Twisp of Fate

Borrowing a line from the Dire Straits song, “Money for Nothing”, there.

We haven’t moved yet, but yesterday the refrigerator did.  It was a big chore (or so I hear) but worth it.  The new house came with a side-by-side Jennair stainless fridge; neither of us has ever liked side-by-sides.  So now it lives at Benson Creek, where it goes quite well with the stove and microwave/vent hood, which are also stainless and black:

Whereas the Amana with bottom freezer and French doors, which is only a couple of years old, and we love, now lives at the new house.  It goes well with the cabinets:

Next:  we gots to move these Color Tee-Vees….  (actually, there is only the one).

We are well on the way to moving in within the week (not the shop and all, just us and the cats).  I packed and moved all the kitchen stuff the last 2 days, leaving behind a minimal setup so we can still eat and cook down here when we start commuting to Benson Creek to work.  The living room and dining room are together, since that was mostly furniture that came over from Seattle – finally!

Here’s how it’s looking:

Kitchen, taken from front entry

Kitchen, taken from dining room

Dining room with Oregon walnut table and koa/maple sideboard

Living room area with fireplace insert

I am amazed at how well our furniture fits into the new space.  Almost like it was made for it!

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I took a couple of “before” pictures of my future studio space the other day.  It is the second story of the garage and has its own outside entrance down the side of the building in the back.  The footprint of the building is 30′ x 30′ but obviously there will be some unusable space under the eaves (but even that will be usable for storage, for the most part).  We think they meant it to be a guest apartment, as the plumbing is roughed in for a bathroom and a kitchenette.  The space is very well insulated and there is a propane fireplace which just needs to be hooked back up.

In a couple of weeks our drywall guy will be available to finish it off, and we’ll be able to paint the walls and ceiling. We’ll probably just paint the floor for now, as we haven’t thought through what we will want up there, and can’t spend the extra money now anyway.  Then we can start moving in my looms and knitting, spinning and weaving materials.  We will also set up a design/drafting area for Rick.  Eventually we will finish the bathroom and put in a sink area and counters for dyeing.  It’s going to be great!

looking towards the front of the building

looking towards the back and the stairway

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We’re back from a busy weekend in Seattle, the purpose of which was to begin moving out of the apartment we have been renting there for the last 3 years, and also to visit with family and friends.

Friday was pretty much taken with the drive over (Rick with the pickup truck and cargo trailer, me following in the Honda).  We had time to go by U-Haul and get some moving supplies, get gas and wash the car, then we went out to his mom’s retirement home with his sister, for dinner and a nice long visit.

Saturday we started packing in earnest.  A lot of our nicer belongings have been archived there since we sold the house in Seattle, as we have no room for them here.  We packed up a lot of dishes, stemware, books, etc – then in the afternoon our friend Austin came over and helped Rick get some of the bigger and heavier pieces of furniture down into the truck and trailer.  We hadn’t seen Austin in a while and it was great to catch up with him, too.  That evening we met some friends for dinner at Serafina and celebrated a birthday.  I’ll add a picture later if I can get it from my friend (we used her camera).

Sunday was a day off from packing and moving.  I went down to Gig Harbor with some of my friends for a knitting day – an annual event referred to as “Soup Bowl Sunday.”  Our hostess used to have it on Super Bowl Sunday but now she just sticks to the last Sunday in January.  I was lazy and took no pictures – sorry!  Rick stayed at the apartment and worked on some drawings and estimates for 2 jobs he is bidding, and also had a visit with a friend who stopped by.  That evening we went over to another couple’s house for dinner, we actually met them here in the Methow, but now they have moved back to Seattle for family reasons.

Monday morning we finished packing boxes into the vehicles, ran around doing some Seattle-ish errands, and headed out of town a little after noon.  The drive back was easy, the passes clear, and we arrived home just as it was truly getting dark, with a light snow coming down.

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I haven’t kept up with the blog very well this past week or so.  There’s plenty going on, but not much of it has been picture-worthy. Or maybe I am getting lazy about taking pictures.

Five days ago we had an early visit from Old Man Winter:

October 14, 2009

And it was cold!  It seemed like we had gone from Summer to Winter with very little Autumn in between.

But yesterday it was lovely – warm, almost 70 in the afternoon.  We worked out in the back yard all day, having borrowed a rototiller from our neighbors up the road.  We tilled up and raked out the sod in the rest of the areas where we want to put a shrub and perennial border to the lawn, then Rick used the tractor to haul over soil from the dirt pile and we raked that out.  It is almost ready for a layer of mulch, and then planting next spring.  Very satisfying!

Since the barrier fence across the back seems to be progressing nicely – they poured the concrete after the early snow melted and daytime temperatures came back up – we have decided to hire someone to put in a deer fence around most of the back yard before winter comes.  They started today.  We borrowed a tractor with a post-hole auger from the neighbors, and they are using that to put in the wooden posts.  The fence itself is a rigid 4″ grid, the same thing they use to reinforce concrete slabs.  So it should pretty much disappear visually.

Don’t get me wrong.  We love the deer!  We just don’t want them eating our trees, our future planting beds, our future vegetable garden, etc…

Speaking of deer, this is the week of “modern firarms” hunting.  Meaning hunters with rifles all over the place.  There are hunters camped up in the national forest at the top of Benson Creek, and they cruise up and down our road slowly, “spotting” deer out in the fields.  We keep the driveway gates closed, and don’t go out for a walk, even up the road, much less up in the hills.  It will be over next weekend.

Woodworking: Rick finished up a big installation last week, for the job he is working on up in Mazama.  He had to finish all the cabinets that will have stone tops, so they could come and template the granite.  This involved a 22-foot long kitchen cabinet wall – quite the sight when set up in the shop downstairs – plus another set of cabinets that go in the “snug.”  Sorry I didn’t get a picture!  We will take some up at the house, sometime soon.  He has a part-time helper now, and I am doing some of the finishing to help out.  But it looks like the job will continue on into November, as there is still quite a bit left to do.

Weaving:  I’m working on a series of shawls to get ready for our guild sale the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I am also going to make some shawl pins, but am waiting for some “findings” to show up in the mail, so I have nothing to photograph at present.  I am also getting ready to weave a first project on my new loom up at the guild room – Kay is helping me as I am going to be pushing my knowledge and abilities on this one.  It will be a lace curtain for the guild’s bathroom window!

Knitting:  I am substantially far along with the Tomten Jacket, but it just doesn’t seem that interesting visually at this stage, so I am waiting to photograph later.  I have 2 other projects in mind, but as none of the yarn I have is exactly the right gauge (and I am determined to use yarn I have) it is going to require some recalculating and planning before I can actually start anything.

By the way, the Seattle Weavers Guild annual show and sale is coming up at the end of this week.  I joined the guild recently, and hope to participate in the sale next year.  It’s a pretty big deal – they have a lot of inventory with very high quality, and a loyal following.  So if  you are in the big city, try to get by St Marks Cathedral sometime between Thursday and Saturday evenings and check it out!

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