Joy and Doug's Hood Court House Web Log

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January 2005
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Sunday, April 3, 2005

Tom, the plumber, returned almost a month to the day to talk to us about plumbing fixture and pipe placement and to install vents up through the roof in advance of the roofers coming this week. Joy and I discussed light, switch and plug placement to get her prepared for a meeting with the electrician Monday. We're also expecting to see the cabinet guy, heating guy, possibly roofers, and Ron and the boys. I can see it now. Joy will be pinballing from one guy to the next to answer questions. I want to be there also, but someone has to open the store. We'll see if my prediction for a very busy Monday becomes reality.

Monday, April 4, 2005

Well, a lot of what I predicted came to pass. Joy met with Cory the electrician and went over as many things having to do with lights and switches as she could stand. He agreed with a lot of what

we had envisioned and offered some practical alternatives where needed. She missed Jim the heating/air conditioning guy who came later

and cut a few larger holes in designated areas. Matt, our cabinet man, was too busy to show. The roofers arrived and got a good portion

of the roof installed. Kevin and Rich framed in the great-room hearth, put on garage door trim wood, built curbs for the showers on which shower doors or glass would rest, and generally busied themselves with little finish details. We're so glad the roof got started today because the house is quite wet inside, especially the concrete basement with an inch or two of standing water in places needing to be squeegeed out.

Tuesday, April 5, 2005

This will be the last entry for a week or so. Joy and I are going on a vacation that has been in the works for 18 months. We bought products through one of our floorcovering distributors and earned points for St. Thomas. Funny how these things fall. We're in the midst of a very busy time with the business and with the house and we would like to be around here for all that. We expect plumbing, furnace work and maybe a little electrical stuff to be happening while we're thinking about it all on a beach somewhere. Well, everyone says to enjoy ourselves, so we're going to make every effort. Shouldn't be too difficult. See you in a week. And here are a few pictures from the trip.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

After a nice getaway it's back to reality. Jim, our heating man, and his guys were busy installing ductwork. I had just come from the gas fireplace company and had two units and their associated

parts packed in my van. Jim helped me unload the boxes and he intended to get them stuck in their holes on the main level and downstairs before the day was out. Ron and the boys had been busy constructing the downstairs hearth for Jim to set that fireplace and found time to set all the windows, which looked fantastic. We went with a slightly beige or almond vinyl instead of the stark white.

Joy had come up earlier in the day and tried opening and closing every one of the windows. Funny how the thought to do that never crossed my mind. Tom had done some good work with the plumbing while we were gone getting most everything but the kitchen and a few other areas stubbed out to a pre-sheetrock stage.

Friday, April 15, 2005
Back on the 24th of March, Joy went in for a mammogram and got a phone call from the doctor on April 5th that they needed to see her again. This morning she had the test done again with much more precision and they found a half-inch mass or lump that the doctors are calling cancerous. She is scheduled to have a biopsy next Friday and a lumpectomy on May 2nd. At this point we have a lot of emotions swirling through our brains, thinking the worst one moment, denying that much is going on the next. But it puts this once-in-a-lifetime home-building project into a new context for us. We'll keep you updated as things move along.

This evening we took the folks up to see the house for the first time since their return from California. They've been home nine days but promised to go up to see it with us for the first time. So we showed them around while Joy threw some tile samples on the master bath floor, talked about appliances, windows, decks,

the roof, etc. Matt, our cabinet builder, met Joy Thursday to talk about cabinet placement, especially in the kitchen. This helped her get a lot of perspective and will also help Tom the plumber know

where to set some critical connections. It's good for Jim, our heater man and Cory, the electrician won't be complaining either. In fact, we can't think of anyone opposed to cabinet layout lines. Jim continued with vent installation Thursday and took today off. He should be close to finishing all furnace related installation by the end of next week. Joy and I will take some time over the weekend to clean up inside and out. The debris piles are getting a little high.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Jim put more furnace and venting pieces together today.

On Tuesday morning I met with Matt, our cabinet man, to discuss cabinet layout for the downstairs media room. Over the weekend I had concluded that a problem existed with how the cabinets were going to meet up with the corner fireplace.

I had myself convinced that we'd framed the hearth at the wrong angle and should never have had Jim proceed

with the fireplace installation, and it was all going to have to be ripped out and started over. But Matt allayed my fears and drew guide lines on the concrete to bring me to my senses. This evening Joy and I made new discoveries while walking around.

We were never sure that the mountain was visible from the master bathtub

until the mountain peaked out from behind the clouds tonight. We had never looked at the east side of the house from down the hill and were impressed with what a towering monstrosity it had become from that angle. Joy's already talking about sleeping out on the deck on hot summer nights amongst all the creatures. She'll need to install mosquito netting before she finds me out there with her.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

A little more furnace work. A little more plumbing. A little bit of worrying. A lot more dreaming. Drippy, misty clouds permeating the trees below look like a thousand little backyard brush fires smoldering on the Norman Rockwell hillside. Your attention goes to these when Mt. Hood chooses to go incognito.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

We're in a little bit of a lull mode as we wait for Jim to complete his very complicated heating and air conditioning work. Our choice to go with a non-standard insulation process is requiring that we bring more fresh air into the system which is causing Jim to reschool himself on the most efficient ways to put the whole thing together. Jim worked on our last house and we are confident that he is more than capable, but we need to continue to be patient. This is very typical of home-building. Hurry up and wait. Hurry some more and wait some more. Every contractor needs their time and shouldn't be artificially rushed into finishing (within reason). Check back with us a few months from now and see if we still believe that philosophy.

Thursday, April 28, 2005
This morning Joy received lab results confirming she does have a "category one" cancer. If there was a cancer to have, this is the one because it is the least aggressive form. She will be going in to meet the surgeon Monday to talk about surgery in two to three weeks. We're almost feeling elated over these results.

Continue on to May