Birthday digger day!

My birthday gift to Eliot was "digger driver for a day." What I didn't think about when I gave that gift was that it means Dad is "shovel driver for a day."

It took Eliot a while to work out where the various controls were. After a near mishap, we asked our neighbor Russ for some tips, and he got Eliot off to a good start.

By the afternoon, Eliot was driving the tractor so close to the house that his hand wouldn't fit between tire and siding. I think he was showing off.

Christina came up with the other kids and some sandwiches.

There was one trillium left, and it had turned a gorgeous purple. Siobhan collected it.

Guinivere dabbed primer on nail heads.

Siggy carted around cinder blocks!

Unfortunately, the intended painting project never worked out because the only side of the house ready to paint was in full sun and the surface was super hot.

But we did get the foundation holes backfilled with the digger, and Eliot filled an old perc test hole, and we got trim onto two sides of the house. And a couple pretty solid sunburns.

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Appliances and mirrors

In pursuit of being ready for final, I came up and installed the fridge and dishwasher with Jeff. We hung mirrors in the bathrooms.

It is DONE!

The final inspection was today. This guy is Levi, the county inspector, and as you can see, we passed! He only had two questions for me. One was about the energy efficiency credits and the blower door test, for which I had the compensating paperwork for the low-flow faucets already prepared. The second was asking for a smoke detector outside the bedroom; I pointed up and he saw that we already had one tucked into the alcove. And that was that! I got up at 5am to be certain I'd be here before the inspector, and I was ... by about five hours. In that time, I took another truckload of tool buckets down to the storage container, then picked up all the floor protection in the great room and vacuumed and mopped. It's glowing! Then I went back down to the storage container to get a hammer so I could glue in 32 wood plugs to cover the screws for the french doors. I fought with installing the screens, but the frames are too big! The manufacturer said "yeah we don't even make th...

First tile

Saturday Tile! Christina got some tile installed this weekend! Jon was racing ahead trying to get backer board down. I had to finish a couple pieces in the main bathroom before anything could be done. Then I got the laundry room filled in. Hector and his son Robert came over from Yakima to provide initial tile instruction. The first step was to get all the tile for the floor laid out and edges cut. Jon had purchased most of the rest of the Ipe deck surface boards in Seattle this week and hauled them up on the trailer. Each 18 foot board weights fifty pounds! Siobhan helped me unload them and stack them under the eaves. Sunday We came back for another morning of work. Christina got almost done thinsetting the first bathroom floor. Jon finished tuning up the subfloor in the upstairs bathroom and getting the backer rock board installed. Siggy and Jon took another little bite out of the deck, cutting the first five joists.

Howell Cabin

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