One Day Wonder -

.: 08:02 :.

I have a ton of pictures to post. You only get a few at a time, due to the Logan Influence. It's hard to type when someone is moving my keyboard, typing too, and demanding my attention.

But John keeps asking if his coop is up yet. And it's changed some more since these pictures, I need to go take a couple more. But here it is on the weekend it was built.


John and Bob's "One Day Wonder", day two.



All Framed



End of Day Two



Walls are all out of cedar siding, we won't be painting it.



Old and New


Today is Tuesday, so Logan and I are off to Baby and Me, eventually. And then to do some town errands, and last to participate in freezer relocation, day two. We moved Robyn's Fridge and our freezer to the dome house yesterday. Plus two van loads of house stuff, and all the freezer contents. But then we ran out of time before moving Jim's freezer. So all our frozen stuff is in his freezer. Today we rearrange all that. And Robyn puts the doors on his fridge, and we'll finally have refrigeration there!

Logan's birthday party 9/28/2003

.: 07:22 :.

Well Logan's had her first official more-than-family birthday party, and I think it was a success. She invited three people, with their families, and they all came, plus Jim and Olivia and Rosie-dog who we invited. Logan opened things, played with things, ran around, showed her friends stuff at the dome house (where to find the toilet, so they could drop things in to it was the most important I think!), and played herself to exhaustion.


About to cut her "white" cake



save!

Logan is Three!

.: 21:08 :.

She had a great birthday. She's having a party next Sunday. Sheloved the cards from her grandparents. John got her a blue swing and put it up this evening at the new house. I took a bunch of pictures, but I'm too tired to mess with them, and the big blog tool folks have onlyjust gotten their site back up and running. So more another day.

Week in review.

.: 21:07 :.

How did it get to be Friday again. And how am I going to post this with big blog tool down. Oops. I'll have to revert to my old style, which means no pictures at the moment. And John's been waiting to see posted pictures of the chicken coop too. Maybe I can try doing them the way I normally would and see if it works.

So, the week. Right. Well today Logan and Robyn and I moved plants to the Dome, deck plants and house plants. What's left are in ground plants and three too big to put in the van under normal upright circumstances. John gets to deal with those, maybe tomorrow. We also finished chain sawing a pile of scrap wood. Jim had managed to pile it right where a telephone line needed to be buried, and hadn't gotten around to dealing with it yet. So Robyn brought the electric chain saw and worked his way through it with me and occasionally Logan holding wood for him. Logan and I got all moved plants very well watered via a sprinkler, and planted a pansy she'd been given at a local nursery. We also saw, held, and occasionally relocated three or four snakes. Logan had her first nap in our new bed at our new house, and found it acceptable. Robyn got the grounding rod for the telephone system pounded most of the way in to the ground. Oh, and Jim sent a contractor by to examine the Dutch door to see what repairs are needed to it. The guy will be back at 8 am Monday to begin work. John came by after work and we talked about getting a foundation under the house, which plants will need to be moved, and when. Also where goat and chicken fences will need to go. Fences are this weekend's project.

Thursday, Robyn, Logan and I went in to Roseburg, just for an hour or two, really. Then at 3 pm we finally got out to the Dome. It was just one of those days. I tried to deal with the county records, but there was one blank not filled in, and the woman at the counter didn't think I was competent to fill it in. I'll do it at home and go back next week. We tried to eat lunch with Andrea and Aidan, but the yogurt shop counter person made a strong point that the restrooms were only for customers. Paying customers, when Robyn asked to use the facilities. We weren't paying customers yet, we'd been in the door a minute or two and were in line to order food. We did order a small amount of food after that, but that place won't be getting any future business from me. Two different hardware stores tried to convince us we didn't really need to ground our telephone line. Well, the phone company refused to connect us until we did... who would you listen to?

Wednesday, Logan and I picked Robyn up in Eugene, while getting the Volvo worked on. I managed to find a couple of pieces of inexpensive used furniture, not the ones I was looking for, but useful, so that was good. I also got a sack of cleaning supplies, a good lunch, a few groceries, but no computer desk. I've got to try a different store for a computer desk. I had trouble getting all the elements (real wood, cheap, and wheels among other things) in one desk.

Tuesday was Baby and Me, which was fun with a couple new kids and a good assortment of Moms. Logan and I did a little bit of running around while we were in town, but not much. We did see paramedics cart off a man who'd had a seizure (apparently, no one saw it) in front of the book store where we hang out. And one of the paramedics came in with stickers for Logan and Aidan, which made them both happy.

And Monday. What did we do Monday? I'm not sure. Got the mail, which has been missed every other day this week. I hoped to go either yesterday or today, but haven't managed. Brushed Sunny dog at the Dome while waiting for the telephone guy. Watered a bunch of plants there. Saw one of the elusive dome cats (tabby with a white bib). Had a quiet nap at home.

That was the week.

Sunny is very calm after a day of running around at the Dome. So far we've taught him not to come in the house. The next trick will be teaching him to come in when invited, but not other times. I think I'm going to rent a carpet cleaner (professional services are scheduling several weeks in advance at the moment) and work on the carpet on Monday. It's in pretty good shape, but it just seems reasonable to go over it before we put furniture in. Today I finished knitting a pair of slippers I've been working on for months. Finally. It was nice getting a couple small things done. Logan helped carry plants around, and washed a couple of (already clean) dishes herself at the dome.

I'll try to get chicken coop pictures up tonight or tomorrow, if I can make them cooperate.

alternative to amazon?

.: 21:15 :.

Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative to amazon*com for CDs? I don't really want to do business with amazon, but I'd love to make myself a reminder list of CDs that I want. Powell's, unfortionately doesn't do music. :-(

bit of paradise

.: 20:19 :.

So we spent the weekend at the Dome, at least by day. We closed on it on Thursday. Friday I had to meet a propane guy for an estimate on getting my propane stove hooked up. That was John's birthday, so he took part of the day off - not to celebrate, but to buy wood for the coop.

Saturday we met at 9 at the Dome with Andrea, Bob and Aidan. Jim was there working on moving some more of his things out. And then I got a call (cell phone, regular won't be hooked up until tomorrow, no the number is not changing. The same number will ring at both houses for a month though.) asking if it was possible for us to accept delivery of the bed we'd ordered the day before. I guess the bed store had nothing better to do than assemble it. Andrea took charge of the kids, and I ran around trying to make space enough in the upstairs room to fit the bed. Once it was there, Logan and Aidan happily bounced on it, testing it out fully, and Andrea and I stretched out for a couple of minutes. It is going to be very comfortable, once we can actually sleep there. (Sheep, goats, hens, and emus at our other house, plus the computer, fridge, stove and all that stuff.)

On Saturday the plan (I'm not sure who's it was, Bob's maybe) was that the coop would be done that day. I dubbed it John and Bob's One Day Wonder. While they worked and the kids napped, I painted a bathroom ceiling, twice. That was the only painting I managed on the weekend though. We all had sandwiches for lunch, and then later chili (crock pot) for supper. At dark the guys gave up. We did all admire the stars as we loaded up to leave. We'll be able to see a much bigger piece of the sky there!

Today, Sunday, the coop was finished. Or as finished as it was meant to be immediately. It still needs shutters and hardware cloth on the windows and doors on the door openings. Andrea kept the kids busy a lot, again, and I helped with packing some of Jim and Olivia's stuff. Andrea with help from Logan, also cleaned some chairs that had been in our shed forever, so we could sit on something in the house, and packed most of the contents of Jim's fridge in to boxes so it could be loaded on to a trailer by the guys once the coop was done. John and Bob and Jim, with a dolly, got the washer, drier, fridge and stereo cabinet all loaded, and then unloaded again at Jim's new place.

It doesn't really sound like much. I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out. But I'm about to miss my turn at a shower, so that's it for now. Pictures on another day. :-)

Paint Swatches

.: 18:31 :.

And here are the colors I'll be painting bathrooms. And maybe kitchen too. The center color will be the main wall color, with the other two being trim. Purple in one bath, Rosy in the other.


Charisma, Butter Up, and Clematis.


The kitchen, I don't know for sure yet. Butter Up with one or both the others on trim, cabinets, etc. We're not actually planning to paint much, but we are painting some. Some places never got a good painting in the first place, others are just things I want to paint. Actual colors may vary from what you see on your screen, of course.

John is 35

.: 09:04 :.

Today is John's 35th birthday. Logan says he should stay home - he is working a partial day at least. We don't have any thing fun or exciting planned, although tomorrow we go build a chicken coop at the new house. I'll add a birthday photo of John later on when I take one.

Pictures of John on his 35th birthday, for Wilma 18:06

Here they are. There are a couple more still on the camera too. Eventually I'll get things set up so that people who want to can order prints on line. Eventually. after we move. :-)


John appearing as a 35 year old



Still John

New Pictures

.: 07:40 :.

Hi All. We had another busy week, and another fun filled weekend of shifting boxes and furniture from here to there and from there to yon. First we load up van and station wagon here, then we convoy off to the Dome, unload in to the laundry room, then go load some of Jim and Olivia's things in, plus load their flat bed pickup truck, and head out again to unload at their new place. They are about 2/3 moved. We are maybe ¼ moved. Not a bad start. We hope to close sometime this week.

The rest of this will be pictures - I hope it doesn't load too slowly.


Our stuff already moved, in the laundry room.



Our stuff on this side of the door, theirs on the other.



Olivia's Roses, still in full bloom



And they smell good too.



The shop



From the driveway, to the north of the front door.



From the north east.



More of the yard & flowers



I think the philodendron stays. I love it. John doesn't. We'll see.



looking over the edge of the loft


Then last, but busiest of all, Miss Logan thought I should take her picture when she and I were out clipping some rosemary to go in John's soup last night. So this is back at Year and a Day.


The rosemary bush is taller than Logan, for now.

Dome, Dome On The Range.

.: 20:38 :.

How did our long holiday weekend go? What weekend? When does it start, anyway? Saturday we packed boxes, first with help from Logan, who opted not to take a nap at all. After she went to bed we packed boxes more efficiently, and then had a quiet half hour or hour or something of knitting and watching part of a video, (me and john respectively). Sunday John got something productive done in the morning, I don't remember at all what now, I did some dishes and was tired. Then we made some food and went to meet Steve and Joana at a lake outside of cottage grove where they can sail their boat.

It's the far away red dot that you can't see.

Now you can see it. Logan and John are sailing with Steve.

It's bigger in real life. But not a whole lot bigger. :-)


Joana and Steve had sailed around some already, so John got to go out and all across the lake with Steve, and then Logan joined them for the brief sail from rocky beach to the dock. My batteries died however and I didn't manage to take any more pictures with my camera. I did take a couple with Joana's camera, while she helped maneuver the boat, then her batteries died too. Lack of planning on both our parts I think.

After the sailing and getting the boat safely back on to its trailer, we had a nice picnic and celebrated the combined birthday of Steve (from July) and John (in another couple weeks). It was shady and comfortably cool and breezy, and a nice way to spend the afternoon. We got home after dark, with Logan sleeping, and got her transferred in to bed, and then spent a bit more time sitting around feeling exhausted for no good reason before giving in to sleep.

Monday, today, I caught up on exhaustion, or something along those lines, by sleeping until 10:30 while John and Logan fed ruminants and loaded boxes in the van and kept very busy. I can't remember the last time I got to sleep that late, and woke up feeling better. We hauled one van and station wagon (with Logan and Sunny-dog) load of boxes to Jim and Olivia's house. They made space for us in their laundry room

It's a big laundry room.


and we piled our boxes up in one corner. Then we came home and packed another half dozen boxes while Logan napped, and John loaded them, plus whatever he could find ready to move in the shed, and took a second load over. Jim and Olivia are quite possibly the nicest people in the world, but every so often get concerned about how things will work out. today they were worried that we might want them absolutely out of the house on the dot of 30 days after we close. We don't even have a date for closing (and last week Jim was very worried about when closing would be, because he was trying to schedule closing on the place they are buying), and I quite expect to be seeing them come and go for a good bit after all the official time lines are done. And with luck for a long time thereafter too, as friends. They have an entire thirty odd acre farm to move, and condense on to about three acres. I don't envy them the task. Jim, at 72, is entitled to worry if he wants to though. And Olivia will be gone for a couple of weeks this month to see her mother through potential heart surgery, so he'll be doing a lot of moving on his own.

Teresa asked about what the dome looked like, as did Alan earlier, so I dug out a couple more pictures of it. One is the same as one I put up back in May - I'm not sure I've taken any more, and I forgot to do so today.

Dome's Front Door


That one doesn't show the windows well. I guess I'd better go find the one with a good shot of the windows too. Oh, wait they are in one of my interior shots. These next two show some of the inside. You'll just have to imagine them with our stuff instead of Jim and Olivia's.

Standing in the south east, facing west


Facing east. Laundry room visible out Dutch door.


We also moved fourteen of our goats and sheep (leaving us with eleven here) to a neighboring five acres that John put fencing up on (the owner bought the fencing supplies) and will be staying there to eat the underbrush for the next few weeks. They are maybe half a mile away by road, much less if one were to cut across the property lines. We've all gone by bike to check on them - either John or I on my bike, with Logan in the bike trailer that we need to return to Steve and Joana. I looked on line to see how much bike trailers cost - new they are $300 to $400. We probably won't get a new one, but they do look nice. I'll keep my eye out for a used one for a bit and see what I can find. Tomorrow Logan and I have to buy her a bike helmet, she had one, but has outgrown it. She is getting the hang of pedaling on her bike, slowly. There's a half bike sort of thing that I've seen that makes an adults bike look like a three wheeled tandem, but I think I'll go for the bike trailer for a while more before trying to balance with a busy kid behind me. You can see the trailers and the half bike add on's here at burley.

Oh, and Cheryl, thanks for the heads up on the stuff in the whipped non-cream. We won't make it a regular part of our diet. It was a lot of fun while it lasted. Logan hasn't remembered its existence since finishing the bottle though, so I haven't gotten more. And Andrea asked about Knitting Links. I need to get more up, don't I.

I'll get more assorted pictures up as I get time. Maybe Logan will nap this week.