Job dog

We've been using the term "job dog" for so long that I didn't even know that the phrase seems to be short for "Job site dog," when a person in the trades brings their pup to work.

What makes a good job dog? According to one of our dear friends and construction helpers, a dog that stealthily sneaks up on workers who are heavily concentrating is not eligible for being labeled as a good job dog. Okay, Kyro is out of the running.

However, Hank is the best job dog ever. Well, after our beloved, departed Nikki. Hank naps nearby and wakes up just enough to wag lightly as you come through the room. Or, he gazes at you as if to say, "Have I told you that I really, really love you?" All while being super relaxed. You're a good boy, Hank.

A chill job dog

It takes a village to build a house

Yesterday was a great day in the smallest, yet largest, of ways. We rode off on our bikes in the morning to get coffee, visit our local bike shop, and then get groceries at our neighborhood farmer's market. Not very extraordinary. But, we encountered sweet friends in front of the coffee shop who we have not seen in a few years, and chatted with another friend and his adorable young son a few steps later. Incredibly sweet moments, small but wonderful joys.

As I pulled my phone out at the bike shop to write something down, I saw that our video doorbell had recorded someone ringing at our front door. When I viewed the video, I saw that FedEx had dropped off something that was expensive that we need on Monday to meet our aggressive inspection deadlines. ack! What if some no-goodnik takes the package before we can return? Do we turn around and forget about the market? No. We call our dear, sweet friends who live across the street and ask them to snag the delivery off our porch and secure it. And, of course, they did.

The help of these wonderful friends enabled us to continue on with our morning and the last few details on our big project as we get closer and closer to completion. While some may think that this is not a big deal, it is hugely important to us that we share our lives and exchange help with the members of our local community. We love our neighborhood and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. So many people have lent us assistance on our project and we thank them all for being part of our village.

Being counter productive

Yesterday was another exciting day with our little project. Our new countertops arrived and the fabricating crew installed them. Progress!

The underside of the countertops include steel supports so that they are strong and sturdy.

The installation begins.

Mad Chemist 100% Virgin Acetone, whatever that is.

The new island.

Fun with fabricators

When you buy a slab (or three) for your kitchen counters, you have to decide the shape into which they will be cut. To do this, you work with a fabricator. The first step is for a worker to come to your kitchen to create a template of your surfaces on site. The fabricator builds these templates out of thin wood like balsa and the shape is assembled with staples. Bill was working on this step as I left for my work trip on Tuesday.

Today, as  I returned, we drove straight from the airport to the fabricator's warehouse where our slabs (and those of many other customers) are in process. We needed to look at how the templates are placed on the slab to ensure that we like the portions that will be in different parts of the room and agree on how it will be pieced together.

We made slight adjustments back and forth that were probably back to the same position that the fabricator suggested before we arrived. It will be exciting to see these slabs cut, assembled, and installed soon!

A fabricator's workstation

Someone else's slab and template

The templating process ensures that shapes and sizes will work in a space and not lead to an expensive mistake.

"Let's move this a little..."

Our kitchen island

A grate idea

When we started our wee project, we thought a lot about energy conservation. We enlisted the help of the amazing Frank Schiavo on passive solar, and we (meaning not me) thought a lot about how to cool the house in the summer without installing air conditioning that neither of us wanted. And, rarely need. During our occasional very warm days, Bill knew that he wanted to leverage the cool air from our crawlspace to help draw down the temperature inside the house. He installed a whole house fan upstairs, and wanted it to draw cool air from downstairs via the crawlspace. Through the magic of the interwebs, we found this cast iron grate and it is now in place. You can feel the cool air coming up from below even when the fan is not running. His grate idea is helping us cool with science, and that's pretty cool.

Happy feet!

The color of our new floors.

A trip to the island(s)

Me, calling home at the end of my day: "Hey, love, I'm heading home in a bit."
Bill: "Great! I want to take you on a trip to the islands."
Me: blink. blink. blink.
-pause-
Me: "AH! You have been working on the shape of the kitchen island!"

The care and crafting of our home is one of the most enjoyable parts of this remodel. Plus the humor. :-)

Each of these marks indicates a factor in the shaping of our kitchen island.