Wood stove

We have a stove, we have a functioning heat pump.  In fact, it is 8 degrees cooler in the new house than it is in the Carriage House.

Pennwoods brought inside our wood stove.  They installed the air intake vent, cut the ceiling, and put the chimney up. In Aspen in the summer of '71 we cranked down the AC and loaded up the fireplace on our honeymoon.  We can do that now.

In the basement Adrian and Dwayne have primed the heat pump system with about 40 gallons of ethylene glycol--they poured it into the master pump and that will combine with the water in the hoses that are in the ground.  Our new heat pump closed loop system is not pressurized (like our present system in the Carriage House) so the master pump acts like an expansion chamber and by running the pump the air in the loop lines is easily purged from the system. 

Doug, John, and Chris continue to work on the window trim.
Scott and Julian are putting in the backer board in the shower.  Scott applied sealer to the blue stone this morning.  He will put on several additional coats before he grouts the stones, as the sealer will keep the grout from adhering to the stones' faces. This is one of the preformed shampoo nooks.

Buddy found a box turtle over by the camping area.  It had a steep slope to the front half of the underside of its shell, so probably a male.  Paul rescued it and moved it into the woods.

Water to the house

Jeff installed the toilet in the basement, the water heater, and fixed the valve to permit water to flow in to the basement.

Dwayne hooked up the grinder to the electrical circuit with a temporary extension cord, so now we have an active toilet indoors and the port-a-potty can be returned.

Adrian, Bill, and Paul shifted the island to its permanent position so that Adrian could drill a pilot hole to check the location of the down draft vent system.  It appears that the permanent position of the island will work with Adrian's adjusted ducting in the basement.  We also checked out the outside air vent for the wood stove and found that by positioning the stove in the center of the hearth area, its vent will also fit into the current ducting structure.  There will still be some adjusting for the exact size and shapes of these critical vents, but for now it appears everything will fit without any significant problems.
Roger from Vigilant Security was out to run wires and position them for the keypads that will control the system.  One keypad will go on the laundry room wall near the main entrance, the other in the master bedroom behind the closet door.  Both locations used interior walls so running the wiring was less complicated.
Bill and Jonas moved the maple stair treads from the shed to the house and began the process of measuring the treads and risers.  They were also involved with planning down and sawing the long hemlock boards that will form the risers.
The crew of Cody, Chris, and John worked on the exterior siding finishing up some of the trim work on the west wall and the installed flashing at the base of the west wall up to the rear door.  They also strung lines on the siding fabric to guide installing the siding.
Kohlhepps from DuBois arrived at lunchtime and took measurements for the granite tops.  He used a laser photo system and took with him sinks and faucets in order to exactly fit the cuts to the dimensions of these items.
John and Chris worked on cutting and installing some window sills on the bump out windows.

Bill and Jonas installed several of the maple treads on the stairs going up to the first landing.  They will cover the maple with cardboard to protect it from scrapes. 
It started raining here about noon time and has been on and off, mostly on, all day with temps in the low 40s.
The some flowers have survived the chickens' "care".  It's good to find a few things they don't prefer for dinner.  The lilies of the valley seem to like the north side while the columbine and bleeding heart are doing well on the east side.

Reading Elizabeth Street  Fabiano **** based on her family's history of Italian immigrants in NY in early 1900's

Summer 2004

Summer Vacation
The Baroness and her Loyal Pooch spent the summer watching the slow start to construction and getting wet. This was the wettest summer in years. No problem with dry wells this year. Living in a student apartment right off Old Main and over the Rathskeller on Pugh St might have been idyllic 35 years ago, but the Loyal Pooch had a hard time getting to the 4th floor and students have a less than endearing habit of using private backdoors as vomitoria and latrines, to say nothing of the late night bar noise sprawled under the Baroness's window. The pair spent most days at the Barony but always managed an Accolade Walk at Old Main. Loyal Pooch could hardly walk 25 paces before he'd be stopped by someone wanting to pet him. Oh, he's so well behaved. Oh, he gets around so well for 15 years old. Oh, his hair is so soft. And on and on and on...
June 18, 2004
The Baroness met with her Construction Boss, Dave Sampsel, and Architect par Excellence to finalize the preconstruction taskers and get a list of contractors to buy things from: Whitehill Lighting and Supplies (814) 238-2449, Ken at Lezzer Lumber (814) 237-3511 for Kitchen, Jason at Mike's Appliance (814) 237-1515, Eric at Kohlhepp's for granite and butcherblock, PennWood for the 'cosmetic' gas fire. Neither Dave nor Michael demanded she shop at these places, but of their recommendations, these were the final choices. In addition to these local vendors, the pendant lights over the butcherblock came from Cherry Tree Design in Montana, although Whitehill ordered them for us. Thank goodness for the Internet; not only did it make remote communicating with the Baron easier, we both did a lot of product research. The house siding will be Hardiplank, a cement-fiber siding recommended by Michael for its durability and low maintenance. The deck will be Trex, a durable wood-like product made from recycled plastic and sawdust.


June 20, 2004
Lady Terra came to inspect for the weekend. The weather cooperated; she christened her trail and checked the camping trailhead in preparation for her Memorial Day outing. We visited the Lavender Festival in Fairfield, near Gettysburg and resolved to make this an annual trek.
June 25, 2004

Balkey and Sampsel cooperate to measure and stake the carriage house, June 21
Allegheny Power arrives (notice the beginning of the driveway erosion)

Power! June 25
Power at 00000

Measure twice, cut once, June 25
Paint out the plans on the dirt so everyone knows where to dig


We have power; no generators and their associated noise and smell for this work site.

June 30, 2004

From the back hill into kitchen 'window', June 30
Loyal Pooch staying out of trouble in his office


It has dried out enough for Dave to get some machines up here to dig our foundation. Water seems to flow off the hill plateau well; nothing sinks in. Our driveway rocks are beginning to fill in the forest. This construction stuff is slow going.
June 28, 2004
We have concrete and more water. Dave had to pump out the holes for several days. Nothing sank into the clay; it all ran off, over the driveway and through the woods, but not to Grandmother's, we hope. We had pools of muddy water.

A new swimming hole, perhaps? July 8
or a mud bath

June 26-July 7
Bear! While shuffling papers in the mobile office (aka '95 Saturn), Loyal Pooch at my feet on the gravel, I happened to look up as a young black bear crossed less than 15 from the car. My heart pounded: should I get the camera first or put Loyal Pooch in the car first? I probably need not have, but I tossed the poor, blind, deaf, and arthritic Loyal Pooch into his office in the back seat and then grabbed the camera. By that time, maybe 10-15 seconds, the bear had sauntered into the bushes on his way to the next berry patch. I called to him, but he had his mind set on berries, not Baroness, for lunch. It was a very exciting 3 minutes. I saw a vision of a Volkswagen loping in front of me: a shiney, chubby, black VW with a cinnamon nose. How big? Smaller than a VW, for sure, but the same shape, perhaps.
July 4th Washout

Washout from a severe thunderstorm
Ditches and a moat

ruts and gullies
We need treads on the car to get over these.

Supervising the chainsaw
Ameron was up July 6 to replace the road and seed the edges

Lopping

The Baron was here to supervise but since it rained most of the time, and since it was a holiday weekend, he mostly supervised the chain saw. We cut dead wood and grapvines to make Pierce's Passage from the house site half way into the meadow. We met with Chilcote several times and enjoyed the Arts Festival with Missy and Al.
Hints of what's to come

CMUs, July 9
Water Well by Hull's Drilling (814) 625-2171

Water, water, everywhere: still more rain that has to be pumped out of the foundation hole, July 13
July 13

2 Big machines
340 feet down and only 2 gal water/minute

Deliveries begin in ernest

CMUs begin July 19



French drain and black goop, July 22
Backfill, July 24

This is a typical view down the drive and into the meadow this summer; it's more Irish than American.

The building begins July 28, 2004
We have lumber; the first frame went up today. The men are very neat and clean up after each day's work. That gives us confidence that we'll have a well constructed home. The Baroness brought bedding, the chain saw, microwave, and other things to leave in the house, but with this amount of rain we won't have a house until after the summer supervision trip is over.

First frames, July 28
First frames, July 28

Framing, July 29
July 29

July 30

More lumber, August 1
The race is on: we have rafters, but only 12 days until the drive west begins, August 3

Visible progress
Now we're cooking; lumber is moving quickly. We can see the garage growing. Thank goodness for Wegman's and Irving's Bagels 131 W Beaver Ave, State College, PA 16801-4816 (814-238-0600)). The Baroness uploads daily reports to the Baron from these cyber cafes.
August 4, 2004
Water ditch from the well to the house is backfilled.

Ditch from well to house is backfilled
It's a nice gentle curve around the back of Phase II, August 8

Nothing is visible except a stick at the curve
We can see the beginning of the front deck.

Accident!

Accident!
Jody Hull, the well driller, slipped off the road at the culvert, tipping his backfill machine off the rig. It was pouring buckets; visibility was poor. I'd planned to stay up on the hill for a hour or so after the men left just to enjoy it; but after about 20 minutes of torrential rain, I got scared that the road would wash out again, and I'd be stuck up hill. As I drove down I could see lights at the culvert, and knew there was trouble. Sampsel helped get the machines back, but not before some damage was done to the culvert and both men were soaked to the skin.
Progress during a semi-dry spell

The bedroom wall, August 5

Geothermal and well water connections, Aug 6

August 13, 2004
Lady Ariel and her consort, Graf von Enaml, came to visit the Barony. They took pictures from a glider out of Soaring Ridge Gliderport a couple of miles from the Barony. Proving once again that it's a small world, their pilot Eric Bliesmer is the salesman at Kohlhepp's who helped the Baroness with the granite and butcherblock just the day before!
The Barony from above

R&D center
From 3000 ft or so

That's a lot of trees

The summer was full of visitors, as is only right for a guest house. Chere Amie came all the way from FlyOver Country, maybe not just to see the Barony, but it sure felt good to have her there. We expected Admiral von UberBaron and Ladies Ariel and Terra, but Empress von Rhein and Señor Florida came too.
The end of the summer supervision

Odd jobs
Beam over the breezeway door in garage

Front "door"
The last view as the Supervisory Summer draws to a close is Jody Hull drilling the geothermal well.

August 15, 2004
Yet another soggy day at the Barony, the Loyal Pooch and his Baroness began the solemn 1025 miles back to Bellevue, by way of Lisle for a RON. Summer is over.

Summer 2004
-- Season-to-Date Statistics -- August 15, 2004

Avg High Temp: 75.88 Rank(1=Warm, 109=Cold): 106
Avg Low Temp: 59.91 Rank (1=Cold, 109=Warm): 79
Mean SUMMER Temp: 67.89 Departure (108-Year): -1.66
Totl Rain or Liquid Equiv: 13.63 Rank (1=Wet, 109=Dry): 9
Totl Heating Degr-Days: 80 Total Cooling Degr-Days: 318