Stress Hardiness, Optimizing Stress, Being Fully Alive

 
As I mentioned before, we’ve chosen the sink in the above picture. But that isn’t the faucet we picked. For that I thought we had decided on this one, with a separate water control on the side:
 

 
And Dahl’s thought we had chosen this one:
 

 
At first I thought this one looked even stranger than most, but now I’m thinking it might be less obtrusive and more convenient.

Have you had any experience with modern faucets? Do you have any opinions? Or are you just glad you don’t have to spend any time thinking about subjects like this?

Have you had to make any decisions lately?

Click on picture for better resolution.
 

Click on picture for better resolution.
 

Beate and Tim’s place. Click on picture for better resolution.

 
The weather forecasters have been predicting a warmer and drier winter here. So far we haven’t seen it. We received more snow in the past few weeks than we did all of last winter. And when Andy plowed today the snow was coming down so heavily it was hard for him to see the sides of the road. Of course this was only the second day of winter.

Do you think the rest of the winter will be any more mild?

 

 
As I mentioned before, things are slowing down up on the land now. Andy is plowing the road when needed, and we’re gradually planning our little kitchen and bathroom. At Steve’s suggestion we went to Pittman Brothers in Santa Fe last Thursday to start talking about the process. They’ll design the kitchen and bathroom for us and provide the cabinets and counter tops. First we have to choose all of the sinks, faucets, appliances, etc. and give Steve the dimensions. As we understand it he’ll draw a set of preliminary plans that satisfy the building code, and we’ll take them back to Pittman Brothers to talk about our choices there. Apparently that will be our first draft and they will show us drawings of what it will look like so we can make changes if we like.

Some people may think this is overkill for an 8 X 8 foot kitchen, but there are so many little details to decide in the project we decided we can use all the hand holding we can get.

Steve and Pittman Brothers also suggested we go to Dahl Plumbing for the sink, tub, shower, etc. and we made our first trip there this past Tuesday. That’s another very fancy place, but we did appreciate the hour and a half Glenn, the fellow we talked to, spent with us. In the first picture above he’s showing Andy a shower head, and the second picture shows the sink we may get. (We’re not at all sure about the faucets he showed us.)

The adventure continues.

Did you have any adventures this week?

View of shed from a distance. For better resolution click on picture.
 

View towards the east from our clearing. For better resolution click on picture.

 
No one except Andy went up this week. Joe and his crew had planned to go up Monday, but it was way too cold. It’s warmed up since then so if he doesn’t come up tomorrow we’ll phone Steve to find out what’s happening. Greg, the photovoltaic fellow, was planning to start installing the solar panels today but his schedule changed and he now plans to go up December 20-23. It doesn’t matter because the batteries won’t come until the first week in January. He plans to finish the installation then.

So Andy and I went to Santa Fe to talk to talk to a designer about our kitchen and bathroom. We felt comfortable with him so the next step is to figure out the appliances we want, get their measurements, then go back to the designer with the house plans and details. We weren’t looking forward to this step but it shouldn’t be too bad now that it’s clear exactly what we need to do. We actually got farther along today than we expected. We do know from experience that taking the first few steps is usually the hardest. I will let you know!

How was your week?

For better resolution and more pictures start here.
 

The radiant heating system has been laid and the house pad has been inspected. Everything is ready for the concrete to be poured. We had thought that might be postponed because of the storm that’s supposed to hit us tomorrow, but tonight Joe phoned to tell Andy to be at the gate 8:30 tomorrow morning to let the concrete trucks in. I will let you know how it goes.

Joe has also been working on getting county approval for the shed. We’re not yet sure if that has gone through…we’ll believe it when we get an official piece of paper in our own little hands. We’re not supposed to start using it until then. Presumably in the fullness of time, or hopefully sooner.

How did your week go? And how is the weather where you are?

It was a great week. We picked up Kaitlin and Torben at the Albuquerque airport around noon Monday, and the Tuff Shed people built our shed Tuesday and Wednesday:

For more pictures of building the shed start here.

 
The time for pouring the concrete slab for the house is getting closer, so we all went over the plans to make sure they represented what we really want. Kaitlin and Torben were invaluable.
 

 
We made some important changes so today (Thanksgiving) we went up and looked at the plans at the house site to make sure we liked the new version, and also to figure out where we wanted the windows.
 

 
In the evening Torben and Kaitlin drew the plans in Power Point so we would have a neat version to show Steve when we meet with him again, hopefully sometime this coming week.
 

 
It was an unconventional Thanksgiving, but it helped Andy and me a lot and it was a good way to bond as a family. It’s a week I’ll always remember and I’m grateful for having them in my life.

What about you? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Whatever the answer, was this a special week for you?

Forms for the stem walls of the house. For more pictures start here.
 

Installing the propane tank. For more pictures start here.
 

Mounting the poles for the solar panels. For more pictures start here.
 

A lot happened this week. We now have the propane system installed to the house and shed sites, and the forms for the stem walls of the house and the mounts for the solar panels are ready for pouring the concrete tomorrow.

Tuff Shed had planned to build our shed today, but there was a mix up about the building permit so now the estimate is next Tuesday at the earliest. And it took a lot of effort for Joe to get permission to pour the concrete for the stem walls tomorrow. An inspector was supposed to come up today to give the go ahead, but there was some disagreement about just which one would have to come up. I’ll spare you the details, but Joe will be able to pour tomorrow. He won’t be able to get the concrete pumper though, so they will have to use wheelbarrows… the permission to pour came too late to reserve the pumper.

It could have been a lot worse. We’re grateful for what was accomplished.

Hopefully you had at least as many successes as setbacks this week.

There were good news and bad news this week. The septic system was installed, inspected, and buried:
 

 
The shed site was prepared and inspected:
 

 
And the trenches and rebar for the footings for the house were installed and inspected:
 

 
The good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, they will pour the concrete tomorrow, even though it’s Veteran’s Day. That is indeed good news.

On the other hand, Andy has been hobbling around because of back trouble the past two days. I got out our emergency cane and we’re joking (we hope) about buying an emergency walker. But chances are active rest will stop the spasms in the fullness of time.

How are things going with you?

(Andy took a gazillion pictures this week, especially of installing the septic system and preparing the shed site and footings for the house. They start here.)

Have you ever wished for either of these rules?
 

 

 
Do chronic complainers bother you? What about cheerful people? I’m happy to lend an ear when someone is going through hard times, but I’ve learned to steer clear of people who are always complaining. And when I’m in a bad mood I tend to avoid cheerful people until I start feeling better. On the other hand, I avoid grumpy people too, so I was amused at this announcement in a local church bulletin:
 

Getting Old and Grumpy Group

Are you, at least somewhat, grumpy and cranky about aging? You must feel that way often for admission to this group! Those aging gracefully should go elsewhere.

Would a group like that ever appeal to you? (If you’re not old enough to be dealing with aging, think of some other problem affecting your life.)

The site of the new shed is to the right of the driveway.

 
The weather has been “slightly less than perfect” the past couple of days, so construction has been briefly halted. We’re expecting more good weather before winter sets in for good, but just in case the truck and snowplow are ready:
 

 
Steve and Joe weren’t able to get the building permits Friday because we didn’t have a house number. But yesterday when Andy was up there two fellows from the county came up and they all decided our address will be 75 Woodcutters Road. So Joe made the two-hour-each-way trip again today. Presumably he succeeded this time and progress is being made.