Smartest Animals on the Block

In an effort to make this process a little easier on the animals, especially Harry, we've been playing Podcasts all day while we're gone.  The thought is, once again especially for Harry, having human voices in the background will partially drown out the scary construction noises and also act as a soothing/comforting method.  

Greyhounds usually have radios or such playing in their kennels during their racing career.  Hopefully having these Podcasts playing will remind Harry of the good ol' days on the track when all he had to do was chase a mechanical rabbit.  There were no scary noises of power tools, pieces of wood/siding/whatever crashing down at random times.  (We obviously hope that he actually enjoys life with us more than life on the track, but you get the idea).

So, these Podcasts.  From what we've read and heard having talk radio is better than music (more human voices, less possibly scary noises).  Since we don't have a radio we turned to our trusty iPods, and thus, the Podcasts.  Over the past few years we've become bigger and bigger fans of National Public Radio (NPR).  So what better source of human voice than things like Science Friday, Car Talk, Calling All Pets, Dave Ramsey, and Fresh Air.

Now, instead of just listening to construction and street noise our animals are getting a first rate education in things like: car maintenance, molecular biology, animal training, financial advice, and interesting people being interviewed.  Over the next six-plus months our animals will listen to countless hours of these show (and others), accumulating all sorts of useful knowledge.

I must say I'm jealous.

Hmmm.... Now, Where Did I Put That '50s Addition?

So the pace of construction continues at breakneck speed. We're trying really hard not to make any assumptions about what this means for the project as a whole, but overall, I can't believe how much they're getting done in only a matter of a few days.

Yesterday we arrived home much like two kids on Christmas morning, wondering how the familiar would look different, wondering what Santa the contractor had left under our proverbial tree. I had joked that the addition would be gone when we got home, but was genuinely surprised/impressed to see that was actually the case. Where there was once "the slope" there is now bare dirt and a few stray pieces of old plumbing. I would have pictures to post, but it was a little challenging (and probably dangerous) to get good pictures. With the complete demo of the back addition, we finally discovered the cause of the slanting floorboards which lent the space it's nickname. The contractor told us in a meeting this morning that there was almost no foundation to speak of under the addition, and that the floor was, in fact, just a piece of plywood on the ground (!!). I'm not a builder, of course, but I could tell from his tone and the look on his face that such a move is about as shoddy as you can get, construction-wise. So, essentially... we're lucky we didn't have flooding, major termite damage in that part of the house, etc., etc.

Other things:

The efforts and reassurances we went through with our neighbors lasted about 2 hours. The contractor has been taking everything through the house since then. I'm not surprised, but am more than a little disappointed as our neighbors emphasized that they were happy/willing to allow some access to their driveway at key points in construction (like demo and foundation work... i.e., this week). Contractor is making every effort to protect the house while this is happening, but it makes me nervous to think of wheelbarrows full of dirt and concrete going through the house. Oh well.

Current schedule has the footing and foundation for the new addition done by the end of the week. He's expecting the majority of the framing to be done in two weeks, and is tentatively predicting that the majority of framing, windows, roof, etc. will be done by early June. He mentioned that, at this point, weather is the most significant factor affecting the schedule. As long as the weather holds, they'll continue to move as quickly as possible.

We've Lost Our Minds, Day 1

We arrived home from work on Day 1 to find an impressive amount of work done. The floors are covered with a cardboard protector in the LR/DR/Kitchen, and there's a plastic sheeting barrier in the dining room.


Moving into the kitchen, you can see that they've moved the water heater into the kitchen where the trashcan used to be.  Gotta love the ragged holes in the drywall.

This is the inside of the slope, where the toilet, sink and mirror used to be.

Northeast corner, formerly the home of our pain in the a$$ washer/dryer. (Although annoying, its absence is definitely bittersweet.  We washed just about everything that wasn't nailed down yesterday in anticipation of 6 (+??) months without onsite laundry facilities.)

40's era brick shingle siding (Insulbrick?).  I hope this trend never comes back in style.  Looks like the contractor ripped some away to see what's underneath...

Eureka!  Original wood siding!  (Yes, Mom, I know that's lead paint... we didn't lick it, I promise.)  Who knows if it covers the rest of the house, or more importantly, what condition it's in elsewhere, but this looks promising.

Oldness...

Side brick patio (on the south side) has also been removed.  Overall, I'm impressed with how much was done today.  Let's hope they can keep it up.

Before, Part II

We spent about 14 hours yesterday preparing the house for work to begin today. Please excuse the mess in the photos...

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen (couldn't bring myself to post more kitchen photos... the mess is too shameful):

Slope (aka '50s Addition):

Before and... More Before

Well folks, it's the eve of the first day of construction (finally!), and we'd like to kick things off with a slew of before pictures. Let's start with the exterior "before" pictures, shall we?

Front facade:

Front again:

Front and South sides:


North side:

Cornice:

Backyard facing east and standing at current backdoor:


Backyard facing west towards current backdoor:


Back elevation:


North side of back elevation:


Second storey rear:


Backyard:


Will post interior "before" photos soon...

Book Report

Normally we're not ones to put book reviews on these pages, but I think we've found a worthy exception. The trainer we used for Harry just published her first book: Bonding With Your Dog.  The book is funny and informative while getting to the essence of the relationship we all strive for with Fido.  If you have a dog or are interested in the relationships between dogs and people, I highly recommend you buy this book.

...plus, I think the cover photo is really cool.

Top Ten Reasons We're Happy We Have Permits

1. Because we have permits!!!
2 - 10. See #1

Top Ten Reasons Why We Should Be Glad We Don’t Have Permits

Nope. Still no news to report. In the spirit of keeping our sense of humor, I present to you the top ten reasons why we should be glad we don't have permits:

10. We’re keeping our tax-dollar-funded City Departments busy in a building slump.

9. More time to pick out the perfect shade of red for the accent cabinets in the kitchen.

8. No more large checks to the contractor until the foundation is finished. At this rate, we may never have to write that check.

7. We have plenty of time to work on our patience with construction timelines.

6. The cats get extra time to be free to roam the house.

5. Dealing with the City on a now daily basis means the architect is earning his fee.

4. Who looks forward to construction dust and noise?

3. The reasons for the permit delay, while frustrating now, will make for a funny story years down the road.

2. We now know that historic preservation can mean dealing with more red tape than anyone would imagine.

And the Number 1 reason why we’re glad we don’t have permits…

1. If we think it’s bad now, just wait.

Mr. Harry Goes To Washington

Last weekend was peak bloom for the cherry blossoms here in DC. A greyhound meetup group that we're part of hosted a cherry blossom walk on that Saturday morning. Though we arrived early (quarter to 8 in the morning), parking was already a challenge. As you can imagine, the cherry blossoms are kind of a big deal around here. I noted that this was Harry's first visit to the Capitol.
After a while, Harry wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. Lots of dodging strollers, people, other dogs and constantly stopping... for what reason? Nothing exciting to sniff here.

Not Harry, obviously... but I love the ears on this girly (her name is Stella).

The weather was nice on this side of East Potomac Park (city is on the other side of the basin). Other side, not so much. It was like walking in a wind tunnel.

The trees didn't disappoint. I would've liked to do the Tidal Basin, but the crowds on that side were insane. Not worth it with a dog.

It's difficult to take a picture while walking backwards... add to that the fact that I was trying to avoid walking into other people, and 1 Andy stride = 3 Katie back shuffles, and you get a not-so-great picture. Oh well. Doesn't Harry look sharp in his snazzy Red Sox fleece coat?

Andy would've given me a hard time if I didn't include one of the photos he took of me. :oP

We had a great time. Gotta love spring in DC.

Hurry Up and Wait

Ugh. I wish we could put up a post about progress on our renovation. Unfortunately there's little or no progress to report. After being told repeatedly (by parties on several sides of the issue) that the permit process should take "no more than 3-4 weeks" - and most thought it would take less, given the current status of building in Alexandria - we just passed the 6 week mark yesterday. That's right, we've been waiting 6 weeks to start this mess... and the wait continues. Apparently, our building permit was rejected on Monday because the City changed the codes (on Monday morning?) and needed additional reassurance information regarding structural bracing in the back. Our architect faxed the required info on Monday afternoon. Now we wait for that to be approved... tick, tock... tick, tock...

Upon explaining our woes to my mom, she replied with simply, "Get used to it," though I clearly detected a mixture of sarcasm, irony and pity in her tone. Yes, we probably should get used to it... and we should also be careful what we wish for. We're in for at least 6 months of construction, and judging by this start, it could well be much longer than that...

Oh well... the sooner we begin, the sooner we're finished. Maybe even that is assuming too much.

Permits? We don't have no stinkin' permits!

And that would be the problem.  It's going on week three without any permits which means we're still without any work.  Hopefully this will all change very soon and we'll be able to share images of destruction and mayhem outback.  Until then you'll have to make due with this shot of Harry getting ready for the start of baseball season (thankfully he cheers for the right team):