Today was my 63rd birthday, and one of the few that I have not been home to celebrate. At the breakfast table, the group sang Happy Birthday, and gave me a nice card.
The other cool thing was that Mark had arranged for me to go out to the most distant work site near West Bridge. It was about an hour northwest of Grand Forks, in another area that had sustained serious flooding. The drive included some of the most scenic views so far.
We also drove through an area that had experienced a severe fire a couple years ago. I don't think it was too hot a fire, since the ground was again supporting growth and the trees had not been totally incinerated.
At West Bridge, the existing house was pretty much a total loss, but there was a garage sitting higher and away from the river. MDS and the property owner came up with a plan to transform the garage into a house by using the good parts and adding more. Karen, the owner, was working in the bathroom at the back of the house, chipping away at excess concrete on this HUGE rock inside the room. Since the rock can't be removed w/o great expense, she is planning to make it into a water feature both inside and outside the house.
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New House |
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Karen and Jared working at the Rock |
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Existing house |
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Dave and Robert working on drywall |
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Robert hard at work |
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Dave framing the attic access |
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Jon mudding the ceiling |
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Outside the bathroom, showing how the rock became part of the house. |
I took a number of pictures, then joined in (I was supposed to be taking some "birthday time" off). I went around the house checking for any screws that weren't sunk deep enough to allow mudding over them, and re-driving them if necessary. It was a rather tedious task. Cory was our expert "taping man", and I accidentally coined a new term for his way of applying the drywall tape. I commented that every move looked planned, like choreography. A couple of the guys started laughing and said "that was awesome". It took a second before I realized that it was a great name pun. "Coryography".
We had lunch there, and then Mark and I left for Grand Forks since it took an hour to get back and I needed to help get dinner set up.
For dinner, we had the reprise of the Taco Bar, with ice cream for dessert
Such a nice birthday treet!
ReplyDeleteI like the photos, the rock story, and the Coryography!
ReplyDeleteWhat a good way to celebrate your birthday!