On Monday, we picked up the kid at school, and seeing how the forecast called for nothing but upcoming rain, we shot over to Wright Park. Here’s a few shots on a killer sunny Fall day:
Tons of people were out, and the park was looking nicer than ever. Back to home improvement…
This weekend, amidst seven-hundred and thirty-four other home projects going, I took some time to clear out the basement. Our basement has become a catch-all for where-do-we-put-it junk, and I wanted that remedied. I need room for brewing, rocking, drinking, and laundry-ing. First up was to go thru it all, then junk what we didn’t need, then organize. I am proud to say that not only did I clean it all, I set up Tacoma’s Best Record Collection™ for my forlorn ears to be nurtured by:
That’s as far as I got, but it is a huge accomplishment. The rocking area is out of frame, as well as my brewing area. Pics to follow.
When I was screwing around, me and the wife decided to build a fence for our fierce guard beast, as well as keep out the roving gangs of whoevers. The last owners actually removed their fence but left the posts, so instead of cutting them out and adding new ones, we just re-used theirs. Problem is, in my perfectionist carpenter’s mind, the posts were not all equal distances apart, nor we they as straight as I like. I think we came up with a nice staggered design using what we had to work with, tiny gate and all:
The gaps are larger then the picture shows, but whatev. We didn’t continue the fence down the side because we actually like our neighbors, and talk to them at the fence regularly. The ‘gate’ on the end is more hidden on the front side of the fence, but I don’t have that picture. I need to trim the post tops and add our fancy post caps, then build a gate on the other side of the house.
Next up: raised planter beds, more basement mayhem, garage door a-go-go, upstairs bathroom finishing, and tons of other homeownery crap!
Sunday was the first brew day to take place at our new pad. My pal Jacob swung by to join the festivities.
Here’s Jacob’s rolling boil of some weird Pale Ale hybrid brew he’s making:
Jake’s brew went together painlessly. My brew, however, suffered due to severe sleep loss and what I like to call ‘forgetfulness’. I totally screwed the pooch on my Anchor Steam clone. Here’s a shot of my boil:
Did you like to awesome steam fade at the end? Bitchin’! Anyway, Jake’s beer is gurglin’ away in the basement, and mine is sitting alongside of it, doing jack-squat. I normally use liquid pitchable yeast, but this time I used a smack-pack. Let’s just say Jake’s yeast plumped up as it should, and mine kind of swelled a little…like I do after a big dinner.
I fear a dead brew is in my midst.
While still fulfilling my wickedly ridiculous schedule with home tasks such as putting in smoke alarms and removing door jambs to fit chairs through them, I am mentally preparing for the yard portion of fixing up our new Tacoman Homestead.
Our yard is huge. And flat. And non-descript. Here’s a shot from the back of the house, pre-purchase, sagging gutters, weird security door, and abandoned dog house and all. The shot doesn’t really do justice to the vastness of our space, but it’s better than a hot poker in the eye:
Just out of frame to the right is a little fruit tree of some sort. That’s all there was. I’ve planted one small cedar hedge in one corner of the front yard, but it seems to not be doing so well. We also transplanted a sequoia sapling we bought on our first vacation to California. Here’s a shot, pre-transplant, from when we got home with it last March on our last house’s deck:
It’s doing nicely now, about 10 inches tall.
Our backyard finally got a little help from a craigslist posting advertising a “tree bench” for sale, rather cheaply. After nabbing it up, we finally got a small start on our yardscaping, adding something to the vastness:
After much cussing of the company who pre-cut the pieces, 2 bottles of Ninkasi Brewing’s Total Domination IPA, and the help of a pal and my daughter in the waning hours of a Monday evening, the little fruit tree in the back has a nice new bench. Hell, I’ve even leveled it out.
Next up is fencing, and then raised garden beds. Hop vines are also going to be in effect. W00t!
Rain be damned. The market was still full of peoples gettin’ their market on. It was raining like a bitch, and those drops were cold. Everyone just swiped the water of their brow and kept at it. We kept at our dealio to only make dinner from the Tuesday market stuffs.
The Bounty:
The Line-Up:
(L to R): Peanut Butter cookies from Old Milwaukee Cafe’s stand and BBQ Sauce from the Barrel 51 peeps, broccoli florets, 3 cheeses (goat feta, some goat cheese spread that is killer, and some apple something-or-another wedge o’ cheese), the 2 best ears of corn I have ever tasted, cherries and summer squashes, organic chicken parts, and strawberries. Not pictured: kettle corn…again.
Broccoli was steamed (I let it go too long, ugh), corn was boiled, and the chicken lost out to a light bbq sauce glaze and Mr. Foreman (damn I love that man’s grill!). The corn was frigging AMAZING, and even my overdone broccoli had great flavor. The chicken was great as well. Cherries and strawberries held court with cheese slices, and the meal was frickin’ fab. Here’s a end shot:
Yum.
Today, the child and I shuffled on down to the 6th Ave Farmer’s Market. Hell bent on making dinner with only local stuffs, here’s what we ended up with:
L to R: dog treats made with real organic meat (bacon flavored), Riesling Hummus and some other delicious hummus made on the Eastside, cukes, roma toms, salad mix greens, bell peps, yukon gold spuds, strawberries and blackberries, and the corner of the bag our pork chops came in.
Cleaning and cutting await these sacrifices to my belly.
The table is set. Spuds were cut up and hit with olive oil and salt and pepper. Salad greens met up with Mr. Cucumber and Miss Tomato, and annoying Uncle Bell Pepper stopped by, too. Damn good party. Pork chops got a little salt and pepper and were done up with a little help from Mr. Foreman. Berries were washed and de-green stuffed, and the hummus was eaten atop a baguette from that bakery in the Stadium District I always forget the name of. Water is courtesy of Tacoma Water.
NOT PICTURED:
kettle corn, honey sticks, and fancy-pants-urban-hipster-doofus-basket to haul it all home (since we’re gonna do this local dinner deal at least every Tuesday).
The child is supremely thrilled that we’re saving the earth by eating local (we watched some Path To Freedom videos and she was perplexed as hell). Anyway, chicken is next week!
Yes. I am still working on the house…
I would think twice of trying to get your paws on our new pad. This ferocious beast came to us courtesy of the Pierce County Humane Society:
“Sugar” is her new codename, because the family didn’t think “Lemmy” was a name that emitted fear and dispair. Here she is showing another battle stance:
She’s awaiting spaying and microchipping (no time for pesky kids when you have killing to do…and microchipping is for her new cybernetic killing stuff implanted in her brain). She comes hom…she reaches her new assignment tomorrow.
Beware, Tacoma…beware.
In the beginning…
Demo begins…
No turning back. Ceiling has been ripped out over tub. Wiring about to start.
New throne. New sheetrock and paint. Fancy stuff added. New flushmount light/fan combo installed, and ceiling over toilet part of bathroom and archway have been raised.
ANOTHER VIEW
Demo begins…
New sheetrock is in. Scalloped tub to be salvaged because it looks fucking killer.
You can see the vault over the tub area here. New light fixtures, new window, and new tile. New paint is very, very light mint green (almost white). I loves it.
We moved in on Thursday May 29th, and are still kind of sorting out the move. We had a huge party 2 days after we moved in to blow off some steam, and although there is plenty of work to do, we’re taking a breather for a sec. Here’s a little before-and-present of one part of the kitchen:
Yeah, I know I need to put on outlet covers…and install cabinet kickboards…and………….
Movers come tomorrow morning between 7 and 8am. The new house still needs, shall we say…a shit-ton of work. Today is a big crunch day.
Kitchen needs countertops, cabinet shelves, all pulls installed, baseboards, and toekicks installed. I also have to shim the non-cooperative fridge to the sloping 98-year-old floor. I can install the dishwasher when I’m not doing anything.
Bathroom just needs baseboards and cabinet pulls, and a custom-made concrete tub endcap that I have yet to custom-make yet.
Living room needs one piece of baseboard installed.
Basement needs washer and dryer (damn you dryer vent…where will you go?) installed.
Exterior window trim a-go-go needs to happen, but that can wait.
