Thursday, March 31, 2005
With Grammer passing away last week, that makes 3 grandparents lost within a year. I'm really starting to hate this mortality thing. Life's more lonely without the people whom I, until now, never doubted would be there. It's not that I took her, or my grandfathers, for granted, but I always thought I'd be telling them about my construction project. I always expected they'd have something insightful to say, and I always knew I'd need their advice. Now ...
The comfort I get is knowing how much they instilled in me, and the confidence they held in my abilities. I still mean to make them proud, somehow.
So life pushes on: Walls are going up on Galusha's second floor at the rate of about 1 per day, and I meet this weekend with a prospective buyer.
My lawyer and I were brainstorming yesterday on how a sale might happen, and then he says, "Now, you've got your developer license, right?" I thought he was joking.
The comfort I get is knowing how much they instilled in me, and the confidence they held in my abilities. I still mean to make them proud, somehow.
So life pushes on: Walls are going up on Galusha's second floor at the rate of about 1 per day, and I meet this weekend with a prospective buyer.
My lawyer and I were brainstorming yesterday on how a sale might happen, and then he says, "Now, you've got your developer license, right?" I thought he was joking.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Mabel has her forms off, and is she beautiful.
This weekend I felt gleeful about how well the construction is going (knock wood), the quality and agreeable nature of all the people involved, and the fact that I had two showings scheduled for today. Then there's the wonderful simple things -- say, a perfect cocktail made from homemade blueberry vodka (thanks Julie and Keith!), a misty rain, and the pretty palette of concrete and wood out back -- all conspiring to make me feel lucky and in my element.
Kitty-corner neighbor put his 750-square-foot house up for sale at $225K last week, and I hear it's already sold after a modest bidding war. That bodes well for sale of Construction HQ, if I'm up for it.
This weekend I felt gleeful about how well the construction is going (knock wood), the quality and agreeable nature of all the people involved, and the fact that I had two showings scheduled for today. Then there's the wonderful simple things -- say, a perfect cocktail made from homemade blueberry vodka (thanks Julie and Keith!), a misty rain, and the pretty palette of concrete and wood out back -- all conspiring to make me feel lucky and in my element.
Kitty-corner neighbor put his 750-square-foot house up for sale at $225K last week, and I hear it's already sold after a modest bidding war. That bodes well for sale of Construction HQ, if I'm up for it.
Monday, March 14, 2005
I'm adding pictures to the right here more frequently now. I also put a few from the high-drama pour day at the end of last month. And if you want to see yet more, visit the mother lode of pix at http://photobucket.com/albums/v421/manao/Mabel%20and%20Galusha/
Speaking of pours, today's Mabel's big one! I almost can't stand to sit here at work, 5 miles away from the action.
I just got back from Coronado where houses the size of Galusha sell for, let's see, $1,495,000.
Speaking of pours, today's Mabel's big one! I almost can't stand to sit here at work, 5 miles away from the action.
I just got back from Coronado where houses the size of Galusha sell for, let's see, $1,495,000.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
The weather continues to awe everyone. The construction guys -- and yes, they're all guys -- are now so used to everyday sunshine they just show up in their T-shirts and they've pretty much lost that surprised-Portlander-blinking-in-the-natural-light look.
Mabel's getting ready for her first pour, on Monday, so the concrete crew is over there pounding up the forms. It's easier getting the east wall up with the old pine tree pruned. Meanwhile, across the way, Galusha moves into adolescence with its second-floor wood subfloor.
You walk into Galusha now, and it feels like a house.
Guillaume came over earlier this week and got me all scared with the prediction that the economy's headed toward deeper times or another crash. It increases my worry over selling Galusha, but thank goodness I have a generous time line on the loan.
And an e-mail out of the blue today from someone living a half block away asking about the house gives me hope. Plus, I got the millionaires coming from San Francisco later this month!
So my tango friend Bugs stopped by the site recently while I was at work. When I saw him at the milonga, he said, "Wow, what a bunch of concrete! I mean, do you have any idea what that costs?!?!"
Mabel's getting ready for her first pour, on Monday, so the concrete crew is over there pounding up the forms. It's easier getting the east wall up with the old pine tree pruned. Meanwhile, across the way, Galusha moves into adolescence with its second-floor wood subfloor.
You walk into Galusha now, and it feels like a house.
Guillaume came over earlier this week and got me all scared with the prediction that the economy's headed toward deeper times or another crash. It increases my worry over selling Galusha, but thank goodness I have a generous time line on the loan.
And an e-mail out of the blue today from someone living a half block away asking about the house gives me hope. Plus, I got the millionaires coming from San Francisco later this month!
So my tango friend Bugs stopped by the site recently while I was at work. When I saw him at the milonga, he said, "Wow, what a bunch of concrete! I mean, do you have any idea what that costs?!?!"
