Rose Cottage Goin' Up Like a House A'fire ----- (FIGURATIVELY, of course!)

Things have progressed so quickly on my studio I can hardly believe it. Between Seth and our friend Andrew of Salamnader Construction and various sub contractors we already have walls and a roof!

STEP 8:
When the form is ready:

 have these guys

come and do this:

.

Then, with a stick,  scrape something meaningful into the concrete.

O-kay, so it was still 2013, but the building wouldn't be done until 2014, so I post-dated it!

STEP 9:

When the concrete dries and the snow all melts again, draw the stairs in on form to be sure they will line up with walls properly.

STEP 10: Have Pete of Sunstone Hardscapes go to the quarry with his big ol' truck and get a bunch of rocks so you can start landscaping (by "you" I do actually mean I helped, though Seth and Pete of course handled the ginormous ones!)

Golly gee. I haven't taken any pictures of the landscaping?! I actually helped with it! Sheesh.

Anyhow…

STEP 11: Get a lumber order figured out and delivered.

STEP 12: Build 3 walls all on top of each other flat on the ground so you can see if they line up with the stairs.  Be sure you build them in the right order as this will be important later!

Ah-ha! Seth had some pictures of Bumbles looking for opportunities which show the walkway at least. 

NOW FOR SOME REAL EXCITEMENT!

STEP 13: Get as many big strapping men as you can roust up on a weekday morning to come a push the walls into place!  Just like the barn raising in Witness! But with fewer Amish people and no intrigue. We did have a cute little 2 year old girl and a dog at least.

 The 2 year old exclaims, "It's a HOUSE!"



Then later, in awe, "It's a Biig House!"

She was very helpful in keeping the dog out of the way.

view from Seth's shop

STEP 14- oh, about  STEP 22:
Finish the sheathing. Get it inspected. Build the roof framing. Tar paper the roof. Get a bunch of windows you ordered months ago delivered. Put them in. Wrap the whole thing in Tyvek.  Get Brett from Baxter's Plumbing to come and do a bunch of plumbing (duh). Do a bunch of framing inside for the loft.  Seriously, this all happened in like a week!  I hardly did any of this (though I did take all the packaging off the windows!) and I'm exhausted just typing about it!

As my scientist housemate in college would often say when she had to write a paper, "Well begun is half done!"

Rose Cottage Puts Down Roots

HELLO!

I am so excited!

During my year off from work, while trying to figure out to do when I grow up, I am being allowed to build a fiber arts studio on the rental property owned by my in-laws next door to my house.  It took awhile to get going,a s these things are wont to do. Then it snowed and froze here for a week (which is highly unusual) so that slowed us down, but now we are really moving along.

Step 1:

Find an empty corner in the neighbor's yard:

Try not to worry what that old slab might be covering up.

Step 2:

Spend lots of time making plans and getting a permit the with help of Architects, friends relatives, engineers, City of Eugene Workers etc.

Step 3:

Hire some big guys with loud cutting machines to come slice out the slab.  

 


Be shocked that that tiny slab was like 8-10 inches thick.
Be Very Happy that it was just covering up good clean dirt.

Step 4:

Dig a Big Hole.  Then immediately fill it partway back up again with gravel.  Be Happy you have good contractors with big trucks and strong arms as friends!

 

Dig a big ditch while you're at it.

Step 5:
Build a Really Strong Box (a.k.a. a form) to hold all the concrete you plan to pour into the hole.

Step 6:
Enjoy a visit from a big truck with Spiral Stair parts. The spiral-y bit is the railing.

Step 7:

Call in electricians and plumbers and inspectors and start filling in the hole with pipes and bars and whatnot.  Keep digging.

Whatever you do, just keep digging.

I notice I said "I" get to build, but somehow I'm not in any of these photos.  Hmmm.

Ultimate Chile

After using a post title with a word like "penultimate" in it, you're kind of stuck with doing an "ultimate" installment even if it's a year and a half  three and a half years after the fact and you've done a million things in between and can't find the picture file where you had sorted out the last of the photos you thought you might use.  I guess I'll try to meet the challenge, but it's going to be pretty seat of the pants! Here goes:

Seth's birthday dinner in a revolving restaurant, consisting of more fish soup that had some specific name (to which there is a related poem) that I cannot recall, than you could shake a stick at.

2 buck duck bought in market in Chiloe and brought back in a basket on the plane.

Valparaiso market on New Year's Eve day

"Jumbo" on New Year's Eve day

Carts had gripper things that held them onto incline-alator!

Cool Chilean shellfish (Machas?) for New Year's Eve dinner.

Kate's lab's zebra-fish stock room.

New Year's Eve is a big deal there, too.  Remember it's the beginning of their summer vaction!

Kate and John's cool house and her gorgeous collage art.

 Best fireworks ever all along the bay that night, but couldn't get good pictures.

Night time harbour tour

Crazy long tunnel to the strangest straight up an elevator tower ascensor.

Valp'o market again

Last shot of cool graffitti art.

It Gets Better

This is for you if you are are young person who has ever been picked on, bullied, harrassed or otherwise maltreated because of what you look like, who you fall in love with, what gender you are, what you can/cannot do, what you do/do not enjoy doing:

IT GETS BETTER! You might feel like there is no one like you in the world. That is not true. There are lots of people like you, whatever that is, you WILL find them. Maybe you have people telling you that you are messed up or wrong. That is not true.

If you are nice, kind and considerate to others, you are a good person. Maybe you haven't met them yet, but there are thousands of people out there who will care for you whatever your tastes and interests.

http://www.itgetsbetter.org