August 17, 2007 —The main house is positioned | |
We put out yellow jacket traps for the party, since the buffet was going to be outside. This one is always in the sun and has filled up in a week and a half to a scary degree. My assistant, who put out the traps at seven in the morning, got stung installing this one; and it looks like we will need to empty it soon. |
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Kai worked on the barn window trim today. If you look closely, you will see frames around the west windows. He did not complete the boxes around the skylights yet. The ground floor is not on the contractor’s schedule to be finished, because originally, we did not plan to finish it at all. Since the County mandated a fire ceiling and sprinklers on the ground floor, we decided to put in insulation and drywall after, all but didn’t want to pay for finishes. My assistant and I will have to do something around the windows on the ground floor. Hopefully, we can look at what Kai has done and copy it. Also, this is a great excuse to by a floor saw stand. (Aren’t hardware stores the best?) |
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During the party decorating, we came across this cord sticking out of the upstairs barn floor. When I asked Kai what it was yesterday, he told me it was going to be a floor plug. Duh, I completely forgot that I had ordered one, but I am sure I will greatly appreciate it in the future. | |
Here, General Debris guards a stack of chipboard which will become the upstairs barn floor on Monday. The floor is an “Additional Work Authorization” (read as meaning “Pay More Money”) because the function of the upstairs was modified and needed to be more finished. The chipboard will be a very inexpensive floor, considering that the space is almost 1,000 square feet, and will look nice too. My assistant and I (mostly my assistant) will finish it next week before the painters arrive. Also, if I ever decide to put down a more upscale floor, the chipboard will act as an excellent sub-floor. |
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This gorgeous rose was a gift from a guest at the party. I have not had a chance to look it up yet, but it is called Gentle Giant. We have it potted up temporarily with irrigation. The roses in the pots do not look as good as the ones we planted last spring along the fence. Those are all incredibly lush and covered with flowers. Hopefully by next spring, we will have all of the ones here in the ground. |
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This was another gift from another guest—an olive tree from MacAvoy, a big olive nursery, farm and oil press. It arrived from FedEx in a strange way. I had received a call on my cell phone that there was a delivery from FedEx and that they could not get in the gate and to call them. Unfortunately, the driver did not leave a number, so I just wrote it off. Later that day, I was cleaning up debris and found a box that I almost threw away, until I noticed a note on it from a neighbor saying that she had found it abandoned on the side of the road and had brought it up. Inside the box was this lovely tree. |
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At long last, here is what we have been waiting for! The string in the picture will be the outside wall of the south side of the house. When Kai laid it out, I was aghast at the size of the place. It did not seem so large when Janver had the story poles set. Unfortunately, the party car parking knocked down all the stakes left from the story poles, so Kai had to position the house using a little guess-work, but once he and I went over everything, I think it is in the place it was before. |
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This pole represents the southeast corner of the house, which will be the master bath. It used to be closer to the bank, but Janver had an excavator come and grade the bank back a little bit so we will be able to have a path around the house before the bank slopes up. | |
This pole is the southwest corner of the house, which will be the dining room. I wish I had taken a shot so you could see both views from the dining room, which will look out at both the stellar southeast view and amazing southwest view. The orange fence-y stuff is a barrier to keep construction workers out of a sensitive environment. This has not been a problem during the barn and cottage construction, but we will need to be vigilant while the house is being built because I do NOT want the area behind the fence disturbed. Anyway, big excitement to come next week . . . |
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