The O-Zone

Tetris is geometry with moderate calculus. The point of Tetris is to assimilate the pieces into holes in the shape of the pieces themselves. Geometry is used to determine whether a shape can fit into a certain hole or not.

That is the official definition. But what Tetris REALLY is all about is rearranging furniture.

Our house is tiny compared to our previous two houses, and we hadn’t really tried to make things fit properly. When we moved in we just told the moving company to set things wherever they could find a bare spot, and we have been living with the results ever since.

So this last weekend we moved things around to see if we could open things up a bit.

First we removed a desk on the south wall and set it on the back porch. We moved a filing cabinet into the bedroom, and put the coat rack on the front porch. We’ll move the desk and coat rack into the storage shed whenever we get around to it. Then we moved the treadle sewing machine out of the living room entirely, sliding it under the kitchen counter-top overhang, giving us lots of space to move the remaining furniture.

We moved the entertainment center cabinet and TV from the corner where it set diagonally to be square on the wall.

In order to be able to move the cabinet, first we had to move a book shelf and air filter that had both been behind the cabinet. We moved the air filter to be between the bird cages and unloaded all the books from the book shelf so we could move the shelf. That was so heavy! The book shelf is now between the windows. It blocks one of the windows partially, but that falls into the category of “Oh, well.”

We moved the entertainment center cabinet and TV from the corner where it set diagonally to be square on the wall.

And then moved the couch to sit squarely in front of the cabinet instead sitting on a diagonal in the room in relation to the walls.

By doing all that, we created a path from the kitchen into the living room part of our living space. There is also a clear path from the front door into the living area. This all makes it much easier to walk around the house without having to worry about bumping into something.

We created a path from the kitchen into the living room part of our living space.

A much better arrangement of furniture.

A few weeks ago I finally got around to hanging my water color bird paintings. That also makes it feel more like home.

We moved the treadle sewing machine next to the cabinet and under the window and added a rug to the living room, which made Mishkin really happy. He remembers this rug from our house on White Mountain and so he spent quite a bit of time rolling around on it and reclaiming his rightful property.

And I think he has forgiven us for changing his house again. He really seems to like this new living arrangement and he has more room to scamper around should the mood take him. He can see out of the windows from the comfort of the couch or foot rest and watch whatever is showing on kitty-tv without having to exert any energy which is his more normal mood.

The fence earned its keep this morning. Our neighbor’s cattle showed up on the property next to us, and walked along a few of the edges of our fence seeking a way in, and they were foiled. When they arrived at our neighbor’s yard, they were noticed and herded back and hopefully the fence breach was fixed. Not holding our breath about that part. It was really wonderful to see them not in our yard!!!

Six of them roamed along the fence, munching grass and looking through the fencing. It made me smile.

The new roof looks great and it’s so quiet when it rains. It started raining a bunch the day after they completed the roof and continued for most of the subsequent week, off and on. We really need the rain so sitting on the porch being nice and dry and watching it pour felt really nice.

This looks massively better than funky steel roofing.

Weather gods tested the new roof and pronounced it good.

The stairs project has begun. The first step entailed digging eight post holes, four for the upper platform and four more for the next platform down the hill. Then they set the first four posts and let the concrete cure overnight.

Next was to build a box attached to the four posts, and create the top platform.

The first platform has been constructed and partially covered with boards.

They left part of the platform open so they could attach the stairs going down to the next platform.

Two of the posts for the lower platform have been set and braced using adjacent trees.

Then those posts were set in an epoxy foam product which is lighter than concrete but serves the same purpose. Much easier than trying to take wheelbarrow full of concrete down a slope which is slightly steeper than a normal flight of stairs, not to mention being bumpy and slick with grass.

The next day they put in the stair stringers and a few of the actual steps.

They will finish adding all the stairs and then build the second platform, and continue in this fashion, down the hill.

It’s going to get hot again this next week, starting around the middle of the week but by then they will be in the shade and feeling the breeze which flows through the trees, following the flow of water.

Yesterday a local contractor with a Bobcat smoothed out the damage done in our front yard by various digging projects, moving rocks and smoothing things out. Today he delivered a dump truck of topsoil and is smoothing it out.

Mishkin was appalled. The parrots thought the truck was cool.

He is spreading the contents of the truck out all over the area from which he removed rocks and smoothed out the ground, yesterday. We will buy some grass seeds this week and that will be the foundation of the lawn around the front and side of the house.

Tomorrow he is bringing another truckload of topsoil and we will use that in raise beds in the garden, which we will have to build first.

This last week we also got the propane tank set, and are now able to use the gas range and the on-demand water heater. Those are also really good improvements.

Found the pieces that I needed for my Ashford spinning wheel, and fiber to spin. And I did a bit of maintenance on my spinning wheel as it’s been a while since I’ve done any spinning, and we’ve moved a couple of times. Things needed to be tightened up.

This is the fiber I want to make into yarn for a lace shawl.

50/50 cashmere/silk. The silk makes it very shiny, and cashmere and silk are the traditional fibers used in the lace shawls I like to knit.

I am converting the roving which is fairly hefty to a smaller diameter roving, making it much easier to spin a super light weight lace yarn.

This is a brass diz with three holes in the middle. I’m using the smallest diameter to create my pencil roving.

This shows difference between the original roving and the reduced diameter roving I’ll use for spinning.

A fluffy pile of organized fibers.

Empty bobbin ready to be filled up with yarn.

This is a silk two-ply yarn I’ll combine with my hand-spun single.

Since I want the two yarns to be a similar diameter, I have taped this piece of commercial yarn to my spinning wheel to use as a guide. I’ll compare the yarn I’m creating to make sure it stays the same diameter as the silk yarn.

My helper who watched intently as I started playing with fibers.

Scooting closer on the couch, hoping I didn’t notice.

“Oops, she noticed.”

“Puhleeeze can’t I help? Just a little?”

At which point I covered him with a blankie. Out of sight, out of my project.

We are cow-proofed – yay!

This is kind of exciting. We didn’t think we’d have any sort of a garden this year. But surprisingly we have a fence!!

Of course, we need to remove all the grass and weeds from inside the garden fence, and a bunch of rocks, and buy seeds and some compost. Then we can plant something. And this will show us whether or not we need to plan on raised beds next year.

The plan is to buy some seeds and compost this weekend, and start digging up things we don’t want in the garden next week. Next spring we will plant fruit trees and bushes.

It’s like magic. One day there were holes in the ground. The next day we had poles growing out of said holes.

The poles are in the ground and temporarily braced so they stayed straight. All the poles were set in concrete which needed to dry overnight.

The next day the guys removed the temporary bracing, covered the cured cement with the dirt they had removed from the holes the day before, and started adding permanent bracing to the corners of the garden fence.

Bracing done and wires for additional strength were added to the corners and by the garden gate opening, and they began hanging the wire fencing.

It is starting to look very official. The next day they finished hanging all the fencing.

All the wire hung, it just needs to have the tops of the fence posts cut off, wire turn buckles tightened on the wire bracing, and build a garden gate.

The next day was all finishing details, and building a garden gate.

They ran out of fencing wire to cover the gate, but the gate is built, so that last step won’t take any time at all. They’ll come back this weekend and take care of that. Once this is done the garden will be deer-proofed. Right now they could simply climb through the gate and then forget how they got in there, and do a lot of panicking and running in circles.

This is by far the best garden fence we have ever had. And we have lots of places to hang nest boxes for chickadees, wrens, bluebirds and swallows. It should be a popular bird destination next spring.

The lumber and other materials for a stairway down to the creek was also delivered today.

The propane tank is going to be set this next week, and a plumbing company is going to be installing all the piping. Since the vent for the on-demand water heater needs to go through the roof, that means the roof replacement on that section of the roof also needs to take place, so we have ordered the roofing, and siding materials. Those will be delivered next week as well. I think this will guarantee many days of heavy rain next week.

It’s going to be a lot of activity around here for a while.

The garage project is on hold as materials cost way too much, and concrete delivery for pouring a slab and footers was highly unlikely to happen with shortages in the materials used to make concrete. So we will wait and just take care of all the other smaller projects.

The kitchen countertop is in, at long last. It is so much nicer to work on than varnished plywood!!

Kitchen sink was replaced and looks so much nicer than the funky stainless steel sink. The blue on the wall is simply unfinished wall boards that were replaced before the cabinets were installed.

Soon there will be a gas range (hopefully). I’ve since cluttered up the countertop with a microwave oven, and various other small kitchen appliances.

So the next steps in the kitchen are to finish the sheetrock which needs a skim coat and texturing, then painting, both on the wall behind the sink and on the ceiling. We are replacing the track lighting. We need to improve the lighting in that room. Then the overhead beams will need to be sanded and varnished. And propane needs to be installed in the house so that I can use the gas range which is still sitting on our front porch.

The bathroom remodeling is just beginning. So far all we’ve accomplished is to replace the door, and the bathroom vanity, sink, countertop and faucet. We have a new shower which will double the size of the existing shower and it is sitting in a box in the front yard. First we have to install the new water heater which is propane, then we can remove the existing water heater which is to the left of the shower, and re-frame that area for the new shower as the plumbing will not be in the right location for the new shower. Then we are going to replace the flooring. We are going to move light switches around so more sheetrock repairs will need to be done, and new light fixtures and medicine cabinet, and the shower faucet needs to be replaced as well. Then we will need to do more painting. This will be the next room we tackle once we have propane.

We put in a different granite countertop in the bathroom, with colors that are reflected in the new shower. Since this is our only bathroom we have to plan carefully.

Propane is theoretically being installed next week. I say theoretically because we still don’t know if a plumber is going to show up before the propane company sets a tank, which happens on the 24th. This may all need to reschedule to sometime in June. Sigh.

The fencing contractor has finished putting in the wood fence posts and bracing, and the metal fence posts which go between the wood ones, and they started running the barbed wire today. That part goes quickly.

They have put in the gate on the driveway, and the personnel gate which will give us access to the stairs down to the creek. The contractors will be starting that project this week. It will take roughly three weeks.

The gate has a latch which is easy to operate, and there is plenty of room for a big truck to make the turn off the narrow gravel road, and for a UPS truck to pull off the road. Most of the time the gate will stay open, anyway, when the cows and calves aren’t running loose. That silver ball on the ground across from the gate is barbed wire waiting to be uncoiled and installed on the fencing.

This is the creek. It’s so shady and cool. We can’t wait to be able to go down by it and watch the water go by.

The water runs over granite bedrock, and it always fairly noisy even at low water.

The garden fencing is also under way. And it will be done by the end of this week, as well as the perimeter fencing. So looking forward to seeing cows and calves on the road looking through the fencing and wistfully eyeing our grass, and deer looking through the garden fencing wistfully eyeing our flowers and plants. The perimeter fence won’t inconvenience the deer at all, nor the bears. The deer will simply boing over the top, and the bears will go through it – they might lose a bit of fur but they got lots.

The garden is in the front of the house. This is the view of it off the front porch.

Fence posts and bracing, and the holes which they dug yesterday.

Normally they will dig deeper holes but the ground is so rocky they need to set the wooden posts in concrete.

Posts and bracing. The bracing will hold the poles in place until the concrete sets.

Next year we will put up nest boxes on the wood fence posts, for bluebirds.

Speaking of flowers, these are the ones that came with the house.

Purple Iris

Columbine. The hummingbirds are particularly fond of these flowers.

Lilac. Next fall I want to protect this plant so the deer don’t prune it to within an inch of its life like they did last year.

Peony. Dan was reading about these today; they are a super long-lived perennial. I did not know that!

We have a long list of small projects for the inside of the house, and the major outside projects like a living room/bedroom/bathroom addition and/or garage are probably not going to happen right away due to skyrocketing building costs and unavailability of components like concrete for a foundation, floor joists, and roof trusses!!! Who knew? We will need to wait for normality to return. It is a combination of the pandemic and profiteering that is driving up the costs. We still hope to replace the roof and repaint the exterior of the house this year. We don’t know how much the roofing is going to cost, nor if it is even available, so that may also be waiting another year.

Oro alerts us to visitors, real and imaginary. Today we had a real visit. He has amazing eyesight!! Sometimes he will complain about an eagle soaring miles away, and it is just at the limits of us catching a glimpse with our binoculars to see what it is he’s talking about.

A cow moose was traveling on the hillside across from our house. She had places to go and brush to eat. She looks really sleek for this time of year.

I managed to catch a picture of her before she disappeared behind the carport. The clump of grass in the upper right hand corner of the picture is the start of a new robin nest.

So far we’ve seen moose, coyote, bear, white-tail deer (no mule deer yet), and lots of birds. We haven’t seen any of the big cats yet, or a wolf, or elk, all of which are neighbors but somewhat secretive. But it’s just a matter of time. 🙂

First, the kitchen is all installed. What remains to do is mainly cosmetic things like finish the beams in the kitchen area, paint and put in the gas piping for the propane range, and the counter top. The granite company will come do a template on April 8th and then a month later bring us the counter top to install, with the new sink which is still sitting on the front porch next to the range. Still putting things back into shelves and cabinets, but it already feels so much more useful. We re-used the old countertop since the configuration is similar, and could make it work.

We decided to also go ahead and install the faucet as the old one was having issues, and while they were at it they hooked up the ice cube maker in the freezer.

So on to the next step. We need to remove two trees which are right next to the house and could conceivably come down in a high wind storm, crushing the addition to the house we plan on building on the east side of the house.

View to the east. This was taken with a wide angle lens so the mountain looks smaller and farther away that it actually is. As you can see, most of the snow is gone in the lower elevations. Spring!!

The trees we need to remove both lean a bit to the east, due to the prevailing winds which come down the mountain, following the creek.

This is the east end of the house, with the two large trees immediately behind it. They did provide a lot of really nice shade but they were hazardous and so they had to go.

Our friend Jack is standing next to the base of the tree, cutting out the notch on the side of the tree where he wanted it to fall, using a chain saw with a long cutting bar and chain. He put both trees pretty much exactly where he wanted them to go. It’s quite the art.

This is the first tree. See all the sap running down the trunk? That’s a sign the tree has an injury. At first we thought it was from limbing the tree to help with fire hazard, but Jack pointed out a large crack and woodpecker activity, indicating the tree had issues.

View looking up. I love trees!!

The crack in the trunk traveled all the way into the core of the tree. There is no rotten wood yet but it was only a matter of time, and with a house in the way of where the tree was leaning, falling it later would have been way more difficult.

Second tree, coming down.

FALLING!

Faster!

Boom! It hits the dirt, literally.

The very funny thing was when each tree hit the dirt, the local flock of Wild Turkeys all yelled about it, at once. There was a loud chorus of “Gobble gobble gobble!!”  They obviously objected to our activity.

While all of this is going on, I’m working on a knitting project. I’ve reached the halfway point in my pattern.

I can’t hardly wait until I can block this and see how it really looks.

The yarn is a kid mohair in a variegated gray range from light to dark. I won’t be able to block it until the addition is completed because at this point I don’t have any room in the house which I can devote to the task.

Remodeling houses sucks if you’re living in the middle of the destruction. We’ve been doing this to ourselves since 1998. You’d think I’d figure this out.

But it will be good when everything is done. It always takes way longer than it should, just because that is the nature of the beast.

First project is the kitchen, which means fixing the walls, floors, electric and plumbing issues uncovered by removing the cabinets. And of course no matter how careful the planning was, it entails daily shopping trips. And then fixing other issues like three-way electric switches and moving a bit of plumbing so the ice maker in the freezer functions. We just decided to do those two things today.  It would be nice if the cabinets are installed by the end of the day on Monday. But I’m not holding my breath.

Here’s the original kitchen. Our friend who is doing the work had another friend who wanted the old cabinets, so they were removed carefully and have a new home to go to. Yay!

The dishwasher which we already replaced a couple of months ago, is immediately to the left of the sink. When the dishwasher is closed you can’t open the drawer to the left on the side, nor the cabinet under that drawer. So it takes a lot of pre-planning in case you need something in either the drawer or cabinet.

The corner base cabinet is static and pretty difficult to find anything in it, so I ended up removing pretty much everything to boxes just so I can find it. The new cabinet has a lazy susan and will be so much easier to get. The original fridge that came with the house was huge, taking up a ton of floor space that could be better used for cabinet, and so we replaced it with a much smaller fridge.

And now the new kitchen can begin to be installed.

First project was to remove the very ugly subway tiles under the cabinets, and then remove the wall cabinets. There was also a shelf above the window and spice racks, all of which left holes in the sheet rock wall. It feels more open already.

That was pretty much the end of day 1, demolition wise.

New fridge fits much nicer in the space.

Second day!

Removing base cabinets on the peninsula section of the base cabinets. The cabinets were obviously installed originally before the oak flooring was installed and so there is no finished flooring under the cabinets. We will have to install plywood to make the floor even.

Floor has been patched and so has the sheet rock, plus we added a couple of electric outlets to the left of the sink and will put a cover on the one outlet which was directly above the kitchen sink as that was not up to code. The first row of base cabinets is set in place and the original sink replaced so we could have a semi-functional kitchen.

Day 3!

This one shows the plywood patch on the floor. Unfortunate the cabinets do not cover that problem so we are going to build out the back of the new cabinets with a 1×2 framework that the finish back panel can attach to, and the counter top will just be extended out a bit to compensate. This picture also shows the old beam on the left and the new covering on the beam to the right.

At the end of the 3rd day all the base cabinets were installed and we re-used the original counter top until the new one is installed, which will be in anywhere from one to two months from now.

Day 4!

First upper cabinets are installed.

And the doors were also installed on the lower cabinets. This means I can actually put things away!

The dishwasher has been moved from next to the sink around the corner to the left. And now it no longer interferes hugely with anything. Yay! I say that a lot each time something is finished.

Just finishing the cabinets isn’t the only thing that has yet to be accomplished. We are switching out the electric range for a gas range and so there is gas piping to be done this coming week, before Thursday which is when the propane guys are coming to set the tank and regulators. By the end of this coming week we’ll have a fully operational kitchen, just needing finishing touches done (replacing the track lights, installing a range hood over the range, and repainting.

I saw a news article the other day that said the world is spinning faster than it has for fifty years. This explains a lot about what happened to 2020. Well, on top of a pandemic, and deciding to move back out to the country and away from a more urban lifestyle which was in and of itself a massive undertaking.

So we are back in the same part of Eastern Washington where we were in 2018 before I lost my mind and decided to move to the west coast. It was an interesting experiment. We have a new and very dear friend as a result of the experiment.

In September 2020 we bought and sold a house, and moved. Less said about that traumatic experience the better. Our new house is less than half the square footage of our last house, and so we are still downsizing to fit comfortably. We are making good progress.

Oh, and I retired at the end of December.  That was not what I wanted to do and definitely interfered with my plans for the future, but sometimes life dictates changes and this was a big change.  I’m getting used to the idea. The cat adores all the snuggling he’s been able to indulge himself in lately.

We are going to remodel the kitchen in a couple of months.  So, what else is new??! It will be nice when it’s all finished.  This little house suits us greatly; it’s like being in an ultra fancy cabin, and it only takes about five minutes to clean the whole house.  With that in mind, I should probably find it easier to spend five minutes and do something, eh?

Once we have had time to unpack the DVDs and put them into shelves, we’ll be able to bring my yarn and spinning fibers and spinning wheels and looms into the house. In the meantime I found some paper and pencils and can do some drawing again. And more baking, and making jams next summer, and playing bridge.  We have so many projects it’s a little daunting to think of all of them.

Here’s a little video of our living/dining/kitchen starting at the front door.  Pardon the mess. There’s no sound; I have figured that part out yet. The pellet stove is something we added to the house and it’s one of Mishkin’s favorite features (mine too!)  My desk looks out the back yard to some bird feeders and towards the creek.  We haven’t put up any pictures yet.  I need to find the picture hanging nails and hooks. They are around here somewhere.

I will try to do better with posting now that I’m retired.

Every place we move we have bears in the yard.   Today we had two of them, but it took a few minutes to figure it out.  A mom and last years’ baby were smelling the bird seeds in our fenced yard.

The adult female, very fat. She should be sleeping!

Circling the house, trying to decide how scary it is.

First, Oro told us about a bear, and that scared the first one off into the bushes.  Then I saw the bear come up the hill, next to the storage shed outside the fence.  Sniffing.  Rats!!  The bird feeders have been spotted.  The bear was nervous and headed away from the yard, towards the neighbors.  Well that was exciting.  First bear since we’ve moved here, and somewhat unusual.  People do see bears around here, but very rarely.

Then Terry hurt our ears.  She has a different view point looking north and out the windows on the front of the house.  That’s where we saw the adult, way across the lawn and down from the house.  We went out on the deck and talked to her and she disappeared in the brush, only to reappear a minute later by the storage shed again.  Then I saw another bear on the other side of the fence by the garage.  Two!!  Obviously a mom and her cub.

Dang it.  Can’t get away from these guys.  And they smell the seeds 🙁  I guess we’re probably going to find out how tough this fence is tonight.