More attic pictures

Dave has been hard at work in the attic. The spray foam insulation has been sprayed and all of our "stuff" has been moved back into the attic from the storage unit. Dave's been able to cross off all of his "to-do" list things that needed to be done before he could drywall. He's hopeful that he can have the drywall hung before we leave for Iowa on Thursday......

Skylight

Dave's been hard at work in the attic. The newest addition: a skylight!

Baby Petts

We are delighted to announce that we're expecting our first baby in February! This Sunday will be 20 weeks - the halfway point! It's hard to believe time is flying so fast!

Yard Work

Slowly but surely we've been getting some yard work done. We haven't done a great job documenting it in photos, but the list includes cutting sod, building a raised bed, salvaging and planting a few plants that survived the move, moving plants around, planting a new shade plant and two blueberry bushes, trimming the cedar tree, tending our new apple tree, and eradicating a most annoying weed (bineweed - also known as morning glory). The chickens enjoy "helping us" and love getting the privilege to hang out in the front yard and eat the grass. Up next on the list is figuring out where to plant the plum tree and getting a flower garden put in out front. We're definitely going to plant some lavender, and Dave has his eye on a couple native Oregon plants that should be beautiful.

Beginning of Attic Project

Dave is working on converting the attic into a usable room. The first task was to remove an old chimney that no longer exists on the main floor, but was still in the attic. The bricks came out easily, but the concrete blocks were heavy! Dave rigged a pulley system in the rafters to get them safely down.


First, we borrowed a ladder.


Dave proudly holding up one of the final bricks from the section of chimney that was outside.


Dave was very pleased with his 6-to-1 pulley that he rigged with our climbing gear.


Dave explaining to me how he set up the pulley system.


Four concrete blocks safely on the ground. Two more to go!

Update

We've (once again!) been terrible at keeping up this website. With the "one-click" feature that posts pictures straight from iPhoto to Facebook, it's hard to discipline ourselves enough to post photos here too.

As requested, we have taken a few more pictures of the new house. Yes, we bought a house in May! We are getting settled in and are enjoying finally being homeowners.



Shelving and cabinetry hung!



Bookshelf built!





Dave hung up the hammock on the deck and you can also see in the background that we've got the clothesline hung up and the patio table set up in the yard.



Dave built a gate to complete the fencing in the backyard. We now have a private deck and the chickens cannot escape!




Dave built a raised bed in the front yard for all of our veggies that we had started in pots at the old house.





We are now the proud owners of a push-mower!


We were pleasantly surprised to see Calla Lilly's popping up along our driveway. They are Jessica's favorite flower.