Priceless

600 Miles and two tanks of gas: $55

A room with a view on the Oregon bank of the Columbia River: $100

The wind through your hair at 122 MPH on wide open Yakima Valley back roads: Priceless

One track mind

I know that I have been pretty much posting only about the house lately. I know that I am kind of in a rut. But hey...what can I say. I don't have a ton of other stuff going on right now. Just work and the house.

I am however very glad fall has arrived...I thought it would never come. The dogs are liking it too, they have more energy and run more at the dog park. A few weeks ago Zanni came down with an upper respiratory infection. It was pretty bad...hacking and coughing and such all the time. Of course Bailey got it too, so they were quarantined from the dog park for a while and I had to find alternate places to take them for walks. I did pretty well though and we got out quite a few times. They are better now after two weeks worth of anti-biotic.

Not much to mention on the house. They were suppose to put the trusses on last week (they are on the lot), but when the crane guy came and looked at the incline he said "I don't think so". Therefore the builder had to do some leveling which he was going to do, but hadn't gotten to it yet. The crane is suppose to be back tomorrow and they framers are going to take advantage of the situation and build the fireplace flue on the ground and have the crane lift it into place when it comes. Sounds like a good idea to me. Now my concern is if the crane guy wouldn't work with the slope that was there, how is the builder going to fix it so that we can even get up our driveway? We'll see.

Another funny thing about this whole process.... We are putting natural lodge pole timbers in the living room as the supports for the gluelamb beam that will be natural and span the kitchen/dining area and mark the transition to the living room. The builder said a few weeks ago that he didn't know where to get them, so I took that on. I have contacted and ordered 10' poles from a guy we found off of Hwy 2 in Sulton,wa (Sky Valley Wood Works). We have already purchased lodge pole night stands from him to go with our lodge pole bed. It is just weird that I am on task to get the support poles for the beam that is holding up our top floor.

Anyway, I don't have any more pictures at the moment. I will take more when more stuff happens and I will post the Duval sunrise pics soon.

Soaked House / Top Floor

Fall has arrived! Its cooler, the colors are starting to change and rain has come! Its awesome!

They are now working on the top floor, plus the trusses & roof should be going on next week sometime. The builder is trying to get it buttoned up before it rains too much more.

20060921_HouseFraming

Sep 21, 2006 - 20 Photos

I took a few morning fog pics a few weeks ago and I will post them soon.

Pictures Galore - House and boating trip

So i went crazy this time and uploaded all of the pics I took (instead of editing them and picking a few) to Google Web albums. Its in beta, but it seems to be functioning well.

Here we go... [click on the pics to go to the album]

House: Framing for garage - Floor 0

New House - Floor 0

Sep 2, 2006 - 11 Photos

Boating trip on Lake Washington with the Volts

Lake Washington Boating

Sep 3, 2006 - 25 Photos

House: Framing for main floor - Floor 1

New House - Floor 1

Sep 7, 2006 - 15 Photos

YeeeHaaa!

All is well! There is progress on the house! We climbed a ladder and walked around in our living room. Its finally coming together. I have pictures and will post them tonight hopefully. The garage (Floor 0) is fully enclosed (with framing) and the flooring and frames for Floor 1 are in place. We even looked out the window, (that will be changed to French doors {framers got confused} our builder assured us) that will lead out to our front deck off of the dining room... The view will be awesome!

Also, our new Whole Foods opened last Wednesday. It is 5 minutes from our new house and it ROCKS. We are stoked. It is 1 minute from the dog park, so going there will be very convenient and they have lots of cool stuff at this new one. Juice bar, Gelloto bar, various other food bars, Japanese bar.... It is AWESOME. Its big and laid out very well.

Anyway, more to come...Picture soon

Mountain Twisties Tour

This last Sunday we went on our first event with the Puget Sound BMW Car Club. This event was called the Mountain Twisties Tour.

A titbit from the description: "...clear skies should reveal Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens for at least a short while. That is, if you can take your eyes off the road. You see, this Tour is not about the scenery, but instead is all about the roads. Without question, the twistiest, longest, least crowded roads in the State, featuring endless second and third gear corners."

Needless to say it was a blast. We met new friends, drove 431 miles, and flew through some mighty tight corners. :) It was a beautifull day for a drive...cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. Come monday morning, my arms were rather sore. :) I have never had so much fun on the road before! :) Bellow are some pics of the event. There were about 28 cars in all and 6 Z4s.

 

Mt. St. Hellens

 
 
 
    

Frames!

 
 
  

Foundation anyone?

So I was going to post a few pictures I took last week of the forms. But then I thought....why? When I can post pictures of the foundation itself! :)


 
 
 
  

Why?

Why can't we just all get along?


Why is violence and anger the first response?


Why is PEACE such a foreign concept?


Why do so many people have to suffer and die?


Why are our efforts and time and money spent on war and vengeance and destruction instead of on education and people and creation?


Why is there so much hate in this world?

Stupid Unions...

So they were supose to pour more of the foundation yesteray...
except there was a kink [wslc.org] in the process.

I have a few more pics...I will post them soon

Sunset a few weeks ago

This is a pic of a sunset from the top portion of our apartment complex a few weeks after we moved in. The apartment complex is on a hill that faces east and the cascades...but the top crests the hill we are on...and you can see past Lake Sammamish, past Bellevue, past Lake Washington and into the skyscrapers of downtown Seattle. This was looking that direction with some dynamic clouds and a beautiful sunset! :) Enjoy.

  

Forms Appear!

Some Forms have appeared on the lot this last Saturday. The foundation is suppose to be poured this week (yea I said that before). So we'll see

 

Our house is the forms to the left, the right house that is framed is the house next to ours

 

Looking at the lower part of the forms for the foundation

 

Looking at the foundation (to be built up) for the right garage.

 

Looking at the forms for the left garage...the front door entrance is off to the left out of the picture.

 

So you think you can ride the tour?

Yea. Um no. The pro riders sure make it look easy. Every year before the tour blazes through France, a ride is organized that sets anyone up for it against one (just one) stage in that year's Tour, called L'Etape du Tour [letapedutour.com]. This year? Stage 15. L'Alpe d'Huez.

Ouch.

7500 insane people rode it this year. 1500 didn't finish.

But don't take my word for it. Read about someone that rode it....and cry.

The Tour de France Almost Killed Me [Slate.com]

House Updates

Not much to mention. There hasn't been a bunch done lately. The builder called us mid week to let us know they are about to lay the foundation. So hopefully that will happen soon. The lot has been excavated and is ready for the foundation to be layed :)

More pics....

The framing on the left is the house next to ours...the framing in front is the house accross the street from ours...This pic was taken from the lot looking down.

 

The Jeep is pointing at our lot.

 

The framing on the right is the house next to ours.

  

Tour de France: Stage 11

Floyd Landis is now in the Yellow jersey. Hincapie has fallen way back.

This tour has been very interesting, with the Yellow jersey bouncing around to all sorts of riders. I think it is good that one rider is not dominating the race. Its an open field and anything can happen.

In case you missed it. Landis announced that he has been having hip problems since a crash in training back in 2003 and is scheduled to have surgery after the tour.

I REALLY Love Seattle (part 2)

We went down to San Diego this last weekend for a wedding. It was a long time coming, even if it was short notice on the date side. It went well and was fun. We had a blast being able to talk to a lot of people we hadn't seen in a long time. Lots of friends came in from the various places we have split to and it was great to talk to friends and professors from PLNU.

Now the downsides....

It was HOT...as in 81 Deg at 7am. (disclaimer: Point Loma was nice and cool (all relative of course)! Always has been...That's the only reason I was able to stand San Diego for 5 years...)

And then there is the unexpected. Even though San Diego is close to LA, it has been historicity a great town. There are lots of good restaurants and fun things to do. Good movie theaters. The Zoo and Wild Animal Park are a blast. Balboa Park is awesome and The Old Globe is there that offers very good theatrical productions. Seaworld is fun and the beaches and piers are abundant. That all still holds true, except for one thing.
The mentality has changed. I have never been yelled at, flipped off, cut off, run down, glared at, and had just general animosity directed at me more in a 3 day period in my life. There are now AT LEAST 20 minutes of commercials and trailers at the beginning of movies. Gas is expensive, homes are expensive, movies are expensive. But there is good Mexican food at least! My question is this... WHY? I will never, ever live in Southern California again in my life. We will visit again and go down to see friends, but that is all. Oh, and I almost forgot...don't use your turn signals in San Diego. Instead of letting people know you want over so that they will let you in, a turn signal seems to be a notification to other drivers to speed up and make sure you don't get in front of THEM.

Now I understand that no place is perfect and all cities have their downsides, but to me, Seattle is a great area.

Did I mention I love Seattle?

I Love Seattle....

Well, I guess I should say I love the Pacific Northwest. Oregon to Whistler. The trees, the ocean, the rivers, the mountains, the snow, the rain. The Colors. And of course the random changes in weather.

The last two weeks have royally sucked. HOT. Did I mention it was HOT? 90s..high 80s. Ich. (of all times to sell the house WITH the A/C!)

And then WHAM.

At 4am on the 4th, we (all 4 of us...Beagles included) sat straight up in bed awakened by the loudedest and most grippingly strong rolling clap of thunder I have heard in years. It was awesome. It even rained. All on the 4th of July! :) Yesterday was the first cool day we have had in two weeks. The ground was wet when we woke up and there were clouds in the sky. The bike ride I went on in the morning was awesome. It got warmer in the afternoon and cleared up some, but not too much. The clouds were still hanging around come fireworks time. I don't know what it was like at the major fireworks locations because we went to a friend's house and watched their cul-du-sac's local display. But this is what I am used to. I grew up in Monterey, CA where 60% of the time the fireworks were half in the clouds. :) It was a good forth.

Real. Actual. Progress! With proof!

Its actually for real! We really are building a house. :) The lot is finally starting to be cleared. Bellow are some before pics and some pics I took today.

Original Shot - Looking up the lane. Our house is the second lot on the right

 

Sunset from Lake Sammamish that night.

 

Today: Looking up the lane. The first lot with the foundation is the other house the builder is working on.

 

Today: Grading the lot.

 

Today: Looking down from the lot.

 
 

Cool Tour Tracker

I ran into this cool gps/google integrated tour tracker this morning. Its pretty cool...
Google Maps Tour de France Tracker

Tour de France 2006 - Stage 1 - George Hincapie in Yellow!

The 2006 Tour has started, amongst controversy and major hopefuls being pulled from the race. The prolog went well, with two US riders in the top 3 after Thor Hushovd (Norway) took the first stage. I am excited now tho, because the chance that George Hincapie could take the tour is much higher now with Ullrich and Basso out. He is definitely due, sitting behind Lance for the past 7 years. I just don't know if he has it in him. We'll see. Hincapie is starting strong in the 2006 Tour. Now the question is, is it too strong? Is he pushing to hard too soon? Only time will tell. See the specifics here: Tour de France 2006 - Stage 1