Fun with Esme...

Having fun with Esme. Her new bouncer harness hangs off the beams so that we can move her around from living room to dining room to kitchen. Her 'high chair' simply clamps onto the edge of a table or, in this case, our kitchen island. The great thing is how portable it is. Great for dining out.

wood stove...

Photo showing a trial run of the wood burning stove.

Unfortunately, that beam is right where the stove pipe needed to go - necessitating the use of various stove pipe elbows and double wall insulated stove pipes, to thread things up between the beam and the wall.

Porch decking

After some deliberation we opted for the simplicity of a western red cedar deck. Nothing fancy here, just 2x6s running across the joists. The deck rim joists were clad in the same metal we used on the roof, facia and the gutters, before we backfilled.

japanese pagoda trees

All the excavated dirt has finally been backfilled around the house. New trees include a crepe myrtle, a Chinese Pistache, and two larger Japanese pagoda trees. Eventually they should provide a nice dappled shade around the entry.

The addition of Esmé has shifted priorities from house construction. However, lately some small progress has been made. Modest ceiling fans have been purchased and installed. And, thanks go to Bob and Grandpa for pitching in and installing pantry shelving. It is difficult to overstate how much this helped has us out.

messy courtyard

Grading work commences in the courtyard. Decomposed granite dug from our pond fills the arcade. We'll tamp the hell out of it before adding sand and laying down bricks.

All these poor plants get moved from A to B to C...Currently we're staging them inside the courtyard until grading around the perimeter of the house.

clerestory windows

Clerestory windows open and close, letting warm air escape at the end of the day and pulling in cool air through windows lower to the ground.