the eagle has landed

Actually, my mom and dad have landed!  And they should be in Miami very soon.  I am looking forward to a few days off and some time for play and work. 

 

Probably won't be posting anything for a week.  Thomas and I are in a funny pinch.  After two years of satellite internet, our contract has come up at the same time as the dish has pooped out.  It is a good time for us to evaluate, and at $80/month - internet is an expensive commodity.  So we are downsizing to dial-up, which surprisingly doesn't have an immediate turn around time.  Crazy, right?  The days of AOL are so long ago, and yet we are looking back in that direction.

 

So - at work, at Mom & Pop's, and at the firehouse, we will log in to see what's going on - just like two years ago.  And since I won't be back to work till Monday, adios hasta la proxima semana.

What They Really Want to Say...

Thomas and I saw a large "cloud" on the horizon as we left Denver on Saturday.  It was far enough away that you couldn't see the billowing action near the base, but we both recognized it as smoke.  At first we wondered if it was north of Pueblo, but as the highway took its various turns it looked like it could be as close as Castle Rock.  We assumed it wasn't too near the highway, as traffic had not been backed up yet.  (And Thomas will tell you that it doesn't take much for the highway to back up in Colorado; sometimes it doesn't take anything at all.)

The fire, dubbed the Waldo Canyon Fire, is in NW Colorado Springs and the area, and a lot of people have been evacuated.  We both are sympatheitc to the people and the fire fighters trying to control it. 

Admittedly, there were two reasons for laughter despite the seriousness of the fire.  First, I laughed when I heard a person from the eastern seaboard (a hurricane kind of guy) comment that he thought anyplace that had trees had to have enough rain and couldn't catch fire.  He also thought it unbelieveable that the forest could catch fire because it is maintained and there are people to rake out the leaves and needles from under the trees to prevent fires.  Must not have lived here long...

Secondly, this sign: 

Actually there were signs like this every two or three miles through Colorado Springs.  The alternating blinking message was that smoke is visible from the road.  Thomas and I laughed about what someone driving down the highway in a largely populated area must be thinking to inspire him to make the call, and if it is even too late to post the signs in town because it can be seen for miles and miles.  We also laughed about what the Department of Transportation really wanted to write - "do not call to report" lacks all the sarcasm that really could be laid on thick in such a situation.

In truth, we really do hope an pray for favorable weather conditions and strong resources to get it under control soon.  There are fires burning all over our state, too, and God-willing, we will get the moisture and resources to keep everyone safe.

Hot and Heavy....

It's been really hot, and the work's been a little heavy.  Of course, it never feels as heavy with my strong team: Tom and Pop.  Soon our team grows when my parents arrive on Tuesday evening!  Very excited about this development...we had a busy week getting ready.

After church last Sunday, the heat was already thick, especially humid with the heavy rain from the day before.  The floor being set up well enough, Tom and I hopped up on the ladders and hung the eight floor joists that were in the hole as part of the scaffolding for the wall pour.  Pop showed up and gave us a hand. 

On Monday after work, Tom mixed cement and I corefilled the block around our cellar stairs.  The buckets were heavy, and working off a ladder was sometimes awkward.  But Pop arrived and gave me a hand with the buckets.  He also had stopped by during the day and put up some additional support to keep the joists from sagging.

On Tuesday we didn't work as hard because we celebrating our anniversary.  We "played house" and double-checked where we will hang the windows on the main floor.  It was easy to hang a sheet of cardboard on the wall and adjust it here or there.

Wednesday we started up hanging the joists again.  We got another 14 hung, which took a little more finesse, as we were dropping them in from above the hole.  Pop built a little rack for the person in the hole to "catch" the end dropping in.  The supports went up, and it was nice and shady in the evening.

Thursday after work I busted a move to (1) measure the length for each cellar step, (2) paint a quick coat of primer along the block wherever the wood would touch the block, (3) measure and cut boards for each step, and lastly (4) paint a quick coat of primer on the ends of each board where it would touch the block.   Thomas was installing the stairs on a special bracket that is screwed to the concrete.  Unfortunately, he was having a hard go of the hammer drilling - broken screws and drill bits.  It meant that after firehall training I was able to paint the rest of the area under/behind the boards.  It will be easy to paint the rest after the stairs go in.

Friday, after several more broken bits and harsh words, Tom got the stairs in.  He was home waiting for a service call for our satelite internet that is down (which never happened and is getting really frustrating), so he worked some more on the stairs and found WD-40 goes a long way in helping those screws move into place.  Pop was on hand with the tractor to fill the ramp in - which means we now can walk into the house without climbing up and down ladders.  Hurray!

The steps are easy to maneuver with tools and lumber and everything else.

Work shifted gears for a day and a half, as Tom and I made a really brief supply run to Denver.  It is always embarrasing for me to admit that we drove past so many friends without stopping, but we are hoping to get back to Denver in a couple weeks for a more social call.  We arrived in Denver about 7:30 pm and headed to Mr. Sushi for a fabulous anniversary dinner.  We waited a long time for a table, but it was worth it.  After a good night's rest, we set off at 8:30 am and made it to 6 stores before leaving around 3:00 pm.  Our highlights were flooring and window purchases at the Habitat for Humanity ReStores - deep discounts on top of already low prices were exactly what we came for!  We had a few more stops along the way home and rolled up to the house around 11 pm - had to go slow with the windows and weight in the back.  At 10 pm when we switched drivers, the temperature was 94 degrees.  Mercy!

Sunday we waited to go to church until 7 pm at Philmont, so we got an early start framing the center wall in the basement.  Pop came over and helped for a while.  Andres gave a hand briefly.  Now we are ready for our new recruits to help with putting in the floor and other projects.

 The joists offer great morning and evening shade.

What's really going on...

Working on the house on nights and weekends is another full-time job, but we do know how to take it easy, too.

The kittens, which we had given up for dead because there had been absolutely no sign of them ten weeks past their arrival, have arrived!  One gray cat didn't make it, but Spooky (the gray one) and Buttermilk (the "white" one - not so white as she was when she was born) entertain us as they continue to feel us out.  Last Thursday we sat in the driveway and watched them bounce back and forth and tumble on top of each other.  

 Spooky and Buttermilk getting Felix's leftovers... Felix meows at us like we are neglecting her kittens and not feeding them, but then she eats all the extras we put out.

 Maya & Sara were graced with Tio Daniel's presence in the pool on Father's Day.  We all had a great party with a fantastic taco bar.  Daniel's face clearly indicates that the rest of us were really missing out on the dry porch.

Every now and again we do have to go weed and water - the house isn't the only work to be done. The garlic is looking awesome, the onions are coming in fine.  The tomatoes and pintos were shredded by hail and may make it.  Half the tomatoes were wiped out in our "last pour" on Saturday.  The beets and cucumbers are also iffy.  The raspberries and blackberries bit the dust.

 The garlic is taking shape with scapes.

A twosome of scapes intertwined - photo taken on our anniversary

Am I suggesting they are symbolic of Tom & I?  Hmmm....

Another pour!!!

After cleaning up the lunch mess and re-applying sunblock, I headed out to check on Tom and Pop in the hole.  Tom was out on boards creaming the concrete, and I thought I was going to go weed the garden.  About halfway through the floor, Tom needed a break, so I carefully stepped to the end of the board and went to town.  The weeds would wait.  This floor was looking so good.  We won't decide for a while how we would finish it - maybe just seal it.  We could paint it, tile it, put down wood flooring, or carpet it.  Until we know it is really cold, we won't carpet it, and the job was looking so smooth that we could just leave it be.

Just as we finished and started shuffling the boards back onto their piles, a big drop fell on my arm.  Then another.  Tom and I were thinking the same thing, and it wasn't good.  There was literally nothing we could do to protect the floor and our work from what was about to happen, and happen it did.  We made it out of the hole and in the house before the worst of it broke.

Big heavy drops and lots of them.  Hail and wind and hail and rain.  We put it behind us as we waited it out inside.  Pop called to ask if he could bring the pump from the firehall to drain the basement, but we said we'd wait till the rain let up to check on it.  He also made a joke about needing to put carpet with a thick pad down on the floor, and I just cringed to think the floor would be so cratered. 

I actually fled the noise and ran into Springer to pick up some groceries for Father's Day dinner, and by the time I got back, the storm had moved on, and Tom & Pop had set up the pump.  They estimated pulling out 750 gallons of water from the basement, about 1 inch of standing water.  The garden sure was happy for the water.  We also had to drain the "moat" around the outside walls that was slowly leaking into the corner of the cinder block wall where we couldn't seal around the buried footer.  The craziest part about it all is that the surface of dirt was really only penetrated about half an inch at most.  Crazy!

 You can see the reflection of the windows in the water.

 The moat full of water cannot be backfilled with dirt until the floor joists are up - should be within a week or two.

 Swirling down the drain - there are drain pipes in the mechanical room and the cellar stairs - we just dropped the pump into them and let the pump work its magic.

 Draining the moat - the water is 2.5 feet deep!

The south wall was already backfilled, but not compacted.  The crack in the mud is along the wall of the hole, and it's amazing to see what water can do!

So the last pour of the day was the rain - and boy, we couldn't complain about it because we needed it so much.  By the grace of God, all is well, and all manner of things is well.  The floor looks beautiful.  It has a pebbled finish and looks really nice.  No carpet plans just yet! 

Pop was a great help, and who should call while we were working but Mom.  She told Pop to make sure we came home with him for dinner.  We ate well and were grateful for a delicious meal, including an amazing banana walnut cake.  It sure beat cold cereal, which is probably all we had the energy to make.  So thoughtful!  So blessed and lucky are we! 

Last Pour of June?!?!

On Saturday, June 16th, we set our sights on the last pour of concrete for the month.  We know we will have one more when we pour the upper wall, but this one seemed like a biggie.  With this pour we can build the center wall in the basement, hang the joists for the floor above, lay the decking, start on the upper walls...pivotal, yes?  And all those other things can happen in stages, whereas the pour is just one big push to get it done - no stopping once it is started.

Thomas and I cannot say enough how grateful we are for Pop's help everyday.  I'm starting to wonder if he set up a trip wire somewhere out there because he pulls up to help as soon as we walk out there in the evenings.  And we are super blessed for the Salas family to show up en masse again.  Seriously - we appreciate everyone's help!  (And I know Daniel and Julie would rather be in four inches of concrete than at work, but we understand we chose to work on days you are already working.)

We learned a lot from the first pour and changed up our strategy a bit.  We also had a driver who is very good at what he does and distributed the concrete really well with a more advantageous angle than the last pour.  Strategy 1: distribute the concrete to the edges.  Strategy 2: scree the concrete as soon as possible.  Strategy 3: bull float behind the scree board, and as soon as the concrete loses its sheen, quit floating it.  Strategy 4: use the trowel to cream the top after lunch.  Strategy 5: keep Tori out of the way - she's in charge of core-filling the concrete block around the cellar stairs.  A solid strategy for success!

Extra thanks to Marie for going after my camera and taking these pictures:

 Tom, David, and Pop getting ready to scree the slab.

 Our faceless muscle man (he said no pictures of him because he has a prior agreement with another blog)

After I filled the bucket with concrete, I handed it off to the muscle man who helped move than bucket and pour it into our block.

 Pop, Tom, and David screed the concrete halfway, and Tom tag-teamed me into the action.  Thanks to Marie for jumping in on the core-fill.

Our youngest helpers went to check out the neighbors' "jackbutts."  The burros moved in about a month ago and surely enjoyed the company of Maya and Sara.

All in a day's work!  I think the truck was on the property less than an hour - we moved fast!  The floor looked good, though we were short a wee bit in one corner for all the core-filling we accomplished.  We wrapped up with pizza for all!

Wedded Bliss

Thomas and I celebrate two years of marriage today!  When the older ladies of the parish tell me they have been married for nearly twice my age, I think we might never live to be that old.  And I think how lucky I am to have found Tom!

Special thanks to all who hold us dear and pray for us!  I was delighted by a phone call at 7:30 this morning from Minerva - put a smile on my face.  And Britta sent a message, too.  Our family takes such good care of us, and even Fr. Emmanuel gave us a special blessing at the end of mass on Sunday. 

Hears hoping for many, many, many more years of love, friendship, and companionship on this crazy journey of marriage!

It All Worked Out!

I appreciate Tom's confidence in me as a hard worker, but I certainly wasn't ready for what was coming down the pipe....

 The concrete is just about to hit the ground - and splatter all of us really well in the process.

 First order of business was to spread out the concrete.  Check.

 Thomas, David, Pop, and me sporting my pink pants - with shovels and rakes we distributed the concrete, particularly into the footer.

 Daveman saved my bacon.  I will give a thumbs up to that, too!

Andres was kind enough to take pictures until the camera battery died.  Sadly it died while he was perfecting this shot - his dad and tio bent over with butts in the air pulling up on the wire mesh.

Raking was hard work, but something I did well.  Floating the concrete is whole other task.  This was really my third time working with (first time "in") concrete: 1st was the footer last fall, 2nd was the wall pour.  I keep learning a little bit more each time.  This time I learned that it would be helpful to be a taller girl with upper body strength.  Shoot!  Having never even seen anyone use a bull float, I was asked to get to it.  I was kind of ready for a meltdown after using it briefly - no idea what I was doing, what results I was looking for, and I could barely hold onto the pole with strength on my tiptoes.  Needless to say, I took a much needed water break and picked the rake back up.  At this point the strategy was changed: Thomas worked the edges to the right height, Dave & Pop worked the bull floats, and I worked the rake to smooth and redistribute the concrete, shoveling a scoop whenever needed.  I also found the little 4'x6' pad for the cellar stairs to be a nice manageable size for me.  We had more concrete than we needed, so we actually core filled our first layer of block there.

All in all, it was good exercise, and certainly an exercise in patience and biting my tongue.  Without Pop & Dave, Thomas would have been in deep trouble, and we are super grateful for their help, not to mention Andres on camera and Maya and Sara as gophers.  After a round of quesadillas, strawberries, and cold drinks, everyone retired to clean up.

By the afternoon we were walking on it (and spraying it with water).  Drum roll...

 the little slab...

the big slab...

And we get to do it all over again next Saturday!

In-between Pours

After we poured the walls of our basement on May 12th, we were pooped, but work goes on. We disassembled the scaffolding and removed all the bracing sheets of OSB. Thomas and I did our best not to wrap ourselves up in the bituthene - a black tar like sheet that protects the outside wall that will be buried underground. 

The bituthene, a name Thomas adds "ch" to because it can be a mess to work with, went up fairly easily on the south wall, where it was only about five feet tall. There was lots of room, and it wasn't over my head. The west wall, which we tackled next, aroused some new vocabulary in Tom because it was a narrower space hit full on by the wind, and out pieces were 8 feet - well over my head to be very helpful. We improvised and cut the pieces in half; hanging four foot pieces was much more manageable. The north wall was tricky because it was too narrow, and then finally last week Thomas and I finished the east wall. Pop began filling in the gaps with dirt, but until the floor is in place, we really cannot do much with that.

Sadly, a hail storm hit the north wall before we got the bituthene up all eight feet. The hail really pelted that styrofoam hard, save for the bottom four feet already protected.

With the walls protected, we shifted our attention to the next pour, which was this past Saturday. We dug a footer for under the center wall (runs east to west) and compacted that soil. Thomas rented a compactor that looked like a giant blocky foot that jumped and stomped all over the place. I had the pleasure of using the tamping rod in the footer - what a workout. Thomas built forms for the slab (only poured the northern half of the floor) and for the little slab for our cellar stairs. We also dug a couple holes for drainage pipes. Finally, Saturday morning before the truck arrived, we laid plastic and metal mesh, curling over the last piece to make a box that fit in the footer.

 Ready set go! We had everything set to pour.

Thank you, Pop, for bringing our entrance/exit ladder. This was how we got in and out once the cement started flowing. (And thanks, Daniel, for letting us use it?!? Is this your ladder?)

Happy Birthday to Sara!

Today is the day!  I would have liked to take off work to attend her "friends party" today - a pool party.  Lucky ducks!  We celebrated with dinner and dessert on Saturday evening, and though there was talk of a polar bear swim, I don't think it happened.  We had to sign a waiver or something before getting in to hold harmless the owners, something about heart-stopping, frigid water.  Actually, my tired body would prefer a hot tub in such situations.

the birthday girl with her chocolate cake 

her "pet sister Sofia chewing on my nalgene cap

Sara is full of funny little sayings and questions.  She received moon-dough, which was promptly opened and passed around for those of us with no concept of it (think non-sticky cotton candy that doesn't dissolve or those orange party peanut snacks).  Sara read the package, which said to "keep away from pets".  She looked up and asked if Sofia was a pet.  I don't think so!!!!  She knew that it should be kept away from Sofia, but just couldn't quite match the instructions to the baby.  I tried not to give her a hard time, but asked if it said on the package that it was a good toy for kids older than a certain age.  Pretty funky stuff...

Why?

After hearing about the wildland fire Tom and I fought yesterday afternoon, I was asked tonight why I am on the volunteer fire department.  Certainly it would be easier to say a prayer for the people fighting fires than it is to suit up.  I was at a loss for words on how to articulate the why, and it's been on my mind all evening.  I imagine the firefighters I know who serve in large departments have a whole host of reasons why they serve, and in large part they serve anonymously - the people they serve don't know them, nor do they know the people they serve, aside from the third graders who make the annual field trip to the fire station and close friends and family.  I know I heard the sirens in Denver all the time, and aside for a few from Station Eight, I never knew who raced by in the trucks.  (Station Eight responded to my accident and had the honor of flipping me of the asphalt of Colfax onto a board and asking me the pressing questions about the date and president.) 

I was eager to join the Volunteer Fire Department when we moved to Miami.  In a big ol' city, we had large departments of emergency responders.  Here we call on our friends and neighbors, and I want to be the kind of friend or neighbor that is ready to serve.   It doesn't mean staying home and praying for the firefighters is any less important, but I feel like this is something I can do right now.  It might not always be that way. 

Yesterday, despite my plans to go into town for produce and milk, I stuck around when the thunder and lightning got close - the potential for a lightning strike starting a fire certainly goes up in the situation.  We "toned out" shortly after 3 pm, and it wasn't long after that Tom and I found ourselves hiking up the mesa towards the rimrock where the smoke was billowing up.  Though initially Tom, another volunteer, and I were not sure how much we could do with strong winds shifting direction every couple of minutes, with another of our volunteers and four more reinforcements from a neighboring department arriving with chainsaws and the winds dying down, we were able to clear a fire line and contain the fire.  This morning on our way to church, there was no smoke remaining, though it is entirely possible there were still spots in the black smoldering.  While the state's largest wildland fire rages on in the Gila, this one took less than an acre, and no harm came to any one or any personal property.  We give praise to God!

So why?  If you asked me ten minutes after I started climbing yesterday afternoon, I might have said I wished I had gone for the groceries after all.  It was a steep incline, and it felt like there was little we could do in one area before the wind turned the smoke on us.  But as we worked as a team and started cutting the fire line, I felt proud and lucky to be in the company of the six men I worked alongside and the half a dozen men who provided support for us, who all came to do their part in protecting our community. 

I have been privileged to find work in service/community building for the last dozen+ years.  Anyone who knew me 20 years ago wouldn't guess this is where I would end up, but they probably wouldn't be surprised to learn I am still volunteering.  Outside a metro area, the opportunity has just changed a little, and it is a privilege to get to serve my community in this way, too. 

The answer I still can't articulate well sounds more like: it is a privilege to be allowed to serve my community in this way - I want to serve my community as a volunteer fire fighter.  I still have a lot to learn, but I am lucky to be allowed to learn in the field.  And I am grateful to the men I serve next to who help me to learn and who have my back.

Haunted...

On our travels through southeast New Mexico with Miki, Marty, and Ollie, we stayed at the Trinity Hotel in Carlsbad on Saturday night.  The place was a gem, more than Thomas and I would have splurged for on our own.  They had a fancy restaurant and wine bar on the main floor.  There are only about 8-10 rooms, but one included a large safe that had a sleeper sofa in it.  That is where Thomas and I slept.

At breakfast Sunday morning, I started talking up the owner, who is from Maxwell (just north of Springer). We talked about this and that, their vineyard, the name for their wine label, etc. It turns out that my unspoken suspicions may be true - the place sounds haunted.

Our story: Tom and I slept in a safe.  The heavy old door with the lock was leaning against the wall, but there were still a pair of old metal doors that rubbed terribly on the hinges when you close them.  We closed them to within an inch or two, and gratefully Ollie was sleeping heavily already and didn't seem to notice the grating metal.  Once we closed them, they weren't reopened until morning (thank goodness I didn't have to pee in the night).  It was stuffy, so Tom asked if he could turn on the fan, which had to be turned on by standing on the bed now unfolded.

In the morning the fan was turned off.  The doors hadn't been opened, nor do either of us remember someone standing on our legs to pull the cord.  Hmmmm.....

The best part of it all is how silly the fan looks with its stubby four little blades:

Encahnted Adventure Pt IV

Our trip was winding down.  Ollie had been up so early the past couple mornings, I was determined not to sleep too late, so we could jumpstart the day with him and possibly get a hike in the cooler morning hours.  Ollie slept in.  I did not.  Consequently, Thomas did not.  We were ready to go before our neighbors in the room next door were even out of bed.  Alas....

Thomas and I drove around, as he toured me through some more of Las Cruces.  We made it back just in time to join the other three for breakfast before hitting the road.  Tom took us through some vast pecan orchards, really there were little ones, too.  Anywhere you could plant a dozen, another orchard popped up.  Mostly we were winding through them to see the Rio Grande (Big River for those needing translation).  It was a little disappointing...

This empty dry bed, save for a couple small green puddles of mosquito larva, is the Rio Grande.  No fishing today!  Tom said that the river is diverted into ditches for irrigation and then sort of merges back together to form a river again downstream.

Next Tom took us into the foothills of the Organ Mountains for a short morning hike up into these rocks.  It was a beautiful hike and the weather wasn't too hot, not that we didn't slather on sunblock.  Ollie slept for the first half on his mom in the backpack and then got to ride back down with me when he woke up.  His latest craze is clapping, and he figured out how to clap my hand as we hiked down (or some might say he was giving me five). 

Tom used to climb these rocks with his buddies.

I was lichen the colorful  rocks. 

 There were lots of yucca varieties growing - these were tall and colorful.

From there we stopped at Dion's for awesome sandwiches - another of Tom's favorite eateries - and hit the road for Albuquerque.  Ollie really needed a nap, so we didn't stop for anything but a potty break.  Last stop: the Dente's home.

A friend of Miki's grew up in Albuquerque, and her parents graciously hosted us on our last evening together.  We were greeted with hugs into a beautiful old adobe home with a serene backyard of fruit trees, grape vines, and sitting space.  We enjoyed some wonderful food (a toasted walnut dip that I need to get a recipe for), storytelling, and a great night's sleep. 

I'll admit that I cried when we parted ways on Tuesday morning.  It was such a wonderful gift to me to have the time to spend with Miki and Marty, but especially Ollie.  I miss out on a lot of family dinners and celebrations in Portland between visits, so it meant so much to have family here.  So I cried...  And in a few months we will go back to Portland for my brother's wedding, and I will get to see them again.

The happy little man with some new stacking/snapping colorful cups from the Dentes. 

Parting ways didn't mean either of our travels were over.  Miki & Marty did beat us home by about 4 hours.  Thomas and I stopped at several shops along the way home, including a big purchase of windows and lumber at Home Depot.  We rolled into Miami about 8 pm, grateful to see all was still standing and grateful for a hot shower and familiar bed.