Moving right along...

These are some pictures Jeff our contractor took on friday.

Jay is laying down a vapor barrier. Before the floor was built on top of the dirt floor with a crawl space underneath. Surprisingly though, things have stayed very dry in the past 100 years. We have some luck I guess.

After the vapor barrier they started laying the beams for the floor.

With insulation this time around....

And then the sub floor.

Last order of business before the weekend was to install the steal beam that is going to make the upstairs floor nice and snug again.

And that is 4 days of work, people. 

This is the foundation in the pastry shop and at first glance there was talk of excavation and relaying the whole thing. But the boys figured out a much smarter (AND CHEAPER!!!!) way to do it.

They've built this half wall and they will pour cement behind it which will tighten up the rock foundation and keep the roots from growing into the house...

Sexy beam.

Starting to frame out the walls. It was fun to see the old siding and the door but it's time to start buttoning things up.

Except for here where we are opening things back up. Gonna need a better door though.

The boys are upstairs today framing out the ceiling in the former GREEEEEEN room.

I'm trying to solve my heroine's problems. My dear Jeanie has all the answers but how did she get them? You'll find out when Transylvania Express comes to a theatre near you. 

Aaaaaand the birds of the day 

are Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal

Daily robin & birthday greetings

March 22nd, 2010. 

Just  happens to be my lovely sister's 40th birthday! Grattis Kajan!

Annual christmas day walk around Getingedalen.

Sisterly love.

Annual croquette

Annual boogie down at My Other Home in Örebro while it was still around.

Got the good news on the phone yesterday that we should be expecting Getingedalen in Clintondalen this summer. We're just waiting to hear when Gizmo gets his vacation and then it's hopefully ticket booking time! 

NEW GUY NEW GUY NEW GUY! 

He's a white throated sparrow and I didn't figure it out by taking shortcuts, he was actually polite enough to introduce himself. 

And our book actually came in handy this time, he's quite unique looking and was easy to look up.

If I may say so myself they are quite good photos so click  on them to make them bigger  cause he's a pretty handsome bird.

I will not be a bird snob though, and one sparrow is just as great as the next so here's the just as cool house sparrow and his lovely lady.

Got beer?

AREPA! As fun to say as it is to eat. I was inspired to do Mexican weekend for 2 reasons. There was a lot of cilantro in my window sill boxes and as we were getting ready to bottle our brew we needed to empty some more Tecate bottles. 

Arepas are South American corn meal pancakes and you use pre cooked corn meal, masa harina to make them.

2 cups of masa harina

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups of boiling water

Mix the corn meal and salt and add the boiling water. Mix it all together and make a dough, then let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

Make patties and fry both sides in oil until they get a crispy surface. Lay the patties on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

We topped them off with cheese and broiled for a few minutes. Then served with refried beans and cheese and salsa fresca. 

In my salsa fresca I put a crap load of vine ripened tomatoes, a crap load is about 10. Half went through the blender and half I chopped by hand. There's cilantro in there, both store bought and home grown. Sweet spanish onion. One jalapeño. Salt. I let it sit for a few hours and that's it. 

We had left overs this morning and I poached some eggs and we had arepa bennies. Good one E!


Our Blue Jay Brew has been fermenting for a week and today it was time to bottle it. James was a good boy and emptied most of these. I helped a tiny bit. 








Tasty. 





We started by siphoning the fermented brew into the bottling bucket. There's a lot of yuck at the bottom of the fermenting bucket that you don't want in the bottles so we siphoned off the top. While it goes into the bottling bucket we also added the priming sugar that will build the bubbles.


We also took a little taste and you know what? We got beer.

From that bucket we siphoned into bottles.

Then you cap the bottle. With an insane smile on your face apparently.

And that, dear readers, is a bottle of Blue Jay Brew: batch #1. 

So relax alright, have a homebrew.

We are going to crack one in 2 weeks to see how the process is going, but the bulk of it - 16 bottles - will wait for 4 weeks. 

Demo part deux

Is this day 2 or 54 of the demolition? Team Triple J is moving at like break neck pace. 

Temporary structural support for the upstairs. Tomorrow they are putting in a steel beam.

Concrete has been poured to support the new floor.

The entrance to the once basement kitchen and the clapboards of the original house.

The idiot/girl who never got to go to spring break in Cabo in me wants to fill this whole thing with water and have like the biggest mudfight of all times.

Now you have to step up to go down to the basement.

And can I please please please share with you the finch of the day. Because there was never a tougher finch. Click on the picture to enlarge it cause you have to see his little bruiser face better. 

You talking to me? Well you must be talking to me cause there's no on else on this twig.

Watch your step

Another day completed for J&J, and for the day - a cameo by another J and my gawd do they work hard. 

This post will require some befores and afters, ladies and gents.

This was our living room during the christmas break. Much time was spent here. So many movies, so much ice cream. Napping, drooling, backgammon, more movies. Even some chocolate fondue was enjoyed right here.

Now - watch your step.

We are putting down a vapor barrier and insulating the floor. Then all the boards will be replaced and then we'll put on a sub floor. Then we take a break and go sell our kidneys. And then....

More thens....

And there it is. Aaaaahhh this cathedral ceiling almost makes me want to pray a little. 

And now...

That stone work is TO DIIIIIE FAH! 

Haha! It's the only greeeeen left. My sister is right though, now I think we need to keep some kind of memento of the once greeeeeen. This weird funky door leading to the blue room maybe.

Yuck!

And yay!

This is a funky paste job of the whole room. Bathroom will go in the far end and the studs still in place will just become another wall a little deeper in. The ceiling peaks go in different directions and it will be a strange a lovely room one day.

Insulation schimsulation. Here we have clap board siding nailed right onto the studs.

Oh, I'm sorry I take that back. The team did find some insulation...

Three of these gorgeous things from 1949. Making me think that that's when the addition was built. The ads are the best...

Bis später. Tills vidare.

First Annual Robin Watch

I am on high robin alert today and it's already paying off. Bam - gotcha!

Until today I really only knew about robins from Sandy's dream in Blue Velvet (only like my favorite movie of all times) where there's a dark world without robins, who represent love. In the final scene the family sees a molten looking robin on the window sill and all is once again well in Lumberton. Here's the GA-GA awesome Fred Elmes talking about it. Of course the story about making the scene is as good as the scene itself since David Lynch was involved.

What I want to know though is how Linné would justify his latin name - Turdus.

This is the first guy I saw this morning (downy or hairy woodpecker) though. Pecking at a stick of knot weed. My god I know these are meager times but c'mon - knot weed?

Our crack contracting team is going nutso in the green room today. They've demoed enough to expose the peaked roof. Pictures will follow.