Lower Level Floor Today

Yeh!  We have a lower level floor. We didn't think it would happen until Monday, but the workers were up there this morning, so we hoped it might happen today.  We kept Jonah this afternoon while Brian cleaned the carpets. On the way  taking Jonah home, we stopped by our lot to see what had gone on today.  Jonah loved it because he got to see the "dig dig" as he calls it.  Steve and I were excited to see the concrete footings and the concrete floor that had been poured.  Maybe the framing will begin on Monday as our schedule reads. That probably means unloading the boards!  Tonight as I drove home from Sam's at 7P.M., the temp was 102 as I reached home.



A "dig dig"

Jonah wanted PaPa to put his hat on when we got out of the car.   

We have a concrete floor!!!  Yeh!!! 

Steve said they won't backfill until the framing of the floor has been done, so the walls will not cave in.  Yikes!!  If that happens, they will have to start over.  What a thought!

From the driveway, you are viewing the front of our house.  Maybe more on Monday evening!!

Possible Today

Last night Steve went to the lot to check on things and see if there was any progress.  He found quite a bit.  Maybe when we go over tonight, there will be a concrete floor. According to the schedule that the builder gave us, framing is supposed to begin next week.  Yikes!!

The footings for the garage are in this shot. This is on the front of the house.  They will probably pour these today.

 

 Footings for the garage.  We will drive through the area between the boards. Nothing looks large enough.  The corner at the bottom of the photo is the continuation of the first photo.

 Front porch

 This is the edge of the lower level on the right side of our house. It will be so neat to see the framing give the house shape.  Today's heat index is supposed to be 113 degrees, so I don't know how long the men will be able to work.

More Progress

Despite the heat and the much needed rain that we got yesterday, we have progress.  We went to our lot and the lower level had been prepped for concrete for the floor.  Yesterday evening Steve and I visited the kitchen cabinet maker.  He owns Bennett's Cabinets and does lots of work for our builder. His web site shows some of his cabinets. 

Steve is standing in the bedroom.  Just looking at the size of the rooms, it doesn't seem possible that a bed is going to fit in there. The pipes sticking up are for the wet bar in the hallway.  The room in the back is the office. 

Steve is standing in the office in this shot.  It will be about the size of our present bedroom which will be fine.











This program is acting up and I can't seem ot get any more of the pictures to download to the blog.  If you would like to view the cabinet maker's wesite just type Bennett's Cabinets Columbia SC and you will be able to see some of his work.

Water proofing & Pipes

Water proofing at the front of the house the other night

Steve and I visited the house this evening.  How anything has been done is truly amazing.  At 7:15 this evening, the temperature was a sweltering 98 degrees.  At one point today, the heat index was 113.  Crazy!!! None the less, the water proofing is almost finished and the pipes in the lower level have been laid.  Wow! 

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Tonight

Steve is checking out the pipes that will be in our lower level bathroom, I think.  The next step will be to clean the floor up and pour the concrete slab for the lower level.  After that, the framing crew will take over and we will have a shape to our house.  Steve and I picked out the exterior colors Wednesday evening at the builder's office at his house.  Dick talked to us first about what we felt that we wanted, then took us to see houses that he had built done in the colors he thought we would like.  We drove him around commenting on different ones until we came to this one house that we thought was absolutely gorgeous.  Steve and I both agreed that was it.  It will be done in taupes to fit into the wooded theme that we like. We do not want any color that is going to jump out at us.  Wish we had a picture of it. Alas, we do not.

Steve is peeking out of his wine cellar.

A Very Important Pipe

Steve said that the pipe seen here is the one that will go to the septic tank!  Important!!!

Concrete- We've Got It

Over this week, the basement workers have gotten the walls of the basement poured and 99% of the forms off.  They were actually working on Saturday when we rode up to see how things had progressed.  There is still more concrete work to be done.  First, all the forms and debris have to be removed from the floor of the house.  Steve said that could take a couple of days.  Then, the plumbers have to dig trenches for pipes and lay them.  After the plumbers get this done, the concrete has to be poured on the basement floor.  According to our schedule from the builder, the framing will begin the 1st week in August if not earlier.  We chose our appliances on Saturday because we have to visit the kitchen cabinet maker very soon.  We also have to choose the gas logs, all the plumbing things like faucets,bath tubs,etc. and the colors for the exterior of the house.  YIKES!  Things are moving right along.



In the bathroom downstairs by the window



Steve is standing where the bathroom will be in the lower level.  Behind him will be a wall to the mechanical room.  In front of him will be a bedroom.

wine cellar

The space here will be in the actual basement area.  In the area that you see here, Steve would like to build

 shelves for wine. The rest of this area to the other side of the building will be used as storage.

This is the garage end of the house.  The area that is dug out will be filled in to make the garage floor eventually.


Maybe more in the next few days.

Jonah's Booboo & house pictures

This morning, Brian called telling me that Jonah had fallen against a chair leg and cut his head.  He had to have 2 stitches. Poor little boy!!  They came over for supper which made all three feel better!! 

After supper, Steve and I rode to the lot to see what progress had been made today.  The forms were all in place and had been braced!!  Maybe concrete tomorrow?  I never thought we would be so excited over concrete!!!

This area above will be basement where we will store things that ordinarily go in our attic.  The far end will be a rec room and 2 bedrooms on either side.  The prettiest view will be at the far end of the house.

Where Steve is standing is coming out of the screened in porch onto some sort of patio or deck. 

                                        
This is looking up through the right end of the house. 

This shot is of the front of the house.  The part sticking out will have the front porch attached to it.  After the framing is done, all the dirt will be filled in around the house.

Steve's truck is parked a little beyond the turn into the right for the garage opening. 

We walked down to the end of the driveway.  We want our lot ot stay as wooded as possible.  We met one set of neighbors the other evening.  We surprised them as they were looking at the house.  They seemed really nice.  They were laughing about everyone coming to our lower level if a tornado were to occur.  I said sure!

Traveling East

During the two days that Steve had his meetings, Josh took Joanne and myself traveling.  One day we went toward eastern Washington.  Josh wanted to show Joanne the arid section of Washington State.  He drove us to Ellensburg which is a really nice small town. First, we visited this small museum which was quite interesting.  We walked around some more and decided to have lunch in this little restaurant.  The food was delicious!  After lunch, we headed on east.  Josh took us to this rest stop that had some beautiful views of Mt. Adams, Mt Ranier, & Mt. St. Helens.

What a Bridge!

Josh & Camera

A Volcano

A Desolate Landscape

Another Volcano

This was as far as we got because we were getting tired and had to be back to pick Steve up at the end of his meeting.  It was a fun and educational day seeing the different areas. 

The next day Josh drove us into Seattle.  We stopped by his apartment, went to his bank, and to Art Tech where he works.  That was so much fun.  We got to meet the folks he works with and take a tour of the building. After this, we went on a driving tour of the city.  How fun.  We covered all the areas.  Josh took us by Alki Beach in West Seattle where he used to live.  Then we went to the school where his ceramic class is held. That was neat. Now I can picture where he is some of the time.  Josh also took us on a surprise roller coaster ride!!  Joanne and I were not expecting the hill when he drove over it.  Very much like his father has done to us in Peak in the years past!!  We had a lovely day with Josh as our tour guide.  We covered all the sections of Seattle.   We drove back to Snoqualmie to pick up Steve and cooked supper at the house we were staying in.  The next morning was a massive clean-up time and leaving to drive back to Seattle for our last day there.  Josh took us to Uwagamia this Japanese market that I just love.  We had lunch at Pike's Place Market on the water front.  Joanne got to see the place where they throw the fish that people see on T.V. all the time.  We were down there with what seemed like thousands of other tourists.  Yikes!! We left that place.  We checked into our hotel later. Joanne rested while the three of us took the car back to the airport.  Josh brought us back on the train.  I loved that.  We got to see more of Seattle with Josh giving us a tour as the train went through the different stations.  It was great!

Josh's Apartment Building

 When we returned to our hotel, Josh took us to the rooftop deck, and we could see his apartment building and the windows to his apartment. It is the 3rd roof straight ahead.  How cool!  We rested for a while and then we had supper with Tessa, a friend of Josh's, whom we are very fond of.  We went to the restaurant in Josh's building and had a wonderful time for our last evening there. The food was terrific and the company even better! When we walked back to our hotel, we had to walk up what seemed like a 10% grade.  I have never climbed a hill that steep except in Helen,GA, but that is another story. 

 Josh picked us up the next morning at 6:30a.m. and took us to the airport in one of the zip cars that he uses whenever he needs too.  We were there in time to eat breakfast and catch our plane without rushing around.  Yeh, Josh!! We were off to Houston without any mishaps. We got back to Charlotte about 8:30p.m. and drove home.  It was the end of a glorious, fun filled week with Josh!!!!



Mt. Ranier from the airplane window as we were taking off



Steve was moving fast to get his camera when he realized he could see the top of Mt. Ranier through the clouds.

July 4th

Pool Party

July 4th was spent with Uncle E and Jennifer's family.  Steve and I took Uncle E to Wendy's, his favorite restaurant.  We invited him to Jennifer & Brian's, but he always says he needs to stay around the house.  At Jennifer's we had a pool party.  Here are the shots of the bathing beauties!!

On to Snoqualmie

The last trip post had us in the Japanese Garden which was a beautiful spot.  We traveled on to North Bend which is southeast of Seattle toward the Cascades.  The drive time was not but about 40 minutes or so.  The cabin where we stayed was on the Snoqualmie River.  In fact, the river was right outside of our doors onto the deck of the house. joanne slept on the couch the first night and kept hearing the river.  She said she was thinking about the river rising which it actually did.   After we unloaded the car,  we went to the grocery store and cooked supper.  Then, we drove up to the Salish Lodge and Spa where Steve's meetings were to be held.  The falls were a beautiful sight.

Snoqualmie River off our porch!!!

At the falls, the evening before Steve's meeting.

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A sight to see!!!

We were glad we came this particular evening because Steve told us that the next day when he came for his meeting, the falls were hardly visible.  Such is the weather here.

Walls

We rode to the lot this evening after we took Jonah home and found some walls standing.  Actually, it was just the forms for the concrete, but still it looked hopeful.  Who knows, they may be pouring concrete by the end of this week.  It is so horribly hot.  I do not see how anyone gets much done.  Steve and I stopped by Publix's on the way home, and the car temp read 103 at 6:30pm. I know Josh really misses this kind of weather!! Don't you, dear?

In this picture, I am standing in our garage.  Tomorrow evening we will meet the builder out here.   Maybe there will be more to report tomorrow night. 

More House Progress

This morning, Monday, I went to our lot to see if anything was going on.  Nothing!  I drove home disappointedly and called Steve to let him know that nothing was happening.  This evening after he got home from supper with his siblings, we went to the storage shed to put the trunk in there;  then we drove to the lot again. My goodness things had happened..... This is what we found! 

Rebar and the forms had been placed there.  Maybe by the end of the week, they will have poured the walls.  The weather the next few days is supposed to be 100 degrees with a heat index of 110.  I probably would not be moving very quickly in that heat.

Traveling Still

On the way from Port Angeles to Snoqualmie where Steve's meeting was being held, Josh took us to this beautiful Japanese garden that we had not visited.  We had seen another one in the past but this is one seemed to be less frequented by tourists like us.

Josh took us in this section of the garden. It looked as if if belonged in a Star Wars movie. 

So long Japanese Garden.  We really did enjoy being here.  We are on to Snoqualmie and other sights!