Granite Countertops

I have talked about counter tops for months. You are so sick to death of me talking about counter tops you could scream.

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!

Well, we finally made a decision and a purchase. An actual purchase. Granite. I know I know, that is where I started. Then I moved on to recycled glass. $19,000+ for what we needed. SHEESH it is bottles from the recycling for goodness sake. Then it was cement. I do so love that idea and the look but not on light cabinets. Then it was Okite, Quartz. Then back to Granite.

I went off island the other day to a granite yard in Anacortes. I was so excited to find granite that I loved and put a deposit down and so.....

Imperial Yellow Granite it is. These are our actual slabs. You can see that they are from the same piece of granite. I love the unusual vein running through it. The colors are perfect for our room and house so I am VERY happy!

YEAH! The kitchen is coming together. Now all that is left to do is TONS OF WORK!

Timber Part 3: The End Is Near

I am writing in front of the fire at the end of the night. The day was long for those two hard working chaps. I actually saw sun in the kitchen today after the trees came down on that side of the house. I couldn't be more pleased. They have taken down about 16+ trees and endless amounts of what seems to be called Sea Spray or Ocean Spray. It is this nasty brushy stuff. If you have allergies then you don't want to be near that stuff. It is terrible. Well, so much of it is gone and I am so happy. I am going to attempt a before and after shot of that area.

Please use the satellite dish as a place marker so you can see the differences between before and after. See the dish there next to the truck, just to the left of the truck actually.

See how all the dead snags were there in the first picture and there aren't any in the second picture. Do you also see how so much of the nasty brush is gone?

On a side note, look at what a fantastic day this is. The sun was bright and warm. It was almost 80 degrees out and perfectly still.

I AM DECLARING 9/24 NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL OR REGIONAL AT LEAST... TREE DOWNING DAY!

Timber Part 2: The Trees Come Down

This is the beginning of something beautiful. The trees have been coming down. I mean literally. I had no idea that it could happen this fast. They arrived around 7:30 this morning and by 8am five trees were down. They have come down so quickly and accurately and neatly. It is an interesting process to witness. The unbelievable part is the amount of sun that is now shining through. It is fantastic. I am so happy. It is sunny and bright. These are some of the logs from early this morning. I am excited that our neighbor, who is doing the excavating, negotiated a very fair price for the wood so we will be getting back a large chunk of what we spent in the first place. WAHOO!! Those cedars are making me happy today. Turns out these two men that are doing the work are working fast because they have already done so much more than I expected them to have gotten done. It is 2:30 in the afternoon and they have done all that I asked and then some minus the trees in the front of the house, because those have to be done at the end so as to not block the route out. We were even able to get rid of disgusting, deadish shrubbery and some snags that were an eyesore. This really is property changing. I can't wait until SuperMoto gets back into town so he can see the amazing results of our decision to have the land worked on a little bit.

Timber Part 1

So tomorrow is tree day.

I am thrilled at the idea that soon we will have more sunlight than we currently do. Don't get me wrong, in the spring and summer we have plenty of sunlight but in the fall and winter we have less.

These mothers are coming down one by one and letting my sun shine brightly through. I can't wait.

One of the great things though is that we are selling the wood to a man that makes cedar shingles and a man that mills cedar and makes cedar timbers for building.

I can't wait to watch the process and capture it as well. It should be interesting as all but one of these trees is right next to either the house or the garage.

Cedar isn't the best wood to burn so we are thrilled it is going to good use. It will make beautiful shingles and lumber.

Bummer we aren't ready to build the shop or we might use it ourselves. Oh well!

Of course these are the before pictures and soon you will see the after pictures.

San Juan Island's Own Fright Night

So I am here on the island alone now. SuperMoto had to go off to work. I am working here on painting and mowing and gunk.

The night before last I sat up much too late reading Eclipse. It is captivating for sure. Eerie too a tiny bit and I am in the Pacific Northwest and we do have forest surrounding us. See where I am going with this???

I went upstairs to get ready for bed. The light was on up there and it was pitch black outside. I was deep in thought and the next thing you know I could hear footsteps

in the gravel. Lots of them really. It sounded like the house was surrounded and I was going to be ambushed.

Of course, like all good horror movie heroines I yelled out the window, " is somebody there?" The footsteps didn't seem to stop and nobody ran away or anything so, I really started to freak out. My heart was pounding in my throat and I was practically choking down sobs as I threw off the light and stumbled downstairs looking for a flashlight.

I crept back upstairs and started to shine the light outside.

Do you know how hard it is to shine a flashlight through a window screen????? When I finally got the right position to see something all I could see is hundreds of sets of eyes, millions even, well eight to ten at least. It was deer. I think. I mean I was so out of my mind with fear that at that moment I wasn't rational about it.

Quickly I grabbed the phone and dialed SuperMoto on the east coast. I woke him of course as it was like three in the morning there. He was kind to me and gave me some pointers and tips as to how to deal with this in the future but assured me that it was probably deer.

Pointer 1. Park Jeep backwards and have keys upstairs with me so that if I hear it again I cam use the key clicker thingy and turn on the headlights thereby lighting up the entire front yard and exposing those evil deer.

Pointer 2. Use flashlight through the glass side only not the screen.

Pointer 3. Place Jeep in a position that is not blocking the motion sensor light in the future.

All valid points. The plan is in place.

It is me against the deer.

Wonder where our super protective watchdog was during this episode???

Sprawled out sleeping on the bed, happy and cozy and content. AARG!

A Flight A Day That's All You Need

First let me just say that we are here and working. I know that is when I should blog the most but we are tired and sore so please give us a break.

We started out Tuesday with this. We punched some little holes in the staircase sheet rock to determine if the project was a go and it was. As you can see we had been painting colors on the walls testing them out. Punching holes was quite satisfying. I hadn't expected that to be the case so was pleasantly surprised. SuperMoto and I got silly and took some candid shots.

Here he is looking through a hole I had punched out of the wall.

Did you know that going up and down a flight of stairs constantly for 10 hours can make you tired? I know, sounds like something that should be obvious but frankly, I don't think either of us really thought about it that much. Between cramps in his legs and hacking on the dust we are so tired.

The first day was fun and we ended the day with a bunch of holes all along the staircase. We felt like we had accomplished something and could see some progress.

The second day we really went to town. No more the innocence of Tuesday, a little hammer and some wack wack here and there. We got out the saw, and started to really go to town. The aggressions of the day before gave way to the strong desire to be done and we trudged forward, putting behind us the tired, the weary the longing to be free.

The end result... A shell of a staircase just waiting to be completed.

We are tired and wearily but eager to continue.

Bitter, Angry Raving Alert! BEWARE SHE MIGHT BITE...

I am so bitter this fine Thursday morning I could just crawl back under the covers.Turns out uhaul messed up our reservation and as of last night at 6pm we didn't have a trailer. Now, that would be fine if we hadn't bought the largest ice chest on the planet and then bought about 50lbs. of chicken and turkey and beef to freeze and haul up as well as if I hadn't spent the last week haulin' ass to pack.

I was so mad. I finally had to say to the csr on the telephone, " I am sorry, I am confused as to why you are getting a tude with me when uhaul messed up my reservation and I am now being told there isn't a trailer for me. I am trying to speak to you as calmly and rationally as possible under a very stressful situation and you are upset with me??????" To my amazement she actually responded with, "What makes you think I am getting attitude with you?"

HMMMM Let me see, your TONE, your UNWILLINGNESS to solve the problem, your ACCUSATION of us making a mistake reserving.

Ok, we could have made the mistake for sure but we didn't. We went to the local location, measured trailers that we could tow behind our Jeep that wouldn't throw us over the ferry height and length restrictions and then we reserved there with the woman. She confirmed the price and everything in writing and gave us a confirmation number. Sooooo... then, how did it turn into a 20 foot truck and a 5x8 trailer being picked up at two different locations in two different cities on the same day???? Your guess is as good as mine is.

We are supposed to be picking up what we need at a distant location now, but we are on our way in a few minutes so we shall see. We shall see.

What has happened to the customer service that we receive? Not once did I receive an apology, any words of regret for my inconvenience. It was terrible.

I GIVE UP.

I am sure on the island there is PERFECT customer service.

I am sure on the island everyone is remorseful when there is an error.

I am sure on the island I would be carried on a cleopatra style chase lounge to the trailer with palm leaves fanning and loincloth wearing men.

Ok, so I could be idealizing a bit but I like the image.