prep work

In preparing for winter storms, the wisteria, which had begun its hostile takeover of the roof, got a "crew cut" and {be still my heart} the gutters got cleaned out. That's the daughter on the roof...gravity and I are not on friendly terms.

The dismantling has begun on the elimination of the fire place. For some folks, this would be akin to removing the furnace, but here in such a moderate climate, it's not necessary to have such a structure. Its inefficiency, the air pollution, the wasted space inside the house, and the coming local restrictions on its use were part of the equation we looked at. The entire wall, which is "floating" in the middle of the room, will be removed this spring, opening up the house.

Sidewalks were cut and drains connected to downspouts and the back yard are being placed to exit directly into the gutters.



The destruction, reconstruction, and design are compliments of my wonderful engineering nerd (or as I like to call him: "engi-nerd") husband. He does top notch work and is a stickler for details.

Building, creating, watching items fill up a space in a useful manner has also been in my "engi-nerd's" schedule. Just a note: these "building" photos below have been taken place over this last summer--he's good, but is not able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound. Building takes more time than demolition work. It's an art. Oh, and no, don't panic at the rock and plain cinder block...it's not done yet.