On the Farm

This morning, dusted with snow that fell overnight. Yes, we have a brand new roof. And it is good. Over the past two years, we've been slowly making upgrades to the house on the farm. I had to search for a few photos of the front of the house as "before images", so you'll have to suffer through photos of "the house as a background"...

Fall 2007
The old roof with moss...and giant overgrown bushes in front of the house. There were a number of overgrown bushes down the deck as well, making the inside of the house very dark. I absolutely love the giant covered porch around two sides of the house, but between the porch and the bushes, there was no hope for light inside. And this is Jonathan on the phone, annoyed that I'm taking a photo of him.



That same day -- a close up view (featuring Viper). The front window was a long, skinny window at eye level...which didn't allow any light in. We had a similar small window in the kitchen that left the kitchen dark.

We replaced all the windows in the house, as well as the sliding doors with Milgard's french sliders. The front window box was doubled in size - making it identical to the large picture window facing out over the tree fields. We also doubled the window size in the kitchen and removed a set of cabinets to make room. The house is much more airtight, and heat stays in (yea!).

All the overgrown bushes were pulled from along the deck and in front of the house.

The french sliding doors -- there's one set in the living room and one in the master bedroom...you can see the reflection of the tree fields in the windows.

The morning that I was scheduled to check into the hospital last month, I woke up at 4 am to head into the office for my last day before Thomas's arrival. I walked into the garage to feed the dogs to find water cascading down the chimney and into the garage. Thurston County was in the midst of torrential downpours and massive flooding...and we were not escaping it. Jonathan's call to the Roof Doctor? "We are starting to flood in the house, my wife's nine months pregnant, and she's going to have the baby tonight. How soon can you be here?"

The Roof Doctor was fantastic. They were to the house shortly thereafter, tarping up the chimney (where the leaks were originating) and assessing the damage. We were six years past the guaranteed life of the roof...so it was time . The roof needed to be replaced, but after the baby was born.

On Sunday, we made the arrangements for the roof to be replaced...since it was absolutely beautiful out. We hoped to get the roof replaced before the next storms came in. Yesterday morning, six trucks came down the driveway and started work. Viper thought the world was coming to an end, Maggie made 30 new friends, and Thomas slept through the whole thing.

About halfway through, the blue skies and sunshine had disappeared, and it was snowing. Giant big flakes. Thankfully, the weatherproofing had already been laid...and they were almost done. They were just sealing off the chimney and starting cleanup.


And lest the doggies continue to feel slighted by new baby for internet airtime, here they are playing in the snow this morning.


On tap for this spring and summer (hopefully)...

• Finding the mole that's redesigning our front yard, and feeding him to Maggie
• Tilling the grass around the house and reseeding
• Adding room for the Eglu for the chickens to come along the back side of the house