Demo/Foundation Work Day 4: I'd Like to Think of it as a Moat

  This is where they left off on the moat work yesterday.  Bill keeps calling it the trenching they need to do to fix the foundation, but I like thinking of it as our partial moat more.

  If you click on the photos, you can even see how there is already some water in our partial moat.  Which is good for moats but really bad for foundations.  This is a bit surprising because we are a bit of an incline, so I thought any extra water in the ground would just go farther down.

  Here is going to be the outer part of my egress window that will be in my craft room.  It will also make it safer for us to use our basement because we will have more than one way to get out.  I probably could have squeezed out of the window currently there, but it would have been iffy and I'm not sure Bill would be able to get out through it.

  The little bump out on our kitchen just kind of floats above the ground.  I'm hoping once we start working on the deck that we can help support it, though I also don't know if it really needs it.  I'm also hoping that when we build the deck, it will be big enough that the foxes will move back in.

  I'm not completely sure why they are doing this, but I'm sure it is for a good reason.  It explains why we heard so much jackhammering though.

  I couldn't find my yard stick, so I found a broom to hold against the wall.  You can also see the crack a little closer in this photo.  Before too long it will be fixed and we won't have to worry about it any more.

  I find it interesting that they can work on fixing the foundation and bring in the things to work on the inside of the basement.  For some reason, in my mind you have to finish everything of one project before you can start something else, but that is the nice thing about having more than one group of people working on one big project.

   More stuff has arrived!  I'm a bit confused why they are leaving so much out in the rain overnight.  It was predicted to rain for about 5-6 hours and that isn't good fo untreated wood.

   Our moat is coming along nicely.  You can see there is more water in it now and this doesn't even count what will be in there because of the rain.

  It hasn't been connected on all sides, but the back of the house has some mote too.  It also makes me more curious about our overhang.
  I think I have finished the crochet part of Mary's present, but now I have a tricky problem.  I have been blocking things on the bed and closing the door so no kitties could help, but during construction we are keeping the kitties locked in rooms.  So Tank, the one who would be the most likely to help, is locked in the room with the thing I don't want him to help with.  I'll figure something out.

Demo Day 3: Where is The French Drain?

  Though I said that the demo was done, I was both right and wrong.  They finished the cosmetic demolition but now they are working on the more structural demolition.  They are currently jack-hammering to get down to the french drain.  It is going to be replaced and upgraded so we don't have to worry about too much moisture sitting around the house, like it has been doing now.

  Here is the crack running along the back wall.  It didn't seem as bad when there was a wall and you only looked at it one room at a time.  I probably should have taken a picture of how much it is bowing in, but I also don't want to know.

  This is the first crack that Bill noticed and questioned me about.  It is the room under the study and the previous photo is to the left of where you are looking right now.

  Bill and I had planned on redoing the back porch at some point, but it looks like the removal of it will be happening sooner than we thought.  You can see the slab of cement it is sitting on but the way they put everything together, the slab is currently pushing on the foundation instead of just being next to it.

  I think it is really cool how they made it.  It looks complicated, but they just poured the top layer and used those molds to press the design into it before it dried.  The plan for the new porch will be something wooden, but I wanted to hold on to the molds a but longer.
  I'm also kinda bummed because under the back porch is where the ground hog and foxes have their time share den.  I really like how often I would get to see the ground hog during the warmer months and the foxes in the cooler months and spring.  The babies are the best and it is so fun to see them running around.  I'm also glad we are taking it out about now because I haven't seen them recently and so no one will be hiding down there and get hurt when they are breaking it up to take it out.

  Bill and one of the guys from Foundation Medix even bonded some over how much they like smoking meat more than grilling it.
  Tank has definitely not been handling the jackhammer sounds coming from right next to the house.  I went downstairs to get some food and when I got back I couldn't find him.  He was hiding under one of the chairs we have in our room.  He has never gone under there before and I was nervous that I hadn't closed the door fast enough and he might have gotten out.

  I am not using the yarn I had planned to use on this project because I found this yarn and it had more yards to it.  I'm still a bit worried that I won't have enough yarn but this one is still being made, so if I need a fourth skein I will be able to get more at some point.  My state has become one where I'm supposed to shelter in place and I don't need to have this done until May.
  Everyone keep busy and stay safe!

Demo Day 2: Where Tank Lays Under a Blanket

  I took a lot of these pictures on Day 1, but not until around the end of the day.  This is what I saw when I opened the bedroom door.  I had heard a lot of taping but wasn't sure what it was all about.

  There was a small hole in the thinner plastic they put along the stairway.  We had thought that they were going to go out the back door, but they decided to go out the front.

  This was the view when I looked more towards the kitchen.  I wasn't sure how we were supposed to get around and how Bill had managed to bring me my crochet.

  This is what I saw when I finally managed to climb over the things in the living room.  We hadn't planned on having to go through there, so we filled it pretty well.

  This is what you got to see if you were standing in the breakfast nook.

  It is pretty cool that they made their own little tunnel.  This will help keep the dust and everything more contained.  A lot less cleaning later for me and they would sweep up as they went.

  It already looks so different and they got so much done in just one day.  I know this is what they do, so that means that they are good at it, but it's still impressive.

  It also seems so much more open already.  I know they only took down one wall in this picture, but it already seems like a huge change.

  I feel like I'm in a movie with aliens or something.  Must keep the plastic walls up to keep the specimens contained!  This is the view of the curve from inside the plastic tunnel.
  Today Tank just feels like he is over all of this.  At one point he just crawled under the blanket and stayed there for a few hours.  He kept trying to hide in my closet, but I don't trust him in there to come back out if he had to use the litter box.  He then would lay on the bath mat we have in front of Bill's vanity and the bathroom door.  After neither or those were good enough any more is when he just crawled under the blanket.

  Here is the other direction when standing by the stairs at the end of Day 2.  The bottom part of the drywall to the left had been removed a long time ago when they were doing mold remediation before we moved in.

  You can see the blue, which I believe is the original moisture protection and the white, which is what they put on the walls before we moved in when they thought it needed more work.

  It's just so crazy to me how little space that bathroom took up.  I know it felt kind of small, but seeing it like this makes it look like it was super tiny.  Our new bathroom is going to be much bigger because we have a soaking tub going in down there.

  They had told us we had a week for the demolition, but it didn't even really take two full days.  They probably do that in case it is a more finished space or any other number of reasons that would make this take a while.
  I think the hardest part of this will be the starting and stopping of work.  It gives the kitties more time to wonder around between projects but it will confuse them more when we lock them up again.

Demo Day 1: I Hope Everyone Has Been Able To Keep Busy

  I felt like I was going to have more finished items by this point, but it's kind of like how you take extra knitting on vacation, just in case you become faster at it.  So far I have totally finished my present for Bill for our anniversary.  It turns out that I will need more yarn than I thought for the shawl pattern, so I either have to go to the store or wait until I can get to more of the yarn I put in the storage unit.  Since I can't work on my shawl, I've started my present for Mary.

  The demolition work on my basement started this morning.  It is all very exciting and kind of scary.  We have been talking about it for so long but what we are doing now is so different than we had planned.  Like I mentioned before, we had originally planned to just refinish the basement to be like it had been when we had first looked at the house, but the contractors discovered something else.  It turns out that our foundation is slowly caving inward.  We talked to one of our other neighbors, one of the few who also have a basement, and they had the same problem, but many years ago.  I got to make a lot of design decisions and while I feel like everything will go together (and the interior designer agrees), I'm just hoping it will all look nice together.  The whole thing is going to take anywhere from one and a half to three months to finish.  I'm hoping the weather will be a lot nicer for them to work and not raining so often like it has been doing the past few days.
  Tank had been loving the fact that he could go down and explore the basement.  He wasn't allowed down there before because at one point the mantle above the fire place broke and when it fell all the glass items on there broke.  That has been since swept up along with us cleaning out almost everything else.  Fiona went down there once before and was having fun, but she hadn't been brave enough to go down again, even though she saw Tank go down there.

  I don't know if it is the anti-stress defuser or the fact that I'm staying with him, but Tank is doing pretty well so far.  We have food and water in the hall bathroom along with a litter box and we are going to take the cats in there when they let us know they need to get out for some reason.
  It's a lot louder than I was expecting for them to be working in the basement, but that's the way it has to be.  I do wish I had been smart enough to have brought my crochet up with me last night, but the plan hadn't been for me to stay with Tank all day at that point.  At least I have more Bumfuzzle to read.

At The Very Least, It Wasn't Boring.

  I had planned some relaxing things to start my birthday morning, and they happened eventually.  Before I could hop into the shower my roommate asked for some help filming a funny video.  At one point in the video they got out of the tub (filled with water) in their fur-suit.  We moved the bath mats, but that was apparently a bad idea.  A lot more water came out with them than we thought and as I was grabbing towels to help mop it up I heard a sound from the kitchen downstairs.  Turns out the water was helping us clean itself up by running into the kitchen.  I ran down to start cleaning up.
  Once we had that all situated I smelled something in my bedroom.  Tank peed on some towels and sheets that were in a pile to get washed.  While it means they got cleaned sooner, it was definitely not my plan.  The anti-stress diffusers are in the mail and we are using some of the spray that we had for Fiona in the meantime.
  My pattern also isn't going as I had planned.  I wanted to have each section between the markers have 55 stitches, but it looks like that might make the garter stitch section larger than I had wanted.  So this means that I can start the pattern somewhere near the top of the repeat chart, or keep going and have a larger garter area.
  I then spent most of the next two days moving and cleaning like a crazy person because the demolition of our basement was supposed to start today.  Turns out that didn't happen because the crew is trying to find a way to protect everyone, both them and us, from getting sick.  While it might not be necessary, it is nice of them.  I don't blame them for wanting to keep themselves healthy.

Happy Almost Birthday to Me!

  It is almost time for the demolition to begin on the basement stuff.  I'm worried we won't be ready in time, but there isn't much to do about that other than to keep working.
  With the Corona virus causing so much worry, it has pretty much cancelled any kind of gathering.  A lot of restaurants have closed their doors and gatherings of 10 or more are discouraged.  This means that I won't get to have my birthday outting for a bit.  Bill says he is going to make me some yummy food, so we are still going to be doing something.
  I'm posting my Ravelry Wish List again this year in case anyone wants to get me something for my birthday.  This way no one has to feel bad about not getting to hang out with me for whatever reason and can also help the blog.

  Tank is very talented.  He has figured out how to sit, stand, and lay down all at the same time.  He has been very confused about all the stuff with the house we are doing.  I ordered some anti-stress diffusers and I'm hoping that is going to help him.
  I've also come to realize that I have way more yarn than I thought I did.  So far I've been pretty good at going through them before moving them to storage and I will go through them again before they get moved into my craft room.  I'm also using this time at home while work is being a bit more calm to knit more so I have another way to get rid of yarn.

Happy Friday the 13th!

  I've been trying to catch up on the SV Delos YouTube Channel and the Bumfuzzle blog and it has made me want to go somewhere fun again.  Something I think everyone should keep in mind that even if you don't go anywhere, you can still find fun things to do near you.

  Krissy mentioned this place a while ago and we finally managed to go.  You pour your own beer, which is really nice because it lets you try a lot of flavors/styles and you won't have to commit to a whole glass if you don't know if you will like something new.

  You get this little card and are allowed to be as thrifty or get in as much trouble as you would like with it.  They also have food trucks and take out menus for you to make use of, though the food trucks aren't there super late.

  The card gives you the instructions and some advice on the back.  I was able to pour as little as 75¢ and up to a few dollars, but I also wanted to be able to try a bunch of different options.  They have small and larger glasses to choose from.  There are also pool tables and board games to get you to spend more time trying their brews.

  I'm taking the day to be productive in my own way.  I took a bunch of plastic bags to Safeway to be recycled and a bunch of the shipping boxes we had laying around to the recycle center.  Since I've recently designed a bunch of buttons for my Etsy shop, I now need to turn them from paper rounds into useable buttons.

  I got some feedback about the first round of Ally buttons I made, so now people can get the words going either upward or downward.  I think both look good.

  Ignore the chip tube off to the side.  I try and take pictures of the finished buttons in a way that is related to the awareness that it is about.  This will also immortalize this succulent, so even if something happens to it, we can remember how it was right now.

  I was so annoyed that when I finished these that is was cloudy out.  Not just a few wispy clouds like in the picture, but where the whole sky is overcast.  The sky cooperated with me for a bit and I was able to get this picture.  I don't know if any of this will help my sales, but I have fun doing it.

  I had knit up a test hat for every size for this pattern and was making sure to put them to the side so I would have them for pictures once I started typing up the pattern.  I had a few versions on Google Docs, but I had an idea of how I wanted to format it before putting it up for sale.  About that time was when my computer stopped working, so I had to put it off.  My computer stayed down longer than I had thought it would, though I kept putting off working on the layout once it was back up.
  It really didn't take me long to get the layout the way I wanted and I was getting ready to make the test page.  I was going to weigh the hats to see about how much yarn I used, so I went looking for the test hats I made.  I don't remember donating them, but they are no where to be found.
  I looked and looked in all the places I remember seeing them last and I was left with two options: knit a whole new set of hats, or get them tested anyway.  Luckily I know a bunch of knitters and could get the pattern tested without yarn requirements.  Two of the tests are done now and two are in process.

  I hope everyone out there reading is feeling okay or are able to stay home if they don't.  I know a lot of people are worried about getting sick and while it is good to be cautious, it doesn't help anyone to panic.  Washing you hands never hurt anyone and while hand sanitizer is nice, I don't feel like everyone needs to carry around a few big bottles at all times.  Be safe out there.