Friday:

7-7:30 John's up clattering around downstairs. Logan and I are not up yet, but I'm supposed to be. I feel like I've had a headache for a week with this cold, it may be time to check with the doctor about what's going on with my sinuses this time.

8:00 everyone's awake and John's going to fetch laundry inside before he leaves for work. Logan's asking me questions about something, but I'm not really all that alert yet and I keep asking her to wait a bit more.

8:05 John comes back inside followed by the guys brining the last of our rehabbed furniture. They must have gotten an early start from two hours south to get here. They are good guys, and make jokes with john as Logan and I observe the last chest of drawers and table moving in.

8:30 Laundry is now in, and John's trying to leave for work again. Logan has her entire shopping cart full of goods spread out on Grandpa Alfred's maple table, which just arrived this morning, and wants to know the prices before she buys it from me.

8:35 John is talking with someone again. The window cleaner has appeared. This and the removal of the construction debris (mostly removed, but not completely) is all that is left of reconstruction now. The window cleaner discusses what's on the windows (drywall and paint stuff mostly) and how to reach the highest ones with John, and asks if we'd mind moving the breakable things from windowsills, so that he doesn't break any of our stuff.

9:00 John has finally managed to leave for work, and once I find one more cup of tea I might feel prepared to face the day. Logan is watching out the window to see where the window cleaner (Brian, I think) is working. Window cleaner has a two year old son and a ten month old golden retriever, so we have things in common enough to make conversation.

Eventually Logan and I will get started on the rest of our day. We need to shift her seat and our basic stuff from the car to the van and head for Eugene for picking up a TV, some fruit trees if I'm lucky, and possibly some other general supplies. In the midst of that will be Logan's dance class, and probably lunch when we get to the city.

It's finally cooler again. During the cold weather a couple weeks ago I realized that I'd lost my long underwear and some long sleeved shirts to the fire, and could replace them. So I ordered things from LL Bean and Sierra Trading Post, to keep myself from freezing, especially in the poorly insulated cabin. Yesterday the last of the stuff arrived, and of course, the temperature was balmy - maybe in the 70's. I was in short sleeves all day! This morning the temperature is close to freezing outside, and I think rain in the forecast. I hope. The warm weather did give me a chance to tell Logan what the Florida weather will be like when we visit. While the rest of you resident Floridians are shivering, if the temps are anything like they were here yesterday, Logan and I will be basking in the heat and wearing short sleeves.

Moving in More,

Today our refinished wood furniture is moving back in to the house. At the moment I'm hiding while Dot's glass front china cabinet is moved in. I don't want to see if anything happens to it. :-) So far this strategy has worked with each move I've made, and it's been fine. Today I've got Logan, the dog and the cat with me, to keep them out from under foot.

The furniture, all in all, is darker than it used to be. On some of the lighter pine pieces, it's very strange to see. Those pieces also still show some soot here and there, which surprises me a little. I'm happy to have them back. On many the finish is nicer than it was the last time I saw them (before the fire). Some had been stripped so I could refinish them, so having them come back done is very different. The pieces that I bought from Bernie and Craig, many years ago, that were finished with a dark stain to begin with, don't look especially different. Although I was pleased to find, as Bernie will be also, that the puppy chewing on the foot of the Kidney Table has been repaired.

Some pieces of furniture are missing, so far. Not the press board ones that we expected to be disposed of, but a dresser and a table, and three stools. The guys who brought the furniture today are going to go looking for the other pieces.

With luck the moving guys will bring those back later this week. All in all, I feel very moved in, but not at all settled. Although I'm also sick today, with a cold or inner ear infection, or something, that's effecting my balance a bit, and leaving me with a runny nose and cough, of course. John stayed home from work to provide brain power for the day, but is just about to head in now.

On line, off line,

It's a day of dichotomies. Wash hands. Sort sooty things. Wash hands, sort more. Wash dishes, sort things. Find a comfortable sitting place, stand up to move more stuff around. Check email. Sweep. Clean hands before touching sooty books (which shouldn't have been packed in the first place) in order to not add oils from hands to the books. Look for the perfect spot to put X. Put W, Z and Q in temporary places until they can be cleaned, rearranged, properly stored, etc.

We're unpacking and sorting where we can. The rehabbed furniture theoretically comes on Tuesday. I'll see about posting some more pictures later on, but typing a short update is an excuse to sit for a few minutes before going back to the dust and soot. Logan is washing dishes, John just removed the work table that has been under paint cans and tools for several months (Thanks Debbie and Sam, we'll return it one day.) The kitchen is slowly getting more arranged. The number of boxes labeled "office" and "misc" is almost astounding. I'm sorting in to categories of Keep, Donate and Trash. I figure someone else may be willing to put work cleaning things in to items that I don't feel sentimental about. And I like the idea that someone will benefit from the fire.

The computer desk is now near the exterior wall in the Library, rather than by the door. And it's a completely different desk, which is nice. The floor slopes to my left, so when I shift the chair that way there's a point where I suddenly continue rolling when I don't expect to.

We are finding some things intact and undamaged by fire which I'd forgotten about. Which is nice. And so far the smoke and soot smell does not seem to be spreading out of the boxes.

WE ARE IN !!!!!!

If you don't know what that means, you have not been paying attention.

After a grueling day of mucking out 2/3's of the barn (thank you so much Bob and Ty!), we moved the bed into the dome, along with the bare essentials. Sleepware, tea, coffee, slippers, toiletries, that kind of thing. Even with boxes everywhere, there is so much more space. Oh and if you had not guessed, the computer also. Typing at the new computer desk, in our warm and cozy library. It is so nice.

Time to figure out something for dinner (fixing the propane this morning, so we can cook), have a shower in our new soaking bath (Logan and Aidan had the first one) and head to bed.

Home at last.


(All the above from John)


Home at last. :-)

Wednesday

Today we unpacked things. Towels from the soft good cleaners, beautifully boxed, wrapped and folded. I'll have to look up their name (on each box) and give them credit. They did an amazing job on the stuff they cleaned. Dishes from the unprofessional hard goods cleaners. Some fit to use, some not, although all theoretically packed because they were cleaned and acceptable. Metal mixing bowls, pitted. Iron pans, pitted and rusted. Sterling miscellaneous (not much of it of course) stained and in some cases warped.

Joana came, and washed acre after acre of dishes. I flitted between drying and unpacking. John inventoried. Logan helped everywhere. Andrea came to visit with Taylor, Aidan and her mother whose name I forget as soon as I hear it each time (and it's not a hard one!). We got to take turns holding Taylor, and I took a couple more pictures of him, which are on the camera, left in the dome.

And then there are the boxes of stuff that got packed, but are still sooty. I'm not sure exactly what we're supposed to do with them. We have to check to see what is salvageable and what is not. In our free time. Right.

There's a boycott of spending money on inauguration day, which will be Thursday Jan 20. You can read more information about it at Not One Dime. I think we'll probably observe it.

Hurry Up and Wait

No furniture after all today. When they set up to load the furniture, some was found "not clean" when it was expected to be clean. After an hour or two of back and fourth between me and John and Carol, and whoever she could catch at her end, it was determined that it was at least partly stuff we knew wasn't being cleaned and were going to replace. But we cancelled everything for today, and rescheduled for a week from today.

Then I got a call from guys from the restoration place who had just been to the house and found we weren't there. While we were all playing telephone tag, they were sent to at least shift the boxes from the Oakland storage unit. So more telephone tag started, because John, at work almost an hour away, had the key to the storage unit.

Eventually John and guys with truck showed up. Logan and I washed more prewashed dishes. And spent a little while sitting in front of the fire relaxing.

Logan was delighted when boxes from storage turned out to contain some of her toys, not seen for 10+ months, and which appeared at first glance to be clean. Later we found they were somewhat clean, as is the prewashed glassware.

So, Wednesday's plan is to wash things and try to find them places in the kitchen cupboards. And deal to some extent with the mountain of boxes sitting where furniture will go next week.

Two van loads

Today Logan and I jump started the van and fetched all the hanging clothing from the Oakland storage unit back to the Dome. This is the stuff that was cleaned by the Soft Goods Cleaners, as opposed to being deemed uncleanable. I don't have any idea how much clothing we lost at this point, more than half probably. But there were things that did get cleaned that I never thought I'd see again, which was nice.

Then after we unloaded and played at home for a while, we went out again and met John at the storage unit to get the boxed up cleaned clothing, plus four or five boxes of "glass ware". All that would fit in the van basically. All that's in the dome now too. I unpacked one box of glass ware, and it actually was glasses and mugs. About half still had soot in places, although not as much as they had before being washed and packed. So I'll be washing more tomorrow.

And, tomorrow, Tuesday, the rehabbed furniture and lots more stuff from storage comes back. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be spent sorting and putting away and arranging. And then some.

Today there were boxes in the mail from Cheryl, but we haven't opened them yet. It was too hectic doing other things. We will soon, really.

Logan played with her leap pad in the dome while I washed some things between loads of stuff today. She happily gets it out and plays with it for a while and then packs it all away again. Which frees me to do exciting things like move breakable stuff around the kitchen, without her help.

I'll post another update in a day or two. I hope. It depends on how crazy all the moving of stuff makes me.

Logan Family Pictures

Logan took pictures of the family this morning. She said she took one of Sunny-dog, but I didn't find that. But here are the pictures she took of all the rest of us.


Peaty, after shots and a night in the ceiling.

Peaty spent the night outside, because he chose to climb up in to the ceiling of the cabin. He wouldn't come down until he heard the food rattle this morning. Silly cat! Now he's grouchy, and probably in to sleep the day away.


John, on the phone with his mom.


Me at the computer.

And, last, but most important, following the style of the master photographer Ruzzy, Logan's self portrait.


"A picture of my nose" by LG J-N-S

We got snow!

Our trip to Eugene went fine. We came home with the car loaded with replaced cleaning supplies. We made an extra bathroom and grocery store stop in Cottage Grove, about the half way point, and then hopped back on the freeway at almost 8.

Then we got snow. Fun to see snow in the headlights, and vertigo inducing flurries that swirled around. We were already behind a semi, so we just stayed there and adjusted our speed whenever he slowed down, trusting the (I hope) more experienced driver. (I need to thank semi's that I follow on I-5. I've concluded that behind a semi is a safe place to be, so in fog, heavy rain, or, now in snow, I prefer to follow them. Even when I'm not the one driving. John drove tonight, while I copiloted.) Then there was even more snow, building up on the sides of the road, and on the left lane. We stayed behind our semi, and had other cars following behind us. The semi slowed down to 30mph at one point. And at another I told John that if the semi took the exit we were about to pass, he'd better take it too (exit 160, there's pretty well nothing there, except a place to get off the freeway, so I figured if the big truck did, we would too.) The semi kept going. We lost the slush and snow and went back to rain, and some of the folks behind us passed us. We passed Susan's exit and I considered dropping in to spend the night rather than making our way the last few miles home, but decided that since we were now below where the snow had been bad, we didn't need to stop. Then we approached the Truck Stop exit. More snow. More slush on the road. Only wheel marks in our lane again. John kept going. Nice and slow over Rice Hill, the big one between the truck stop and our old house, and we saw traffic backed up on the other side of the freeway, with a snow plow leading the way.

There were a few sets of tire tracks at our exit, and I knew from this morning that there had been salt or gravel or something on the overpass there. There was packed snow or slush on the road. And three tire tracks on Goodrich, mostly. Evidently traffic going each way had overlapped their inner set of tires. Which says something about how much traffic the road gets. Not much at night, even less in bad weather. (You Canadians quit laughing at me. I have NEVER driven in snow at all. I've seen it here probably less than ten times, and fewer than twenty in my life.) Then we turned on to Hogan. We were the fourth car to drive there since the snow started. The only one to take the turn on to our (shared) driveway. The trees were very pretty with snow on them. I've never seen the driveway with snow, when there was snow last year we didn?t leave.

The snow was squeaky under foot going in to the cabin. John has taken the camera out with him to feed, since we had rain then. It looks as if it's turning back to snow now. We'll put a snowball in the freezer if it looks like we won't have any on the ground by morning, so Logan doesn't miss it completely. She wants to build a "really big" snow man. That's going to be tough unless we get a lot of snow, but we'll see what we can do.

If I had my druthers I wouldn't have been out in it. I'm glad we got home safely. But I know that a whole lot of the people around here don't know how to drive in snow. And I'm afraid that some may drive anyway, or get stuck driving. John now has more snow driving experience than I do, thanks to tonight. I would have spent the night at the Truck Stop if he hadn't been driving. And I'm not sure if we shouldn't have anyway. I think that if I had to be out in weather like that often I'd opt to live in a city rather than out here.

Rain, turning to showers...

...turning to snow, turning to showers. We've seen flakes falling a few times, but they aren't sticking anywhere except over one of the dome windows. John's been busy ripping out dry wall from the cubby where the fridge is supposed to fit, to put it thinner drywall, so that the fridge will in fact fit. Logan's played with anything and everything. Peaty-cat and I went to the vet to get him booster shots. And driving, I was able to see snow on some of the surrounding hills. It's big excitement to see snow around, even if it's not particularly at our house.

Later today we make a run in to Eugene for a slew of cleaning supplies for the dome, and tonight or tomorrow we'll start moving in what we can from the shop, the cabin, the storage unit, and a couple of boxes that are sitting outside for reasons not fully known to me. WE won't be able to start sleeping there until we get a bed (to be ordered in Eugene today) but I hope that will be at the beginning of next week.

More Peaty & Dome Update

These pictures are something like a week late. I kept meaning to resize them and not quite getting to it. Mom sent us "Bucky" pillows for the holidays. Evidently Peaty thinks they were meant for him.


Of Course It's Mine.


And very comfortable too.


Comes complete with entertainment.


And a comfortable spot to groom.

We are beginning to move back in to the Dome. Ty came yesterday and put down baseboards, so all that's left needing them is the stairs. Our new furniture was delivered today: a couch, chair, loveseat, computer desk, one dresser, and a TV wardrobe. And four dining room table chairs. It's possible that our rehabbed furniture will show up today, but it's not set in stone. Otherwise it should come one day next week. Logan and I are going to move a few kitchen things in that were stored here. And maybe put some of her clothes in her dresser.

In addition, Logan has gotten the hang of taking pictures with the digital camera. She has taken MANY in the last few days. Some are very good, and some entertaining. But one, appropriate for this post, is of Peaty. (she is taking more as I type of course.)


Peaty at the window, by LGJ-N-S

Peaty pics for mom.

Helping John get sleepy at night


Helping Logan wake up this morning, on my back!


Keeping me company while I talk to mom on the phone.

In Peaty's world, there's almost always a comfy place to settle down. That is what humans are meant for, evidently.

Ruzz, John says this is what cats are for.

Yes, I do own other shirts besides this purple one. Somehow I'm just getting my picture taken in the shirt I've been sleeping in recently.

Peaty's New Year

Self Heating Cat Bed

I flopped down on my face for a moment, and Peaty decided his feet were cold, or that the bed itself wasn't textured properly, or something. Once his feet were warm it was fairly comfortable.