NEW DUNBURY

That’s what we’ve been doing. There has been much cleaning and sorting and packing and rearranging and decorating. As I write, we have painters swarming the exterior of the house and installers doing what they do best - installing the new patio door. The place is only partly recognizable.

On Friday we met with our first realtor prospect. We meet another today and another tomorrow. We’re getting closer to dancing time, folks!

Yikes!

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We haven’t said much about the process of getting out of our current house - probably because I am generally too tired to deal with it. Somehow it just doesn’t generate the same excitement as the new place. But it is on-going and recently some major steps have been taken or begun.

We’ve got some painters scheduled to come by today to give us estimates on the exterior work. We can do that thanks to a certain wonderful sibling/in-law combination (Susan and Jeff, you know who you are) who presented us with a freshly laundered exterior.

Yesterday I acquired the wood to re-floor the kitchen and my office. We bit the bullet and went with solid hardwood - mostly because the cost to us was compariable to any convincing substitutes. It’ll mean more work to lay it but, hey, that’s what I’m here for, right? Four inch wide maple. Gorgeous. That ought to perk up the re-sale value.

Interior re-painitng is getting close to done. Patching and repairing is close to done - though an annoying nail pop has returned and will have to be dealt with. Much stuff has been donated, stored, or otherwise shoveled out. The new back door is in process and we got lots of new green growing things in the yard (thanks, Thomas, Andrew, and Scott).

Tentatively, we’re beginning to think the end of the readying process is in sight. Then we get to face … the housing market. Oh, the horror, the horror!

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On Tuesday last, I visited the site while the team was at work. This report was delayed because dealing with current house issues kept me from processing the pictures I took.  They’re in the “Timberframing” gallery now.

The first bent is nearly done (except for the braces). Michael now has two assistants (instead of one) and work should go quicker - weather permitting. When cutting is done on the bent, they will assemble it on the deck. If all is well, production cutting of the rest of the timbers will begin. Cutting all the posts at once, then all the beams, then all the collar ties, etc, makes the process faster. But it’s not something you want to do before you know the joinery works the way you planned it to work.

Michael and I discussed some of the changes being made to the timber frame design to ease production. We also talked a bit about the final grading issues. (Right now we don’t have the walk-out from the bedroom that we were expecting and the slope near Bob’s studio window is too close - as well as sloping the wrong way.) The final solution is still to be found.

I also got to visit our windows where they have been stashed away to await their permanent homes in the framing. They’re early for where we are in the process, but not for the original schedule. Sigh. We did beat the price increase and THAT was important.

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