Dear Friends and Family!

We hope you are all happy and healthy this holiday season, and have joy in your hearts and treats in your bellies!

Merry Christmas!
Zoey and Osker

We're keeping an eye on two fish logs just up the creek from our beach.  At some point Fish & Wildlife placed these giant logs further up the stream to create fish habitat.  These two logs came loose during the last high water.  They're really no threat for us because we're a ways from the creek, but if they move down to our neighbors house close to the creek, branches can get caught behind them making a dam where water backs up and floods the banks.

The floor sanding is finished!!!  Mom and the carpenter have been on hands and knees looking for sander scratches, even doing the final 150 grit with a palm sander!!!

Next is a major vacuum and wipe down!

Our flooring mentor started sanding!!  He uses 60 grit on the drum sander going diagonal, then with the grain. Then he uses 100 grit on an orbital sander.  He seems very conscientious and patient!!  Lots of dust.

We have just finished laying the final boards at thresholds and around some edges.  Glad to be done with this backbreaking job!

Geez.  We were just peeking in when they saw us and came over and shut the windows.  Like we were going to jump in and track mud on the freshly sanded floor??!!!

 The bathroom cabinets have been built and installed.  They were built by a Shady Cove cabinet maker.  Mom had him use "Old Fashioned Milk Paint" for the finish.  It's a paint that allows the character of the wood to show through.

This is the master bedroom walk-in closet flooring.  The boards came in lengths ranging from 1' to 7'.  We used a lot of the smaller pieces in this closet.

Finished!!! Sort of... still needs sanding, finish and closet organizer!

With all the rain we've had recently the creek is raging!  Mom has a little fit when me and Osker go near the water.

Not much house progress last week during Thanksgiving, but we're back on flooring this week!

Osker fell in love with Jada, a Tibetan Spaniel, during her holiday visit.

Apparently Osker and I aren't allowed in our new house anymore.  Just because flooring is going down?  Just because it's muddy outside?  We don't mind.  We love tearing around the empty house.

The master bedroom, den, hallway, and living room are done except for the last board against the edge.  

Dad pressed 120 lbs of apples this weekend and got
about 4 gallons of cider.  I'm a good helper because I love fruit and I can keep the floor clean.  I've been grazing apples, plums, and pears for months now.  They can be unripe or rotten--I eat them all!!  Unfortunately I have to go poo in the middle of the night, so the folks are hoping the fruit stops dropping soon!  Osker doesn't eat as many fruits and veggies as I do.  He's more of a carnivore.

We had a flooring guy help us get the wood floor started.  He built a frame around the slate on the hearth, then we snapped some lines and started laying the boards!!  It's sort of a back breaker.  Mom likens it to knitting; one row at a time.

 This week Dad drew an AutoCad picture of the flooring layout including the wood stove hearth so we'll know how all pieces will fit. Then he built a frame so Mom could set the slate flush with the wood floor.  The slate color is a little dark; our paw prints show!!  I'm sure we'll never hear the end of it!




Today we had our first fire in an insulated house!!

We installed the closet door and the cellar door (unfinished).  The cellar door should help keep the house warmer.

The windows got cleaned up this week too!  All the tape and mud was removed and sanded ready to be stained!


Osker's foot seems to be better.  Although there may be something in his foot, it's not slowing him down!

They finally took me to the secret swimming hole!  It's on Elk Creek across the road and is deep and wide.  I can jump into deep water right from the side.  It was wonderful!

This was the last of the primed, yellow hardiboard!  The khaki color at the bottom is not much different but the house and garage look so much better!

 My human sister, Erin, came over last weekend and helped Mom finish painting the interior walls!!  Mom sprayed and Erin rolled.  This past week Mom got the ceilings rolled with a flat paint.

Osker has a foxtail in his paw.  The doctor poked around but couldn't find it.  Now it's swollen.  He has to soak his paw several times a day.  He has to stay inside this weekend and I have to babysit.

 The house is painted!!!  Still some trim pieces to cut, paint, and nail up, but that can wait a year, right??!!!

We've had some 32 deg mornings.  The garden frosted, but the walnut trees in the foreground of this picture haven't been hit yet.

 Mom got the hardibacker cut and layed down in the bathrooms.  Now it needs hundreds of nails hammered in.  The guy who is making the bathroom cabinets is almost ready to install, so this underlayment had to be done even though there is no plan yet for type of tiles or shower stalls!!!

Dad and Mom are trying to finish the T&G over the garage/shop so that the last piece of siding can be put up, so that the front side can be painted!!!

 Osker helped Grandpa paint.  They didn't really want me to help because of my tail...

Three sides of the house are caulked and painted!  Only the south side (front) to go.

 Dad and Grandpa got the garage south gable, sided and painted!  We think this is the last job with scaffolding.

Grandma and Grandpa headed back east on the train. We'll miss Grandpa's help and Grandma's cookies!!

Both chickens are molting.  They no longer have tail feathers!!  Zambit looks really ugly.  Hopefully the new feathers grow in soon!

 Mom was getting all excited about the interior, but reality hit, and Dad and Grandpa convinced her to finish the outside before the rain starts.  So we finished the soffett, siding, caulking, and painting the north and east sides of the garage.

Then Grandpa and Mom finished siding the north side of the house.  Mom has it taped and caulked ready for paint.

Dad and Grandpa have finished the soffett on the south side of the garage and are working on the siding which includes lots of "tricky" cuts around the breezeway roof.

Chicken note:  Wonkette finally stopped brooding.  We put a blue ice pack in the nesting box!!  That stopped her from sitting there in one day!

 Grandma and Grandpa are visiting!  Grandpa is helping backroll paint. We got the garage side done, and have the first coat done in the house.  It's a  very subtle color, snow down.

Grandma feeds us cookies when we sit and are gentle.

Zambit has decided to become sociable.  She has been joining us for cocktail hour.  She likes Triscuits!!

Osker is always trying to get close to me.  He tries to hug me or hold paws.

Got 2 pallets of oak flooring today (this picture is one pallet)!  A lumber company truck delivered it, then we had to move the 60+ bundles into the house to acclimate.  It's 7" wide white oak, unfinished.

The dining room french doors are done, ready to be hung. 

We primed the garage yesterday, but don't have enough paint for the shop side.  Another trip to town next week!

We're doing better being near the chickens, but sometimes it's hard to resist giving them a romp.

Still working on staining and varnishing doors, putting drywall mud on the garage walls, and prepping for paint and flooring.

Wonkette is broody!  Her feathers are all puffed out; she's ready to hatch some eggs.  Her biological chicken clock is going off!  Problem is there's no rooster.  We have to throw her out of the hen house each day to break this cycle, or she would stay in there all day.

Swamper and his Dad came to visit week before last!  His Dad helped split the last truck-load of oak that filled the third woodshed!  We should be comfy-warm this winter, but we'll probably be heating two houses so we need lots of wood!  Swamper's Dad also helped Mom roll primer on the dining room and kitchen.

Swamper's Dad liked to cool off in the creek!  Osker couldn't figure out the disconnect between the head and feet above the water!  He kept barking at the feet!










Now that texturing is done, Mom went back to finishing the exterior doors.  Dad made a temporary door block--their worst fear is that a skunk gets in at night and lets loose!!

Dad got the paint sprayer working again so today they sprayed primer on more of the main floor rooms.  Just the entryway to go.  Mom is frantically trying to pick wall colors.  She ordered white oak flooring for most of the house!

Now that all the sheetrock is up, the insulation guys came back this week and blew-in about 14" of fiberglass insulation onto the ceilings in the four attic corners.  It made a big difference in the inside house temp.   The texture guys were here Mon-Wed.  They got the interior textured including the attic.  It's been drying the last two days.  They'll be back Saturday to do a final sanding and clean-up.  They finished two rooms so Mom could start priming while the other areas were drying.

On hot days like today, Mom takes us to the creek to play stick in the water.  Mom throws it, I get it, Osker steals it and takes it to the bank.  I love this game and can play it much longer than anyone else!

They finished the taping and mudding today.  It was tape with mud, then 2 more coats of mud.  They do such a smooth job, they don't sand.  They only did the first coat on the garage so we can practice our technique in there!  The texture is next!!

Dad started a wild critter relocation program.  He captured these two young racoons yesterday.  They were in the cherry tree while we were picking cherries (3 of them, one got away)!!  It took us a while to realize we had company.  Dad caught their mom a week ago and took her on a long drive.  These guys went for a ride today. He worries about our safety.

This little guy (we think it's a western screech owl) perched himself on the kitchen window today.  He stayed all day even when Mom was staining the porch ceiling!  He left a little pile of poop on the new window sill!

Me and Osker are helping pick cherries for pies and jam!  This sour cherry tree is loaded this year!

 Got walls!  We're doing the happy dance!!  It took 6 guys 4 days to sheet the house, attic, shop, and garage!  Taping and texturing will happen this week!

Mom and Dad finished the last section of porch ceiling today.  Breezeway and garage overhang still to go!