Flooplan 2.Lance

Let's make our house better! Here's my idea the house can change: a new flooplan!



As you can tell from the next post, today I had some free time. Click below on Labels: floorplan to easily compare with other versions.

What do you think of my floorplan idea? The new parts are in bold. The big [?] is either a storage closet, or a stacked washer/dryer.

If you like, you can make your own version of a new floorplan. The easy way to do that is open this blank one, which also has lables for a few things with Paint (in Windows, Start > All Programs > Accessories > Paint. For Mac is it still called Paintbrush?) For those vector graphics artists out there, I'm happy to share my Inkscape *.svg files by email. (Me likey free Inkscape.)

Home again, home again..

.. the 4139 mile drive is over! (That's 7450 km for those of you with a reasonable unit system.) We had great weather for each of the 8 days of driving--no rain, and our tires only touched ice for 2 seconds. 1 second near the giant redwoods (C), and 1 second near Flagstaff (D).

But: now that we finished, I talked to my friends The Weather Gods, and today it is snowing!!



Even the cat is happy, as you can see below or on this video. (Actually, the cat is always this happy. He's a "pet me" slut--sad, isn't it?)



PS My award for "Most IQ-Challenged Hotel Staff" goes to Bristol, VA (H). Congratulations!

on the road again..

Well, Christmas is over. You can tell when Christmas is over, because you're drinking beer in a hotel, and your back hurts from driving too much.

road snapshots

Enjoy some snapshots from the road! feel free to ask questions about what you see.. I'm too tired right now to type much.. g'night

20061221 sequoia

EDIT: Click on the above square to see many photos!

One little disaster after another..

Dad and I flew from Boston to Portland to repair the house he rents out. (Oh, the joys of being an out-of-state landlord!) We have been painting and painting and repairing and getting the gas back on and talking with the insurance people and lawyers and.. well, it's been a little bit stressfull. Then the storm hit.



Luckily, we had flashlights, which work in different colors. Otherwise, when the power went out, I wouldn't have been able to take the above photo.

PS For posterity, painting by flashlight is not advised. You end up leaving lots of little bare patches that you'll have to go over again. 

Floorplan 2.0

This one isn't exactly to scale, but it is much much closer. Having a floorplan closer to reality helps you realize things like "Oh, that window doesn't line up" or "the man who built this house was on crack." You know, helpful things.

Fireplace: fixed

After.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire... HEY! Someone get those chestnuts off there!

We cleaned out the chimney yesterday, and it was disgusting. The fireplace would not operate correctly--there is a metal flap to let the smoke out, but it would not move properly. So, my Dad and I took off the flap and I took a photo.


Before.

We cleaned the fireplace with a big vacuum cleaner. We even found a dead rat!! Or maybe it was a squirrel. (We hope it was a squirrel.)

PS - we need a name for the cat. What do you think?

photos photos!

I have been promising people photos, so here you are! I'll try to post some comments inside each photo, if I can.

house wreath tractor

EDIT: Click on the above square to see many photos!

Floorplan

Here's a 5 minute sketch of the house as it is now. It is not correct, but it is close. The little marks against the outside walls denote windows, and the part with lots of little lines are the stairs. The windows marked with a "D" are dormers.

1F = first floor. There are two fireplaces: a small one in the SE corner "front room," and a very large one in the far west "greatroom." There is a huge huge window on the western wall of the greatroom. The room in the middle of the house is the kitchen. The thing with the four little circles is the stovetop (range) island. The kitchen sink is in front of the window. Between the kitchen and the greatroom are a lot of smaller rooms that we are considering to move: kitchen pantry, closets, laundry room, bathroom, and storage rooms. The view to the S and SE is very nice, and those small rooms block the view.

2F = second floor. The part with all the lines are the stairs. MB = master bedroom. (But it doesn't really have a bathroom in it, so the only reason for calling it "master" bedroom is because it has so many windows.) C = closet, but there is one small room which is mostly a separate closet for the MB.

Pre Dawn from the southern facade

Let's see how long the jet lag-induced early mornings will last. At the house, sunrises over the lake are much more spectacular than sunsets over the apple orchard. .. So perhaps I'll get to know this view. (..during an early morning jog?)

PS I like hugin. Maybe I'll learn to correct sky vignetting before stitching one day.

A new beginning

Welcome. I'm starting this blog mostly for my friends in Japan who would like to continue their free English practi--I mean, they want to see how I am doing. The blog name I've started with is "Reconstruction in MA" because

• I'm helping my Dad renovate (or "reform" in Japanese English) an old house near Boston Massachusettes
• I want to change careers, to find a job with a company instead of becoming a professor in chemistry

..And who knows what else will change? Expect Lance-style pictures and commentary as the reconstruction takes place. And please leave lots and lots of comments. ^_^