Insulate

Three hours of work, and the ceilings and exterior walls were done.

Living room

Russell popped in the skylights.  Hooray!

 

Master bed and bath

master BR entry to master bath; blue insulation is recycled denim

north side of house with felt paper

 

 

Percolate

The latest trench, this time for the outdoor shower drain

The Jesus-flower continues to grow to ridiculous heights

The leggy succulents have produced several flower stalks

The pomegranate is back in business with new leaves and blossoms

A calla lily catches some late-day sun

Russell plants a yellow rose bush at the corner of the future front walkway

The loquat tree has produced hundreds of baby fruits, even though we had to chop half the tree off for the construction of the deck

It's Easy Being Green

Mom and Dad came to visit in February, and between several museum visits, they put a dent in the outdoor chores at the house.  The crummy, cold, wet weather didn't slow us down, and the rain definitely helped loosen up the ground for digging.  We worked mainly in the front yard to clean up and reposition some of the vegetation.

Dad and I planted some hedges by the gap in the fence

Mom weeded under the jacaranda tree in the front yard, helping the lilies and irises reclaim their own space.

Mom and Dad scrape the plentiful mud from their shoes.

The lime tree started popping out some baby fruits.  Can't wait for some fresh juice!

Mom rescued this ornamental nectarine that emerged from a dead stump under the back fence.

Suburban Archaeology

As we tinkered with the last of the framing details, I photographed some notable stuff on the ground...  Some of the cherimoyas have dried out and fallen off the tree, maybe a result of the chilly nights and dry days we have had for the past six weeks.  We broke open one of the fruits to get our first look at the inside of a cherimoya.  The taste test didn't go well, so we will have to wait and hope the few remaining fruits hold on until they are ripe.

We found another small stash of shoes under the house when the plumbing finished up...  We expect to find at least one pair a week for the foreseeable future.

Under the south porch, I cleared out some debris which turned out to have an archaeological flavor, with some fabric, leather, bone, wire, wood, and hair.  If anyone has a spare DNA kit, bring it over to the house!  The bone, by the way, is just one of many bones that we have discovered since last summer-- and they are beef and chicken bones, we hope.

I have been working on nailing the hangers under the deck... Tedious stuff, and thanks to the palm nailer, not nearly as time-consuming as it could be.  The machine gun sound of the hydraulic nailer is pretty agressive, but it sure beats hitting every nail by hand.










































Russell finished up with framing the front steps.  We are trying to keep the succulents and cacti happy while we build the deck, after which we will fill in more of the corners and crevasses with greenery.