Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #8 – Dealing With the Weather & Ready for Surgery

 

Sunday, February 19^th., 2023…… Nicer weather expected for today. We have two days in a row predicted with sunshine and blue skies. Then the cold weather comes back in again! Today was church for her and the gazebo for me. Plus races!  Cathye wasn’t feeling well enough to drive to church. Her shoulder is giving her fits. Believe it or not, the pain is tied into her gall bladder! Anyway, she was able to hand me parts as I built the gazebo roof frame. We got the cupola installed and only have the main roof left to do. Tomorrow. I came in and watched the Daytona 500 and a taped motocross race. Or at least part of the 500. I usually stop in the early evenings and join Cat in the living room where we watch our taped shows until bedtime.     

Monday, February 20^th., 2023……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYLEE!!!   She is 5 today.

Here is the first picture we ever saw of her. We knew we couldn’t resist that precious face!

Russ was here late this morning. He needs good weather today and tonight. He will be sanding this morning and then spraying a clearcoat on the structure later today. That makes the job almost complete. He also has prepared a listing of the total costs after all of the “add-ons” that I have made during this job!  He wanted to tell us together and said we should sit down! It was not a good number!  He feels bad but he has spent his money on the materials and his time on the job so I have to pony up and pay for it all. Cathye is not happy but understands as well.  I guess we should be looking at all of the future enjoyment and fun we will get from this project! But it was a shock to say the least!    

Tuesday, February 21^st., 2023……  Just as promised, the weather has turned again. Russ only needs to come back one more time to clearcoat the wood but he can’t do that unless the weather gets better. They say now that we might even get another snowfall later in the week. But for today, it was off and on sunshine and then cloudy, and then showers. Repeat. We were in the house most of the morning so I went online and located a place in Carlsbad CA that has the concrete fire pits on eBay that we like. I called and got Brandon (yes, that’s his name!) who was very nice and when I told him we were interested in some of the open box items on the site but wanted a good one, he was nice enough to go out to the warehouse and found us one he said was in good condition and sent pics. Being an open box meant it had some small flaw which they try to show in their ads but we needed some extra help. Given he looked it over and found no flaws, plus gave us an even lower price if we ordered it directly from him, we went ahead and bought it. Plus free shipping. He said it will ship tomorrow. Wow, what service! Later in the afternoon, we headed off to her surgery consult. We met with Dr. Buglino and we both liked him immediately! We explained her pain and he said that surgery was the best option. No guarantees but it would most likely solve her issues. We said go and he took us out to scheduling. The first appointment is next Wednesday, time tbd. We were thrilled! We got back home and texted a few people who had asked about it. She posted on Facebook later that it was on the calendar! Next up is my cardiologist appointment. That is next Tuesday.  We will be back in shape sooner than later!     

Wednesday, February 22^nd., 2023……  Nothing on the calendar today. The weather is still cold but the sun will come out and make it much nicer for a while!  Then it clouds up again and is dreary. We decided to take a drive into Albany and go to Elmer’s for breakfast. I know I’ve mentioned Elmer’s before but will touch on again now. If you’ve been to Palm Springs and have gone to the Elmer’s there, you are at the only one outside of the states of Oregon and Washington!  It’s a family chain and they are famous for their German pancakes. So, of course I’m going to have one when we go there! Cathye can eat these so I ordered the combo and we shared it with a side of fresh fruit. Yummy!  Once we got back, I went to work on the gazebo. 

I’m trying to get all of the little parts and pieces put together for it today. Today I got to the stage where all I need are a few more pieces and then I can start putting the roof panels up. Since it’s still in the 40s with some wind chill, I work out there for a bit then come in to rest and warm up.  But it’s not like I have a deadline or anything. Meanwhile, Russ is done with everything except the clearcoat. He still can’t do any spraying or painting with the weather so cold. So that’s on hold until the weather clears up and we get a couple of days/nights where it doesn’t get below freezing. Given the forecast for this area, it might take a few weeks for that to happen!

Thursday, February 23^rd., 2023…… I know I mentioned the weather right?  Well, this is what we woke up to this morning!

We saw it starting last night around 9:00pm or so, so we expected it. They said it wouldn’t be too heavy and it wasn’t. Maybe an inch or so but it stuck. Cathye’s truck was out and got some of it.

But when we went out to walk the dogs, it was clear and nice. No wind but still chilly. It’s always fun to see the big old white dog out in the snow. She definitely isn’t pure white! Jama is also not black and white – more black and grey!

 

But we need to get them out in it for their walk. Rylee loves the snow – Jama not so much! She tugs hard once we make the turnaround point to go back toward the house! Cathye had to go out to do labs for next week but waited until the roads were clear. The driveways and streets thaw out quickly and are easily drivable. Plus she knows how to drive in bad weather so she had no issues.  While she was out, she ran several errands and stopped at Walmart on the way home. While she did that, I worked on the gazebo. By mid-morning, I had all of the parts on except the roof panels. That I will tackle this afternoon.

Okay, it’s later now. Cathye got back and rested for a bit, then made lunch. She was inside for the rest of the day but I went back out and worked on the panels. This is where I got before calling it a day…

It may look finished from the house, but from this angle you can see that it’s actually only half done for the 26 panels total. I got too cold and needed to come in and warm up!  

Friday, February 24^th., 2023……  No snow today. We saw on the news that Portland really got hit hard!  They got up to 11” yesterday!  Tied a record from 60 years ago! All of the roads were closed. Schools closed. The airport had 75% of the flights cancelled. But like I said, no snow today. I checked my weather app and see that we are supposed to get sun today. But the high is only going to be around 41°. Tonight it is supposed to drop to 18°!  I know what you SoCal folks are thinking!  But I still won’t ever move back that way!  I love it up here! We had a few things on our list for today but we first decided to drive to town for breakfast. We chose Kristi’s again. Cathye can find food that doesn’t set off her gall bladder pain and we might as well go out, right? When we got back, we went to work on housecleaning. Since Cathye fired Virginia, we have made a plan to work on housekeeping every other Friday. I’m in charge of the floors and she does the dusting and cleaning. Today I wanted to hot mop the kitchen and back entry areas plus the bathrooms. I already have the steam mop which works really well. There were areas in the guest bath that the ladies just couldn’t ever get clean with their choice of mopping. But the steamer worked perfectly and it looks way better now!  During our tasks, we would stop at certain spots and take breaks but went back at it. Cat got her jobs done about the same time as I was cleaning up the equipment and putting everything away. We were done for today!  Later, after a nice break, I checked the weather and the wind and decided to go ahead and finish up the rest of the panels. I installed the corner caps and finally the edgeholders and I was done!  

We still have to decide on the gazebo’s exact spot on the deck before we anchor it down but we haven’t figured that out yet. Next up is gazebo #2.  At least for that one, the wood frame is already up and standing so it only needs the metal frame and panels to finish it off.                                                         

Saturday, February 25^th., 2023…… Sunny morning when we rolled out of bed today! Still cold but I want to go out to work on gazebo #2 today. We walked the dogs and Cathye fixed breakfast. Yesterday she had made little breakfast quiches with spinach in muffin pans and this morning we tried them out. She used an asiago cheese which she said she doesn’t like. But I loved them!  Ate three plus a bowl of fresh fruit and some coffee. I was ready for the day!  I stayed inside this morning and worked on my blog and got pictures downloaded and ready to post, then rested for a few minutes before going out to work. Yesterday Cat and I moved the parts and pieces of the gazebo out to the patio and got them staged. But this time I will assemble the cupola by itself in hopes that we can just lift it up as one piece, which means I’m not up there assembling it piece by piece like the first one. The assembly went well and I went out and did the basic framework but left out a couple of pieces so Cathye and I could lift the cupola in place.  We were done for the day. I spent some time watching my taped programs and Cathye did the same. Dinner and then tv until bedtime.

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #7 – Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day & it’s a Girl!

 

Sunday, February 12^th., 2023…… Super Bowl Sunday!  We enjoyed the quiet Sunday morning, got up, walked and fed the dogs and had breakfast. Cathye left for church and I finished up some laundry and worked on my blog. The it was time to rest and catch up on my races and then wait for the Super Bowl to start. We were both staying home today to watch the game here, by ourselves.  Cathye made sloppy joes and we settled in and enjoyed the game (and commercials!). I really didn’t care who won but we were sort of rooting for the Eagles. Oh well, it was a pretty good game anyway!

Monday, February 13^th., 2023……  The weather this week is turning. They say it will snow, maybe even in the valley!  But today, it was just cold! The guys weren’t working today because they have used up all of the deck product. It was by design so we could eliminate overage. So, Russ had to order more. He has decided to go up to Wilsonville (about 80 miles) to get it himself rather than wait until later in the week for delivery.

Later, we headed off to get our taxes done. Cathye had finally got all of her documents back and we were ready. It would be interesting to see how we do on our first year filing jointly. Since my tax lady has passed and I did not like the other guy in the office who took over for her – he doesn’t speak and has no personality (I guess that’s perfect for a tax guy!), we decided to go to Cathye’s girl at H&R Block. She was wonderful and actually did everything right in the office. We got back money from the Federal but have to pay the State. I do have to make a change in my Boeing pension distribution and will also have them go back to the regular deductible I had when Lydia was alive. So that will make more on our return for next time.  When we got back, I wrote a check for the state and got that in the mail. It feels great to know we are done with taxes! Later, we had dinner and settled in to watch tv for the evening.  

Tuesday, February 14^th., 2023……  HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!  We woke up this morning to snow!  This was the first of the season and some areas got substantial white! For us, it was coming down really good for about 20 minutes and actually stuck and lasted for a few hours. I think it was maybe ½ an inch so it was no problem. The guys worked this morning and it wasn’t even a factor. They are 95% done with the deck now. All that is left are the steps and the “extensions” for the gazebo. There are three sets of steps. We are keeping the original ones and that is where I will have them reinstall the handrail. One will go off the back of the deck. The other one will be in between the extensions that will support the gazebo columns. They roughed in what they could and now discovered that they are short again on material. This time it’s the fascia that will tie all of the steps together.  Of course, I have made several changes (duh!) as we go forward so the gazebo support extensions took up substantial material he hadn’t planned on. Oh well. we want it done the way we want it done and I won’t settle for anything less! Later, we left to go to Costco. We needed to find a few things for the dinner Cathye has planned for us. She knows I love Costco’s stuffed salmon but they were out of it. So, we got garlic chicken drumsticks instead. Cathye’s diet has changed now with her gall bladder causing issues, so we have to limit what we eat for now, and chicken will work.  Dinner was terrific!  We had a nice bottle of wine that we have saved from a winery in Santa Rosa CA. so everything was quiet and very nice!   Tv until bedtime.   

Wednesday, February 15^th., 2023…… We woke up early and had the girls out and walked. No rain this week and the snow is gone but it was still pretty cold out!  Russ was here by himself today and worked part of the day. Again, they needed one more fascia board which he went to get. He has taxes to work on before he goes to file, so he won’t be back until Friday. He also needs to gather supplies for spraying the clearcoating on the ceiling and beams. That step has to wait until it doesn’t freeze at nights so that is not expected this week at all!  

Thursday, February 16^th., 2023……  I spent a lot of the day out in my shop assembling the parts for the gazebo frame. I am totally impressed with the quality of this product!  The instructions are pretty easy to follow and the parts are all nicely marked. I got all of the wood parts assembled for the frame (minus the support arms) for one of the gazebos. I can’t put it up until the extensions on the deck are 100% completed, but I can get all of the pieces assembled and ready. Plus, I will need help to move them out of my shop and put in place for the install. At the end of the day, I had one unit completely done.  

Friday, February 17^th., 2023……  After we took the girls out and got them fed, we left and headed off to The Point for breakfast. The guys were back today and got everything finished that they could. They got the extensions on both ends of the deck installed and detailed. 

They still have a few things on their punch list:  the handrail, sanding on the underside of the patio cover, and clearcoating the entire ceiling and columns. While they were here, I had them move the gazebo columns out and we got them staged. Jeff worked on the deck while Russ helped me line them up and get them bolted together. After they left, I fine tuned them and staged them. Tomorrow I will put up the braces and that will finish up all of the wooden parts of each one.  Next step is the frame. There has to be over 100 parts for each one!

Saturday, February 18^th., 2023…… We slept in and showered and took the dogs out and got them fed and then headed out to go to Kristi’s for breakfast. They had been closed mid- January to yesterday doing some minor remodeling but opened just yesterday. Being a Saturday, and also everyone having missed them, meant they were super crowded! It took a few minutes to get a table and another few minutes to get coffee but it all worked out and we had a nice meal. When we got home, I went to work on my blog and Cathye talked to her brother in Greensboro NC.  She is plotting now in her mind about a 3-month trip across the country!  We have tons of details to work out but we both know we will need to get out and travel sooner than later. So, after my cardiologist consults and her gall bladder surgery are all settled in and we are good to go, we may be able to seriously sit down and plan that trip!  But for today, she decided to go play with the girls. Misty and Lona are going down to a mutual friend’s home in Eugene to celebrate a 90^th birthday and Cathye is going too. The sun came out and warmed up a bit (high 40s) so I spent the morning and most of the afternoon working on the gazebo wooden braces and got those all completed. That takes care of all of the wooden parts for both gazebos. Next up is the roof. Here’s what it looks like so far…

I also included some shots of the steps and the extensions. I cleaned up and then came in and relaxed and watched the Nascar Xfinity race.  I did take a few minutes while I was out there working to join Ashley and Kaleb (Cat’s grandkids in Prescott Valley in AZ.) - who were doing a reveal on Facebook livestream. It’s a girl!

Sophia will have a little sister!  Cathye got back later in the evening. She said the party was nice but she ate too much!  I had fed the dogs and fixed myself some dinner and was relaxing watching my races. We watched tv and talked about the events today and then called it a night.          

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #6 – Permits Bought Off & An Early Valentines Gift!

 

Sunday, February 5^th., 2023…… No football today – unless you want to count the new “pro bowl events”. I taped them but couldn’t watch all of it.  I think they should just select the all-stars from the teams and honor them with paid vacations to Hawaii or somewhere and not play football. But Nascar is back!  It’s an exhibition race from the LA Coliseum, but that’s ok.  I’m glad the season is starting! We walked the dogs and fed them and left for the morning. We drove down to Eugene and had breakfast and then went to see 80 for Brady. It was a cute movie and very funny. I’m not a Tom Brady fan and it highlighted one of his comeback super bowl games, but Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Lily Tomlin did an excellent job so it was still a fun movie!  We got back home around 1:30pm and settled in for the day. I watched some races and worked on my blog and Cathye got her tax papers together.

Monday, February 6^th., 2023…… Russ and Jeff got here early and went to work on the gas leak issue. They had to make another run to the store to get the bubble spray that is designed to find the tiniest leaks in the line. That worked!  They quickly spotted it and it was close to the bbq valve so it was relatively easy to fix. Now we wait for the inspector. They went back to work on the trim boards and layout for the upper section of the porch. It took some high level math and calculating to make the adjustments to make the porch boards come out even. But I think they got it right.  The inspector came by later in the morning and signed off on both the final building and gas line permits. Only the electrical to go!  Meanwhile, Cathye worked on her pension folks today. She needed to change the name on them for item number one. But she also hasn‘t received two of them yet. We were expecting hard copies but are finding that some of these places just post them online and you are required to log in to your account and print them yourself. But she still needs to contact each one of them to get her name changed. Some want just verification over the phone – others want a copy of our marriage certificate. Go figure!

Tuesday, February 7^th., 2023…… Today the rain was mostly off and on! While we were out on our walk and right when the guys got here immediately it started to rain! No worries – they just put on their raingear and went to work!  They were really close to closing in all of the deck. They have to leave the border area on the upper level open for the electricians. We will try to get them here asap. I called and they said they would try to fit us in to their schedule and could be here as early as tomorrow. We also had a few appointments today. We both had massage appointments for 11:15am and 12:30pm and then Cat had her gastro consult at 2:45pm in Albany. We managed to work all of that in and were actually early for the gastro appointment. They spoke and after hearing about the pain that Cathye is in pretty much constantly now, concluded that she needs to get an appointment for a consult with the gastro surgeon. She turned it in and said they should call to schedule in the next day or so. When we left there, we stopped by Arby’s and had ‘linner’. We got back and fed the dogs and rested for the day and evening.   

Wednesday, February 8^th., 2023……  The electricians were here at zero dark hundred this morning!  They had to use their headlamps!  I got dressed and came out and called them ‘ninjas’. Even though it was super early, we are glad to see them so I couldn’t get mad. But they squeezed us in this morning and wanted to get started and work to get as much as they could done so they could move on to their next job. They drilled and ran the lights for the stairstep lights and got 90% of that done. They have to wait on one piece of fascia board that Russ needs to go get later today. They also got the spa wires run through and were ready for the final connection. I had Russ and Jeff help me push the spa out of the rv garage and around on the driveway and up a makeshift ramp to its final spot on the deck. Yaay!  Before they left, Scott and Harley said they will be back one more time to do the final. We can’t wait! 

Also, early this morning, the surgeon’s office called and she gets in to see him in 13 days. That was their earliest. That or we could check with either Corvallis or Albany offices and hope they could see her sooner. But since this one would be in town, she opted to wait it out. She headed off to Walmart and I went out to clean up the rv garage where the spa was. I will need to reinstall the spa cover but I think I will want to touch up the paint on it beforehand. Later, we settled in and watched tv and rested for the day. 

Thursday, February 9^th., 2023…… We had an appointment to take the dogs in for grooming this morning, so we were up early and had them walked and fed. Once we took them, we had some time to work around the house. The housekeepers were coming tomorrow so we needed to clean up a little around the house. The guys were here and are working on getting the trim around the edges all dialed in. They are doing a really nice job!  We still need to come up with a plan for the base for the gazebo. When I laid this out, I didn’t plan for the steel columns to be where they are so the 13’ for the gazebo length will not fit on the deck now. Here's a catalog pic so you can see the legs and the size...

So, Russ and I are redesigning it to extend areas on the sides of the stairs so it will work!  We got the call to pick up the girls and we went to do that. Then we went to work getting our bags packed for tomorrow. As my early Valentine’s gift to Cat, we are going to drive out to Spirit Mountain Casino. I got us a room for Friday night. We’ll get there and Cathye can go crazy! She is a slot junkie and loves to play for hours on end. By having a room, I can hang out and know she is down there having fun and she knows I’m comfortable just kicking back and relaxing in the room. I remember days past when I would want to spend hours in a casino – but I guess all things change and I just don’t have that desire any more. Penny is coming over to stay the night with the dogs. She is also watching her neighbor’s house and feeding their dog, so she will be going back and forth. We were ready!

Friday, February 10^th., 2023……  Russ wasn’t coming today. We were up and going early. I needed to make a run to Walmart to get a few things so Cathye fed the dogs. I also brough back breakfast.  We ate and then waited for a bit until Virginia got here. Turns out she had a small crew – one other person and one more came later. We left the house to them and took the dogs and went out to the motorhome to relax and watch tv out there for a bit. Then it was time to leave. We took off around noon and headed up the back way. Spirit Mountain is off of hwy 22 west of Salem, about 67 miles.  I drove us in the back way and we got there around 1:30. Check-in wasn’t until 4:00pm but our room was ready so we got lucky. Once we were unpacked, we went down to the casino and Cat went right to work!  We played for 30 minutes or so and then took a break for linner. We decided to have French dip sandwiches and beer at the brewery in house.

I headed up to the room and she went back to her fun. She would text every few hours to let me know how she was doing – sometimes up and sometimes down – but she was enjoying herself. She came up to take a break later in the afternoon but then headed back for more slots.  

                       

Saturday, February 11^th., 2023…… We slept in and checked out around 10:00am. We went back into the casino to hit the coffee house but the guy seemed to not be interested in helping get us in and out, so we left and just went over to the beverage bar in the casino and made our own coffee to go!  Plus, that was free!  We left the casino and drove to Dallas (about 10 miles) and went to one of our favorite places, Tater’s, for breakfast. Even though the wait was 30 minutes, we were ok with that. We got back on the road and drove back home, stopping at a roadside business in town that sold planter boxes. We liked the guy’s construction techniques – these were built to last! – but they were pricey. What we found would cost us around $170.00.  But he can build-to-size so we will keep him in mind. I got his card and will need to get final measurements if we decide to order later. We got back home and saw butthead and the little princess and played with them for a bit, then unpacked and settled back in. Our housekeeper had written us a note saying she is charging us more now.  No advance notice. So, we will be calling her and cancelling her service. Cathye has decided that she can do cleaning and dusting and I can do the vacuuming. Maybe later we will look for another person, but for now, we will do it ourselves.         

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #5 – Birthday Wishes, More Inspections, & More Permits!

 

Sunday, January 29^th., 2023…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDY!  His 50^th!  Wow! We had plans to fly down to SoCal to surprise him but they’ve both been sick so we ran out of time to get a good airline rate. But he’s back to healthy again and was able to go out with his friends for a bike ride today. We kept missing him by phone but he texted back and we shared our thoughts on his special day! Today was playoffs, auctions, motocross and other taped programs for me while Cat went to church. But when she got back, we headed over to see her friends, Paige and Debbie, who live right on the Santiam River a mile or so from my sister. They have several dogs and their English cream just had a litter of 9 puppies!  So, we had to go see them!  They only have two or three promised out at this time. Price is $1000-1200. But the most important thing for them is that they go to good homes. We don’t have the time or reason to have another dog so we just played with them and visited with Paige and Debbie for a bit, then headed back home to rest for the day.

l had taped the playoff games and didn’t miss anything. Problem was both teams I wanted to see win (49ers and Bengals) – didn’t! It will be the Eagles and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Oh, well. My Broncos and her Packers weren’t in it anyway!  Should be a good game though!  

Monday, January 30^th., 2023…… Jeff is out of town and Russ must have decided to take a day off because there was no work on the deck today.  We walked and fed the dogs, ate breakfast, then headed over to Albany to GNC, Hobby Lobby and then on to Costco. All of that took us into the afternoon. But we had no plans anyway. We are now working on plans for our one year anniversary coming up in April. We thought about many destinations but decided to combine family into this one. So, we’re going to go to Missouri in late April or early May. We plan to fly in to St. Louis, go see Michael and Crystal, then tour around Hannibal and St. Louis. My old work friend, Nancy, lives enroute so we’ll plan to stop and spend some time with her and Bob while we’re close by.  We’re searching out airfare and hotels as well as dinner cruises and tours (Mark Twain House and cave, STL Arch, Budweiser etc.).  Of course we are also honing in our Alaska cruise in July!  We have three shore excursions booked. We are now tracking their website to see if they are posting any info on ship entertainment at night while we are at sea. So far, nothing. Bill and Treasa have finished their booking and secured their flights to and from Oregon, so they are ready too. It will be a fun trip!   

Tuesday, January 31^st., 2023…… This morning we were up super early and fed the girls and left the house. I had a 7:00am meeting with my dr. as a follow up. We have been monitoring my blood pressure, heart rate, and pulse ox every day and gave that to her. She says everything looked good. She ran another ekg and that looked ok as well.  I am now turned over to the cardiologist for more follow up.  We left there and stopped for breakfast at Appletree and came home for the day. Russ was here by himself and worked on the deck for the spa. Turns out they will have to remove the first run of deckboards they made to tighten them up so that the run across the whole deck lines up. We also discussed the upcoming inspections. Electrical rough in and final on the Build are both scheduled for tomorrow. The electrical should not be a problem but the guy doing the roof and structure inspection is a loose cannon. He has already tagged the gas lines I had Russ run under the deck for the firepit and bbq (he says that requires a separate permit) but we are hoping he will forget that and buy off the items on the existing permit and be done.

Wednesday, February 1^st., 2023……   Another cold but dry day. The sun was out early but it didn’t get out of the 40s all day. They say the rest of the month will be in the 50s so we’re hoping for that!  The guys continue to work on the deck boards and trim boards. They have had to make some adjustments to align everything and that means less progress but we’re glad they are working on quality which we will see forever!  

The electrical inspector was here and gone and was super happy with the electrical rough in. But the other inspector didn’t show.  Russ either called or texted him (not sure which) and he told me that he still wasn’t happy about the gas lines being run without a permit and that is holding up the job. Long story short – I will have to go get a separate homeowner’s permit for that task – and pay the county yet again! – before he will come out and inspect the overall job and give an ok on the final. It’s tough when you have to deal with these county inspector primadonnas!  But overall, it's going smoothly on the jobsite so far and we’re getting excited! Cathye made spaghetti for dinner and we settled in and watched tv until calling it a night.        

Thursday, February 2^nd., 2023…… This morning I was up and moving early. I had an 8:00am acupuncture appointment and I left early to get myself some breakfast and coffee beforehand. Once done with the appointment, I drove over from Corvallis to Albany to go to the Linn County Courthouse to the building and planning department. I explained why I was there. They pulled up my address and saw the updated info from the inspector. Yep – he showed it as red-tagged for the entire job until I got a permit for the gas line!  So, $114.00 later, I was done and on my way!  I asked for an inspection for tomorrow. When I got home, I gave Russ the permit and told him what they said. So, today Russ would reinstall the shutoff valve above deck for the bbq so the inspector could see it. He may or may not require a 24-hr pressure test on the new line so we are ready to attach that gauge if he asks for it (odds are he will!).  Meanwhile, the guys continued on the deck. Today they laid in some additional structural framing for the upper deck. This is not really required for the Fiberon deckboards but it will make it the same as the lower level and provide the same feeling when it’s walked on. When they left end of day, it was ready for inspection!  We had leftovers for dinner and hung around the house and watched tv until bedtime.   

Friday, February 3^rd., 2023……  No rains today! Yaay! It even managed to get up into the low 50s today. That’s actually good for here in February. The guys were here and were working on the upper crossbeams from the old porch. There was a little wood rot on the carrier post so they removed and replaced that. It carried down to the old porch beam so they removed a few feet and sistered in new pieces which will be planed and painted the porch color. 

We have decided to paint the house but leave the new portico as is and just clear coat it. You can see the difference in the pic above. The house and porch trim will get new white paint whenever we decide to paint the house. That won’t be this year, so for now, the area they just worked on will be touched up. The inspector showed up. I went out to meet him and he turned out to be pretty nice!  But he immediately asked about the pressure gauge for the gas test, as in “Where is your pressure gauge?”  I explained that in California, they bring them and install them themselves. I said I assumed he would bring it and install it and test it. Probably not true but he bought it.  It needs to be sealed and hold 10 lbs. of air pressure for 15 minutes.  He said he would stop back on Monday and that was the only thing he needed to see to buy off the whole job. Russ and Jeff left right after that and got a few more parts for the beams they were working on and brought back the gauge and installed it. Before they left, they put 20 lbs. of air in the line. 

He said he would be back tomorrow to do some more work by himself and would check it then.     

Saturday, February 4^th., 2023……  This morning the weather was just ok. It had rained last night. Typical light showers but the wind was really heavy. It managed to blow water all the way under the new roof and made it to the old porch so everything was wet for the dogs when they went out! Russ must have decided not to work today because he was a no show. I checked the gauge and texted him that it was down to zero air!  He will have to scramble on Monday to find the leak and fix it before the guy shows up! We ran some errands but for the most part, just stayed around the house. We did laundry throughout the day and watched tv. Early to bed.