Rock and roll

We now have grandchildren coast to coast! Beckett Wade Landis was born May 6 in Los Angeles, but lives in Joel and Mikaela's new home in Pasadena. They moved from an apartment to the house on Saturday; Mik was induced on Tuesday (three weeks ahead of their expectations) and they came home Saturday in shock, all the baby things still in boxes at Joel's office. We had the pleasure of visiting, holding, cooking, fixing a window, holding, changing diapers and weeding for a week while Mikaela unpacked and Joel went back to work after 2+ weeks off. Private message me for photos.

 

When we returned to Double Oak, daisies sprinkled the field near the house. This goddess of the earth from Uganda is not attracting birds, but gets her share of compliments. http://mahaja.webs.com/

Weeds also sprang up, even in the sandy soil. Somewhere in this mess is the perennial bed I planted last year.

Breezy agreed to help search out the flowers and lay on any she found. (It's impossible to take a photo of a black dog with black eyes. She is much happier since our return, wagging her tail and licking us more.)

I found flowers in the middle of the garden, but the surrounding areas were mostly without.

I did find this glorious turtle. We have lots of turtles, so please watch when you are driving in. I found one smooched by a truck carrying 24 tons of rocks. Not pleasant.

Here is the truck dumping boulders that will hold back the sides of the walkout basement. Dennis and Breezy watched them roll off the truck until they hit the ground. The earth shook and Breezy streaked off.

This pond accumulates in the back yard whenever there is significant rainfall. Since we are on sand, we hadn't thought we'd have puddles, much less wading pools. However, that turquoise pipe sticking up is a drain that will be cut off when we do final excavating, possibly this week, and then we will be puddleless.

Sidewalks might be laid today or tomorrow, cutting down on the sand I bring in the house. You can see the wooden forms the cement layers created and the hose where Dennis and the landscaper had planned for the front sidewalk. Sigh. 

Soon we'll lose our back parking spots. Perhaps, just perhaps, there will be room in the garage for a car. We have many boxes yet stored in the garage, awaiting either our unpacking or space in the basement for storage.

But there is always room and time for a visit from you!

Susan
(Boulders are Dennis' photos; the rest are snapshots from Susan's iPhone)

We live here

Saturday, April 11, three guys from our Supper Club helped move the heavy furniture. (Other friends helped with packing and unpacking and loading and so on. Good to live in a caring community.) They brought furniture and boxes from three storage units (still not empty) and the duplex we have been renting a year long than expected. We were no longer entirely sure what we owned or how it had survived the year and a half in storage. So far, the lamps fared the worst, having rusted irredeemably. (Unless otherwise noted, the photos are from my iPhone, but likely you could tell that by the quality.)

Actually, this is a lamp that has been at the duplex and I was quite certain it belonged to the Kaufmanns'. My memory is shot.

 

Here is some of the living area chaos as we piled furniture from both our former living and family rooms together.

 

This is how the living area looks post sorting OUT by Ann Graber Miller, of Graber Designs, and us living here a bit. The window on the left looks south and the one in the middle to the west.



 

This is a corner of the living area, with the rocker Dennis reupholstered before our first child was born, the pioneer flour chest from his family, a side table from mine, and the dining room table we bought for our engagement present.

But you know, now is when I am very hesitant to blog about the house. Up until now it has been a long, drawn out and sometimes discouraging report on process/progress, with many a bright spot. But with the house finished, I fear that a blog post is showing off our house, which has never been my intention and I'm embarrassed if that is how this is perceived.

 



The kitchen typically looks lived in. April 15 is the first night we slept at the house. We still had things at the duplex another two weeks, there is much to be done in the house, but we are HERE.

 

The entryway displays some old pieces from Dennis' family and farm. The flowers are in a strawberry box. To the left will be a recessed bookshelf, giving the area a cleaner look and making handicapped navigation easier.

Dennis turned 65 on April 21, so the Saturday before I threw a surprise (that wasn't) birthday party for him and an open house. The basement yet needs to be finished, the landscaping done: we have a long way to go. I figured that we'd invite friends to the house before we were finished to waylay the "everything must be in place before we entertain" syndrome. There were still boxes around. I was certain Dennis knew about the party when he placed this book in the entry way (on an old side board from my side of the family): Garrison Keillor's, "We are still married." I had given it to him for Christmas. Building is hard on relationships.
My great-grandmother Mark used this water pitcher at the UP boarding house she ran after her first husband died.

 

 

We'll figure out furniture for the tower later. This is Laura's futon from her med school apartment. Have I mentioned she has an adorable son?!

The bedroom is incredibly bright. The window on the right faces south and the other east. Dennis crafted the plant stand.

We made the house somewhat wheel chair accessible. The shower is a roll in and the bathroom is large enough to turn a wheel chair around . . . .or have races, whichever one prefers.

 

We slept over Wednesday and Breezy came to live with us Friday. She is very shy and would prefer not to meet you. Truly. But she follows Dennis and me around all the time, so I again get to stumble over a dog. Turned out all she was good for when I was building a bench was supervising. Good to have a dog around.

 

The crew has been here many days since we've moved in as there is much yet to do. My morning dreams are weird with power tools adding sound effects.

 

Here Dennis is riding a lift up two floors to work on an outside light. Later he rode it to the next story roof to work on an antenna for our internet (which we still don't have). I didn't watch that time.

 

Dennis' outside explorations have turned up flowers. These are from a huge flowering crab tree (I think).

Facebook friends identified these as marsh marigolds. Their presence, along with skunk cabbage, where we reinforced a driveway over a bit of wetlands, reassures us the marsh is still healthy.

 

We live on a pile of sand (yes, we know where wise men build), complete with a beach ball that showed up one day.

Now we begin Dennis' elegant evening shots. We wanted a home that looks warm and inviting to guests as they drive in.

This is the back deck, half screen (mosquitoes) and half not (grill). This sand will one day be my herb garden.

evening views of the living area

and the bedroom. I guarantee, I've never shown people photos of my bedroom before!

The guest areas are not yet ready, but we do hope you visit soon! The landscaping needs to be done by the end of June, so we'll have photos of that and perhaps the basement as it gets finished.

One night last week when I couldn't fall asleep, I sat in the living area and just repeated to my unbelieving mind, "we are here, we are here, we are . . ."

The more fools us



We've had various dates for possible move in. Early December was the first, then end of February, middle of March, first of April . . . .

(Dennis is busy with the house. You'll have to make due with my photos from my phone. Big difference. SML)

 

When you come to visit, the hall closet is ready for your jacket.

 

The bathrooms are also sort of ready to use. This is the backsplash in the accessible, full bath. This is my circle room, response to the Frank Lloyd Wrightness of other parts of the house. (Sort of=toilet works and there is TP, but no place to mount it.)

 Mud/laundry room is not quite ready for use.

When the tower and stairs were altered, a hidiplace for Breezy appeared.

 

Breezy is a full breed conventional lab that Margaret McLaughlin was given to train for Lead Dogs for the Blind. She had been donated after being a kennel dog for 10 months and Margaret knew immediately that she wouldn't be a suitable lead dog because she doesn't like crowds. So we have the pleasure of a well-trained lab to join us as soon as possible! The only drawback is teaching her to play.

 

While we were down in Winston Salem, North Carolina, meeting our grandson, Theodore Emerson Yoder, Dennis came home from Lowe's one day with this light for his office. I laugh wildly when I see it.

 

The stairs to the tower are becoming safer. This concerned our daughter and new mother, Laura.

 (Did I post this before?) Remle ??? is one of our drywallers. This air return will be surrounded by bookshelves in the 'library' on the stair landing. As the days drag on, this is a happy face to come upon.



The tower area is nearly done and easily the best seat in the house.

 

This will be one of my favorite places in the house, not just because I enjoy cooking (but am leery of learning how to on a gas stove--hints?), but because I love the design Ann Graber Miller created with our tile. I think I'm going to like the convenience of stainless steal countertop.

 

Some of you Orrville friends will remember this light from over our dining room table. Took us days to choose it, so why mess with trying to find something else? The red is the smoke detector.

 

 
Last fall, Adam, father of our first grandson, Theo, and Dennis dug up a small perennial bed for me. I've gone now and then to check on it. Today I mostly found markers and nothing else. Well, it IS early spring here.

Then suddenly I saw a few possible plants! But I was really looking for crocus. And not finding them. I'm guessing some rodent made off with the dozens during the winter?

Lots of small lichen are bursting forth. But they aren't crocus.

 

This isn't crocus either, but I'll take a daffodil! Happy spring, you all!

 

Turns out even grandparents get gifts! Theo was born Monday afternoon and we were down by 10:30 pm. We needed to take Petie, the dog, out and Dennis needed to take photos.

 

(Oh, photos of our grandson, Theo? His photos won't be all over the web until he decides they should be. Send me a note, SusanMarkLandis@gmail.com if you'd like to see the darling.)

Soon and very soon

No, the house isn't finished, but it is further along than the photos below record. Do we have a move in date? No. Never have, never will. Do other people? Or is this an illusion that people who haven't built a house perpetrate?

 

We are tempted to move in as rooms are finished, but daily events remind us not to plan ahead.  Orders have gone astray (west coast unloading strike), measurements were incorrect (care to impale yourself on an oven door?), subcontractors have lives that interfere with their work. On the other hand, we had no idea when gas would go in and it is nearly finished and a subcontractor bent over backward to hurry an order someone else messed up.

 

The full handicapped accessible bathroom is finished except for countertop and backsplash and a better overhead light wiring job. In a house of Frank Lloyd Wright straightness, this is my room with circles. But, oh! I guess it would be nice to have towel racks, closet shelves and mirrors yet before we move in. Details! Always something more to do. Toilet functions (not seen on this photo). This is good.

Our bedroom is carpeted, but there is a bit more trim to finish and painting touch-ups. After Dennis finished the second coat of paint, one of the crew said, "That's interesting. We usually do the second coat after everything is done, since there are inevitable mess-ups." The multiple paint touch-ups needed because of dry wall mistakes don't need to be done before we move in. I had tea with a friend in the bedroom yesterday because it was the quietest place in the house.

 

 I've been tempted to begin moving into bottom drawers in the kitchen, but the layers of dust through out the house are quite deep. Besides, I might yet want those dishes in the duplex.


Dennis is now constantly hands on at the house. He did all the inside painting and is building the shelves for closets.

This is what our house would have looked like if I had been in charge: colorful, whimsical and totally impractical, but everyone would want to visit and leave with a smile.