New House

A couple of weeks ago I went back to Kent to see my friend Scott’s play The Hummingbird, visit friends and family, and see the new house.

At first I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Then-tropical depression Katrina was making its way over Ohio and causing all kinds of travel problems. I contemplated leaving a day earlier and beating the storm there, but waiting it out was the right course, as it blew over more quickly than they had originally forecast.

The play was very well done. It was funny and had adult themes and situations, the set design was fantastic and of course the acting from my many friends were great. Best of all it went over well with the audiences and hopefully there will be more productions from local playwrights in the future.

Ok, I lied. Really the best part was getting to see a bunch of people I haven’t in several years. Everyone is doing really well for themselves, which isn’t really a surprise given just how much we kick ass.

A few more (out of focus) photos from the cast party: Phil, Scott, Mary Ann, Scott and Mary Ann, and everybody.

The new house is done and my grandparents are all moved in. The place is great… for only being a one storey house the place is enormous. High ceilings, tons of space, an office for my grandpa, a fenced-in back porch overlooking the woods, the railroad tracks and, in the winter, the lake. And on the geeky side: every room is wired with ethernet. None of it is hooked up yet, but all the cabling is there in the walls.

the new house as viewed from the front yard of the old house

I got to spend a lot of time with Kara (including going to Swensons, which has the best burgers ever), got to see the finished dam park downtown, and went flying with my dad and his friend Matt over Pittsburgh to Seven Springs, PA, which is just an airstrip on top of a mountain.

A nice, relaxing vacation. Mmmmmballs.

Dad writes:

Lot of activity, just not much to photograph. They put in the gas line, drilled the water well, insulated the house, and put up the drywall. Now they’re taping and sanding it. Here’s some interior pics with the drywall up.

Interestingly, the skylight in the master bath seems oriented so that around the longest day of the year, the 3 pm sun shines directly upon the toilet — sort of a quirky Stonehenge.

The pics:

• Living room
• Front door
• Dining room

Well, in the last month they’ve basically completed the outside of the house. Observe:

27 april - building the garage

17 may - the outside is pretty much done

Pretty neat, huh? Now the steps in between:

• 27 April - Three sides are up
• 28 April - Four sides are up
• 28 April - Inside, looking toward the bedrooms on the northwest side
• 28 April - Inside, looking at the fireplace toward the back (southwest) side
• 28 April - Inside, with the fireplace and dining room/kitchen and the quarry lake in the background
• 28 April - Inside, looking at the front door, with the extra bedroom/computer room to the left and the garage to the right
• 3 May - Big cranes setting the roof trusses
• 3 May - Roof trusses in place
• 4 May - “Starting to look like a house now”
• 11 May - Front of the house, from the park
• 11 May - Windows are in, roof is on
• 17 May - Outside is done!

My parents are building a new house. I suggested to them that they take pictures of the building process and I’d post them here. So these posts will probably be boring to most of you, but you know what? I don’t care. It’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.

Read the rest of this entry »