Gotta go?

Wednesday, February 11

Sorry I keep posting about the house next door, but I can't believe how fast things are moving along, so I've got to keep up. By the way if you're in my neighborhood and you or the kid in your car has to go, well just drive by, 'cause now I've got my very own porta-potty. Okay, it's not really mine, but I still give you permission to use it.

Let's catch up they laid the joists one day, put in the duct work the next. (Feel free to correct my construction terms here Dads)

The lumber arrived, but the next day there was some waiting in the snow.




They didn't have to wait long and the garage wall went up in one day!




Here is what the garage looked like at the end of the day.


The next day was spent covering the floor of the house and bringing in more lumber.






Now your almost caught up - today there has been a lot of racket working on the walls of the house and they started the fence!

Procrastination pays off

Tuesday, February 10

There was a knock at the door and it was only 7:30 in the morning. A worker from next door asked if anyone had called about my fence. No. They may have tried, but we disconnected the land line before going to Europe and haven't bothered to get a new one. He asked my permission to tear down the old fence and said they would be replacing it with a new cedar fence the next day. Hmmm - they're going to do all the work and didn't ask for any money. I considered is for about two seconds and said, "Sure, go for it!" Wooo hoooo. So glad we never got around to contacting the old owner to see if they would split the cost of putting in a new fence.

Well they didn't put up a new fence the next day, so I've lost a little privacy. I'll be patient and in the meantime it will be easier to sneak some pictures of their progress. Here is the hole for the house.

Here is the foundation.

I'm really starting to feel like a peeping mom. Did you know you could take a picture through a peep hole? It helps that mine may be on the large side.

Macro Monday

February 8

It's frosty out and I have a flat tire, so everyone is walking to school.

They're gone

Friday, February 6

Last Friday they (machines & men) came back and in less than 6 hours, took out the three other trees from the lot next door. I have discovered that you really don't know how much you love a tree until it's gone. I want to apologize for all the times I've complained about those trees, saying they were messy and even ugly. How sad. Here is a picture a picture of the back of my house with a fir tree, which was my favorite one. I wonder how old that tree was? I forgot to count the rings of that stump from Monday before they removed it.

It happened so fast I had to keep running outside to document the destruction.

My poor house looks so naked now. There goes all our summer shade. Waaaah.

Here is the cherry tree.

I can't quite remember what it looks like with leaves, but I know this is a lot better than the lovely view of the dreaded car wash .

Now that's ugly.

Early one dark and foggy morning...

Thursday, February 5

I was getting the girls ready for school when I heard a noise. I peeked out the window and saw them, the machine, the trucks and the men.

It all happened so fast a week ago today. They ripped out the front of the fence next door, then started knocking down a tree, right outside my kitchen window.

Then they cut a big hole in the street. Thanks for not sporting any crack - I mean it.

A really deep hole.

I didn't even know it was possible, that whole thing fit into the hole, just look at the other one that is still in the ground.

By 4pm they were gone, just like nothing ever happened. Kevin thinks I'm going to turn into one of those nosey old neighbor ladies the way I kept peeking out my window and sneaking pictures. I'm sure it didn't help that I probably had velcro rollers in my hair. But I'm not being nosey, nobody is living there and it's all happening only five feet away from my kitchen window. Just so you know, it wasn't a total surprise. While we were in Spain the house next door sold and our renters reported seeing men in black SUVs wearing dark suits, and that the lot had been divided, so we knew something was up.

Social Butterfly

Tuesday, February 3


Here is the snow from last Tuesday, which was beautiful to watch, but we were glad it stopped and warmed up so we could safely drive to the much anticipated princess tea party of a preschool friend.

Here is Sydney, all decked out for the party. The girls had a really great time and they were all so good - I love this age, four going on five.
The next day we went on a roller skating field trip with preschool.

Since this is the last year of preschool at our house, who know when I'll get to go skating again. I even took a few laps by myself since Syd was going a little slow.

Macro Monday

Febuary 2, 2009

Need a hint? Think dew, spider web and a freshly cut tree stump. Look for background story later this week.