Hood River - July 10, 2011

We left our old neighborhood for the last time this morning and headed out the Columbia Gorge.  It was a beautiful day, so the traffic, both car and bike, was really heavy.  We stopped at Cascade Locks to check out the river excursions.  We decided not to do one, but I took this photo of a sculpture of Lewis and Clark's Indian guide, Sacagawea.  It was a beautiful sculpture, depicting not only the guide but her infant on her back and Seaman, the dog who accompanied the explorers.

 In the afternoon we checked into the Inn at the Gorge in Hood River.  It's a  beautiful house just two blocks above the main street in town. 

We walked into town and had dinner at 3 Rivers Grill.  The streets are very steep and remind us a lot of Ashland.  We were able to walk off a lot of the bad stuff we had for dinner, including tiramisu for dessert!

Quiet Day - July 9, 2011

Today we spent the day at the new house doing more yard cleanup and installing a lot of our garden art.  I also did several loads of laundry for the first time there, thus verifying that both the washer and dryer do indeed work.

It was nice to be there when no one was making noise.  We walked down to Roth's market and bought lunch in the deli, then ate it on the deck.  Very nice.  We've had really nice weather, finally.  Lots of sun.

Today is our last day there for a few days.  Tomorrow morning we'll check out of Conrad and Diana's house and head for Hood River.  We expect to return on Thursday, at which time the floors should be finished (Yay!!)  Our new refrigerator and stove will be delivered on Friday and then it should really feel like home.

New Floor - July 8, 2011

The new floor is coming along nicely.  The hall, about half of our bedroom and 2/3 of the guest bedroom are done, along with a strip in the living room.  There are three guys working on it, Josh, his brother, and his father. 

 

While all this is going on inside, we've been working in the garden in back.  We're making good progress with the weeds and removing a lot of stuff that's gotten out of control.  Of course, we haven't even started on the ivy!

Here's my puny vegetable garden.

 

Some things are in pots on the deck. 

Subfloor Installed - July 6, 2001

Today Josh and crew began installing the plywood subfloor, to which the bamboo will be nailed.  And our boxes of flooring have arrived, so we could actually see large boards of it.  We really love it.  It's vertical grain and carbonized, which makes it a little darker than most other bamboo floors we've seen.  Vertical grain means the slices of bamboo, about 1/8" thick, are joined standing on edge, rather than lying flat. 

Here's the flooring in the dining room.

Demolition Day - July 5, 2011

When we arrived at the house at about 8:30, there were four trucks and one trailer parked there.  The demolition team of four had already removed the old avocado green shag carpet and were hacking away at the particle board underneath.  Our contractor, Jeff, and his helper, Ben, were also there.  Ben was on the roof installing an exhaust fan and Jeff had removed the second door in the master bath in preparation for replacing it with a wall.  The noise was awful, so we spent most of our time outside pulling weeds. The nicest part of all this is that without the carpet the house smells so much better!

David ran errands while I stayed to meet a couple who were coming to look at our old stove, which we had listed on Craigslist.  It dated back to 1996, but it was in excellent condition.  Unfortunately, it was electric, which I am unable and unwilling to cook on.  The couple, Don and Mary, who appeared to be around 80, arrived in a pickup truck.  They liked the stove and agreed to take it.  I asked them how they planned to move it, assuming they had a couple of strong young guys lined up to help.  But no, they had a dolly and planned to put it in the back of the truck.  So we strapped the stove on the dolly and moved it down the driveway, up the street, and into the parking lot next door.  Once we had it on the dolly it became apparent that both tires of the dolly were flat.  I offered them the use of our dolly, so we transferred the stove to ours.  My next question was how were they planning to get it on the truck.  Don had two 2x4s, which he positioned on the back of the truck.  They were not quite as wide as the tires on the dolly!  We lined up the stove with the boards and started up, with Don pulling and Mary and I pushing.  It immediately became apparent to me that this was the makings of a major disaster.  The stove was unstable on the dolly, never mind on the boards.  Just then I noticed that Jeff had returned, so I asked him if he could possibly lend a hand.  He got Ben and the two of them lifted the stove (as if it weighed nothing) up onto the truck.  I took my dolly and wished Don and Mary good luck getting the stove off at their end.  When David returned he enjoyed the story and was sorry he missed seeing the whole fiasco.  I've decided that when we sell the refrigerator, which we will do as soon as our new one arrives, I will make sure ahead of time that the buyer is prepared to move it without our help.

This photo shows where the refrigerator and stove will be and the new microwave shelf that Jeff built for us.  It had been a cabinet with two doors.

Moving Day 2 - July 3, 2011

In the morning we loaded up the last of the stuff (including a dozen tomato cages!), drove the truck to the new house, unloaded, and returned the truck, all by 9:00.  Then we went to Shari's for breakfast.

We spent the day cleaning the old house, getting it ready for the new owners.  In spite of both of us checking and double checking, we managed to leave a few things behind.  All my laundry stuff was still in the cupboard in the laundry room, and my newly-harvested garlic was still in the shed.  We contacted the new owners and they put everything out on the porch for us to pick up.  They won't be moving in until July 5, but they have been to the house already.

Since we are now homeless, we had planned to stay in a hotel for a couple of weeks until the new floors were installed.  But we lucked out.  Conrad and Diana left today for a week-long trip and offered us the use of their home while they are gone.  So we can stay there and cook our oatmeal every morning!

Moving Day - July 2, 2011

I've decided to use my blog to chronicle our move to our new house at 1174 Cunningham Lane.

Today was the big move.  Since we are having the floors done in the house, we decided the best plan would be to put everything in the garage for the time being.  We rented a 16 foot truck (all they had), of which $40 was paid by Coldwell Banker.  David picked up the truck at 9:00 and I went to the new house.  We hired our next door neighbor Arlyce's two grandsons, Jake and Travis, to help.  Both are college students home for the summer and unemployed.  We had taken some boxes of kitchen stuff to the house the day before, so I busied myself with unpacking them.  Around 11:00 David called to tell me to come home.  The truck was loaded but there were only two seats in the cab.  So I returned home and brought Jake back to the new house.

We had hoped to unload things systematically, but the best laid plans...  Most of the kitchen boxes went into the kitchen, and most of the boxes of books went into the living room, and most of the garden stuff went out in the back yard.  But everything else went into the garage wherever we would stack it or wedge it.

Just before 1:00 the truck was emptied, so we all went back to Arlyce's, where we had a nice hot lunch of chicken enchiladas.  As soon as we finished we were back at work.  The truck was again filled, with another trip made to the new house.

We finished unloading late in the afternoon.  At this point, we had all the big and heavy stuff moved.  What remained was lots of odd things, such as outdoor furniture and garden stuff.  We dismissed the boys and the two of us loaded the truck again.  At 6:00 we went to our other neighbors', Conrad and Diana, for a quick dinner.  Afterward, we drove the truck over and unloaded.  By the time we were finished, it was almost 10:00, so we went to bed in the empty old house on the airbed.

Here are a couple of "before" photos of the house.  Note the lovely 1972 avocado green shag carpet.

 

And here is our garage with all our earthly possessions in it, except books and kitchen stuff.