Only one picture

We now have only half a house of electricity - YAY! That's good because Mike G, electrician from Buck's team, has sorted out the two sides of the house and we will go through an inspection before the electric coumpany can hook us up. While he worked on that, Bill and Mike worked on getting siding and soffit finished. Take a look:

Moving along

More pipes have been sweated, more floors laid, and now siding must go up. Mike G., the electrician from Florida, has arrived to hopefully finish his work - completely. And more walls may go up before the week ends. In the meantime, Mike has to keep moving along with his preparation for all the classes he will be teaching. FOUR. That's an awful lot for a new teacher who is also doing adminstrative work. But he will get it all done, I know. In the meantime, see below some of what's been done.

Big beams went up in 3 rooms to make things more structurally solid.

We think that all the copper pipe is finished by now. LOTS of pipe.

Lots of pipe was under the house. He rigged up this dolly with tools and 2 ropes so that he could send out things and I could send in things. :-)

This is my favorite floor. See how the wood runs one way in the small room and perpendicular in the kitchen?

Siding was going up at 8:30 last night - and the rest of it is going up now!

I think they DID work

I thoroughly enjoyed my two week intensive class in a particular type of music instruction called Orff Schulwerk. Never mind. While I was gone Mike, with the assistance of our carpenter neighbor, Bill, did their own playing around. They even had one day of help from a volunteer group who was working here through our church. Here are a few of the changes.

Lonesome Bill at work.

We have some new walls.

And some new floors.

LOTS of new copper pipes - courtesy of the internet trained plumber, Mike.

Whew!

Mike, Fred, Buck and Mike G.

It was an intense 4 days; these guys just don't know when to quit! The twists and turns of this old house, along with the wishes of the owner (especially the female part of the two) made a lot of the work really more of a challenge than anyone would ever have anticipated. But this bunch never flinched. Buck never stopped figuring and thinking when presented with impossible conflicts; Fred kept cutting weird pieces and making them fit; Mike G. gave up some touring to keep working; Bill kept working with the "foreign" crew, making friends while doing whatever he was asked; and Mike worked every step of the way plus before and after. We came away with most of the electrical finished, FRAMING finished in closets, small bath and shower in our half, large bathroom (Buck's ONLY 4-day bathroom!) and kitchen. Still always more to go, but since I am now in a class in Baton Rouge for 2 weeks, neither you nor I will know what is going on. Mike and Bill plan to keep any progress (or lack thereof, he says) to themselves. So don't expect an update for a couple of weeks.

WUURK!

The cry around the house as each new job is begun is "wuuurk". Our own Buck with 2 of his crew, Mike G and Fred, are back to join Bill (from last post) and Mike to blitz the house once again. It's a mighty lively place! And to top it all off, the water board decided to fill some small holes in the neighborhood sidewalks yesterday. Before 8 AM they were here with a front loader, big flatbed truck, dump truck, a couple of pick-ups and a crew of 7 with several bosses coming and going. That was BEFORE the concrete truck came. I couldn't help but contrast the 7 guys working on our 1 foot square sidewalk hole with the 5 inside the house doing a dozen different jobs at breakneck pace.

We have upstairs closets framed in and the big bear - the upstairs bathroom - was finally conquered. Due to all sorts of space issues, the engineering of that room is a small miracle. And the beauty of it is that it will all seem so effortlessly planned and have everything I wanted, only better. Kitchens are both being worked on - electrical and plumbing work nearly finished - and an extra shower being added has added to many headaches but is on its way now. Mike began his work day at 6:15, working on ducting since we now have both air conditioners working. I have no kitchen sink any more, and the coffee pot is in the bedroom (I wanna be like Vicki!!) but wow, is it worth it!

Just a few shots.

Mike began his day at 6:15 while others slept. He quit last night at 11:00. It's HIS house!

It's hard to tell, but the washer area, under the skylight, is sunken, as is the tub. Kewl!

One of the upstairs closets - full of more wood.

Kitchen wall framed.