The Kindness of Creede, or The Benefits of Small Town Living

As I write a post about Creede from Colorado Springs, I'm pained that in my downtime, I can't work on the house. The show I'm doing, Psycho Beach Party, is going well and I'm having a hell of a lot of fun, but being away from one's handmade house creation has been difficult. RJ's working hard on other projects, meaning the house waits for me. Next weekend I'll be able to get to Creede to hopefully finish up the trim and soffit on the addition. Send good weather thoughts, everyone!

But on to the kindness part. Every once in a while, amidst the pain of waiting for things to get done or builder friends to have the time to help you, you get something amazing. Since last winter, we'd been looking into purchasing a pellet stove for the house. Our place is very well insulated (I should know) but winters in the mountains of Colorado give you several months of 40 below temps overnight. Up in the high country, the cost of heating a place can be pretty major.

When I lived in Chicago, I always lived in apartments with radiator heat. It was included in the rent and I typically lived on the top floor where I frequently found myself turning down the radiators as far as they would go and sometimes even opening windows. Heat was an abundance I didn't think much about.

Cut to five years ago when I moved into a cabin in Creede, where we lived for four years. There, I became much more aware of having to work for heat. The cabin is not really equipped for winter living. It's old, poorly insulated and drafty. It has a forced air furnace run by propane, but it's 40 years old and the pilot light blows out if any sort of wind picks up. It has an wood burning stove which is also old, and itself not terribly well insulated. It burns very hot for several hours, then usually goes completely out by the morning leaving the cabin at a chilly 50 degrees. Sometimes colder if the pilot light on the furnace has gone out. Suck City. Also, we would go through about 10 cords of wood each winter even with a backup source of heat. That's a lot. A LOT. Of wood.

In Creede, wood is basically free as all you pay for is the permit to cut the wood down. But what you save in money, you use in the manpower chopping down trees and cutting them into a useable size. You can easily spend an entire week doing this.

Figuring out how to heat your new home on a budget in the mountains is a huge consideration. The most popular ways are a wood burning or pellet stove (some daring mountain men of the wild west use ONLY this form of heat), radiant heat (aka in-floor heating, which is much more expensive up front to install), electric panel heaters (price based on cost of electricity), and propane. Forced air furnaces run on propane here. Each individual home has its own propane tank and it costs around $250 to $300 each time you fill it up. Depending on how well insulated your house is, you can go through that quickly. When we were delayed getting into our house last year--we aimed for October but ended up getting in there late December, well into the cold season--we had not stocked up on enough wood to heat the cabin. We went through over $500 in propane in one month.

Sorry for the mountain heating lesson. Most of you reading this have probably never thought this much about heat. I surely hadn't.

SO. After all this, we were looking into supplemental heat during the really cold months--typically Dec-Feb. Those are the months when the furnace is constantly on and with a pellet stove, it would cut down on propane costs immensely. Newer pellet stoves are fairly quiet, burn much cleaner than wood stoves and require much less installation and cleaning.  According to my research, the cheapest but still decent ones (from Home Depot) are about $1100--and the majority of good, solid stoves cost about $2500-$3000. Though it will save us money and pay for itself in the long run...Gah, that's a lot of money! Well, Creede kindness prevailed and a friend of RJ's happened to have a gently used, high quality pellet stove he wasn't going to be using. He recently sold it to us for $600 including installation as he knows how to do it properly. Once again, through the kindness and favors of friends in Creede, we were given an affordable option that will last and save us money for years to come. As you know, fair readers, I'm a Doer and not the most patient person in the world. But when I start to get depressed and anxious about how long this process is taking, RJ rightly reminds me that it does pay to be patient. So what I really want to express is Gratitude, Kindness, all those hippie dippy words that really do mean something in this magical place called Creede.

It's so cute! It still needs to be installed but this is where it'll live.
(Please excuse the dirty, pink chair. Mr. Dorky Doo has been using it as a perch while I've been gone. Ahem...)

My Kingdom for a Wrench!

Dammit. 

Dammit, dammit, dammit. 

Another (just peachy) variable in the house-building-saga would be the weather. RJ and I both have the day off today and the goal was to finish the soffit and trim on the outside of the addition. But...it's raining. And not like a-little-sprinkle-here-and-there raining. Like, a consistent drizzle and wetness all the livelong day. 

I've gotten a lot better about being patient with the inevitable wrenches that get thrown into this giant undertaking. I am not the world's most patient individual to begin with and I've had to get used to the stopping and starting of a project like this; when often you can't work on the certain project that you want to due to any number of reasons--time, money, assistance, etc. 

But today is slightly more annoying because, in about 48 hours, I leave for a six-week, out of town acting job. My first since the spring of 2013. The first since we've moved into this house. The first since I've put more of myself--physically and emotionally--into this project than most any other project of my life. I don't often miss things, or people for that matter. I'm very good at being by myself. Maybe it's being an only child growing up. But I have a strong feeling that this time I'm going to miss the whole package--the home itself, the working-on-the-home in my spare time, and the person I work on the home with. 

I also HATE leaving a smaller project unfinished. Last fall, when RJ and I were full speed ahead on the house and he'd want to stop for a break, I'd usually prolong mine until I'd finished staining or sanding a particular pile. I like to tie up my little project into a nice, neat bow or I feel mentally unfinished and a little bit sad. Ridiculous? Maybe. OCD? Probably. But you can see why living in a house with a bunch of half finished projects in it has been an adjustment for my particular personality. 

So, leaving town with such a big portion of a project half done is really HARD for me. There's a lot of stuff wrapped up into this place for me. This is serious. This is home. 

Now please excuse me while I go move some lumber into the garage while the rain takes a breather...

Hey, at least I got to do SOMETHING today. 

And I guess these yahoos are ready to come in out of the rain too...

September in Creede. Time Is On Your SIDE. (Get it? No? Keep reading.)

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

September in Creede (and at CRT) is like a magical unicorn. You think you'll never see the day and then, out of nowhere, there it is. (Well...I have yet to see an actual unicorn, but I can imagine... Whatever.) Anyway...

The point is: summer is winding down here and my days are slightly more free for other things. Like the house. It's a constant project, people! And we've got about three specific projects going on at the right now, and though I thought about waiting a few more days until one was nearly completed, I remember that this is a blog about the journey, the progress, the process. So I'm writing now.

We've pretty much tapped out the small second mortgage, which is fine because save for a bit more cedar for the interior trim, we've got just about everything we need to finish up the big projects. Since we had company for a wedding a couple of weeks ago, the downstairs bathroom is about two thirds of the way done. You can do everything but take a nice, warm shower in it. And some custom switch plate action has to happen--we suffer for our unique ideas at times--but it's looking real fine.

On Monday, RJ and I finished putting up all but the gingerbread trim on the back side of the addition.

Last piece of long siding on the back!

The gingerbread will go up in that triangle at the top, and will look similar to what we have on the front, which is cream and purple. It's more consuming to make because we'll have to cut out a bunch of little cedar pieces individually. But yesterday, in spite of intermittent rain, we completed the siding and most of the priming on all sides of the addition. I'm not sure I mentioned this the first time around, but the primer is grey in order to make the red cover better. I've probably mentioned this before (I'm at the point in this project where every post is starting to feel like I'm repeating myself.) With bright colors, if you put them directly over pure white, it'll take coat after coat after coat to cover the white. If you tint the primer, you can get the look in no more than two coats. The primer is a bit of a pain. It's oil-based, for-the-outdoors which protects the wood really well from the elements. It's consistency is very thick and though you only need one coat, it is fairly laborious. I can't wait to start with the red. It'll be a easy breeeeezy.

We also took on the task of back filling the last side of the house. When you do an addition, you have to dig out a big hole so you can lay the foundation. Even if you don't have a basement, you still need to dig down so you can at least access plumbing under the house if you need to. The west side was still a pit, filled with random rocks we'd found, and a pile of dirt beside it taunting us with the threat of physical labor. For months. It was a pain to put up a ladder there because there was no even ground to balance on at all. As I was about to give RJ the first piece of siding for the west side, he said, "crap, do you think we should just go ahead and fill this in?" I agreed that we should. It'll make the whole process of putting up siding WAY easier. Off to get a shovel and away we went.  I threw more rocks in the pit (gives the soil something solid to pack down upon) and RJ shoveled dirt on top. This is the definition of hard labor folks. RJ told me a story about being in his early 20s working at the Wolf Creek Ski Area and having a 12 hour day when he just hauled 100lb oxygen tanks, among other supplies a mile up a mountain. For 12 hours. So very Greek. He also noted that he's not 25 any more...

But we did it and it's amazing.

Ahoy! It's dry and even land, Capt.!

The siding went up from there.

Yesterday, in between bouts of rain, we completed the siding on the final side. And as I write this, RJ is finishing up caulking the back side of the house and momentarily, I'll start painting! Then it's "just" soffit, gingerbread, and then onward to lower insurance rates! Wooooooooooo!

More soon, folks...

Taking a break on the back of the truck. Doo too.

This One is for Molly

A few people have asked when the next house blog post is coming, and though I'm working on it, I wanted to get this out first.

A friend of mine from Chicago, Molly Glynn, who I have known for over ten years through other friends and her husband Joe, has passed away this morning from a freak accident. She was struck by a falling tree on her daily bike ride with her husband. I have mostly dealt with death in its most natural state. Meaning someone has been ill, or very old. Something that will happen to us all eventually. This is the first truly tragic loss I have experienced. It happened to someone who was vivacious, constantly working as an actor, had two teenage sons and a marriage to another amazing Chicago actor, Joe Foust.

I can't imagine what he, and their family are feeling right now. The hole, the loss, is inconsolable. I send all the love I am capable of.

When there is nothing to do for it, or help it, all I can think of to try is this: Tonight I will, to the best of my ability, with my fellow actors by my side, help bring the play Hope and Gravity to life. It's a piece centering around a very similar tragic event, and how those around it cope with the truly inexplicable. All I can hope for, all we can ever hope for, is that this helps people understand and connect with the human condition. This is truly what art is for. To bring the everyday, sometimes miraculous and tragic nature of life to others. I will do it for Molly. And Joe. For all of them.

Update: A memorial fund has been put in place for her family. Please consider donating here.

Radiant Molly.
Photo by Michael Brosilow

The Secret Affairs of Home Building

I may have just bought a couple of tops from Modcloth that have cats and dogs on them. Maybe.

But ANYWAY...

Progress is on the horizon! RJ's dad arrives in Creede tomorrow, along with RJ's nephew-age cousin (14 years young), and some shit is gettin' DONE! Particularly the siding on the addition, which I've been so anxious to get started on. This will not only make the house more aesthetically pleasing on the whole, but also lower our homeowners insurance--it will no longer be a home visually under construction. Along with the bonus of no more flapping house wrap.  We've got all the supplies, now we just need the Mann-power. (See what I did there?) I've also purchased the primer and the paint, and can't wait to get started on it in all my free time...oh wait, we're opening The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild on Friday, which gives me until about noon each morning. Well, we'll see what happens on my end...

I will be documenting all the home building deliciousness for the blog, so never fear. Another thing that should be happening (out of necessity) is getting the floor in the downstairs bathroom finished in order to hook up the toilet and a sink. The young cousin is supposed to stay with us for about 10 days, but we've all decided this is best only if he has a working toilet and sink close to the guest room. Our only bathroom is in our bedroom and in order to respect everyone's privacy, dis needz be done.

More soon.

PS. Everyone likes photos. So here's one. Ooooooh, in all its majesty...

Primer and Paint, READY!

It's Trim Time, Baby.

I want to add before I start that I am eating Zingers and drinking a slurpee like it's 1986. Up in here. Up in here.

As I type this, RJ's finishing nail gun shoots its rounds in the background. That's right, people, we're putting up interior TRIM! This is so exciting. One: because this is the biggest project he/we have had time to do in quite a while and Two: because trim is the glue that holds many home building processes together. Trim is what makes an unfinished corner look finished. It covers over the nasty edges of drywall and screws, or general unevenness and ugliness. It lines windows and doors and makes everything tie in and look special. It's kind of everything, people.

Our original idea was to paint all the trim white, so it'd look very classic. But RJ is creating all the moulding himself, meaning, he's found a way to put all the cool little decorative grooves in the wood without outside help. You can either buy moulding pre-made, which is expensive (and in many cases, the design is uninspired), or you can do it yourself. There is a machine that has super elaborate bits that create this look in one fell swoop, but it is also expensive to purchase the machine itself and each bit it uses is $100+.  RJ found some smaller bits his father had given him a while ago and realized he could make really cool trim just by using several different combinations of bits.

My finger is pointing to the blade that makes the design in the middle of this window trim piece, right above my thumb. 

It's, of course, more time consuming because you have to make several passes on the table depending on what the design is, but labor is free with this family. Another caveat working this way is that we've had to use cedar. It's a pricier wood but softer and therefore doesn't break easily when you try and carve things into it. It's also goshdang beautiful! So, we decided to leave it natural with only a coat of Watco danish oil to bring out the color. It's so pretty!

Fresh oil on the left, untreated on the right.

My favorite piece so far. That dark piece in the middle is also cedar. SO dark and red. Each piece is a little different.

I'm not sure how long this little work-on-the-house vacation will last, but anything is something at this point.

Trim added around the door.

RJ starting on the trim around the windows. Yes, baby jesus, YES!

The saga continues...

Quick Little Update

Like many things in life, the house is moving along at the pace of a turtle. It's full blown crunch time for RJ and his current job, so he's there every day doing finishing work. BUT, on Monday we closed on the small second mortgage that will allow us to get started (eventually--AT LEAST I can order materials) and then finish the downstairs bath, the addition siding and trim/baseboard stuff.

On my career front, however, I feel like I've been thrown into a pit of wolves. Well, not quite like that but I've been mostly unemployed with a verrrrrry flexible schedule for many months and suddenly...I'm not and have no free time at all. Do I love it? Yes. Is it causing me to snap at people and eat too much sugar? Perhaps. Working on that.

But before I run off, I got a small little pot of basil as well as a new purple hanging plant for the front porch--something I wanted last year when we finished the outside but didn't live in it yet. It is glorious. It is purple. And to RJ's relief, I can put off bitching about things not being done for at least another week.

Yay. 

Sir Basil.