I am finally back

I finally have my regular computer hooked back up to the internet.  I will have photos tomorrow of some interesting things with the studio and dragonflies.

Freedom and Chaos

 Thought I should update the blog.  It has been so hectic that I haven't had time or access to the computer most of the time to do any posting.   There has been some positive progress made with the studio.  We are finally to the painting stage!!!!

 We did take a few days off last week and went camping in the mountains.  Camped at a friend's ranch.  The weather was great, had a heck of a thunderstorm on Sunday though.  Nothing like being in the mountains with lightning all around. It was a very enjoyable trip, just too short.  

It was a bit depressing to come back home to the chaos.  There is not a room in the house that hasn't been touched by the addition in some way. Dust abounds everywhere!!!!!  We took up the sticky plastic that we have had down on the carpet and replaced it with some fresh.  There is a plastic curtain hanging in the hallway until the sheet rock and texturing is completed.   I will be thrilled when it comes down permanently.  


                                   

  It remains folded up to the ceiling unless the dust is flying.  We took the wall out that separated the new addition from the rest of the house Tuesday night.  We decided we had waited long enough and why leave it to those guys.  We left the messy part up on the ceiling for the guys though.
  We had already removed one ceiling from a closet in the house when we remodeled 17 years ago and had an idea it would be a very big mess as they didn't believe in putting anything up there to hold the sheet rock and insulation up if there weren't any walls doing the job when the original house was built.  And that is exactly the way this one was, too.  

dyeing room

 The walls in the dyeing room have been painted once, need to paint the dark one again.  I really liked using the dark paint as it widened out the room and didn't make it feel so long and narrow.  As soon as that wall is painted, there will be some cabinets going up on the wall to the right.  My cabinet builder is ready and waiting anxiously for the moment.  

south end of  studio area

They will start on the underlayment in the areas where there is vinyl either tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday.  That will be a big day when it is completed 
as well as the base  cabinets can be set.  I hope it will continue to come together each week and be in the studio in a month's time.

The beams are being prepped for what they will become.  Will post the end result.  I think they will look pretty darned good when completed.  

The bricks were delivered on Wednesday and we picked up tile and vinyl yesterday in Denver.  The doors, counter top, and large window, providing it was ordered weeks ago (no faith in the guy that was suppose to order it and it was a mystery to the one guy at the lumber yard the other day when checked on), all should be here sometime this week.  

The stucco guys were here yesterday and put some of the chicken wire on the outside so that should be underway tomorrow as well.

 Of course all is not well as the a/c is leaking on the floor in the furnace room. That took a few phone calls to convince the installer that we knew what the heck we were complaining about.  Always have to have some wrinkle in the plan.

  Picked up the barn door hangers the other day so we can start building the doors once the cabinets are out of the wood shop.

The project

The most exciting thing is that the new front door is now in, but it has clear glass in the top and the side lights instead of leaded glass.   Hopefully the correct glass has been ordered and hopefully it will take less than 2 months to get here.   Doubtful though, as it took that long for the door to get here to begin with and it really isn't anything that special.  I sure hope the guy at the hardware store can handle it and doesn't think it is more than we should be spending to replace the glass though, if he does he might cancel the order.  Love it when others know how we should be spending our money.  Great thing about living in a small town!!!!!

  

They did come and insulate the walls with the spray-on insulation the other day and now they are putting the batts in the ceiling.  The guys who will hang the sheet rock are scheduled to be here tomorrow and the new office window will be put in and the closet rebuilt on one end and maybe we can start putting our office back together. I live in hope!!!!  

The garden is starting to produce, I put up 7 qts. of dills yesterday, 6 pts. of tomatoes a couple of weeks ago and working on some salsa today.   The green beans have been delicious and we have been enjoying cabbage.  There are some that think they want to become kraut already so that is on the agenda tomorrow.

  

I also need to make the tissue holders for Guild.  They are to be favors for those attending the Quilt Show in Oct.  Have them cut out and ready to go.  Another project for tomorrow.  

Update on Studio

We received approval from the electrical inspector  to "close it up"!!!    That is a new term, which I have learned a few of on this project, new terms and new sayings that is.   Some more interesting than others.  We can now move forward.

The spray foam insulation guys are here this morning.  We are having the walls sprayed and the crawl space sprayed.   Hopefully it will  seal it up and stop the dirt and dust from penetrating the structure, as best one can prevent that from happening out here.
 
The guy who will bring the gas line to the outside of the building stopped by to see where he needed to bring it in and the carpenters are working on the soffit.  That is one time consuming and tedious job.

Everything is ordered and on its way, the vinyl, bricks, tile.  Hopefully the front door makes an appearance on Wednesday.  That will be the next big addition and then the sheet rocking might begin on Thurs. or the following Monday, along with the stucco on the outside.  So things will change quickly in the studio and I am ready for that next step!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I will have some new photos once my computer is set up and running again.  I need to work on perfecting my skills of getting photos from other areas and to the iPad.

End of July

Front entry, roof shingled

 Thought I should do a little bit of catch up and post one last post before this month was over.  

  They have been busy this past month and waiting on different things throughout the month and we are still waiting for a front door. There should be a before and after photo today with the front door in the area of the place where the two wraps meet, but it is missing.

  We are waiting for an electrical inspection.  Probably the less said about that, the better.  And when that is complete, we will be ready for the insulation in the walls and the ceiling.  So everything is at a stand still until he shows up and puts his stamp of approval on everything.  

  The windows were put in about 10 days ago.  We have had some very large trucks in the yard during this project. I have seen some pretty good drivers as they maneuvered their rigs around in a small area.  

The "WALL" is down

 The "WALL" was officially taken down today and a beam was put in place to span that area.  When I saw the date of production on it, I thought it was a good omen as that is Jennifer's birthday.  It has always been a good day in my book.
And it is a very happy day and long awaited to see that wall out of there.

 I already mentioned that the front door didn't make an appearance today, hopefully next week on that.  

Dyeing room door

On the right was the view of the front door this morning, it is no longer there.  We put it in a little over 5 years and it is in good condition so we thought might as well use it for the dyeing room door.  Which everyone refers to as the "kitchen" when talking about that room.  I do brew some things up when dyeing, so I guess that will be okay for now.  The door was re-located to the dyeing room and will now be the door I go out when I want to hang things on the line or dye something outside.  And that was another thing that made my day today!! I finally have a door in the dyeing room.  

And last, but not least, the garlic has been curing over the last few weeks.  Once again I missed out digging it when I should have, so that will be something to improve upon next year.  I thought I had read one thing, but that was not correct.  I am slowly learning about this stuff.  I need to take notes on which ones I will not raise again.  I wanted to taste each after they had cured.  

  We did have a couple of ears of sweet corn for supper last night.  Hopefully we can eat it faster than the coyotes as it matures.  They are tearing the stalks over, ripping ears off, etc.  

Things going in the Studio

Catching Up

Thought it might be time to post again as there have been a few changes to the studio since last time, the garden is producing produce and we have most of the wheat cut.  

The wheat is less than fantastic this year, remarkable we had any to cut at all given the weather conditions it has suffered through. It has shown its resilience and toughness between the drought and the late freeze that killed some of it. 

The garden has finally managed to get ahead of the bugs, for the moment.  This photo was taken a week ago and things have really grown since.  I have enough tomatoes to can a pint or two, thought I might as well get started on that project. Picked the first green beans the other day, always a treat, the first batch.  I am sure they need picked again today.  

The cabbages are growing by leaps and bounds and have formed some very nice heads.  I am hoping the Stoneheads and the Caraflex produce some good sauerkraut later this summer.  I would say fall, but I have put up some of the best kraut in August.  I believe I am currently winning the battle with the aphids, but one never knows when those blasted little things can explode to uncontrollable levels.  

The progress seems slow when we are building something. Looking back on photos helps realize that progress is being made.  

This area is where the storage area will be eventually be built.  The open area is where the long arm will be located, the hallway between the old and new is in this area along with the furnace room, bathroom, and new bedroom.  

 The hallway wall has been put in place, along with the closet in the bedroom.  The window is our current office and that will be turned into the hallway, hopefully very soon.  The electricians were here and have most of the wiring done, the plumber was here the day before and has everything done that he can do for the time being.  

One of the big concerns we have had is lighting.  We have recessed lights in the ceiling and there will be track lighting on the beams above each work area.  I am a fan of track lighting in that it gets light where I need it when working on projects. Might not be aesthetically pleasing to some, but it is the best solution for my needs.  I have used Ott lights placed in track lighting above my long arm since I purchased it 14 years ago.

The track will hang on the bottom side of the beam/truss.  I think the type we chose will work well.  I didn't want the regular looking truss and found this online the other day, just in the neck of time as Dan was ready to build them.  They are difficult to see right now, but will show up better after they are wrapped with wood.   This photo also shows the storage area wall. It has a lot more work to be done on it.  More on that as it progresses.  The last photo is pretty boring to most, but I can't wait until the washer is hooked up.  That means I will be able to dye fabric again.  The A/C went the trip over at the old studio and I had to move all of the dyes out of there and store them in another location.  And I think I have mentioned that the water heater is less than safe and doesn't work part of the time.  I am ready to dye fabric again and looking forward to the washer sitting in front of the drain and hook up!!!