Bwah-ha-ha-ha

Our friends Jill and Casey just broke ground on their house building project. Good luck kids! They have a blog. Go give them some love here.

Walk With Me

Music: Fleet Foxes - Mykonos off Sun Giant and Heard Them Stirring off Fleet Foxes.

Slap A Star On It!! The Sister House is Done

For those of you who don't know, this star is Tom's brand. You will find it on his projects large and small. The Sister House brand is located on the top, right corner of the pantry screen door.

Never has a signature looked so beautiful!

Russell wonders why all the fuss about approval from the County when he has already given his stamp of approval.

I am sure you realize that when I say DONE, it is just according to the County and the bank. We still have a long list of things to do (backsplashes, shower rod, exterior trim paint, varnish baseboards, fence, landscaping, carport, etc.) But words fail me as I try to think how best to describe my relief. My entire world has been shrinking down to the goal of getting that signature. Now that we have it, I can see the rest of the world in full color again. Feels real good.

I have made a video walk through of the house that I wanted to post tonight but it is taking forever to load onto YouTube so I will post that tomorrow.

I predict a night free of anxiety dreams for the first time in months.

Also, guess where Matt is tonight? That's right. Frogging. It is that time of year again. The Toledo Cheese Days frog jump is Friday night.

And do you realize that this blog began nearly 2 years ago? My first post regarding this adventure was on July 20, 2007. We moved to Winlock at the end of July '07.

As long as I am reminiscing, this is what we were up to a year ago.

Wanna Eat Something Tasty?

Dice up some onion and soak in fresh lime juice. Cube up some watermelon and cut up some jicama. Use your hands to gently toss the watermelon and jicama into the onion and lime juice. Sprinkle chili pepper and cumin to taste and toss. Crumble up some cotija cheese and chop up some cilantro. Sprinkle liberally over the top and serve ASAP. This dish does not like to wait to be consumed.

I find when I am missing Los Angeles I am usually missing food. Matt and I liked to buy bags of fruit from the street vendors. The bags usually had some sort of melon, mango, papaya, pineapple, maybe jicama and always spices, chili powder for sure and I don't know what else. So refreshing. The above dish is the result of a Los Angeles craving on a hot day. I knew kind of what I wanted but Googled the ingredients anyway just for reassurance that I was on the right track. I found a recipe with everthing I was jonesing for except the recipe called for cumin, something I hadn't thought to add. Yummy!

His Mother's Child

Just like his Mom, Dar, Matt likes to photograph bugs. She is very professional about it her husband even had a book of her work printed (we have a copy if anyone wants to have a look). Matt is still at the point and shoot stage of bug photography. These are my favorite recent pictures.

We don't know what sort of bug is shown in the last 5 of the 6 shots but w like to call it the "pug bug".

It Has Been 10 Days or So

Funny how I had forgotten how fantastic Michael Jackson was. I was in junior High when Thriller came out. My girlfriends and I were obsessed. We got a friend this nearly life-size poster of MJ for her birthday that year.

Her dad didn't like it. He didn't like a poster of a black man on his daughter's wall. We didn't understand. I think that was my first encounter with racism.

For me, until Michael Jackson, popular music was just something playing on the airwaves and Friday Night Videos. I didn't know it could be an all encompassing sensory experience until he started dancing. It was like a new language. I remember watching Thriller in music class. Even our teacher was under his spell.

Then, in high school, I moved on and dived into New Wave. It was all about listening to a prescribed set of semi-obscure bands and Michael Jackson was waaay too popular for my new mindset. After that he ended up in the margins as he got weirder and wackier. It was easy to point and laugh at the pictures and stories. But now, as I re-listen to all the music and really give a thought to his tragic trajectory I just feel so sad. Between his abusive upbringing and his isolation in a level of stardom that left everyone else far behind, did he really ever have a chance?

Matt is wondering how long this re-awakened obsession with Michael Jackson will last. The music makes me happy. I hope is lasts a long time. I hope I never forget about his brand of magic again.

One more video (I am using grainy live clips because I LOVE to hear the crowd FREAKING out!)

First Night

I was kind of grumpy on the 4th of July. Not because of the holiday but because the stupid final inspection keeps getting pushed back and I am tired of having that hanging over my head. Well, I guess it is sort of the fault of the holiday. The shower door that was supposed to be installed on Wednesday so we could be inspected on Thursday didn't get installed until Thursday but a Friday inspection was out because the county was closed for the holiday, and so the inspection is now scheduled on Monday. Yesterday I kind of cracked at the seams and so Matt and I unpacked the TV and all its attendant paraphernalia and carted it upstairs. We went to the grocery store for some fruits, veggies and ice cream. Loaded up our new refrigerator. Made lime sodas with ice from our new ice maker and watched movies in OUR HOUSE - final inspection be damned. And guess what, Lewis County? We even spent the night sleeping upstairs on our soft, soft carpet, camping style with pillows and blankets, even though we don't have our certificate of occupancy and even though the window upstairs is not up to code for a sleeping room. So there! I feel much, much better now!

The Kittens

Norah and Audrey got another rabbit. Only this time we didn't save it. We heard the ruckus outside but all the flashlights were dead and we couldn't(wouldn't?) find the murderers in the forest in the dark. The next day Matt found an explosion of bloody rabbit fur outside and then he found the front half of the rabbit just inside the cat door and kindly disposed of it before I stumbled upon it. He is a good husband.

So, What's Up With the House?

We were hoping to get our final inspection done last Thursday but we hit a couple of snags. (What?!? A snag? Unheard of!) The glass shower door I had ordered needed to have studs in the wall behind where it attaches and the guys who came to install it said I had 2 choices: order another type of shower door or break open the walls and add the required studs. Guess which option I chose? Hint: the new shower door will be here Wednesday. The other snag involves door handles. You know the little plates on the edges of doors where the latch is? Our doors don't have an indentation for those plates to sit in so we couldn't install the handles. My knees got wobbly at the thought of chiseling out 14 of those indentations without gouging the doors or digging too deep. The company that supplied our doors and windows lost out in this lousy economy and no longer exists (sadness) so I called another door company and they are sending someone out on Wednesday to cut out the holes for us. Some things are just WORTH paying for.

On the "Good News" side of the ledger sheet, the carpet has been installed upstairs! It is the first room to be 100% complete. We LOVE it - sooo cozy. I was varnishing the inside of the closet door and got a little light headed so I decided to take a nap on the carpet upstairs. IT. FELT. SO. NICE!
I have also done no fewer than 3 loads of dishes in the DISHWASHER! Hal-freaking-lelujah. In addition to boiling eggs my stove has been put to use wilting rhubarb in honey for a salad, baking cookies for Father's Day, Jalepeno Popper Dip (I found the recipe by following a link on Jennifer's blog - it was a big hit!) and Caramel Crack for the Gillespie's party. We are hoping to get our final inspection done this coming Thursday provided there are no more hidden snags. And on Friday our refrigerator arrives! Yay! We still haven't ordered our washer and dryer. They are the next major purchase. I can't wait!

Across the North Cascade Highway

After leaving the Methow Valley we headed west over the North Cascades Highway. It is closed during the winter between Nov & May. It was beautiful! Our destination on the other side of the mountains was Bellingham where we visted Andy. Bellingham is a really nice town (Andy is nice too :)) and we were reminded that we should get up there more often.

(This picture makes me laugh)

Winthrop, Twisp & Mazama, WA

A few weekends ago we took a little trip up north with Tom and Kathy. The idea was to visit the lumber yard from which we purchased all of our siding and interior wood. The area we went to is on the east side of the Cascades and is called the Methow Valley (FYI, it is pronounced met-how. I called it meth-ow and was corrected). This is a picture taken from our room at the Mazama Country Inn were we spent Friday night.

And this is our room. How cute is the sleeping loft? I admit this is the entire reason I picked this place after looking at a bunch on the internet.

This is NOT were we stayed although it was beautiful. It is the Sun Mountain Lodge.

A view from the SML grounds looking over the Methow Valley.

The next 2 shots were taken inside the SML wine cellar. For $150 a person can rent the room for private dinners. I'll take the seat under the polar bear.
If you don't want to add $150 to your dinner bill you can settle for eating in the dining room and this breathtaking view:
Along with the polar bear we encountered stuffed deer, javelinas, wild boar, and a bunch of other unfortunate creatures whose pictures did not make the cut.

And here is the reason for the trip:
You can get pretty much any wood you want from this place. We thought they milled the lumber on location but turns out they just source and house the lumber. When a customer calls to request something, they send it out to be milled in Tacoma. Those bays full of cedar smelled wonderful. People tell me my cedar house smells nice too but I truly can't smell it anymore!

Full Oval

The sink and stove have been put to use. I can't say it was for some grand dish. I hard boiled some eggs. As I post this I realize there is some poetry in that, considering that this blog is called Eggtown and in just 2 weeks we will be celebrating Egg Days here in Winlock. The other day on the mail route, one of my customers asked me if I wanted some eggs because her chickens had laid more than she could use. I happily said yes and she came out of the house with 2 dozen (!) eggs! I got home from the route and the propane man was just finishing installing our tank. The next day our plumber finished nearly all his tasks here so I had a working kitchen sink (heavenly choir singing) and a working stove (angel harp orchestra). And now I have 24 hard boiled eggs. Full circle.

Sometimes I Miss Los Angeles

I am 100%, absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, snowball's chance in hell certain that this will never happen in Winlock. Thanks Tengrain.

Update: I wrote about this story at the time but it bears repeating here. When we moved up here one of Matt's coworkers gave him a hammer as a gift in preparation for house building. He engraved it with Matt's initials, M C. I still laugh about having MC Hammer in da house.

Kathy Saves a Fawn

The other day I got a call from Kathy. "Bring your camera, there is a fawn by the side of the road that is less than a day old", she said. The mother was nowhere around and the fawn was so new and delicate that when it tried to stand the wind from passing cars blew it over. When I got there it had made its way from the edge of the road into some grasses. Wildlife services had not arrived by the time I left so we never found out what happened to it. Hopefully the mother returned and guided it to safety. That is the story I am sticking to.

Lord Have Mercy

File under: This is how we do things in the country.

People of the internet, you are going to need a backstory before viewing these pictures. Sigh. Here we go. A few weeks ago Tom and Kathy were having trouble with their chicks. Something was eating them in the night. It was determined that the culprit was a raccoon. The household was on guard and when Walker raised the alarm, Tom grabbed his shotgun and headed outside (3am with Kathy laughing hysterically from inside). The two of them treed the raccoon and it was dispatched forthwith, its tail blown clean off.

Tom delights in teasing me because I am a vegetarian and he is a blood thirsty hunter. Last night after dinner at their house Matt and I went to leave and what is tied to my antenna? That's right. The RACCOON tail. Matt referred to me as Davy Crockett's chauffer and laughed all the way home.

Breaking News!!!

We have water!

We have lights!

There is still a bunch more work to be done. The water is not yet hooked up to the sewer pump and the hot water heater won't be installed until next week. It will be a few days yet until the electrical work is finished. These are currently the only working lights but it is a start! I wasn't expecting the lights to turn on and just happened to be standing in view of them when they did. I squeaked in excitement.

The Heart of the Home has Arrived

One of our more extravagant purchases during this whole shebang. Here is my lovely American Range.

Do you remember the Dodge Neon billboards from the '90s? The ones where the car looked all happy and said "hi"? That is what our toilets remind me of!

Ahhh Summer

A field of daisies on the mail route

Walls, Walls, Walls, Walls (and Trim!)

More trim has gone up. In fact, at this point all the trim is up except for the baseboards. Yay! doesn't it look fantastic?

And speaking of fantastic, how 'bout this wall, huh? I have meant to put chinking in it for months but never got around to it and finally just decided I could live without it. Thanks to Kathy for kicking me in the butt and pushing me to do it. It is wonderful!

What wasn't wonderful was having to re-sand all the living room walls. We sanded them once, varnished them, sanded them again and then put on the second coat. I don't know if I got a mislabeled can or what but what was supposed to be a satin finish turned out disco-ball shiny. The glare from the gloss was AWFUL! We just couldn't endure the shine so we sanded it all down. AGAIN. And today we started oiling the walls for a more subtle finish. It is looking much better.

Look at all the beautiful wood. It was soooo worth saving. Although Matt might not agree right at this moment as he is varnishing the ceiling, one of the more tedious and messy tasks.