Monday, June 30, 2008

Ok, so a little about this addition thing. A little over a year ago Rinda and I decided that the super charming and full of character 1920 Graystone house (our first home) in Klamath Falls' first addition didn't suit our dreams anymore. We were looking for a little more room to breathe and dream. As is always the case with us, money IS an issue. Our first house was a steal that we got lucky on, the second was going to take a LOT of work, and that's what we found. We had actually looked at this house on 2 acres 2 years ago but decided against it because of the amount of work involved. Well, things change and this one started to look a little more like a deal and less like a house on its last legs.

Rather than sell our first home (now I'm kicking myself considering the real estate market) we decided to refinance it, rent it out, and buy this 1930 cottage (?) on 2 acres just a bit outside of KFalls. Our plans were to add-on to the oddly laid out and cramped 1200 square feet.

So last summer we worked with an architect to get some plans submitted for the addition - a bedroom for the girls, a master bedroom with walk-in closet, open up the back hallway to serve as a mudroom and pantry, and a small shop space for me (I wanted a garage since I had to leave mine at the Mt. Whitney house) because of the proximity to the property line. Plans also involve rearranging the existing house to get us a dining room and improve the stairway to the upstairs which is currently about .5 degrees from being officially declared a ladder.

I would have liked to have had the foundation poured last fall but contractors would have nothing to do with us. Instead we got started in March. Here's the back of the house with the
Foundation poured and my stub walls on top, I believe this photo was taken about April 24th

As you can see, that roof looks brand new and with a couple of skylights, oh yeah, that's because insurance made me replace it last summer, even though I was planning replacing it during the build - because trusses for the addition overlap the back of the house by 6 feet....

Round abouts April 28th I had all the floor joists on...

See the shed with gate in the background? I built that for the tractor I bought. Guess what's in it now... Yeah, Goats... I can't get a break can I?
Oh here I am tearing the back wall off the house to lay sub-floor. Thanks to Harry Leach, Kevin Fournier, and Tim Moore for helping me with demolition


La dee da, sub-floor all on and ready for walls


And this is roughly where I am today. I now have under three weeks to get all the walls completed, 6 feet of the roof removed and remainder of the house prepped for roof trusses which show up on July 28th (yes just 3 weeks before I leave for Australia!).

Sunday, June 29, 2008

In the beginning...

Well, I guess now is as a good a time as any to join the 21st century. A blog seems like a dandy place to do that. Why I chose now to start this is beyond me, it's probably the busiest we've ever been. The days are getting long and hot. The list of to-do's is even longer.




So a little about us (that would be Joel, Rinda, Hannah, and Dana) and what we're doing...




Joel is...




...Spending 9 hours a day as an F-15 Crew Chief in the Oregon Air National Guard at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Oregon... and...




...Building an addition on to the house during the remaining waking hours.




Rinda is...




...Homeschooling Hannah...Tutoring for Classical Conversations...Surviving Dana...Working in the Garden... Managing 14 chickens, 2 goats, and a Dog... Baking... Making granola... Making yogurt...Accounting...Laundry...Cleaning house...Finding bargains...and generally saving us money, she's working hard to be a Proverbs 31 woman.




Hannah...




... just finished her dance season with a recital, enjoys reading, geography, math, tea parties, popcicles, tormenting chickens and feeding goats. Not bad for a 5 year old!




Dana...




...Loves getting up entirely way to early for a 2 year old! She enjoys taking her shoes and socks off in the middle of the field and leaving them there, and eating whatever anyone else has.




All in all, though it often feels like we don't have much, especially in comparison to other folks around us; God has definetely blessed us and we're trying hard to make the most of those blessings.




I'll try my best to keep at this blogging thing but for now here are some pictures:




Hannah and Dana with Wesley and Landon Knapp. The kids were flower girls and ring bearers at Daniel and Kate Longstreet's wedding





The four of us at the San Diego Zoo



Anyway, more to come I hope.