Ignition

Initial test fire in the pellet stove.

Stoves and stuff

Living room wood-burning stove mid-installation. To mimic the family room hearth, cultured stone will cover  the wall behind the stove up to the ceiling.

Family room stove mid-installation.

New front doors before they are installed.

Sunrises

Had to make an unscheduled return to the new hut this morning to fetch a forgotten piece of jewelry, so I decided to click a few pics.

Sunrise lighting the trees to the north, behind the house.

A strange mushroom decided to pop up in the backyard.

Multi-fuel burning stove for the family room.

The stove has a 50-pound hopper in back for holding wood pellets, cherry pits or corn, which feds the burn-bin in front.

EPA spec sheet on the multi-fuel stove.

The smaller wood-burning stove for the living room

EPA spec sheet on the wood-burning stove.

Our contractor found the missing kitchen cabinets! 

They are part of the "Merlot" line that's available at Lowes.

Smokin'

Well, not officially. The wood-burning and multi-fuel stoves arrived today, but are not yet installed. Next major delivery is the kitchen appliances, which I'm greatly anticipating.

Other progress includes:

• Oak wood selected to be installed for the main and rear stairways (to match the living room's oak floors).
• Missing kitchen cabinets purchased and ready for installation.
• Heat pad to be installed under tiled family room floor (heaven for this barefooted homebody).
• Receiver/amplifier for the entertainment system arrived today (the speakers are on the way).
• Ordered the curtains for the master bedroom, because James loathes the morning sun when he's sleeping in.
• Mostly of the walls have the first and second coats of paint.
• Shower heads and faucets have been purchased.
• With timed, recirculating water system, hot water is currently reaching the kitchen in less than 2 minutes, instead of more than 5 minutes.
• Speaking of water, a pump is being added to increase the line pressure.

Next major bites out of the budget include the cork flooring for upstairs and the master bedroom, and the replacement windows (there are more than thirty). Also, the tub for the master bath, and my creaking old bones are in need of some therapy.

Tumbling along

LG clothes dryer finally arrived--the first of the appliances.

The dryer's home in the utility room

First of the major appliances has arrived! Next weighty order slated to arrive is the wood-burning stoves for the living and family rooms.

Falling colors

Toning down the "school bus" orange to a more mellow wildflower honey color. You can faintly see honey transition to orange between the loft landing and the entryway.

Repainting the loft.

Better lighting on the wildflower honey.

Master bedroom is finally getting its coat of ginkgo green.

Another angle on the master bedroom. Door on the left is to the master bath, to the right to enter the  hallway connecting the family room and entryway.

View from the master bedroom, which includes the front door and living room.

At last! The huge dead tree looming over the house is down! It was cut in three long sections to ensure the house was safe.

The base if the tree was still mostly good, but was termite eaten with the core consumed already.

View from the top of where the tree crashed down.

A victory snap from atop the tree trunk. There was a beautiful sunrise, but it was lost on my iPhone camera and the morning haze in the valley.

Up, down, black, light

Orange paint is up. Now to tone it down. I was going for sunrise, I got school bus.

Work on a critical element, the septic system, is concluding at last. From day 1, we puzzled over the tank's location. Now access tunnels ensure the lids might be reached so the tank can be flushed.

According to the septic system subcontractor, we are the proud owners of a quality concrete tank with a 2,500 gallon capacity. It will need to be revisited and flushed every 5 years.

Attempts to get electricity connect from PG&E is slow going. Our address is not in their database. They admit the number on the SmartMeter matches, but don't know why... So they will take 2 to 3 days to send a person out to the house to verify it's there.

Lastly, received the replacement glass cover for the stairwell light. However, it also was broken, and was the incorrect part. Someone mistakenly picked OVA EWW 31 off the shelf and shipped it, instead of JES EWW 31.