The writing was upon the stall

The Panic Room is also the guest bathroom. Have I mentioned that several times already? I don't have time to review my previous posts tonight. I got cinder blocked and mortared up on Friday. First they drilled holes into the foundation, which had been reinforced with footings all around this specific room (visible in already posted pre-foundation pictures). They sledgehammered rebar into these holes. The holes must've been smaller diameter than the rebar, 'cos they were wedged in really tight. The bricklayers then placed the bricks. Next, they're going to put more rebar vertically into the blocks and pour cement into the holes. After that, they'll have a cement reinforced roof made for this bathroom. Everybody says they want to hide in this room for our bad weather, but I have my doubts as to how many hardened Wichitans will actually show up. I mean, it's been 27 years since the tornado now. Everyone's a tornado warning faineant, right?






I discovered that Randy W is building my flooplan in another neighborhood, and it's a bit further along. For those who have a need to see an elevation, here's a rough look. This should quiet your fears that I've agreed to some Frank Lloyd Wrightish monstrosity. I think it's going to look just fine. The two sets of front windows are slightly different, but they are still sets of three:


Thank goodness the roof's not as high as Jorin's maligned "umbrella roof house." You couldn't tell from the front, but it was a two-story house. I think mine will probably be referred to as a "closet house."


From the Stone Lake side, where the garage is. There should be one more window on mine. I asked for two windows in bedroom three instead of one. I'm glad there's a random gable:


Three crazies modeling the "Put Your Head Between Your Legs and Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" pose. Carson might be limber enough to pull it off. She's going to be featured as one of the top dancers at her recital!


I'm attending a session Monday through Friday, so it's doubtful there will be an update until the end of the week. There certainly won't be any pictures posted. But, I've got Tina taking pictures and Ron monitoring quality control while I'm gone. I think I'm in very good hands.

current music: Talking Heads: And She Was

And after all, you're my wonderwall

Not much happened today on the homefront. I talked to Randy W. He said he'd been out to the lot to flag something or other. Who knows what he was talking about. At some point, you just have to trust the person you've hired to do their job. (Since Randy G. doesn't live here!) But it had to do with the Panic Room, and on that *#&@^ lot on top of that hill it was too *#&@^ windy. So I got a pile of bricks. Someone had also drawn a very straight line on the foundation at what should be the wall between the Panic Room and the study. That didn't merit a picture.


The city must've been out in the last few days, too. I have a water meter:


The next thing I was told to do is check out stains for cabinetry. That sounds like a daunting task to me. I'm also to consider what kind of front door I want. That's almost picked out. I reserve the right to look at a couple more catalogs when they come in, but there's one I like a lot already. I'm pleased that this decision seemed easy. I think that it's going to be easy picking out the kitchen appliances as well. Tina is going to go with me on Saturday morning to look at the different brands, but I've quickly snooted my way to a preliminary choice. Is this an area to splurge some saved cash? I'll let you know this weekend.

I guess I might answer some questions here. And the joke above is that Randy W is a cusser. We know that leaving out the verb in Hebrew intensifies or emphasizes the statement. Why the hell leave out a verb when you can add a few god damn words? It makes more sense. I love English.

Brian: No thanks on taking Gunner. You should have named him "Amaretto," 'cos he thinks he's some kind of fancy licker. There's no carpet planned for the house, but I'm sure my wonderful friends will find an area rug to ruin, post-haste.

Necia: Who knows if I'll make scary faces at the kids. That kind of spontaneous fun just can't be planned in advance. And on Saturday, I'll personally show you where the hoose is.

Concrete floor likers: Yeah, I should have consulted you instead of having the Tina/Linda gang-up while Ron just sat there and laughed. But, it's probably a trend. Tile and wood are cool. You still can't convince me that a visible crack in the foundation is any worse than the crack in tile grout that the same will cause. But tile and wood are cool. Really, they're cool.

Jorin: I link to MSN music because I wasn't convinced that people without iTunes could open those types of links to listen. I'm flattering myself into thinking that people click on my hyperlinks.

Randy: I hope that the land across the street remains undeveloped. It's residential. Hopefully no one will buy out the residents. One of them's Bobby Brown. It's his prerogative to stay.

Fence watchers: I haven't decided on the fence yet, except that it's going to have a concrete footing. Yeah, fences are purty and all, but let me see how bad I've broken the bank by the time I get to that point in the decision making. I've lived for at least 10 years without any window treaments on my fishbowl windowed living room. I may not even get a fence. Just a footer for it. The Ricky Show may go on for years...Rickylicious!

current music: Concrete Blonde: Tomorrow, Wendy

Bittersweet Me

I haven't felt like making a post for several days. Thankfully, the people working on my house haven't been as unproductive. The highlights since, roughly, around the time I was fretting over nuances of red brick:

They finished roughing in the plumbing...


I got a SOLD sign! Here modeled by Lou...


They dumped lotsa dirt...


And Tina and I reminisced of childhood, when we would've been (and very much were) all over the dirt. Man, I remember me, R & R being totally caked in filth and having to take all our clothes off on the back porch, and Mom hosing us down. Laura joined in in a small way (not pictured). Then Tina forgot about reminiscing all together and transformed into parent mode, clucking at us to get off the piles...


They framed the outline of the foundation, and it was a pleasure to see the real form of the house. Check out the deep footings for the foundation!


Plenty deep and plenty of rebar. Randy W has told me several times that his houses will be here a hundred years, long after we're gone. I've bit my tongue through, clutching my pearls on that point. Alas, Babylon!


View from the garage, across the back porch, toward my bedroom. Almost ready for some Messicans...


This rig was there the morning of Friday the 14th. You could see it from Southwest Parkway!


I can't believe I let two people talk me out of cement flooring.






Later that day it was hard, but still hot from setting. Gee, Skillz and me...


I still think cement floors are nice. Look at that! Just get a polish on it. I like the industrial look. The consulting expert and me...


The whole slab, minus the garage...


Tuesday, standing in the front door...


The neighborhood's running down already. Have you ever noticed Sheri looks a lot like Kim Deal, but a lot hotter? *Here comes your man* Check out the purty trees across the street, all leafed up for Spring. That's the view I was talking about in my post on what I thought was nice about the land.


And a picture with the forms removed, today...


And the Friday that they poured the foundation, I let them take away my baby dog. I know it was the right decision at the right time, but it just totally sucks. I hate coming home to this house with him not here. Everyone that knows Angus knew he was the perfect pet for me "Did I find you, or you find me?" :O) He was sweet, soft, gentle, and so handsome. I'm glad I was graced out with his love through lots of very very hard times, and back again to +H happiness.

And I know this is really queer, but this is to him:
"Out of all those kinds of people, you got a face with a view. I'm just an animal looking for a home, and we share the same space for a minute or two. And you love me 'til my heart stops, love me 'til I'm dead. Eyes that light up, eyes look through you, cover up the blank spots, hit me on the head, aah ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh"

current music: Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

White lines

I had narrowed down the brick choice to numbers four, five, and six. Six was my first favorite. Four started creeping up as I drove around with my camera. Five a dark horse and late entry.

#6:


#4:


#5:


So I called today to initiate the search for brick. I'm told that sometimes it can take months for certain brick to be available. We don't know what six is yet, but Judy thought that I must really like four because five is exactly the same brick. So I got laughed at. But tell me, do four and five look alike??? They're probably all three the same. Now's when you marvel at how great my eyes are. Because they are. So any difference is in the mortar, and I like the mortar of four best. It's messy. I like it.

Now I get to go back and read your comments/opinions again. I don't think that many liked what I did, but I may be wrong.

current music: Sheryl Crow: If It Makes You Happy

Coyote Killing Guns For Hire

Roughly, and as the crow flies, I'm going to be living ~900 feet from the WF city limits, and I'd say a quarter of a mile from the Wichita County Line...just on the verge of nowhere. (That's a real leg slapper, isn't it?) Maybe these guys will offer their services with their varmint killin' vehicle. If they weren't parked in my kitchen, I might've offered to rustle up some victuals.

Do you think this is protection?


current music: Front 242: Headhunter v3.0 OK. The temptation was too great. What else could I listen to making this post?

Not too red, not too orange, not pink...

What's the way you pick out brick for your new house? You drive around, looking at new houses (preferably ones that your builder has builted) and decide what you like. I like red. By the way, you do the same process for trim and shingles, but I never remember to do it--I'm too obsessed with the brick. I've taken pictures of six or seven that I like, and here they are, in no particular order:
#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

#7:


I have my favorite. What do you think?

current music: B-52's: Quiche Lorraine

Songicism

Ezekiel doesn't have anything on Tina.

I defend the randomness of the music in my last several posts. Not that it would matter if I did pick post-related music. Actually, maybe it's a supercheesy funtastic idea. Yeah, when I started the blog, I did try to reference a song in the title of my posts, ex: "'No one can tell me that I'm doing wrong today,' 'Your bronze skin shining in the sun,' 'Break the bubble, break it up,'" etc., but my old mind can't be stretched far enough to do it for every post. Plus, Henrietta April attacked me for quoting Morrissey. I like my days silent and gray. A feather in your cap if you get the references! My musical geekiness applauds yours.

Here's the evidence from yesterday's pipe post: I was listening to the party shuffle at work, and for once, it was actually on a remarkable string of good music. And @ 3:27PM - Weezer!


Thanks for paying attention! It makes this fun. I can't wait to have everyone over to my new hoose. And today's music? This one's hand picked and referred to above. If you don't know this one, you really really need to. Super happy joy! :O)

current music: James Taylor: Your Smiling Face

Beginning to almost see some definition

These pictures were taken Monday evening. This one, looking north from the front of the house shows the third bedroom, your bathroom (whosoever may visit and need a bedroom), the second bedroom, then the ditch for plumbing to the utility room. Then comes the garage and the end of the house at the white pipe far off down thar.


This view is looking west from your bathroom with bedrooms two and three on either side. The ditch halfway down is the last bathroom (the entertainment bathroom) and just a bit further is my bathroom.


And here's a picture of Tina from last Friday. She's standing in my bathroom, obviously imagining, vividly, the pleasure of arising from a luxurient bath in which the hot water never stopped flowing. "Calgon, take me away!"


current music: Weezer: Hash Pipe

Back in bidness again

Now then, on Thursday during my lunch hour, Randy W. called and said we had a problem. He had been under the impression that we had to build 40 feet off Rathgeber and 25 off of Stone Lake. Instead, it was the other way--25 off Rathgeber and 40 off Stone Lake! That meant that my house was 13 feet too wide for the lot. I don't think that they thought about it when they made these limits for a house facing Rathgeber. Either that, or they wanted someone to build a hallway house, 'cos it was gonna need to be long and skinny. Randy called the prinicple owner and met with him Thursday after work. When he called me, things didn't look great for me keeping this lot. The owner's solution was for me to buy a wider lot in a less attractive spot, at half again the price. Sure!!! Why not? I thought I was going to have to write a post titled "It weren't! (to be mine). But, Randy met with more of the land owners and they must've realized that this lot wasn't meant for a house that far away from the street, because they let us bend the rule.

It was going to be a real drag searching for a new lot. It was really going to be a drag for Randy, I imagine, because that was one of the very first questions that I had for him at our first meeting. "Will this house fit on this lot?" I wasn't going to accept responsibility for this mistake, and I sure wasn't going to go back to the drawing board for a two-story bread box house to get the square footage I wanted!

And Friday afternoon!:


They had started to square up the area of the foundation:


And a man in a backhoe started leveling the land. Seeing something there besides the usual empty lot was a different feeling, and I loved it. Words escape me right now, so I'll let that be it.


current music: Seals & Crofts: Get Closer