mondo photo post

scenes from a home reno project

plein air maison

we are topless.

one day on the job and majo, our contractor, and his team have already taken out the majority of the roof, framed out the west dormer, installed major floor joists (to the detriment of our first floor ceilings), and generally caused a fine layer of silt and dust to settle on every surface in the house. woo hoo! and scott and steph are coming to stay with us next week! won't they have fun pretending they're camping instead of staying in a house?

i know this is when the renovation starts getting hard and irritating, but the progress after just one day is a thrill. click here for more photos with descriptions.

in other news, huck had quite the adventure yesterday: he got to spend it in the hospital. he woke up a little before 6 am, threw up and then had a massive seizure that left him first growling and disoriented, then manic. the 24-hour animal hospital affiliated with our vet was terrific with him. they ran a battery of tests and watched him all day, but no real insight. he came home last night looking and acting totally himself, with the addition of a sporty red armband where his IV had been. now we just wait and see if he has another one. grr.

ashes to ashes we all fall down

an accelerated schedule with our contractor, majo, means that we had to do some serious late-night demo last night - by headlamp and flashlight in the unlit second story. We're taking out the chimney, which is no longer in use, to open up the area for the installation of two dormers where the new master bath and a sitting room will go.

drew started the demo and i was supposed to be in charge of brick removal, but after 5 or so trips with a bucket of bricks down two flights of stairs and out into the backyard, the ol' noodley arms gave up, so drew handed me the mallet and chisel and took over as bucket-boy.