Housebuilding *Pre Construction meeting & Building Permit*

We met with our builder and real estate agents yesterday at noon (his agent and ours) and formalized the plans for building a house. We signed a buy-sell on the house on Monday, and seem to have all of the ducks in a row. The builder is submited the building plans yesterday for review, which should take two weeks. Hopefully we’ll see a foundation upon our return from Oregon the week after Labor Day!

We close out the sale of the condo on Monday, August 31st, which means we have to move in the next 10 days. I’m definitely not looking forward to it, but since we sold the condo with the appliances and washer and dryer, it won’t be as awful as it could be! Just furniture, belongings and clothes. I started to say today that we don’t have much stuff… but maybe I’m dreaming!
We are going to rent an apartment from the builder we are working with. Primarily because he won’t ask us to sign a lease and its available right now. I believe we will start trickling stuff over there this weekend, and round up our good friends to help us move the last weekend of August.

The mention of building instead of buying an existing residence does raise some eyebrows with people. Believe me, if there were a historic home out there in our price range, we would have jumped on it. I would love nothing more than in a historic district, with lots of charm and built-ins. But even with the lowered real estate prices, a 1905 Craftsman is still out of our price range.

I also feel a twinge guilty for not buying an existing house on the market. I know many sellers are desperate to get out of their homes, but nothing we saw as we stalked the real estate market online even jumped out at us as worthy of a look. We had our eye on a house a couple of blocks north of us to buy, but then it went under contract last month. We started talking about building; and then got really serious about building once the condo sold. Essentially, we can construct exactly what we want for about $10k less than we could have bought and $30k less than they were going for two years ago. And on a better lot with better views. Score!

So, with that introduction, let me show you our house:

The lot, looking north (so the house will face south)

This is the lot it will go on. The building to the north is Heritage Christian School, who will be constructing soccer fields between their building and our back yard line. This means we will not have a back yard neighbor, and should have awesome views to the north.
Changing the kitchen

These are the plans for the house. Since I couldn’t leave well enough alone, we already have some ideas for how we want to modify them. Specifically, turning the kitchen from a galley style to an L with an island style, which hopefully will allow us both to cook in the same room at the same time- something lacking in the condo.

We are also moving the double doors from the dining room to the kitchen and turning the double doors of the dining room into oversize windows. The kitchen and dining room will get a lot of natural light from the east in the mornings.

Moving the closet in bedroom 3 and changing up the master bedroom closet.

We are also shifting the closet in the bedroom #3 to over the stairs, which makes the bedroom much more functional.

In the master bedroom we are reconfiguring the master bath and closet. Dusty didn’t like the idea of having to walk through the bathroom to get to the closet. What if I were in there taking care of business and he needed a shirt, he asked. Good point. So in the reconfiguration, we should be able to get windows into the sinks area of the bathroom, and the toilet/ shower area. Natural light and ventilation.

Standing on the street looking to the northwest. Great sunsets!

This is a photo of our lot, standing on the street and looking to the North West. All of the built Ryegate plans we like are mirror images of the plans above. So our house will match the plans, but be a mirror image of the photos shown. Got that?

From this point on the street, you will look at the driveway, stairwell, and courtyard area of the house. Kind of from the angle in the two houses below.

We really like the strips for a driveway instead of a full concrete driveway. It makes the front yard seem so much bigger. I'm wondering how this functions in the winter... might have to knock on their door and ask!

As you are coming down our street from East to West, you’ll see the long side of the L shaped plan. The developer plans to build a one story house on the lot next to us (we’ll see if it ever happens), so our house will be really exposed. Again, flip the plan in your imagination; you’ll see the sidewall with the living room fireplace, windows, and dining room windows.

You'll see the side elevation as you come down the street towards the mountains. I'm not a fan of board and batten siding (in the upper half of the building shown here), so we will be using shingles to finish the accents and gables of our house. Kind of like the shingles shown below, down the chimney and in the gable.

Mmmmm shingles in the gable

As a budding gardener, I’m already thinking about the outdoor living spaces of the house. I’m really excited to get to start from scratch! I will do another post on landscaping thoughts (ideas anyone?), but I think we are most excited about the east elevation of the house, where the house kind of wraps around the driveway to the garage. The shape of the buildings and the aspen trees to the east will create a really cool courtyard area. We have plans for a hammock on the porch, and I’m wondering if a clothes line is possible. Basically, everything this green house has!

Doesn't that look like such an inviting space?

So that is our house. Or at least the plans for it. Please keep your fingers crossed for us that everything continues to fall into place!

House buildings, weddings, Autumn.

I can’t even begin to describe the craziness that has been life lately!

We sold the condo a week ago (only a week?) and have since offered, and been twice counter offered on building a house. We are going to build a house about four blocks north of us, in the same neighborhood and abutting a school soccer field, so we’ll have awesome views forever. I’m really excited to get the ball rolling on it!

We have to move quickly, since I’m eligible for the $8,000 tax credit as a first time homebuyer. We need to close on or before December 1; which leaves us three and a half months to build. There are a lot of decisions that will have to be made, and made quickly! We spent some time this weekend checking out kitchen and bath magazines at Barnes and Noble, and appliances at local shops. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll finalize our offer and get the ball rolling with a building permit application!

To add to the craziness, I was a bridesmaid in a dear friend from high school’s wedding on Friday. Katie and Brad tied the knot at the Rockin’ TJ Ranch, west of Bozeman on Huffine Lane. I was so engrossed with everything that I totally failed to take photos. I suck. Sorry. It was a beautiful wedding, despite the rain through the entire outdoor ceremony. Memorable for sure!
And work… ohmygodyouguys Work is KILLING Me. So overwhelmed. Such detailed, complicated projects. Such needy applicants. Hopefully I got one crossed off the list tonight, but I think its going to be a 60 hour work week. I had a little break down to DJ on Saturday night about how stressed out about it I am.

So with that said, I have to go work on a Staff Report! I know! A post about a really busy week, with lots of big news and no photos. Again, I suck. But I promise to keep you updated!!!

PS: It’s fall here. No, really. Like a low of 37 last night. Suck. Its also 8:51pm as I post this and DARK out. Suck again.
PPS: I’ll have a garage parking space by December 1! No more scraping snow!
PPPS: We ate a tomato from the farm last night. SOOOO YUMMY!

SOLD!!!!

The condo sold yesterday!!!!! It sold for nearly what we were asking too. I didn’t really think we’d sell it this fall. I was preparing myself for disappointment about the whole situation given the general real estate market in the US. I was preparing to park on the street and have to scrape snow off of my car for another winter.

Yesterday’s whirlwind of two offers, counter-offers and final offers, then looking at houses to buy is still overwhelming. DJ and I kind of sat down on the couch at 9pm tomorrow night, looked around, and let it sink in that we wouldn’t be living in our great condo in a month. We’re closing on August 31, which means the last weekend we had vacant this summer, which I had mentally booked for a camping trip to Red Lodge and the Beartooth Mountains, is now the weekend we move.

Where we’re moving I’m not really sure. We’re both pretty decided on building a house in the same neighborhood, only three blocks north. There are some lots that back to a school, which means unencumbered views, neighbors on only two sides, and good long term value for resale someday. We know which plan we’d like to build; it’s just a matter of making some minor tweaks and sending it through the Building Department. If the contractor can break ground on September 1, it could be completed enough for us to close on time for me to get the $8,000 tax credit. The deadline is December 1. Three months to build a house. With a garage. No more scraping snow! No more shared walls with noisy neighbors! But also no more happy little condo where everything is put away and organized.

So that leaves us happily homeless for three months. Apartment living here we come? Anyone know of someone with a place we could rent for three months? Do you have boxes we could use? We'll have to move twice in three months... (hopefully!)

Honestly, I’m so overwhelmed right now. Work is really, really busy. Really, really really busy. Like worked 8 hours on Sunday and am still behind. I’m in Katie’s wedding this week; hosting the bachelorette dinner tomorrow night, rehearsal Thursday, Wedding Friday. Probably looking at places to rent on Saturday, and I have to work at Gift Corral on Sunday. Next week is slammed too!

Whoooo Heeeee breathe, right? All good changes. The next three weeks are going to suck.

HALP!

Hiking the Ridge

Hey there! How the heck are you? Can you believe it’s August? Yeah, me either. Especially when it smelled like fall the other day. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. I’m not ready to break the ice scraper out again.

Last weekend my college friend (and sorority sister) Alli came up from Nashville to visit Bozeman. Alli is a native Coloradan who just finished her Master’s Degree in GIS from Western Kentucky University while working for the Army Corps of Engineers in Nashville. I’m so proud to have kick-ass friends who are adventurous, ambitious and who understands my bemusement at “Tennucky” culture.

One of the goals during Alli’s visit was to hike from the M to Fairy Lake along the Bridger Ridge; a 21 mile hike at about 9,000 feet of altitude. Alli and I both like to hike, and have done limited mountain climbing in the past. So we decided to go for it, knowing that we’d have cell service the entire length of the ridge and that my sister was in town and could retrieve us if necessary.

I need to back off the Ridge hike for a minute and mention that my interest in extreme (to me) hiking/ mountain climbing comes from my dad, who is a “big” mountaineer. By big, I mean most mountaineers aren’t “skinny” at 265 lbs. He’s climbed on Mt. Rainier in Washington 13 times, and summated 3. For my 16th birthday, my parents gave me the option of having a party or going snowshoeing on Mt. Rainier with dad. I chose Rainier, and it’s one of the coolest trips I’ve ever been on.

Although I’ve hiked a lot since then, I hadn’t done any real climbing per se since then, 11 years ago (wow, 11 years, really?). So I was super pumped to try it out with Alli on what seemed like a straightforward climb with a lot of emergency exits down gulches and canyons. Turns out, I’m an idiot. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be!

We started Monday morning at 5:00am. Got up, ate breakfast had a cup of coffee, dressed and drove to the M trailhead. Snapped a quick picture and started hiking up. Slow and steady. I was concerned with how Alli would handle the altitude coming from Nashville.

In the "M" trailhead parking lot.

There were two cars at the trailhead, and we saw both people coming down. I totally didn’t expect to see anyone else up there! Who does this shit for fun on a random Monday morning?

Sunrise over Bozeman.

See the parking lot in the lower right hand corner of the photo? That's where we started.

We got to the M, then started hiking up to Mt. Baldy. I should add that the M to Baldy is a 4,000 foot elevation gain. Yes. The number four followed by THREE ZEROS. We had to take a break as the sun came up at Gretchen Rock, so named for my sister who at the age of 10 pitched a fit on a hike to this point and said she’s never hiking again and we could leave her there.

The "M", laid out in the 19teens by MSU engineering students.

Sunrise on Gretchen Rock.

The badass hiking partner

Those hiking boots? Why I think I bought them in 1996 in Seattle on a day hike on Rainier with my mom, dad and cousin Blake.

What goes up, must come down.

Getting to the top of Baldy. The trailhead starts at the bottom right of the mountain, and Bozeman is to the right out of the picture.

We hiked and hiked and hiked up up up, and arrived at the top of Baldy at 10am. Even this early, I knew we’d never make it the 21 miles to Fairy Lake at the pace we were going.

We stopped for a snack and a break, and two women come running towards us from Mt. Bridger. Practically frolicking towards us at 9,000+ feet. What. The. Hell. They were all chatty and excited to see some people on Baldy, before taking off to run down to the M. Alli and I both expressed our amazement, mostly tinged by disgust if not outright annoyance, at people who run the ridge for fun. As Alli put it, “Fucking white Kenyans. Who do they think they are.” (By this, we both meant, duuuuudddddeeee you’re in WAY better shape than I am, and I can’t even fathom doing this shit regularly as part of the daily grind)

The route ahead. Bright perky girl's tennis shoes in the left of the picture. What a wierdo.

As we were getting ready to keep moving, another girl comes running up from the M. She was young, bright and perky, and wore no socks in her tennis shoes. I asked her if she is running the Bridger Ridge Run, an upcoming event in which local Kenyans (Read: white ass mountain runners with a death wish who are running from SOMETHING) run from Fairy Lake to the M on the ridge. Let me explain. These fools get up at 5am to start from Fairy Lake at 6am, and then proceed to run 21 miles on top of the fucking mountain range in 4-5 hours. Totally, absolutely, retarded. I’m not sure if I finished our hike with more or less respect for the people who attempt this feat of running.

Photo on top of Baldy, courtesy of bright perky 17 year old.

Anyway, the bright perky girl answers my “are you running the ridge” question with “oh, no, you have to be 18 to do it, and I’m not old enough yet.”

That’s right folks. She’s 17 and running Baldy for fun on a Monday morning. Totally, absolutely not what I was doing at 17 on a Monday morning.

After getting out athletic egos crushed by the bright perky girl, Alli and I proceeded down Baldy towards Bridger Mountain. As the hike went on, the trail became more and more of a scramble. Tricky footing where you had to plan your next move, stand back, cross your eyes and try to find a trail, and occasionally just charge ahead without knowing exactly where you were going; other than forward.

Down off of Baldy, looking back at where we've already been.

Frickity-frack, where is the trail?

As we scrambled around Mt. Bridger, Alli slipped coming down the rocks and got a major ass bruise. I’d like to put the photo up, but I haven’t asked Alli if I could post a photo of her ass-crack turning purple. She’s a champ though, brushed it off, and kept moving.

Looking back again, there's Baldy on the left.

Onward towards the Saddle, which is the highest point in this photo.

Just keep going.

Again, looking back at what we've already come across.

Shitballs, this is a tight trail.

And sometimes you've got to embrace your inner mountain goat. See me up near the top?

First summit of Saddle Peak.

We summated the Saddle, and I called Dusty to tell him we were going to come down at Bridger Bowl. I could see the Deer Park Chalet, the Schlushman’s lift and the Pierre’s Knob Lift, and thought we could be down to the main lodge parking lot in two hours. I arranged for Gretch to pick us up, and we started moving forward.

Moving towards the next summit. See the rock cairn at the top?

Prayer flags on Saddle Peak.

Down from the Saddle, working our way towards the Schlushman's Lift at Bridger Bowl ski area.

Looking back at where we've been.

Here is where you’ll notice that the photo’s stop. From the top of the saddle on to the Schlushman’s lift, we just struggled to stay on our feet and keep moving. It was after noon, and we still had plenty of food and plenty of water, but we were tired. More than physically wiped, it takes pretty strong mental focus to not fall off the fucking mountain at that point. And I was so focused on getting down, I think I was sending Alli mental death glares for continuing to pull out the camera to document what felt like a really difficult situation. Thus the lack of photos. But suffice to say, it wasn't pretty. Two tired, mentally exhausted girls.

So we got to Schlushmans. And realized there was no trail down. We considered scrambling mountain-goat style down across steep meadows with Volkswagen sized boulders and shale that in the winter are double black diamond runs. Then we collectively pulled our heads out of our (bruised) asses and realized that safe, slow and steady was a better decision. So we kept hiking on the ridge along the top of Bridger Bowl trying to find a safe route down.

All week people had asked me if we were coming down “the cat track” at Bridger. I knew it was a safe exit route from the ridge, but I didn’t know where it was. I’d skied A cat track at Bridger, but I thought maybe there were multiple cat tracks. I hoped there were cat tracks to come down in the middle of the ski area, rather than at the only one I knew of all the fucking way across the ski area and another two hours of hiking just to get to the trail down.

So we hiked on, at one point dipping to the west off of the ridge and out of site of the ski area. And on, and on, and on. At this point, my main focus was getting down safely, and keeping me and Alli from getting into a situation we couldn’t get out of.

After what seemed like forever, but must have been about an hour and a half of hiking on the ridge, we reached the Cat Track, the only cat track at the far end of the Bowl. We started to move downhill (FINALLY!!!) about 45 minutes AFTER we were supposed to meet Gretchen. Since there is no cell service at the Bridger Bowl chalet, I called DJ to relay a message to Gretchen if she called him. I imagined Gretchen getting worried about us on our expedition and calling the authorities, so I told DJ to tell Gretchen that we’d be down, it was going to take us a while and sit tight. DJ later told me that Gretch did call him, only to rant and rave about how late we were and what the hell… but it didn’t cross her mind that we might be in danger. DJ relayed the message, and once Gretch saw the photos she understood what we were trying to do.

Anyway, so we started walking down the Cat Track. At this point we’ve both consumed all of our camelback’s and a nalgene of water, with one nalgene waiting. Gretch was bringing up Gatorade with her. Oh my god. I would have killed for a zip line to the lodge. Or a hang glider. Or skiis. It took us two and a half hours to hike down from the ridge to the lodge, with every step getting more and more painful.

Heel blisters from the hiking boots. They actually look a lot worse today.

We stopped at the Deer Park Chalet to use the maintenance crew’s bathrooms since Alli can’t pee in the wild (Ladies: quick poll, would you rather pop a squat outside or use a pit toilet? I’m a pop a squat girl. The air on the cheeks feeling from a pit toilet creeps me out). The last photo of the hike is the lodge ahead of us, which was a glorious, glorious site.

FINALLY!!!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! (can you tell we were relieved?)

Gretch met us at the lodge about 20 minutes after we arrived, in a good mood (thankfully). And we went home. Three days later, I’m still pretty sore in the hamstrings, but mostly on my feet, where I have some sweeeettttt blisters. I have no idea how I’m going to wear anything but flip flops for the next month.

Looking back on it, I’m really glad Alli and I did the hike. We even started talking on Wednesday of completing it next summer by hiking from Fairy Lake to Bridger Bowl. Crazy? Maybe. But in a good way.

Alli and I talked a lot up there about ourselves and people we know. We share a desire to be strong, independent women who can take care of themselves no matter the circumstances. I like doing crazy shit like this because it’s really empowering to get yourself into a state of affairs like we did, and then through the action of putting one foot in front of the other, get yourself out of the situation. Not to mention, the view is fabulous, and when else can you justify eating two luna bars, a PB & J sandwhich, apple, beef jerkey, string cheese and 8 cups of trail mix and still come home weighing less than when you left?

I’m overwhelmingly grateful to have someone like Alli in my life. A girlfriend to have adventures with, road trip with, ascend and descend with and to bounce stuff off of. She’s awesome, and I hope she’ll put up with me long enough to continue to do this shit for a long time!

I should also really thank Gretchen for coming to get us. Any Robyn. And Jenni. Thanks guys, you rock for being the sherpas of our grand adventure!

Painting at the Lake

For some reason, DJ and I sometimes find it hard to actually relax at the lake. You look around the house and there is so much to do. When we got to Harrison over Memorial Day, DJ mentioned that, you know, it wouldn’t really be too difficult to paint the decks. They really needed it, and it’d mean we could walk around out there without getting slivers. Maybe our foolishness had something to do with living in a condo where we rarely do exterior yardwork. Either way, my mom isn’t a fool, she knows when to jump at free labor!

The lower deck near the front door.
The second floor deck.

It was in really rough shape.

So over Memorial Day weekend, DJ, my mom and I washed and stained the decks on our house at the lake.

DJ sprayed down the decks to lift all of the dirt and old paint off.
I washed the upper deck in my swimsuit. See the reflection of the lake in my sunglasses? It was one of the nicest Memorial Day weekends in a while!

We started painting the next day after the newly washed decks dried. I knew the dry wood would soak up the paint.

Right now he's wondering why I love to come to this place so much. Everytime I drag him out here he's put to work.

Painting the decking was fun. I did it with a big roller brush that I just dipped into the can of paint, then spread it around like sailors swabbing the deck. The paint makes a huge difference, huh?

We finished painting the decks in time to actually enjoy some Memorial Day weekend fun. But as you can imagine, a nicely painted deck really brings out how shitty the house looks. By the end of Memorial Day weekend, I told my mom that I’d come back out for a week in July to help her paint the house.

I should preface these next photos by saying that the existing siding is in pretty crummy condition. My parents know this, but still aren’t sure what the long-term plan is for the lake place, so they don’t want to reside it at this time. We didn’t do an incredibly good job repainting it this summer. We didn’t prime the boards; some of them are so warped and cracked it wouldn’t have mattered. We didn’t really even pre-wash it too much. Mom also bought paint that was like glue, in hopes of holding some of the siding together!

We started painting on Sunday, and finished above the upper deck and the front (to where I was brave enough to go on a lader at least) of the house by Monday at noon.

Mom and I got into a good rhythm of being up by 7am and painting by 7:30am. It’s usually hot in Coeur d’Alene the last few weeks of July, and the lake-facing sides of the house were the south and west elevations. There was no way I wanted to be up on a ladder painting in 90 degree heat. Nu-uh. Nope. No Way. I’d rather get up early.

Why yes, yes I did paint in a swimsuit top and skirt. With my hot pink swimsuit bottoms. It was hot out, I wanted a tan, and didn't have any gym shorts I was ready to throw away yet.

Since I’d mysteriously lost a contact lens between Friday night and Saturday morning, I had to wear my contacts until DJ could ship me contacts. Yeah, that was awesome. Let’s just imagine how I looked in my spandex biking gear, a hat and red glasses. Like a major band nerd. The glasses also occasionally got in the way painting, and now have some paint on them as a souvenir. Who wants Lasik surgery? >>>this girl!<<<

Sandi, hanging out a window. She's also quite photogenic!

Painting the lake-side of the house was tedious. There are a lot of windows, and its two stories in most places. This meant that we had to position the ladder just so with my mom reminding me to “be careful” and “watch the window” and “oh don’t break the window” every time we moved the ladder. Thankfully, we successfully got through the whole week without breaking a window or me falling off of a ladder.

My mom is a champion painter. She’s meticulous, but quick about it. And she spent a lot of time this week leaning out of windows and stretching and bending in funny ways.

Batrick, hanging out.

By Tuesday afternoon we’d moved around to the side of the house, and were making progress. Holy heck, we might actually finish this soon! We pushed on through, and painted all day on Tuesday. About 2pm, we were working on the area right above the kitchen door when a bat came out of the peak. AAHHHAHAHAH holy freaking moly! A BAT. During the DAY. I named him Batrick, and Batrick was a total buzzkill for the day. We decided to give Batrick some space while I sprayed the house for insects and mom went to St. Marie’s for more paint.

The kitchen deck, where the BBQ and "beverage" fridge are. Batrick's nest is just above the door.

I'm going to use this photo to point out the fantastic legs my 50's something mother has. Seriously. Cellulite? Not on her!

Mom fought road construction to and from St. Maries and I jumped into the lake to cool down. Another advantage of wearing your swimsuit while painting at the lake! Once she got back, we went to work painting away. Since we didn’t really want to get too close to Batrick’s nest, and we couldn’t reach it too well anyway, we divulged a paintbrush on a stick to finish the job.

Moving the ladder back and forth made me appreciate the power pump class I've been going to! It was a shoulder workout.

Mom also picked up some cream paint to do the window trim with, as a way of shaking it up a bit. And she’d of had to go into Spokane for the trim paint, which would have been a hassle. First we primed them with a white primer, which was really, really white. Then we went over them with a more cream color.
Why yes, yes I'm still painting in a skirt and swimsuit. See that lovely lake behind me?

Remember this deck from Memorial Day?

Overall, we finished up the whole house by Friday morning, with exception of some back gable painting that my dad did to finish things up. It was a big project, but I’m glad to say that the house looks so good now. Mom hired someone to finish the high part of the front gable and fix where the rock wall had moved out.

The problem? The good looking house brings out how bad the yard looks…