Cool Beans

Three great reasons we are "cool" right now. The first is the weather. Currently 65 right now and cooling off. At 1pm Emily mentioned that she was cold. I love this weather. Secondly, because last Monday I turned on the new A/C below is a photo of what are attic has become. Although the system is not complete yet, it is up and running with high efficiency and a heat pump outside. Lastly, the siding is finally starting to go up and looks good. finally starting to see what it might look like.

The Southeast corner of the building.

Here is the front with the hole for the new window. We had 6 people help lift the rather large window in. We love our neighbors!

Here is what our attic has become. It is so nice to have A/C and not sleep in the living room with the window unit A/C.

The "beans" are finally here and we picked out first bunch. Tomatoes are setting on, corn is pollinating and the cucumber plants are taking over the garden.

She

Last night, as I was finishing folding the laundry and waiting for my dear husband to join me on the couch (and let's be honest, so I could snuggle into him and fall asleep as usual) I was getting a little impatient (it was 11:00.) I went in to the office to try to drag him away from whatever he was doing. I found him at the computer looking up baby names and meanings and making a list. This was extremely precious to me especially because most of our conversations about baby names involve me suggesting something and him either saying maaaaybe or no.

We found out yesterday that we will be having a girl. (7 out of 9 of you were right!) I've repeated this to Jon about fifty times since then. I just need to hear myself say it to help in sink in (for me). We are both very excited although I am fairly certain if they had said "boy" we would have been equally thrilled. I've had several months to get used to the idea of having a baby, and now that I can refer to her as "she" rather than "it", things seem to be more real. I know Jon will be an incredible father. He's always been gung-ho to hold babies and I feel like I'm getting closer to forming a picture of what it will be like to watch him hold our baby. . . girl. We are having a girl.

Chipmunks Not Welcome

Jon gets up at 6:30 to go run with his cross country team. Most days, I get up soon after, eat breakfast (because I'm just so darn hungry), go far a walk - maybe jog a bit of it depending on how ambitious I'm feeling, and then spend an hour or so weeding. The garden is well shaded before 9:00 and besides getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, it is fairly comfortable. I don't know that I love gardening. I want to love it, but this space is rather large and I have concerns and frustrations that make me wonder if it is worth all the time.

Our pepper plants that we started indoors that just seem stunted; I think they're picking up speed, but I wonder if I babied them too much indoors.

About half our corn didn't come up, so I don't know if it will actually get any of it pollinated. Fingers crossed. I've never done corn before, and am excited at the prospect of roasting our own ears. Wiebe Corn, maybe we can set up a roadside stand one of these days. . .

Other new things are beets (which didn't come up last year) and carrots (only five plants have made it). We also planted potatoes that seem to be healthy. I love the anticipation and mystery of root vegetables.

Our peas are taking off - I've never been much of a snap pea eater, so I just don't know what to do with them, but they are fun to nibble on while I pass by. (Any ideas?)

Our tomatoes are looking good and the cucumbers are exploding as they did last year. We can definitely count on a good cucumber crop -maybe enough to make pickles.

I made applesauce with apples from our tree. The birds and squirrels were starting to battle over them, so we had to pick. I think I could do another round of picking though. And, there are still peaches and pears on our trees. I am hopeful that our inflatable snake has deterred the squirrel carnage (to the fruit that is) that happened there last year.

Windows

Here is the next step in this process. We will continue wrapping the house and installing windows until we make our way around the whole house. So far we have finished 4 walls, and when rain or other activities don't interfere I can get at least one wall done in a day. The biggest problem is that all the window openings are different sizes and some don't even have headers. I have to cut a lot and build out the edge of the window on each one.

Here is the Southwest side of the"basement." Notice the new gutters. They magically appeared one day when we were away. No note, no call, no bill (so far). We are hoping they forget about us.

Here is the Southeast side of the "Basement."

This is the inside of the "basement." Too many windows, so I framed one back into the siding.

Here is a window from the inside.


Lots to do.

More House

Today was a very busy day. I thought I would try and replace one of the windows today. This process did not go as planned, but it all seems to work out somehow. I just now finished with one of the walls on the South part of the house and realized I need to document this for before and after pictures. This involved cleaning the wall, taking out a window and door, rebuilding the studs in the doorway to create a window opening, covering the wall with foam board, cutting and putting in fillers about the foam board and wrapping the wall. Maybe I will be able to install a window tomorrow. I think I have a good plan of action and was thrilled with how it is all turning out.

Here is the wall after it has been leveled off and the foam board is up.

Here it is with the house wrap on. The window opening to the right used to be a door.

Here is the wall as it once was.

Needless to say, it is great to be back in KC and be with Emily after being in for the past week to conduct the orchestra at Bethel Music Camp. Today was Mom and Dads anniversary. They were great to be around and it was great to be there too. Good luck with the moles!

Jon

WieBoy or WieGirl?

In about 5 weeks, we're going to find out (I hope) what the gender of our baby is. Until then, we're left wondering. I'm curisous what you think. Have fun; take your guess in the poll to the right.

The next weekend

Words to follow...