House Updates

Here's the roof going on...

They actually finished the top half of the roof today and will knock out the bottom half tomorrow. It looks great.

Here are a couple video walk throughs....

Down stairs.......

and upstairs.

Tony

Trusses on the house

The trusses arrived yesterday and are being installed today...woohoo!

I threw in the one with the view just for fun. Tony

Wallace River Fish Hatchery Tours

Today was day two of the Wallace River Salmon Hatchery tours for this season. The boys went through the annual training last weekend and were very ready for this year. Jon and Gabe both had the opportunity to help in the egg/milt harvest demonstration, Gabe spoke at the anatomy station and Jonathan roamed around and answered random questions. I got to go into the river to collect fish for the day. Buddy and Chris, the "fake brothers" helped. Here are some pics. and vids., enjoy. Tony.

P.S. For those of you who made it this far in the gallery of pictures, here's a treat. While we were fully involved in the tours this pair of salmon, let's call them Ying and Yang for short, decided to break the rules and spawn in the holding pen. Now usually the pen is prepared with a very sandy bottom to keep the fish from spawning (they look for gravely areas, as you can see). The past floods have washed away the sand and left the normal river bottom gravel and rocks. So nature took its course and they spawned before our eyes. We called a tour group over to witness the event and they were enthralled, as they just finished the tour station on spawning. So those that paid attention knew what they were watching. Ying and Yang circled for a few minutes and then deposited eggs and milt right there not five feet from shore. My video shows the female dropping eggs although it is hard to see the small eggs while the male circles above her; she even turns on her side and "kicks" some sand and gravel over the redd (egg nest). The male released his milt within seconds of my video ending, figures.

Walls and floors

The walls and second floor are going up

I left for work and there was just a pile of lumber in the driveway. I come home and the pile is gone and this is what I find, way cool! We are now able to walk the house and get a really good visual of what the finished product will be like. the engineers got rid of the post in the downstairs are and the above third photo shows HUGE glue-lam replacing it. the heavy rains of the last few days slowed things down a bit but it was nothing a good squeegee couldn't handle. Sam and Gordy are taking advantage of the dryer weather to knock out as much as possible. I cant wait till the trusses get here.

Tony

Recognizing Beauty

When was the first time you recognized beauty? The definition of beauty is not the topic it is when you became aware of it; in a person, art, nature, math, whatever. When were you first hit with the, "Wow, that is really something." feeling. The deep stirring of appreciation of something bigger than yourself. When did that first happen? I can remember sunsets in So.CA as a child. I remember the intricacies and patterns of my mom's cactus garden. But the first time I can recall thinking of beauty; of contrast and boldness, of simplicity and visual impact, the deep wow that seared the image in my mind was in Connecticut as a child, a young child. We lived on Beebee (sp) St in Naugatuck right next to my Grandma's house and in between the two houses was a large lawn, it seemed to go on forever. In the back center of the lawn was a tall tree. I don't remember it ever having leaves but I do recall the emotions stirring inside as I stood at its base and peered up at its naked branches silhouetted against a cloudy sky. The image will forever be in my mind, the dark scraggly branches fanning out against the white winter clouds. Simple and beautiful. I think I was four. My boys are starting to appreciate beauty in nature especially sunrises and sunsets. They will point them out without prompting now-a-days. It is great to be a part of the "I think it is beautiful, what do you think" game with them as they discover beauty. Tony

Short Construction Update

Hello all. Things are going well with the house as you can see the sub floor is going in. Right now we are awaiting our third inspection. It should happen tomorrow, should.

Things keep plugging along and once the sheets are on the rest should go really fast. We are kinda racing the rains but even so it will all be good and dry, eventually.

It is construction and we are really in no hurry. The boys have created a short BMX track around the site including the gravel pile woop-de-doos, off road dirt/mud tracks, a jump and a grass track landing area. Best done barefoot with no head protection just before we leave for school in the morning. That's the part that makes the parents happy, RIGHT!!

Everybody's healthy; no swine, bird or horse flu.

More creative post in the making.......

Tony

What is in a ( - )?

Hyphen, dash...

–noun 1. a short line (-) used to connect the parts of a compound word or the parts of a word divided for any purpose.

–verb (used with object) 2. hyphenate

dash 13. the mark or sign (—) used to note an abrupt break or pause in a sentence or hesitation in an utterance, to begin and end a parenthetic word, phrase, or clause, to indicate the omission of letters or words, to divide a line, to substitute for certain uses of the colon, and to separate any of various elements of a sentence or series of sentences, as a question from its answer.

All well and good when you are talking about language but what about these examples? What is in a ( - )?

Okay, some of you may go the wrong direction with this but what I am getting at is this: what is the value of the (-)? What wonderful, terrible, sad, joyous, mundane, bizarre, incredible, and moving things can be found in the (-). I want my (-) to be meaningful, to be remembered, to be recalled as, "Yes, that is how it should be done." After all, the two dates before and after are just singular days, what is the length of the (-)?...39 years, 81 years, 77 years, 23 years, 17 years, 19 years? So much can be packed into a (-). This isn't to think about the second date this is a reminder to think about the (-). What are you doing with it? What are you making it? How will it "change the world" or just your cul-de-sac? Will it have intrinsic value beyond the world's view? Will it be out there for all to see or will it be hidden and private? Will it have a large section for others or will it all be for you? After all it's just a (-), a simple punctuation mark, a slip of the pen, a modest dash, and yet it's use and placement can change things. (See Eats, Shoots and Leaves or Pain in the English for more of the same.)

Off to make scones for my kid's teachers,

Tony