Mini House Update

So, in the off chance our house goes up in firery flames, please disregard this post. (It's a joke, people, we're still okay.) This post is mostly photos. Enjoy!

Sun hitting the awesome.

I almost had a heart attack today when I listened to the first of two messages from the insurance broker who has been working hard to find coverage for our exact needs. The first message said that because of the nearby fires, they weren't sure the underwriters would go ahead with the policy. Fuhhhhhhhh. The second message said that it WAS approved but that we should go ahead and pay the needed deposit to get things moving (construction policies can require a deposit). So after 20 minutes of printing, scanning and emailing, we should have things all set. (Update this morning: We have a binding contract and all is well. YIPPEEEE!) The appraiser never showed up last week and with 149 to South Fork open only occasionally at present, this may prove difficult. But our banker is checking with the appraiser again this week to hopefully, ahem, light a fire under their butts.

In the meantime, RJ and I (when I can) have been doing some more finishing work on the outside. RJ has done some beautiful, custom work on the porch posts and peak of the porch. It's lookin' saweeeeeeet. Here are some photos I've posted on the Facebook and some new ones from today. Hopefully I'll have more to report very soon.

Post before paint. Each post contains 40 pieces of wood.

Entrance a few days ago.

Reverse side of the entrance way.

Painted posts

Tongue and Groove under porch

Black and white of the detail. (Original design by the previous tenant, who I shall call, B.)

Burning Thoughts: Or, How To Survive a Grand Forest Fire and the Internet

Alright, alright, alright, alright, I'll write about the dang fire. But I'm having a beer while I do it.

So...the entire state of Colorado is having a little problem with...well, fire. And we, being in Creede, are close to one of them, called the West Fork Fire Complex. And it's making a lot of people...well, crazy. And most of this is because of listening to word of mouth, and not from the Sheriff's office or Forest Preserve folk. It's a little like the Boston Marathon madness that caused me to leave the blessed Facebook for a week. About 5% of the information is true and 95% is speculation. But first, to get this out of the way so you can calmly read the rest of the blog: The town of Creede, where the repertory theatre is and where I currently live/work, is still safe. Creede proper is not surrounded by many trees and is, what the Sheriff's office likes to call, easily defensible. If, in the highly unlikely case that any of the fire reaches the boundary of town, it would be easy to prevent the fire from spreading further.

What We Know: 

What is it? The West Fork Fire Complex, which is this: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3436/ Please do read--it can give you more detailed info than I ever could.

Bad news: This fire has the perfect conditions to do its dirty work. There are thousands of acres of dead, beetle killed spruce trees that are just going up in flames. As of this morning the fire was 0% contained and it is unknown at this time when the fire will become contained. It is erratic and "unprecedented".  Crap.

Good news: There have been NO reported structure losses at this time. The fires are still 12 to over 20 miles from Creede itself. There is no pre-evac notice for the town of Creede (a 10-12 hour notice that a mandatory evacuation MAY take place) nor is there a mandatory evac for Creede either. The theatre has a couple different plans in place if the need for evacuation arises. We have had meetings and emails on a daily basis to keep us up to date on all of the information about the fire. Most of us feel pretty dang safe and well taken care of. Go CRT!  So, you can feel good about supporting and donating to your local non-profits. Do it. Yay.

It is also important to keep in mind that in the grand scheme of things, this is a very natural and positive process. Meaning, fires start to destroy overrun forests and make way for new growth. It's been this way for a loooooooong time. Beetles kill the spruce, fire burns the dead spruce, aspen grow up in its place and provide shade, allowing for new spruce to grow. Thus making future fires unlikely for many years to come. Brilliant! Thanks, Mother Nature! Oh...there are houses there...well, you've gotta take one for the team sometimes.

So...yes...there may be damage and loss outside of Creede. Even though Creede is a town of about 400 people year round, there are many outlying areas that are in danger--4UR Ranch, Blue Creek Lodge and Wagon Wheel Gap to name a few. And though they are many miles outside of town, they are still considered the Creede area and HAVE been evacuated. South Fork, the town 21 miles from Creede, is 3 miles away from the burn and has been evacuated. Firefighters are working NON-STOP to control this fire. It is big. But it depends mostly on conditions (dryness, wind, temperature, amount of dead wood to burn vs. live wood). The conditions right now are so good that Mother Nature is dancing around naked on the burning hillside. Like she does.

Now that I've gotten the facts off my chest, I can let you in on my feelings. I have been through a fire before. One that was much more urgent and personally damaging, though on a much smaller scale. About 10 years ago, in Chicago, a woman on the second floor of my apartment building in Uptown lit a bunch of candles, probably drank too much wine, and then passed out/fell asleep. When she eventually woke, half of our apartment was on fire. I was woken up at 3 in the morning in my loft bed by an upstairs neighbor who sounded like he or she was running back and forth across his or her floor. Then there was a knock on my door from a police woman telling me I had to get out of the building. My mind flashed back to stupid college fire alarms caused by too much pot smoking, so I didn't take anything as I went to leave my first floor apartment through the nearby back door. As soon as I walked into the hallway, I saw that it was foggy. Smoky. I turned around, threw some essentials in my large purse (thank Jeebus for large purses), grabbed my cat and left the building. As I walked to the front of the apartment building, it was like a movie. Flames were lapping out of a second floor window and a few minutes later we just hear this "WHUMP" sound as the roof caught on fire. I put Oscar the cat in my car and stood with the rest of the neighborhood watching the place burn. Because, honestly, what else is there to do? (Besides making sure you have renters insurance, like I thankfully DID.) It is at the same time terrifying and beautiful.

Which is what the feeling is around here currently. RJ and I drove west yesterday to see if we could see anything and about 12 miles out of town you start to see flames on the mountain top. Yesterday, the weather report was completely clear. But you'd never know because the smoke was so thick it looked like it was overcast. (Mmm beer). We arrived back home and I freaked out a little for about 45 minutes. Even though we had to drive 20 minutes TO the fire, you can't help but feeling like it's RIGHT THERE. It is really fucking scary. And beautiful. People are on edge here. Some people with medical problems or small children have left voluntarily because of the smoke.

And you have to be really careful about what you say, in person or on Facebook, and about what you "heard," because 9 times out of 10, it's incorrect information. Even major news outlets are reporting incorrect information. So if you have questions about safety in Creede, please contact me directly. Getting information from people who are not in town or the immediate area, who always have the best of intentions, can end up making it worse. Someone posted an article which gave South Fork a low to moderate chance of survival. My own father had heard this information. And that information was speculative, but when people hear it, they think it's fact, or at least imminent. And right now, South Fork is okay. So I've been trying to stop leaving pissy comments on friend's pages and doing anything but extreme damage control to outright wrong information. And you know what? We're ALL tired of talking/hearing about the fire. It's exhausting and stressful and scary not knowing if we'll have an audience at the theatre for the rest of the summer, or whether the smoke will get so bad we DO have to leave. It makes me long for hot, humid and rainy Chicago even more than normal. Right now I could use some humidity and thunderstorms.

But I'm okay. We're okay. I'm not lying to you or sugar coating, it's just the truth. RJ is down working on the house today and hopefully in a week or so, all of our refinancing/appraisal business will go back into motion.

And for now, it's business as usual, if just a bit (or a lot) smoky. But right now, just right here in this moment, the air quality is good with not too much smoke. I have the afternoon and evening off and I'm almost finished with my Banquet of Beers. Everything's gonna be alright. Probably.

Comedy Tonight: Or, how to build a house, put on a musical and shape young canine minds in a single bound

To say the last three weeks have been eventful would be a raging understatement. In a few short weeks, I have rehearsed and opened the first musical I've been in in over ten years, mostly finished the outside of the house and added a year old pup/dog named Dorky to the Mann family. (The Mannmily?)

But first thing's first: Holyfuckingshittheoutsideofthehouseislikeumdone! Pretty much. We still have some painting and trim to complete as well as shingling the top of the porch, painting it, etc. But the huge stuff is done. The cedar siding, the caulking, the priming, the painting, the porch concrete and construction is DONE. And yesterday, insurance supposedly stopped by to take photos and hopefully did not run away screaming in horror--which is what they would have done a year, or even a month, ago. It's been three weeks of RJ and me spending every free hour of daylight putting this place together. All I hear in my head is that kid's voice after an X-Files episode saying, "I made this!"

I have made many kinds of pies, I have made art and I have made theatre, but I have never made a house. My house. And even though the battle is only about a third of the way done, a huge phase is complete. Made possible by my husband, self, and many friends who gave an hour/day to us--painting, putting up siding, or just cleaning up. What can you say to that? How can you adequately thank someone? Yes, yes, beer is always good, but it's just a darn nice thing to do. So, to all our amazing and helpful friends: Thank YOU!

Beginnings of a porch

Side View

The West Side. Formerly Known As: The Ugly Side

What is left to do on this dear old house of ours you may ask? Well, a lot. We are still waiting to hear from the bank appraiser about when they can come and check it out. Once they do, they will appraise what the property will be worth once it is totally complete. That will determine what the interest rate will be on either a refinance with a construction loan or an equity line of credit. Both would serve the same purpose--getting the house liveable by the fall. We still need plumbing and electric. We need to tear off the very back of the house, which is pretty much all that remains of the previous tenant's sty of filth. RJ will then build the framework for a slightly larger addition that will eventually contain a mud/laundry room, downstairs second bedroom and upstairs third bedroom/man cave. Once the framework is in place we can put in plumbing, since it will be easier to do that all at once even if it takes a while for the addition to be completed. Electric, walls, flooring, appliance installation, wall paper/paint, furniture, etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting something but it's a hell of a lot.

And somewhat daunting. But FINALLY when you look at this house, it looks like it's loved. It no longer looks like an ill person neglected it or forgot about it. The brilliant thing about the insurance agent coming to take photos is that they don't go inside. They take photos of the outside. You don't even need you to be home. So there is something to be said for good curb appeal. We have been told by a banker friend that this can even help your appraisal. It just gives non-builders a better idea of what things will look like. It's helping the imagination along. And you know what...even to a builder or, like, me, it helps to create a picture of what things can and will be. As Peter Gibbons says at the end of the movie, Office Space, "Fuckin' A."

As it stands now

But on to the dog! We now have a year old Australian Shepard, possible Border Collie mix named Dorky. Dorky came to us from a friend of RJ who loves dogs, but is newly single and a chef. Therefore he was easily gone for up to 12 hours a day. That--combined with a working dog's need for stimuli, running and companionship--is a recipe for bad puppy behavior. The good news: Dorky is well trained, house broken and sweet as hell. The not as good news: He is a puppy and gets you up early in the morning full of energy for, well, stuff. He also chews on things he should not be chewing on. RJ and I had been talking for a while about getting a new puppy. It's been almost two years since Candy died and Buford is quite old for a Mastiff and showing it. We had hoped to get a new pup shortly after moving into the new house. But, as most dog and cat rescuers know, these animals tend to choose you, whether you are ready for them or not. I have never had a puppy and I am proud to say that I like it. Buford is, as RJ says, his own dog. Meaning that though he likes human companionship, he isn't necessarily super interactive. We got him halfway through his life, he doesn't play much and isn't terribly active (typical Mastiff). Dorky aims to please. His connection to us is real and palpable. He needs us and has already bonded to us very quickly. I've never had that.

And speaking of new things, there is that musical I'm a chorus member in: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. All I will say about it is that it's a silly skit--full of vaudeville, commedia stereotypes, dumb women and manly men. And it is more fun on stage than I've had in years.

The Dork

Holy (SWEAR WORD)

I've been wanting to write a blog post for the better part of the week and now it's the beginning of a new week and I can barely keep my eyes open to type. But I NEED to get it OUT! I started this particular draft almost a week ago, after we had learned we better get a move on the outside of the house to help the whole refinance plan come together. After not quite a week, the front is pretty much done, except for some final painting and the actual front door to be hung--both of which we'll be doing tomorrow (if I don't collapse). And even though the rehearsal process for me has been fairly light this week, pretty much every free moment of daylight has been spent getting this house ready for its insurance photo shoot. And after tomorrow, another light rehearsal day, shit get craaaaazy. As they say.

So, let's go back in time a few days when the painting had yet to begin, and the smell of cedar was still fondly on my mind and in my nose.

I'm not sure if there is a smell more satisfying and nostalgic for me than cedar siding, though onions cooking in butter gives it a run for the money. My mother used to give me these cedar eggs to put in my top dresser drawer as a way to keep moths away and also to give off a nice fragrance. When they were brand new, the smell was so strong and amazing. I mean, hey, nothing else smells quite like cedar. As the weeks went by, the smell would begin to disappear. Sometimes I would take a piece of sandpaper and sand the egg to release more fragrance. So every time I smell cedar I think of my mother and my underwear drawer (you guys, that's totally not gross).

Now our entire house is in the process of being covered in cedar.

Cedar is one of the most expensive wood sidings you can get. It's known for being water resistant and durable as well as containing no knots, which can cause all sorts of problems when the wood is so thin, so...there aren't any. Siding must be measured constantly so it fits around windows and doors and in between those things and the edge of the house. But once you get everything cut, it goes up very quickly. RJ and I put up the entire 1st floor front siding in only a few hours over two days.

This is additionally satisfying for two reasons. One is that this job is something I can actually do. I like to leave the cutting up to RJ, as it can be very precise and he's had tons more experience with it. I don't want to shave something too short and waste anything. But I can put it up. I can even use a dang nail gun! (Yeah, you heard me.) Two: Putting up siding makes the house look...real and finished. The inside still has a long way to go, though the electric is being roughed in upstairs thanks to a friend of RJ who used to work as an electrician.

The paperwork is proceeding for the refinance, which is incredibly exciting and if this keeps up, things will be getting DONE! Take THAT, Mr. Appraiser!

But wait...what's this?! I'm rehearsing a musical?! Luckily I have not been called much in the last couple of days, so I've had time for house shenanigans, but I won't soon...have time. And for the first time since buying this house a little over a year ago, this makes me sad. I think of this house all the time. The possibilities, the progress.

And oh...progress it did. Siding, then caulk to fill in the tiny gaps between the siding and windows/doorframe/side of house. Caulk comes out of another type of gun and is tedious and messy until you do it for hours and then finally you aren't SO embarrassed about your lack of skills (yesiamtalkingaboutme). Then on to primer, and finally...paint.

As the siding went up, we tested some color. We'd originally wanted red, but then RJ thought that because the roof is green, it would look too Christmasy. So we thought maybe a dark grey with a colorful door. But we just couldn't get that RED out of our minds! So we did a patch test. Our particular red goes on very pink, but dries much darker, almost like a barn red, which is what we wanted. Even with the green roof, which actually has some browns and reds in it too, it looks really great and exciting. I've been attempting to take photos every evening when we finish and most of them I've posted on Facebook. But I'll post them again here.

On Saturday I came back to the house in between rehearsals and RJ had decided to do what RJ sometimes decides to do and put some "flourish" on the house. I may have found a man that is only .000001% gay, but that gay comes out in his wood flourish (yes, I know that sounds dirty--you are WELCOME). I just wish the gay would come out more stereotypically, like folding the laundry or doing the dishes. BUT I DIGRESS.

Now that the front is almost finished, work on the two other sides can begin and should take a heck of a lot less time because of fewer windows and doors and therefore less siding to custom cut. Jesus, it's a lot, but damn is it satisfying. When you stand back at the end of each day and look at what YOU made, it's damn good.

Damn good.

RJ was nice enough to pose while putting up the siding.

Beginnings.

Color. We likey.

RJ doin' what he do. This is above the top window.

Almost...there...

Just after I took this picture we painted over the aqua wood on the front of the roof with an off white as well as the bottom board under the door.

On the Cusp

So, here I am, sitting at my dining room table early in the morning on a rainy day that is fast becoming a rare rainy week in Creede. My coffee mug is full and so is my brain. The new Creede Rep season is around the corner and starts this coming Tuesday. And just this past Tuesday morning I sent in a loan application in order to refinance the house with a construction loan that will allow us to finish the house faster than the current snail's pace. We are attempting this for a few reasons: We bought directly from the owner last year and currently have only a five year mortgage. The idea was to refinance ASAP before rates go up. The construction loan will allow us/RJ to do a bunch of work at once, allowing him to focus mostly on the house, with a day or two a week spent on paying work.

This is truly being an adult. And this stresses me out. Maybe because both my mother and father did not own property until well into their 40s. Maybe because I've moved around so much in my life (hell, I still do!), it's difficult for me to think of one place as being "home."

In terms of a house loan, we are not asking for a ton of money. We got the house for very cheap and put a nice chunk down on it. But we are also both independent contractors and I don't work in the world's most high paying profession.

I won't bore you with woe is me, an actor's life is hard, blahblahblah. I actually considered deleting this post after rereading the first paragraph. Money stuff is strange. It's oddly personal. It's a little bit like bowel movements. We all have them but somehow keep trying to cover up the fact that we do.  All I'm asking for is good house vibes to be sent. Cause...this is major stuff.

But on to the AWESOME things to share: We bought new cedar siding for the house which will hopefully go on in the the next couple of weeks. Since it's probable that we will have to get the house appraised by the bank, we decided to invest in making the outside look stellar. Apparently that can go a long way even if the inside is still in major construction mode.

RJ also got some tongue and groove wood for the upstairs free from a friend. I'm sure he bartered something, hopefully not a pet or a future child. I destroyed my grip pulling nails out of said wood the other day. I now have a deeper appreciation for RJ's daily labors. And I am also looking into acquiring work gloves from the hardware store. My little feminine hands are still aching with joy.

In closing, (no pun intended) stuff is definitely happening though still slowly. And we'd love to light a fire under the ass of this whole process and hopefully my portfolio (HA!!!!) will allow us to do so. May the credit gods shine on all that is right and good.

And now. A dumb picture of a cat.

Facebook and Unrest and Blogging...OH MY!

I am currently doing something I've been contemplating doing for months now. I am taking a break from Facebook. It was motivated by all of the Boston bombing "coverage". Or should I say 5% reporting of facts and 95% speculation. (Way to go, 24 hour news channels--I am DONE with you). Because of Facebook, I couldn't just choose to go to sources I trust for facts on my own time, I had to see everyone's constant thoughts about it.  I couldn't escape it. It was like a play by play from people who are watching a game from underwater. And all of this madness, frankly, disgusted me. So, I disconnected. I didn't have a plan or specific length of time I thought would be right to be away, I just...stepped away. It was casual. My "be back in <blank>" sign on the shop door.

In the not quite 48 hours of this fb break (yes, I'm counting), some questions and emotions have already come to the surface. Quandaries too. Like, how do I advertise to friends who read my blog that I have written another blog post??? Do I go on facebook for 30 seconds and post it or just email the link to my handful of people I know are regular readers? And how strict is this facebook fast to be?

I am a self proclaimed facebook addict. It has been a pretty regular part of my life since I started to prefer it over the dying MySpace in 2007. I liked the socialistic nature of Facebook. Everyone had the same page! It was more about the creativity of the person and less about trying to one up someone else on "style". I use this term loosely. One of my biggest pet peeves with MySpace was that you could decorate your page with this disgusting "wallpaper" that was 99% uglyasfuck and made scrolling extremely difficult. My boyfriend at the time had one of these hideous wallpaper things and it was horrible. There are reasons we didn't last.

Another thing I like about fb other than its ease of use is that it makes it really easy to stay in touch with friends who aren't in your community. That friend in high school you always wanted to know more about? Bam! Reconnecting with an ex who was a great person and recently got married? Yay! And as an actor, you meet people from all over the country, especially working at a summer rep company. Want to keep in touch with these awesome folks on a regular basis? KaBLAM Facebook!

Facebook is so integrated into our culture that it has become its own social "place". This was all in Zuck's master plan I'm sure. And I mean really--how do you make a billion dollars off a product? Make something people cannot live without.

Realizations since living without fb: I realize how much I use fb to seek approval. Even though I love sharing photos and thoughts instantly--it makes your friends feel as though they are right there with you--I can't help but feel like I'm also asking those friends to "approve" of what I'm doing. To like it. To take the time to comment on something. I start to obsess over silly questions I thought I'd worked out years ago: Am I interesting? Am I funny? Am I unique? Is this too many cat pictures? How do I stand out in all this sameness, which is one of the things I LIKED about fb in the first place?! Perhaps it's because I appreciate clever words and artfulness, that if you CAN rise above telling me that you did laundry today, you are worthy enough to be my friend. Or one I pay attention to. But WAIT, that means it's like junior high all over again but without the titty twisters and kicks in the pants. Gross!

And Jesus, seriously?!?! Am I honestly putting this much thought into stupid Facebook? If I'm going to be over-thinking a social networking site I might as well just resume the addiction, right? Well...there are some benefits. I'm NOT, constantly asking for approval.  (Yes, yes, yes, you could argue that's why I write my blog. Though I honestly believe even if no one ever read it, I'd still feel good. So there.) I have read more, started to work on some audition pieces and the shows for this summer. I've spent more face to face time with my husband instead of running off to fb land every time the conversation lulls at home or in the car. I feel less like I'm multitasking my life and that my attention span is slowly (or quickly) dying. There is a sort of peace to this facebookless life.

I recently took a trip back to Chicago and met up with my best friend, Rebecca, to reconnect with family and friends. It was an insane week of face to face contact but also SO GREAT to actually see these people I'd only been following on the world wide web. One of these friends I had not seen in FIVE years. Though I'd witnessed how her life had changed online, her marriage and the birth of her 16 month old son, it was brilliant to just SEE her for 45 minutes and catch up one on one without a keyboard in between us.

On the trip, Rebecca and I talked some about the age of smartphones and social networks. She says that no one is bored anymore and that's not a good thing. It's actually not good for your brain to not experience boredom. You don't get to process anything because you are constantly distracting yourself with something. And though I detailed the Chicago trip on my page to some extent, I wasn't on all the time. Like...well, like normal.

Now, I'm not convinced to let go of it all together. I still like Facebook. I really do. Maybe this is an unexpected lesson about not using the site to lift up my self-esteem. That what I choose to post is what I choose to post and who cares who "approves".  Pretty basic adult stuff. That said, I really do appreciate why people delete their accounts or still don't have one. It really can be a time suck and a way to (godhelpus) not be bored. But overall, I think fb and I get along really well.

I'm not sure when I'll be back, probably pretty soon and probably briefly to post this blog link--I mean, seriously, who am I to assume anyone reads my ramblings. But perhaps I'll feel better about taking more breaks in the future. Maybe I'll even call it a vacation. Or maybe even finding my boredom again.

See you soon, gentle readers.

Cleaning House: The Spring Cleaning Cleaning Edition. Cleaning

I ventured to Creede for a couple of days this past Monday. It was my first time back since the end of December. And I have now given in to the fact that whenever I come home after time away, I have to clean. Like, HAVE TO. RJ does his best, but his best isn't MY best. Godblesshim he tries and he usually gets the kitchen and the bathroom in a decent state and starts some laundry. But he is a dusty man with a dusty profession, living in a dusty mountain town. So, he gets used to there being a certain level of dingy, dustiness everywhere. When I come home, there is a layer of said dusty dinginess everywhere--floor, tables, chairs, on the dog, on the cat. Thus begins, what I am just now realizing, is an obsessive ritual of coming home and immediately cleaning.

On this most recent trip home, I discovered that this process reconnects me with my living space. And my deep seated control freak. I like to touch things, to make them mine again. Perhaps it's like dogs or cats peeing to mark their territory, but it smells much better. Until this is done, I have a hard time relaxing. Now, I am not a neat freak--past roommates can attest to this. But there is a level of clean and organization that I prefer and thrive on. If I clutter things, it is MY clutter and I will take care of it. Eventually. But before I start, it is RJ's clutter. His bachelorhood back in full, glorious form.

This process of cleaning starts right after I kiss and hug him hello. He often says things like, "hey, come hang out with me," "Let's go eat," or, "you can do that later." And I can, but I'd really rather not. Until it's clean. CLEAN.

But this leads me to what I'm presently good for on the House-in-Progress--known from this point on as the HIP. Ha. See what I did there? Full circle, Bitches. My actual hip will just be known as my hip. Anyway.

The weather has been decent in Creede recently and with the extra hour of daylight, RJ has begun to work on the HIP for 2-3 hours after he's done at his Jobby job just outside of town. A day or so before I came home, he texted me this photo:

Room with a view.

AH! No wall! On the second floor! Woah! One of the salvageable details of this house was the roof. It is only a few years old and in great condition. The other walls...not so much...as we have seen from previous work on the first floor. In working upstairs recently, RJ discovered that the wall was in pretty bad shape, so he tore it out and put it back together. 

Other current progress: 

Wall that will separate the kitchen area (on the left) from the dining area (on the right).

This was halfway built back up on Monday and he has since built the rest up. Yay!

In the almost five years I have been in a relationship with a construction guy, I have seen how messy construction sites get. And I mean, MESSY. Like, Holyshitareyouserious messy. And this is pretty universal. Most smaller time contracting folks just don't have the employees or time to keep things clean all the time, so who gets to do this kind of work? Unskilled laborers like me. Oh these guys can do it, but why waste their skilled hands on picking up crap in the yard when I can do it with some enthusiasm and purpose. 

Here is a view from out the upstairs window of what I took on Tuesday morning: 

Total annihilation! 

I should have gotten another photo to show the actual size of the pile from the ground. This was the remnants of an entire wall of a house. And with the little construction skill I have--most of it consisting of theatrical strikes and changeovers--this is how I contribute. By cleaning this up. So I did. And I liked it. I can put my headphones on, get a workout and satisfy my need to clean. And I actually noticed a big difference from doing this months ago when I was still in hip recovery-mode. It didn't tire me out like it did last winter. It actually invigorated me. I could have kept going on the inside but there was no more room on the dump trailer. And hey, it WAS my day off for Pete's sake.

Additional progress you can't see here: RJ put insulation in the walls downstairs and built inner walls all around the downstairs. It's pretty much prepped for our electrical friend to come in and wire it for us, while RJ helps him. Woot! And while giving me a tour of the upstairs, which is to be the master bedroom, I started to actually VISUALIZE where things would be--really see it and not just in a vague, blurry picture in my mind. And it's going to be so cool and unique! We will have a bathroom attached with a claw foot tub! Storage space and a built in office area for me with built-in bookshelves. The power of home ownership and hell, home CREATION is a very real thing now. 

But truly, one of the greatest perks to building a house in Creede, CO is that the community is on your side. RJ and other small time builders like him truly help each other out. The man-hours that would cost someone $80-$120 an hour in a city don't exist here. They are traded for help on the other person's house. And these guys know where to scavenge to find cool wood to use, or appliances, insulation and most importantly, TIME. It is like we are able to briefly witness life without the capitalist umbrella controlling everything.

It is hard for me to not want to jump head first into using every idea I ever had on Pinterest for this house and as RJ has to constantly remind me...we're not there yet. Some things will have to wait simply because we can't afford it or it is an embellishment that will happen after we get moved in. Because that really is the goal right now--to make the house liveable and functional. And as I've said before, the journey is a long one. Especially on the income we have and the time available to work on it. But we'll get there. As Patience has said to me more than once, "Suck on it, Berrymin." And in response, I will joyfully clean. Until I get to paint gradated stairs. Someday...

Photo by Jonny Valiant via Real Simple