us for all weekend...he kept asking if we were ready for the show...the gun show. Trusses are beasts and very difficult to handle, but with Rick and his guns we had no problem muscling them into place. Ok, maybe a few problems, like a couple people tripping and ending on their butts on the ground, a few trusses temporarily offset from where they are supposed to be, and some interesting work getting them into the house and on the roof. All in all it went well without any injuries. Bob climbed up to stand on the top plates and hold the trusses while Dad and Rick set them into place. I was really glad that Bob was ok doing that, because that meant I wouldn't have to.

Words cannot express enough how thankful I was to have Rick and the boys out at the house. They were a tremendous help! Tom was great when there was work for him to do, and when there wasn't he was content to sit in my office and built a house for his guinea pig, which was a pretty impressive finished product. He also made a boat. If it floats upright for a minute Mom owes him $5. Unfortunately we did not have a place large enough to test it. We'll have to test it at home some night. I think Bob learned a lot this weekend. He did a little bit of everything for us. He measured for top plates, nailed top plates, hauled lumber, sorted lumber, held trusses, whatever was asked of him. Even though his dad kept critiquing his hammer swing, I thought he did a fantastic job. Rick is another person who knows construction, has patience, and can work with my dad. He also can keep the atmosphere light and fun. I know we couldn't have accomplished what we did this weekend without them.

It's Starting to Look Like a House

As you can see from the picture, all of our outside walls are up, minus the garage. Most of our inside walls are up too. The entire south side of the house has the walls up. We have some more walls to build for the laundry room, bathroom, kitchen and a couple closets on the north side. They are pretty small for the most part though. Mom was going to try to go out today and build those if the weather permitted today.

We had a great weekend to work. The sun was out and the temperatures were not too cold. They were kind of chilly in the morning, but as long as the sun was shining they were tolerable. I'm not going to lie though...I did have my Underarmor and ski socks on all weekend.

We had Mom, Dad, Vic, Grandpa and myself out working for the weekend. Vic and I kept to our job of building walls. Two Michigan Tech engineers building walls can be rather interesting. At one point we were putting cripple studs under a door header. This involves one person moving the stud up and down to flush it to the one next to it while the other person nails the stud to the neighboring stud. I was the nailer, and in Vic's words, he was the derivative. Wow...I told him he was a geek, but assured him that I was as well since I understood what he meant.

Vic, Grandpa and I were out to the house a bit earlier on Saturday than Dad was. So we started building the walls that were laid out ahead of us. In trying to stay to Dad's standards of wall building, we took our time getting the stud exactly flush and on the line. During that process Grandpa asked us if we were building a china cabinet. I guess my dad didn't get his sense of perfection from his dad! It was a good laugh.

We had what could have been our first bad injury on Friday afternoon. Luckily it turned out to be only slightly bad. Dad was using a pipe clamp to hold two walls together on one end. On the other end he was beating on the top plates with a sledge hammer. Mom, Vic and I were laying out a new wall next to him. The pipe clamp came off and hit Mom in the back of the head. I thought we might be taking her to the ER for stitches. Luckily it was only a big lump, although I'm sure it still hurts quite a bit. She's a trooper though and continued working. Although, she's added it to her list of injuries to sue me for. :)

Steve put our electrical service in last week also. We should be getting an inspection some time this week and hopefully Consumers won't take too long to come hook up the power. At that point we can stop using the generator. That will quiet the site down a bit, and we won't have to worry about lugging the beast around and keeping gas in it.

The trusses should be delivered early this week. I don't know how long it will take to finish the walls we have to build inside as well as the garage. I think we're hoping to set trusses this weekend. I'm not 100% sure on that though.

This is going to be a sad week. Daylight Savings Time ended this weekend, so that pretty much shoots any hope of working in the evenings. We are also losing Vic to Tennessee again. It was a great time while it lasted and made building walls that much more fun. I do understand that Lisa would like to see him again though, and that maybe he should go home. Thanks for all your help Vic...once again, we would not have made as much progress without you!

Big Progress

This weekend was an incredibly productive weekend, despite the weather. It is finally starting to look like a house, not a nuclear bomb bunker. I have walls standing up out of the ground, and I can start to see my rooms, doors, and windows.

Having the Tennessee Hillbilly (who would prefer to be referred to as the Bicycling Hillbilly) up all week to work was a tremendous help! He and I would build walls while Dad laid out plates ahead of us. We had a pretty good system going this week. Vic has requested that we give a shout out to his wife in Tennessee...so hi Lisa! Thank you for letting us borrow your husband for the week! It has been great fun.

Saturday we had a full crew out working. Laura took the day off from studying to come help us, and Grandpa showed up to help also. Then Mom came out after her tournament to work. We were able to run two compressors and nail guns which made the walls go together pretty quickly. Saturday was a pretty miserable day, weather-wise. It was cold, cloudy, windy and wet. Dad gave Grandpa the "rookie" job when he got there. He was building wall partitions. It's pretty much two 2x4 studs, with three 2x4 blocks in between to give us something to nail adjoining walls to. Dad said he built thousands of those when he started working with Grandpa when he was growing up. Laura and I thought maybe it was payback...but Dad says he gave that job to Grandpa so he could work standing up at the saw horses. Good thinkin' Dad! However, Grandpa is a very industrious worker and finished a pile of those in no time, so he and Laura teamed up to build some walls. Laura laughed because the process she and Grandpa used was slightly different than the one Vic and I used. Vic would position the stud and then say, "good" and I would nail it. Laura and Grandpa's process was Laura would be positioning the stud, Grandpa would nail and say, "good?" before it was positioned. :) Regardless of methods, we built and sheeted a fair amount of walls, but couldn't stand them up due to the high winds. I then took my crew to Pat and Jerry's for dinner. The entertaining stories from Grandpa and Vic were a great ending to the day.

Sunday it was Dad, Mom, Vic and myself working. When Dad and I arrived at the house there was frost all over the floor and the walls. So we grabbed a couple brooms to sweep them off in hopes of the floor drying a bit quicker. Dad swept all of his frost into a nice pile, made a snowball, and threw it at me. I am thankful that he doesn't have the aim of my mother with his tosses...it missed. :) As you can see from the pictures, Sunday turned out to be a fabulous day...blue sky, sunshine, not much wind. The outhouse bandit was at it again this weekend. She locked Vic in the outhouse, but he broke himself out. We did find out that she can dish it out, but is afraid to take it. When she needed to use the outhouse she didn't trust us not to lock her in, so she drove to Auburn!

As you can see, we made some great progress this weekend. We're ready for our electrical service to go in. Hopefully we'll get the rest of the walls up and get the trusses up before it snows.

Almost there...

It looks like I can finally stand close to the edge of the house and not worry about how high I am off the ground, because now I can step up to it. The excavator was in yesterday to do most of the backfill. The south side of the house will remain unfilled until we use the lumber piled up there to build our walls. The rest of the house is up to grade, or almost there. They put the septic tank in and started on the septic field. They were planning on coming back to finish the garage and the septic field today. I've posted two pictures, one is from the south side of the house, my normal picture angle, and the other is looking at the front of the house from the road.

It looks like this week our friend Vic will be back in town to help again too. So hopefully with three of us working we can get some walls up! I can continue my Styrofoam project while Dad and Vic build walls tonight.

Bring in the Dirt

This weekend was used to prepare the house for backfill. Friday was miserable out at the house. The wind was blowing like you wouldn't believe, we worked through at least two rain showers, and it was COLD! Saturday and Sunday were windy, but very pleasant temperatures. Sunday I even worked in short sleeves for awhile!

We put the Styrofoam up around the house. The wind made that a bit difficult, but we prevailed. We also finished building the garage and porch foundation walls. Three of the four garage walls are up with the fourth to be stood after the excavator is in. Dad also had enough material to build one brick ledge, the other will have to wait until we get some more treated lumber.

I did not get any pictures this weekend. I'll try to stop and get one after the backfill has been done today on my way home from work.

All Wrapped Up...All We Need Is a Bow

We had another productive weekend...and for the most part we had a fun weekend also. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when I use up the rest of my vacation in the next week or so and have to start working 5 day weeks in the office again! :)

Friday was pretty productive, even without our supervisor on site. Mom and I worked a good portion of the day alone while Dad did some work for the job that actually pays him. He also made a couple trips to pick up the garage foundation lumber. The all woman work crew did a pretty nice job while he was gone. The best part of Friday came during one of Dad's trips to the lumber yard. A man pulled up in his pick-up truck and as he is walking up the driveway I can see him scanning the work site for a man, even though I am the one walking towards him. As he continues to scan the work site, two women start walking towards him, both wearing tool belts. So the man says, "Hello girls." I asked if I could help him and he asked if we were looking for a concrete guy. I told him I already had one, but would gladly take his card. So we talked about some of his other jobs in the area for a bit and he decided to leave. On the way out, still confounded that there was NO MAN on this job, he said, "Have a nice day ladies." You can bet he's probably not getting any concrete work out of this lady!

Saturday morning started out with a fantastic surprise! Dad's "Little Buddy" Chris came out to lend a hand for the morning. Chris is a fellow builder and knows his way around a construction site. So it was probably nice for Dad to have some skilled labor on-site for once. Chris also could make a living as a stand-up comedian. The guy is hilarious. He kept us laughing while we built as many walls for the garage foundation as we could with the crappy lumber we had.

Sunday had the most visible progress of the weekend. Mom, Dad and I wrapped the house in two layers of visqueen. We did final prep work to the outside of the house, sealing the plywood joints, scraping excess glue from the rim board, etc. Mom thought the funniest part of the weekend was Sunday...but I beg to differ. The house going up next to me has a porta-john out front. This has made it very convenient for us, and made it so I do not have to drive into Auburn to use the bathroom. Note to everyone out there reading this...DO NOT USE A PORTA-JOHN WHEN MELISSA IS AROUND!!!! She locked me in and then started walking back to my house doubled over laughing. I tried pleading, I tried yelling, I tried doing nothing...but all she did was laugh harder and keep walking. I had to put my head up by the vents and holler across the lot, "Dad! Please come rescue me! Mom locked me in!" Dad had to come all the way over to let me out. I'm sure my neighbors were all looking out their windows wondering what in the hell kind of neighbor they were getting!

After all the shenanigans, we got back to work wrapping the house. The temperature dropped dramatically, the clouds rolled in, and the rain started. We were troopers though and finished the wrap in the rain. We did call it a bit of an early night and went home. We have a bit more prep work to do, but if the weather cooperates we might be able to back fill this week still. So keep your fingers crossed!

You Want Me to Climb Up WHERE???

This weekend was a very exciting and productive weekend. The sub-floor is on and we are ready to start building walls!

I found out this weekend that I'm more of a big chicken than I thought I was. I REALLY don't like being up on the joist without the plywood down. I tried to get up there on Friday to do some work and was extremely uncomfortable. Dad offered to strap a board across my butt so I wouldn't fall through, but I don't think even that could help! I did all the work I needed to do from ladders on the basement floor. Once Mom and Dad put a few sheets of plywood down I could climb up, but I did so from a ladder inside the basement, not across the empty spaces at the edge of the house. That being said, I am eternally grateful that Paco and Steven came out to lend a couple extra hands on Saturday. Neither of them seemed too upset to climb out on those things. Paco even went down and retrieved my hammer for me when I forgot to bring it up with me, just so I didn't have to climb down the ladder. What a fantastic friend! :)

Paco did most of the gluing for us. He climbed out on the joist and glued away. I was very relieved to see him out on the joists with the glue gun instead of it being me, sliding out on my butt, doing it. Paco also hauled plywood, was very good at dropping the sheets into place, and put his Michigan Tech engineering skills to good use when needed. I really appreciate that he was willing to make the drive up from A2 for the day just to help me out, then get up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to drive back downstate to work for the morning.

Steven did a little bit of everything for us. He hauled plywood, ran the sledgehammer, ran the nailer, did some gluing of his own, and kept us going with some comic relief. Steven was not aware that we had a Green Bay Packer fan in our midst when he started making fun of Brett Favre and Lambeau Field...which only added to the enjoyment of the day. Steven also hung around and help Mom and I spread waterproofing on the floor to provide some protection if it rains.

Today Mom and I finished putting the bracing in the basement while Dad did some layout for the walls of the house and trimmed the plywood around the edges. Hopefully this week we will finish the small details with the foundation so our excavator can back fill. I know that I will feel much more comfortable being up on the first floor when the back fill is there!

It was incredibly warm here this weekend, with record setting temperatures around 90 degrees. Later this week it's supposed to drop the mid 50s...I was kind of hoping for something in between. Mid 60s to 70 is a good temp for me to work!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week and maybe I'll have some new pics towards the end of the week!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

This is what the house looked like Sunday morning. It still looks pretty similar. All of the floor joist were put up last week, and the remaining work is details. These details aren't really visible from the bird's eye view. We have put extra bracing in for the walls that run parallel to the joist so that when we back fill the walls don't push in. I have cut mini studs for those same walls so we have something to nail the sub-floor to. We have also put extra bracing in the cantilevered joist that overhang the basement foundation. Most of the rim board is up around the house. The only section remaining is the south side, the one you can see in the picture. Dad was going to take today off to work on that, but the rain has foiled that plan. I do consider us pretty lucky though...the weather this weekend was fantastic! It was sunny and mid 70s.

Both Dad and I thought we would be putting the sub-floor on by Sunday at the latest...considering we both took Friday off to work on the house. However, the details are going slower than both of us thought they would. Details are good though...it means I won't have my fireplace falling off the back of my house because it wasn't supported properly. I won't have visitors falling through the patio door for the same reason.

Things are moving...and hopefully once we get the floor down you'll see more progress. I know the pictures all pretty much look the same so far. :) I hope everyone is having a Happy Monday!

Another Quick Update

This was taken late in the day on Sunday. As you can see we've started putting the floor joist up. I'd say we had 60% of it done by the end of the day on Sunday. Dad took the day off today and he and Mom finished most of it. There are a few left to put up at the south end of the house.

Just a nice fun picture...Laura and Mom brought us lunch on Saturday. We decided we could really use Laura's help before she went home. Since she only had flip-flops on she had to borrow a pair of socks and my work boots...which, as you can see, made for a FABULOUS look. All she needs is a cape and she could be a super hero with that outfit and pose. :) Her super hero strength did help a ton getting the long joist maneuvered into place. So we were glad she was home and able to help, if only for a little while.

Things are coming along quite nicely. It's starting to look more and more like a house every day. Hopefully someday things will slow down enough that I can update this more often. :)

Hope this finds everyone happy and healthy!

The Foundation: The Most Important Part

We know all about Crow's house. I'd like to say a few things about building other things. Things like a life and friendships and how amazing Crow is at this type of creation.

Specifically, I'd like to talk about Crow's foundation. It is made of items that have created the core of someone that I love dearly and am truly in awe of.

Crow's a popular girl. A girl whose life is filled with many friends, a fabulous family, and a busy social schedule. A girl who, when we met, didn't need another friend, especially one like me, a single mom running low on hope and happiness.

Crow is made of stuff that keeps me together. She's made of the type of loyalty that you rarely find today. The kind of loyalty that doesn't sit idly by while you're getting the crap kicked out of you, but rather the kind of loyalty that pushes you aside so she can take the hits for you.

She's mixed that in with a generous heart and thoughtfulness that astounds me. The kind of thoughtfulness that goes on vacation to Florida and brings back presents for my children who won't be seeing Disneyworld anytime soon.

She's the brave part of me. She's the teammate who believes that I can make the three pointer to win the game with one second left on the clock. She's the coach who assures me that I know the basics, I just need to keep applying them with confidence. Then she tosses some confidence my way because she knows when I'm lacking it.

Her foundation has offered me shelter from more than one storm. It's given me warmth from sunlight that I couldn't see. It's lent me a space to come and sit and rest my legs for a bit. It's pointed out stars on the darkest of nights.

She's built of things that last, things that you'll want to pass along to to generations to come. Things that you'll thank God for every day of your life.

Her foundation is rock solid, through and through. And we all know how very important a solid foundation is.

Love you Crow.

Buying Lumber

This week was a pretty productive week for us at the house. The floor was poured on Thursday. The steel beams were set on Friday. Saturday I finished putting most of the plywood up on the walls. We left a small section open so we didn't have to crawl through the window to get into the basement. Dad did a lot of work alone Saturday afternoon while I attended a friend's wedding.


Sunday started with a trip to Menards to buy some lumber. We needed some 2x10 boards to finish the plates along the top wall. We also needed some 2x4 boards to build a couple walls for the basement stairs. If you've never been shopping for lumber with my dad, you might not fully appreciate this. We were at Menards for 2 hours. We went through EVERY stack of lumber they had. We needed multiple lengths of both 2x4 and 2x10. We did find the best and straightest boards Menards had to offer. Sometimes I feel sorry for the people that work at these stores when Dad and I walk in...for they don't know any better. The poor young man at the barn that was so willing to help us pick out boards and load them when we pulled in was taken aback when Dad said, "No thanks, I'll pick them out myself." Many men came up to ask if we needed help as we were piling many, many boards up that were not worthy of the Crower house. I'm sure they were thinking that they were going to have a heap of work waiting for them when we left. We are conscientious though and re-piled all the crooked and warped boards back in their original piles when we left. So hopefully those employees realize that we just saved them a ton of work and frustration by picking through the boards ourselves.

Sunday included putting half the top plates on the walls, cleaning up extra concrete around the footings, and cleaning the pea gravel out of our sump and waste crocks. A neighbor came over to visit and told Dad that he has been so impressed with our house and shares Dad's opinion that the house next door is not quite up to our standards. :) We then cut our day a couple hours short to go home and have a birthday dinner with Grandpa and Madonna.

Hopefully the floor joist will be here early this week and we can get the floor on and do some back fill. The quicker we back fill, the less I have to dig clay out of the hole after it rains. That is getting to be a very tiresome and messy job.

So that's the update for today...

Basement Floor

The rain finally held off long enough for us to get the basement floor poured. It rained on Monday and Tuesday which left it too wet to get a truck around the lot on Wednesday. So they poured the floor on Thursday. I headed out Thursday evening to check out the job and get some pictures. They are coming back today to cut it.

I believe Dad is going to try to get the steel beams set sometime today.

I don't know exactly what this weekend's work entails, but I have some guesses. We have to put the rest of the plywood on the basement walls. We left them open for easier access to the basement. I also get to haul MORE pea gravel out of the basement. We had the sump and waste crocks filled with pea gravel to ensure they weren't going to float away if it rained before the floor was in. (Learned that the hard way) Dad also wants to put another layer of plates on top of the walls. Hopefully early next week we'll be able to start getting the floor system down.

Brief Update

Things have been kind of crazy around here, and I haven't had time to update anything. Here is a very brief update.

The plumbing in the basement is complete. It has been inspected by the township inspector and passed.

Saturday and Sunday we levelled out the pea gravel in the basement to get ready for the concrete pour this week. I hauled many 5 gallon buckets of stone out of the basement. My arms are growing longer by the day with all these sand and stone hauling. And my bruises are more and more apparent.

Dad put a second plate along the top of all the walls on Sunday also.

The floor was supposed to be poured today (Tuesday), but the concrete guys decided tomorrow would be better because it was supposed to rain today. It rained all of last night, and we just got hit with a couple good showers this afternoon. So hopefully the rain will stay away and the ground will be dry enough to get a truck around the lot and allow my floor to be poured. We're at a standstill until then.

Hopefully I'll have pictures tomorrow once the floor is in.

Plumbers...

I have realized my dad is not a plumber over the last week. It's not because he can't do the job. It's not because he can't do the job well. He's doing a great job on my basement plumbing. It's just taking longer than what someone who is a plumber by trade would take. I wonder if that's because I have not once seen a plumber's crack on him. I wonder if that's the key. I'm not real anxious to try out that theory though...so we'll let him take his time and do it right!

Dad really has been busting his butt to get this plumbing done so we can pour the floor. He worked all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday on the plumbing. He is almost finished! A lot of the time doing this plumbing has been consumed digging trenches. Remember at the beginning of this project I described the ground as concrete? Same thing again. Mom and I tried to help by digging a trench yesterday and all we can do is slowly chip away at it. So Dad figured he could do it better himself.

Friday night Mom and I hauled sand in 5 gallon buckets for Dad to pack around the waste and sump crocks. I think my arms are a couple inches longer than they were last week. Saturday we nailed plywood to the inside of the studs to give the concrete guys something to level the floor to.

Sunday Dad told us there wasn't much for Mom, Laura and I to do, so we should throw the kayaks on the truck and get out on the river for one last time this summer. That was a wonderful break and we enjoyed the afternoon on the water. Sunday night we took hot dogs and smores fixin's out to the lot for a fire. It was nice sitting around the fire enjoying a beverage and some roasted marshmallows.

While it was an enjoyable Labor Day weekend for me, it was an exhausting one for Dad. Hopefully we can move on to something else that I can help on soon. I feel guilty when I see Dad come home tired and sore, knowing I just spent 3 hours on the river getting a sun tan.

I hope everyone else had an enjoyable long weekend! Hopefully I'll have more to update later in the week.

Band Geeks and Chemic Pride

I was standing on my parents' deck last night when I realized one of the things that I will really miss when I finally move into my house. As I grilled a quick hotdog and brat for Dad and I, I listened to the Midland High band practicing. They were playing the fight song and I sang along in my head. My neighbors would not appreciate me actually singing out loud! That's why I was in the band, not the choir. The volume rose and fell as I'm sure they were "spinning the M"...or for those of you who are not MHS Band Geek Alumnus...when they are marching to form the block M on the football field.

For the last 12 years, since I graduated from that same band, I have taken for granted that at least one night a week in the fall I would get to hear the cadence of the drums or the sound of the band practicing their latest show in the parking lot at the high school. I've known that if I don't go to a football game on Friday night, I could hear the game and the halftime show from my house. Sure, I've heard it, and I've enjoyed it...but I didn't realize that I would miss it when I finally moved out. Sure, I can hear the Western band from my new house...but my blood runs blue...I would much rather listen to Midland High.

A wonderful teacher I had at Midland High coined the phrase "Chemic Pride, a very special tradition." For Sentimental Sallys like me that couldn't ring more true. I was a band geek through and through. I played sports too, but my best friends were all band geeks like me. :) I can't remember how many clocks were knocked off the walls or broken by tubas when the band would march through the hall on the Fridays of home football games. I still have pictures and memories from parades, football games, and coming to Wednesday night practices with my hair still wet from swim practice.

I know that I'm older now and that I need to move out of my parents' house. Don't get me wrong...I want to move out of my parents' house. But with that goes so many securities and benefits. Many of these things are as simple as knowing that Mom is going to have groceries in the house most of the time. She's also going to take care of the lawn and plant nice flowers out front. If something goes wrong with anything in the house Dad is there to fix it. If I need a tool to fix something or change my oil Dad probably has 2 of them somewhere right on hand that I can use. It's knowing that every Wednesday Dad has the garbage out at the curb. It's also as simple as listening to the Midland High band on a cool fall night.

So while I'm excited to move out, I know I'm stepping into some deep, scary, uncharted waters for me. Until next summer I'm going to try to appreciate those little things and enjoy them before I have start stocking my own cupboards, taking out my own trash, mowing my own lawn, and being responsible for everything in my new house.

Basement Walls Up? Check!

After it rained ALL WEEK, we finally reached a pretty big milestone on Saturday afternoon. The final walls of the basement went up. The picture above shows pretty much what it looks like now. There are a few more sheets of plywood up, but there are still some open holes to allow people to get in and out and to allow some space for the concrete chute when they pour the floor.

Yesterday we were mud-sligners. The constant rain has caved in the sides of the hole a bit, quite a bit in the corners. So we had to clean that out and put some more pea gravel in so we could walk around the outside of the house without getting stuck. This is some back breaking work! The clay is pretty heavy and it sticks to the shovel. So after about 2-3 shovels full the shovel is too heavy to pick up and needs to be cleaned off. I also came close to losing a shoe stepping in a pile of muck that came pretty darn close to my ankle! It's dangerous work I tell you!

This week we have to do some rough in plumbing for a future bathroom and bar in the basement. We also have to do the plumbing for the sump pump. Once that is in we'll have them pour the floor. Dad is also hoping to set the steel support beams this week. I'm hoping it stays dry enough to get that done. If it doesn't dry up out there we might not be able to get the trucks in. Well...we could probably get them in. Getting them out might be another issue!

Once the floor is poured we'll be able to put the sub-floor on and get cracking on the rest of the house! :)

So pray for no more rain until we have the shingles on!

Please No More Rain!

We haven't had as much progress this week as we would have liked, but it is moving along. It has rained pretty much everyday this week. Some nights we've been able to go out, others it's not an option.

Monday night we pumped out the basement. We also finished sheeting the south wall sections while we waited.

Tuesday we stood the south wall. There wasn't enough daylight left to make it worth hauling the generator out of the van to start building the remaining 2 walls. So it was an early night.

Wednesday night we took a break and went to a Loons game. It was nice that the Loons had a good night and won. Although they played the West Michigan Whitecaps (the Detroit Tigers A team) and the Whitecaps didn't look too good...makes me worry for our Tigers prospects! :) Mother Nature waited until the end of the game to open up the skies on us again. We got quite a bit more rain throughout the evening.

Thursday afternoon some thunderstorms also came through the area. So you can guess the amount of water we had around the basement last night. We got it all pumped out, with one minor issue. The hose came off the pump while I started the it and I got a bit of a shower. :) We finished building the remaining walls last night and should sheet them tonight or tomorrow.

It's a good thing we finished with the heavy lifting on Tuesday since Laura headed back to school today. We'll have to make do without her for a few months now.

All the basement walls should be up early Saturday I would assume. We have to fill in some spots with plywood. Then we can have the plumbing for a bathroom in the basement roughed in and the floor can be poured. After that we start building the first floor!

So let's hope for some good weather so we can continue our progress!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain, go away...and come again in say...2008?

We had both a productive and non-productive weekend. How can that be you ask? We had hoped to have all the basement walls up this weekend and celebrate with a fire and wieney roast on Sunday. Friday night Dad, Grandpa and I worked hard to get as many walls built and sheeted as we could. Saturday Laura and Mom came out to help stand the north walls. Then Laura tagged Grandpa in while she headed to the beach. Grandpa, Mom, Dad and I stood a good portion of the west walls. We started working on the south side of the house when the rain started...and it was a cold rain. Dad and I finished as much as we could and ended up nailing the last sheet of plywood on with a flashlight for guidance.

Sunday it rained, and it rained, and it rained. So much for getting all the basement walls up!

It rained a good portion of the day yesterday too, but was done by the time I left work. Dad and I went out with the sump pump to pump the water out of the basement. While that was going we finished sheeting the south walls. So those will go up tonight, as long as the rain holds off.

I'm betting that no one that reads this knew that my father could be one of the long lost Duke boys of Hazzard County! I didn't know it either until we tried to get out of the quagmire mud pit on my lot. The clay makes the mud all that much more slippery and difficult to drive in. Now remember that we're driving a full-size van...and imagine the back end sliding all over the place, at one point pretty close to my ditch, tires spinning trying to get hold of the ground, as we're heading out to the road. We didn't take the van leaping over any dried up river beds, or through any road block signs, but it was as close to Dukes of Hazzard driving as we'll get anytime soon. :)

Sorry...no pictures today. I'll work on getting some when the walls are complete.

Grandpas Are Great!

This is my grandpa, he will turn 83 next month. Unfortunately I only get to see him in the summer when he comes up from down south to his house in Michigan. This is the person that taught my dad how to build houses. They worked side by side for many years building houses. And I love the fact that at age 83 my grandpa still wants to help and that I have pictures of the two of them working side by side again!

Grandpa is in fabulous shape for being 83! He gets around great AND he doesn't need glasses, which puts him one up on Dad. :) He normally comes out for a couple hours in the evening, when it's cooler. That's good, because we don't want him out in the 90 degree heat over working himself! I am concerned about him helping me. I love the fact that he wants to come out, but I worry about him over-doing it and trying to do too much. I guess that's a downside of being in shape in your 80's.

Let me tell you how lucky I am to have a grandpa like this, and how much he wants to help. Right now he has a bit of a catch in his thumb when he bends it. He went to the doctor to find out if it could be fixed. The doctor told him they could do a little procedure to fix it, but he would have to rest his thumb for 3 weeks afterwards. Grandpa said, "I told him I'd call him when I wanted it done. With this project I can't be resting it for 3 weeks!"

Last Saturday Grandpa helped me fix a chalk line. I learned that you can put too much chalk in the line and it won't allow the string to wind all the way in. This is one of the many things Grandpa has taught me. He also taught me that you always cut the kids pieces of cake that are WAY too big for them so you can finish their left overs. I learned that Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies should always be stocked in the house. I also learned from Grandpa that when you go to a buffet restaurant you NEVER use the dessert bowls for your ice cream. You always go for a soup bowl because they hold WAY more ice cream. (Although it should also be noted that this lesson has made me sick when I had too much ice cream!) There are many other things that Grandpa has taught me through the years, but these are some of the highlights and the things I remember most. I hope that as this house project continues I can learn more from him.

We have a couple more months before he heads back south to the land of the sun. Until then Dad and I will enjoy the time we get to spend with Grandpa on the job. I know that I will be forever grateful that I have a grandfather that can get out and help me build my house.

Back from North Carolina

I made it back from North Carolina safely. Am I glad to be back. It was 103 and 104 degrees everyday I was down there last week. It makes the 90 degree heat we were working in yesterday feel comfortable!

I came back to find out Dad had put a couple more walls together, but hadn't been able to do much more than that because of the rain. He did have to go out one night last week with a sump pump to pump the water out of the basement. Good news though, our drain tiles work well and all the water goes right to the corner of the house where the sump basin is going to go. So Dad was able to pump all the water directly into the sump line and out to the ditch.

Friday evening the framing nailer we had borrowed wasn't working properly. (Looks like it needs some new gaskets) So Dad and Grandpa cut studs, and I dipped them in the green stuff that preserves the ends and stacked them nicely in the basement. We now have all the studs cut that we will need for the walls.

Saturday morning we went to Home Depot to buy a new framing nailer that they had on sale. After dealing with the incompetent people in the Midland store we finally had one put aside for us at the Saginaw store. Mom and Laura went over to pick that up and some more lumber for us. Once Dad got his new toy we were in business. We put up a few walls with Mom, Dad, Laura and I on Saturday afternoon and evening.


Sunday Brad came out to help. He was a tremendous help and even made a trip home for his framing nailer when ours started acting up. (Dad was up late last night...so hopefully he was able to fix ours)

We now have all of the walls for the front of the basement up. In the picture on top of the post you can see Mom and Dad working on the end wall. I didn't get a picture with it up because it was dark by the time we finished. :) It's starting to actually take form and look like a house now! I'm hoping to get quite a few more done this week and weekend so we can utilize Laura and her muscles before she goes back to school next week!

Hammers? I Thought We Were Using a Nail Gun!

Alright...I haven't put anything up here in awhile...so I'm due...I know...I'm sorry.

A quick update on the week. Tuesday and Wednesday Dad and I put drain tile in next to the footings. I thought we were through pounding those stupids stakes into the ground...but I was wrong. We had to use the stakes to keep the drain tile in place. So that wore us out a bit, considering it was 90 some degrees outside those days!

Thursday and Friday our excavator spread the pea gravel both inside and outside of the footings.

Friday afternoon our lumber was delivered for the basement walls. For those of you that do not know, we are putting in a wood basement. It consists of 2 x 8 grade 60 treated lumber. Everything is built exactly the same way a normal stud wall would be. There is a special sealer that you have to soak the ends of the lumber into, and the bottoms of the walls need stainless nails, but other than that it's the same.

Friday night Grandpa, my cousin Jenni, and her husband Dave came out to visit and check out the progress. Since Dave has never seen a wood basement he offered to come help on Saturday. Grandpa thought that would be a good idea and decided he would come out too. Jenni stayed home with Madonna so she wasn't home alone all day. Thank you Jenni! I know Grandpa appreciates being able to come out and help without worrying about Madonna all day.

Saturday morning we finished laying out the basement and then Dad started cutting plates for the walls. Unfortunately there wasn't much for Grandpa and Dave to do. Grandpa helped sort out the straight 2 x 8s and Dave hauled lumber and worked the generator for Dad. Dave also helped me haul the air compressor from the basement of Mom and Dad's house to the van. I made multiple trips to Menards, Home Depot and Lowes. One of those trips was to ALL THREE STORES! I'm sure there will be many more trips as the house progresses.

Saturday afternoon, after Grandpa and Dave left, Dad and I decided to fire up the air compressor and start building some walls. Was I excited! Well, the electrical plug on the generator and the compressor didn't match. So that was a trip to Home Depot to get the mating connectors and some cord to make an adapter. Two trips later, with the adapter wired up, we found out the generator won't run Dad's compressor. Shoot...no walls on Saturday.

Sunday morning I went up to borrow Grandpa's smaller air compressor. We got ready to fire it up and found out that it won't go above 20 psi. We found that it did the same thing at home, so Dad is going to look at the regulator and pressure gauge. So...hopefully Dad can fix Grandpa's compressor so it will work with the generator.

Sunday was pretty boring for me since there wasn't much to do with Dad laying out the walls. That was real builder stuff. :) So I ran the generator and napped in the lawn chair. Later in the day though we decided to build some walls the old fashioned way...with a hammer and nails. I was amazed Dad actually expected me to use the hammer he bought me for Christmas! Just kidding...I was expecting it at some point. I found that I wasn't too good at pounding the stainless nails in the bottom of the walls. I kept bending the stupid things. Dad said you just have to hit them with authority...well when I do that they bend in two and then they are useless! So Dad did the bottoms of the walls while I did the tops. Dad is also much speedier than I am...he can finish at least 3 studs, if not 4, to my 1 stud. I guess I have some work to do. We finished two entire walls. Ok...there are lots more to go, but it's a start!

I am in North Carolina for work this week. So Dad is on his own to build walls and make some progress. I look forward to seeing what will be finished when I return on Friday. I am disappointed that I won't be there for it though. That being said, I won't have anything new for you guys until the weekend...so stay tuned!

Why I Love My Family

There are many reasons I love my family, but first and foremost in my mind right now is the fact that all of us were out at the house on Sunday working like dogs in the sun and heat.

Laura did a bit better planning this weekend than she did last weekend. She had an "escape plan" if she didn't have any work to do once we got out there. She threw her bike into the back of Mom's truck and stated that she was NOT running home this weekend. Probably a good idea on her part. We kept her busy enough that she did not need to use that escape plan.

First off, we had to go around and take all the screws out of the stakes and spreaders on the forms. I grabbed the good drill motor and gave Laura the one that was slightly less desireable...she didn't know that though until she used mine later in the day. Hee hee. :) Mom went around breaking off all the stakes so we could pull the forms away from the concrete and disassemble them.

Dad and I went around shooting elevations and snapping some chalk lines. These are not very taxing jobs...except for the fact that my legs weren't real happy going up and down after the week before. :) Dad said these are pretty good looking footings...he has seen some professionally done footings that aren't as good as ours. The elevations are all within 1/16 of an inch and the lines are right on. So Vic, it looks like our unskilled labor was good enough! I think Dad's perfect planning helped to make that the case.


Laura and Mom on the other hand, had a pretty crappy job. Since we would like to reuse these boards if possible, all of the concrete needed to be cleaned off of them. Laura took to scraping the wide sides, while Mom worked on the edges. Once Dad and I were done with the elevations and lines we came down to help them finish.

We finished the basement and called it a day, leaving the garage boards for this evening. We went home and enjoyed some well deserved margaritas and dinner.

Tonight we should finish cleaning the boards off and then some planning for the basement walls. Hopefully the lumber for the basement will be delivered tomorrow and we can start building walls!

My Favorite Tennessee Hillbilly

Well construction officially started this week. We had a hole dug on Monday and today I have footings. Things are moving along pretty quickly. Dad and I owe a huge thanks to Vic for that! We never would have been ready for the cement truck today with out him!

Vic came up from his home in Nashville, TN this week to work on his house and garden in Saginaw. He also spent every evening at the lot with Dad and I. He helped us assemble a generator. He helped us sort through a large stack of 2 x 8's to find only the best and straightest. I would say we found more warped boards than straight ones! By the time we started laying the footings we got a pretty good system going. Dad would lay out the forms ahead of us, and Vic and I would measure and pound stakes. I enjoy working with Vic. He and I work very well together. We normally come up with a system and chug along. Vic keeps things lighthearted with his jokes. We obviously don't do things as well as Dad does...but we get the job done. Dad also enjoys working with Vic and will take a day on the job site with Vic any day.

Friday Dad and Vic slaved away finishing the forms while I sat at a desk at work all day. By the time I got to the lot after work they had finished all the forms for both the basement and garage and had the basement levelled. We finished the garage and inserted all the re-steel (reinforcement steel rods).

Today started early. We headed out to do a final level check and final preparations for the pour. We were doing our final level check when I saw a rodent running across my basement! I thought it was a mouse...Vic said, "Oh no, that's a vole!" A vole is similar to a small mole...and they are bad for your garden and plants. They burrow down and eat the roots of your plants. Being the master gardener, Vic said we must do some "vole stomping". Well...let me tell you...the vole made us look like fools. We had three adults chasing, for all intents and purposes, a large mouse around the hole that is my basement...trying to corner it and dispose of it. Those things are FAST! We gave up and continued what we were doing. We can only assume that it went the way of Jimmy Hoffa, in his cement shoes. Or maybe it met it's demise by my cement shovel later in the day. You choose what you want to think. And Jenn...you can assume that it got out and ran away.

Anyway...the cement truck came and we did a lot of shovelling of wet cement. Cement masonry is very hard work...something I'm glad I don't have to do everyday. Vic and I directed the truck driver around the basement and garage, shovelling when needed while Dad did the work to make it look nice and pretty and smooth behind us. As Vic says, we were the untrained labor, Dad is the skilled labor. Dad was not keeping up with the truck so Vic and I had to start being skilled labor, screeding the cement for the garage. As you can see, I have provided pictures to show that I indeed do work out there. :)

After the cement truck was gone we went over everything again to make sure it was level and smooth. That was hard work too. Harder than the first time through. We made it through and were packed up by 1:00...with plenty of time to get to Laura's softball game. :)

I'm pretty worn out after my day of cement work. I think anyone who does this job for a living should be checked for mental instability! I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight. I don't know how my body will feel in the morning...hopefully I'll be able to roll out of bed. Hopefully Vic will be feeling ok tomorrow too...he's riding his bike in a 100 mile bike ride up north! Yes, he's a crazy man...but we know that and accept that and love him anyway. :) I hope we didn't wear him out too much and we hope he'll come back for more!

So far so good! Hopefully we'll have pictures of the basement walls soon!

* I have been corrected...after Dad read this he informed me that it is concrete work...not cement work...as cement is something you use to make concrete