No More Talking About When We Might Start

HI!

Gotta' stop talking about when we might dig dirt on the house; we dug the first spadeful today. Steve the Builder says that the home will be done 250 days from now - November 10, 2014.

It snowed last night, but the snow was different from the rest of the snow I've seen here. It's really wet and sticky instead of being light and fluffy. The excavation crew was really happy to see it come since it means that Spring is on the way! The wet snow melts almost immediately and thaws any frozen ground below it.

It's going to take about a week to dig out for the foundation. The excavator in the background will have to dig out about 10 feet of earth at the North of the home, and will dig from there (where it is in the picture) down to where I'm standing. Most of the dirt will be stockpiled on the property somewhere, to be used later as backfill. Still, a substantial amount of dirt will have to hauled off site and dumped.

The next thing to happen is an "open hole inspection." A long time ago, we took a soil sample by drilling a hole near where the excavator is sitting. Based on the analysis of that soil sample, the soils guy recommended a certain type of foundation. The purpose of the open hole inspection is to ensure that the foundation recommendations in the soils report are valid.

After the open hole inspection and a sign-off by Douglas County, the foundation can be poured. That'll take a while; after the concrete is poured it has to cure - sits there and dries - for 29 days. While the foundation is drying, the work is on the foundation drains and the radon removal system.

So, keep that date in mind - November 10!

Phil

Catchin' Up

HI!

Just back from 10 days at beautiful Palm Desert, CA with great friends Anthony and Sue. This year was special since it was with our new friends and it was a sort of escape from the Denver winter. I have thoroughly enjoyed the winter ...... variable weather; one day cold, blowing snow, below zero, bad traffic, dirty car, bundled up, etc. Next day in the 50's and 60's, sunny, no wind, wearing shorts and a shirt, enjoying the outdoors. What a diversity.

Today is 63 degrees, bright and sunny. Forecast for tomorrow is for snow accumulations around 2", low of 15 or so and highs near freezing. Good day to stay inside and watch.

Deb's into her adventure, leaving me to fend for myself for the next six weeks or so. Today, I almost felt like I was back in CA. Trader Joe's opened it's first Colorado store about 2 miles from our downtown home.

I was there because I need to cook for myself. Up to now, I've been a pretty good prep chef to Deb's mastery of delicious and complicated dishes. I decided to dip back into our Sonoma cookbook and make the Tangy Black Bean Soup for dinner. So far so good, but tasting is a little ways off yet. It does smell like the soup Deb makes.

I learned a couple of things from cooking the is soup ..... 1) don't clean the floors in the kitchen until after you're done prepping, and 2) you can't get garlic smell of your hands if there's no stainless steel sink around!

Wish I could say that we've dug dirt on our new home; can't though. It feels like it's close though. Steve the Builder says that the permits might be issued soon and he's talking to his excavator ...... hopefully about digging our dirt! Now it's sit back and wait.

The reason I'm back into the Sonoma Cookbook, other than having to cook my own meals, is that Deb has inspired me to drop a few and get back into shape. I was really surprised, when I got to Denver in October, by the effects altitude had on my physical capabilities. Granted, I let go as we packed up the Alameda home and moved, but I expected to be able to do more without huffing and puffing as much. We exercised in Palm Desert at sea level and the difference was dramatic. I breezed through workouts that I would have worked hard at before we moved to higher ground. Coming back to Denver, I find I can do the amount of work that I want to with out hurting, and I actually feel good about my level of fitness again.

Advice (is worth what you paid for it) - if you go to higher ground and exercise, don't drink copious quantities of alcoholic beverages the first few days, drink lots (that's LOTS) of water to avoid headaches, and cut back on caffeine. That'll help, but still expect to feel the effects of altitude.

Have a great day!

Phil

Exterior Renderings of Our Home

HI!

Kat has done great work on the outside views of the home too. Here are four shots, starting with a southerly view.

From a little above and a little southeast of the home. The trees are nearly on the East property line.

Above, from the East side .....

Above, from the North, which is the back of the house. I'm standing in the courtyard that wraps the back from East to West. We recently decided to replace the three windows on the left with a 4-panel sliding glass door set that's about 9-1/2 feet long x 8 feet high. That'll provide even more light for the dining room and promote access from the kitchen / dining room to the back courtyard.

View from the West .... the courtyard continues to wrap around and there's a set of stairs that lead up to the rooftop deck where lots of gatherings will be held! That deck provides a great view down the valley to Chatfield Reservoir and, past that, to the lights of Denver in the distance. In front of the double door is a deck that's off the master bedroom.

Snowy Day It' Gonna Be A Snowy Day ....

HI!

This is more like it! Snow and cooler weather - maybe below zero tonite. Right now it's about 5 degrees and we've bundled up to go to Deb's writing class. Then out to Roxborough Park to get mail and return library books. Ho Hum activities, but part of daily life.

Woke up this morning to an outside temperature in the low single digits, bright sunny weather, and frost on the windows. The moisture inside the house freezes each night, and as the sun hits the windows, the ice melts and evaporates. The patterns of the ice are as pretty as any snowflake!

It looks like we have an approved Building Envelope Adjustment, and we've submitted to Douglas County for building permits. The people who have done this before tell us that it'll take about three weeks for the building permits to be issued. Then we can dig ground ..... in the middle of a Denver winter.

We've hired an architect to help us visualize the inside of the house. As soon as I can figure out how to do it, I'll post some of her renderings so everyone can see, and comment on, the home we've designed!

I'll just mention in passing that the Denver Broncos lost the Superbowl football game last Sunday. The other team played great defense and disrupted the Broncos' offense from the very first play of the game. Denver's defense was adequate but not outstanding, so I'm guessing that next season will see a Denver team that's faster and more agressive on defense. Having said that, it's just a game and there's no sense getting too emotional about it. Watching the game was a great chance to share time with friends!

Interior Views of the Home

HI!

We're moving from using the construction drawings to design the home to using perspective "models" of the interior of the home for design work. Here's an example - a view of the kitchen from the Great Room.

We hired an architect, Kat, to help us out using a program call Sketch Up. She took the construction drawings and converted them to 3-D images. She sits with us and we "walk" through the home looking at everything as we go. She even has the capability of changing colors and textures.

What a great tool! We were having a lot of difficulty "seeing" in our mind's eye, the spiral staircase and the back lit bottle wall. There was a platform part way up, the stair case curves up and to the right and the wall contains back lit bottles. How was that going to look?

Here's Kat's rendition of that area:

Her work helps us visualize what we've designed, and as everyone knows, re-design it based on things we've heard or seen!

This post is a big THANKS! to Kat for her efforts. Very much appreciated, very much more than we'd ever hoped to get!

Moving to the Building Permit Phase!!

HI!

Just a brief update to our home building project. We've been in constant plan reviews since ...... hmmmmm, don't even know how long! First the reviews by the Roxborough Foundation Design Review Committee, only to find out at the 11th hour that they wanted us to move the house (still only on the plans) 10 feet West and 3 feet North to accommodate our neighbor to the East. That prompted us to go through a "Building Envelope Adjustment" process with Douglas County (including a re-plat and a re-survey). After around 3 months, we've just been notified that we are permitted to submit plans to the Douglas County Building Department!!! Which means that hopefully within 3 weeks or so, we'll be digging dirt.

Cheers!!

Weather - A Big Surprise

Hi!

I promised myself that I wouldn't do the usual what I ate, what I watched on TV, what I ate for breakfast ...... what the weather was like today sort of blog. I'm breaking that promise just this one time.

The weather here is the biggest surprise so far! I've been warned by native Coloradans (Coloradians?) not to tell anyone about the weather. I just never could keep a secret though, so here goes.

We arrived in Denver in August and spent a week and the weather was beautiful, warm sunny days, cool nights and just a hint of breeze. Every now and then, a cooling shower that came and went in little more than minutes.

We moved to Denver in October and the days were warm, but not hot and the nights were cool bordering on cold. Throughout October there was sun every day, just a few clouds
now and then ...... but one could really sense that fall was here and winter wasn't far behind.

In November, I got my first taste of the weather I had expected. I researched the climate in Denver before we moved, found that the average daytime temperature is 45 and the average night time temperature is 19. Things freeze at night and thaw during the day ..... each day! And it got colder and colder. We had a storm come in from the Pacific Northwest and it snowed and the temperatures plunged .... down to a wind chill of -29 degrees at Denver International Airport one night! For almost two weeks, the temperatures never broke through the freezing point. We routinely saw temperatures anywhere from 0 degrees to 12 degrees ..... for the highs of the day. Luckily (for us) the storm moved on East and dumped a significant amount of snow from Chicago to the coast.

We bought new clothes, bundled up and ventured out. We has some grocery shopping to do one day and braved the 12 degree weather, but had to stop for coffee, a warm up and a "blow your nose" break part way through the walk. We went home and got more clothes.

That weather seems to be gone now. We count on waking up each morning to a cloudless sky with bright sunshine streaming through the windows. Granted, there's still a pond of ice on the roof of the apartment house across the street, but we are assured that we'll be comfortably warm in an hour or so. The days aren't long, but the warmest part of the day typically reaches 45 degrees, and if you are in the sunshine, you can walk around outside in a light coat or sweater! Almost like Spring!!

It's a good feeling to know that the winters here are not uncomfortable. I believe that I'm more comfortable here at 45 degrees than I was in the Bay Area at 60 degrees. One reason, in addition to the altitude, might be the low humidity. I'm not sure exactly how low humidity works to keep you warmer than a high humidity environment; we typically run humidity levels arouund 16% instead of the 70% we experienced before.

Yesterday and today the temperatures were in the 60s - in the Winter- in Colorado! (Shhhh don't tell anyone else!). We were out in the car buying some kitty litter (yes, the kitties are still alive and well and enjoying the new digs) and we had the window open and the air conditioner on!

So, summary, the weather here is better than I ever thought winter weather could be. It's likely to change and provide us with new experiences, but we're ready for the best kept secret Coloridians have.