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.