Time to Find a Plumber

Earlier this evening I ran the water in the sink in the upstairs bathroom and by the time the water was warm, the sink had nearly filled up. Then, when I went downstairs a while later, I heard a dripping noise. I thought it was water dripping into the fireplace from the chimney because it was raining outside, but it wasn't. It was water dripping in from the ceiling below the upstairs bathroom. I guess we need to deal with this bathroom before the remodel. Sigh.

And with the rain, we've now confirmed the roof over the driveway is leaking. So we also need to deal with that roof problem. It may already be too late to bother because who knows how many years it has been leaking. That wood may very well be so rotted it will have to be replaced. More fun.

On the remodel front, Jeff and I went shopping yesterday evening and he picked out his stove; a BlueStar RNB. So now we have chosen the major kitchen appliances. We're not sure if we'll get the oven in black or this bottle green. They actually offer 190 different colors; it will be tempting to see if we can match it to our backsplash tile or mosaic. We're also going with the Miele Diamante fully integrated dishwasher and the Subzero fully integrated refrigerator. (Fully integrated means we'll be able to add a wood panel to the front of both appliances).

Even though it's going to be a while before demo starts, the remodel is starting to feel real.

Leaves!

Our tree-lined street is so pretty right now. Too bad I didn't take a picture about a week ago — before we had two days of steady wind that brought a lot of the leaves down.

This afternoon we finally had an opportunity to go out and clean up the front yard. Since it was so was nice out, we also grabbed the leaves from in front of a couple of our neighbors' houses; they make great mulch.

The chickens also had fun rooting around in the pile.

Buffy and Anya have been great layers this week. Now that we've got their hiding spot figured out, we're gathering the eggs before they get damaged or dirty.

Remodel Planning

We had a good long appointment with our remodeling firm this afternoon where we reviewed their very preliminary design ideas. I think they were surprised we had so many ideas (including some floor plan drawings on graph paper) for what we thought we wanted.

They had some good ideas, but many of them will be changing to simplify the designs. We are going to be having a constant battle with the budget. I'd love to show pictures, but we don't own their designs.

I am showing a photo of the front elevation, because it's just a line drawing of the front of the house. It's so cool!

Now that we have a mostly-accurate floor plan, I'm doodling some design ideas. I'm hoping we can come up with an almost-final design by the end of the quarter, because then we can start the project planning and shopping phase during the Christmas break.

Eggs!

Jeff found the chickens' egg stash today and we've now realized they are all laying! They've been hiding their eggs on our back deck (out of the rain). The built-in china cabinet in the dining room has a small bump-out that overhangs the deck and the chickens have apparently taken to hiding under there.

Fall Has Arrived!

We've had bucketloads of rain this week and the temperature has definitely cooled. Luckily, we had a break in the weather long enough for Jeff to get his cover crop seeds in.




A couple of days ago we jury-rigged a plastic cover over the chicken house, because the wood was absorbing too much of the rain and we didn't want our chickens to get sick from all the moisture. It ain't pretty, but it will do for now. We're exploring options for something more permanent for the winter. Maybe a new not-movable coop, or maybe something like a portable "garage roof."

With the change in weather, our resident trees have started shedding. The yard was thoroughly covered in leaves, so yesterday we finally managed to make it to the store to buy a leaf rake. We spent a while yesterday afternoon cleaning up the front yard and street. Jeff hauled the leaves into the backyard because they'll make great compost.

We've learned this house is really not insulated! I wonder how earlier residents took the cold. We finally turned on the furnace yesterday when we realized it was 55°F inside the house. Though, it's not really working very well; as I type this in the parlor area, I can see my breath when I exhale heavily. It hardly makes much sense to turn the heat up if the heat is simply going to pour out of all the uninsulated spaces and windows. We're going to spend a very bundled-up winter!

We've taken to sleeping in the basement again, because at 63°F, it's the warmest space in the house. Though, with the furnace on, one of the noisiest; we may need to just abandon running the furnace at night. It will be really nice once we finish insulating and replace the furnace with something more efficient, and hopefully quieter. =)

Jeff and I are trying a new routine where we spend 5PM to 9PM working on school. It has reduced our Netflix watching and has helped us be more proactive about getting the schoolwork done. We've also started doing our shopping errands on Tuesdays. This week we acquired food stuffs and lawn tools. Hopefully next week we'll make it appliance shopping. I hope these habits stick at least through the rest of the quarter.

Backyard Planting Bed

Inspired by his organic gardening class, Jeff decided to try and get a fall planting put in before the rains start in earnest. He has spent many hours this week double digging and adding amendments to this bed. It's still a bit of a mess, because he's not finished, but he's made good progress since last Sunday.
After class today, he dropped in at Naomi's Farm Supply and picked up vetch, crimson clover & rye seeds for a cover crop. I'm sure he'll add more details at his blog, when he has time to write up a post.

Anya has been quite the layer this week! She finally settled on a spot in the yard to lay her eggs, and it's making collection much easier. Though, today I felt bad about taking them because she was following me around acting very concerned I might disturb her nest. I think she has given us 5 eggs this week. This is the last three (we ate the first two).
















It would be real nice if we could convince the chickens to lay the eggs in the nesting box, but they've decided it is their sleeping space and we haven't been able to talk them out of it. In fact, it was funny the other day, because the roof of the nesting box kept opening partially, and we opened it to see all three chickens trying to squeeze into one side. When they were younger, they all slept together and now they've gotten too big.

Unplanned Shopping Day

I decided to drive out to NW Portland and drop in at BASCO, a builder's appliance supply highly recommended by our contractor, to look at medium to high-end appliances for our remodel. I really needed to figure out what dishwasher to pick before the sale at Lowe's ended on Monday. And, unfortunately, BASCO has lousy weekday only hours, so it had to be today.

I worked with Derek and he was awesome—he's worked at BASCO for 12 years and is very knowledgable about the different brands and their expected lifespans. I walked in there really quite set on the Bosch, but I think he managed to talk me into the Miele.

Derek told me Bosch used to be a great brand—one of their best sellers—but in recent years their quality has really declined (with no decline in price). Also, Bosch had a huge recall last year because their control panels were sparking and they're now manufacturing motors with plastic parts in them.

So, with the hope we're going to get a good long life out of this appliance, I believe we're going to order the Miele Inspira. Unfortunately, though, we're going to have to come up with some sort of wood panel to temporarily use on the face of this dishwasher—he said a sheet of ¾" plywood would work. Oh well, I guess we'll have to do that. =)

Since, I was out and about, I dropped in for another errand I've been meaning to do: Buy Shasta boots! I also found her a "jacket" and I picked that up as well. (They also had a "knight" halloween costume that was very tempting, but it was very expensive and just a little too small. I managed to resist!)Shasta is not crazy about the boots, but I'm sure she'll eventually get used to them. We're really trying to find a solution for her muddy feet problem. Our hope is these will stay on in the mud and then we can just pop them off her feet when she comes in. I guess we'll just have to see once we get mud—it's been too dry this week to test them out.