The panoramas that I have taken have a bit of a fish-eye look to them, so we broke out the 8 foot ladder on, set it in the back of the pickup truck and stood on the step that was labeled “This is not a step. Do not stand on this step.” Click on the picture below for the full sized image.

Front, from the NorthWest corner

The plumbers finished up last week. That was quite a project and quite a saga. We had bids from 3 different plumbing contractors who all wanted $20,000 – $25,000 for the project, and they all said that they would be done in a week! $20k / week! Maybe I’ll be a plumber in my next career. We didn’t go for that. Pop called the plumber’s union in Ventura and arranged for someone to come out and work by the hour. The union plumber came out, looked at the job, and said he could bring 2 other plumbers and get the job done in 3 weekends, working for an hourly wage. Now that is what we wanted hear. He was scheduled to come out to begin work the following Friday. He never showed. Pop called him late morning and the plumber said that he had hurt his elbow the night before, was on the way to the doctor’s office and would call after the doctor’s appointment. No call back. Pop called him late afternoon, and he said he would be OK to come out on Saturday to begin working. No show. We were done with him. God was looking out for us in this matter. The day after Pop had committed to the original plumber, he found out that the son of his very good friend was a commercial plumber who was between jobs. So when the first plumber fell through, we called Larry the plumber (not to be confused with Larry the cucumber). He drove out from Colorado with another plumber and they were on site less than 48 hrs after the call! Larry and Joey initially thought that the job would take them about 4 days and 1 day for inspection. It turned out to be much bigger than that. They were working for 13 days. They were very conscientious about working inside the house, and they were good with the kids and the dogs. Joey spent 3 days working in the confines of the crawl space. He and I commiserated on how uncomfortable it was to work in there. I even heard stories of Toby and Max talking to him through holes in the floor. I think they liked working here in Carp in their shorts. We had some of the best weather of the year. High 70’s/ low 80’s with very little humidity. The job they were headed back to in Colorado already had snow on the ground.

Larry and Joey — nearly a part of the family

I have taken 3 sets of panorama shots of the front of the house this week. Previously, all the panoramas have been from across the street or on the outside of the hedge, and you couldn’t see thew whole front, just the top half. So, I am trying to get a *whole* shot. I am taking the pictures in the morning to reduce the ‘washed out’ spots where the sunlight lightens one area but not the other. I take a bunch of pictures and then use my screaming fast computer at work to build the panorama. But there has always been something wrong with images. The picture below is not perfect, but is the best I have got, so enjoy.

Whole front

You can click on the image to get the whole big picture.

• The siding guys are about 94% done with the siding. They took some time off from siding to build the partition walls on the inside for the plumbers.
• Lucas is doing a great job on the roof. He is doing little bits at a time. He has probably done 15% of the roof so far. I think though, that he is anxious to get this done. Once we get the vents cut into the roof (my job) he says he can blow through the remainder of the roofing and be done.
• Ginger ate a hole in a dog food bag that was stored in the garage and proceeded to gorge herself. I put some stuff in front of the bag to block access, but she was able to get into the bag a second time. I bet all our dieting efforts are now nil because of these 2 binges. After the first incident, Toby said that Ginger could barely walk and just laid in the house all day. Her belly was hot and distended. She perked up the next morning and was ready to eat again.
• Max has lost his second front tooth. He now officially has the gapped tooth grin. Lucy checks her teeth frequently to see if any of hers are ready to come out. She is convinced that a top tooth is loose.
• Some stinking jerk stole 3 of my orange barricade cones out from in front of our house on Saturday night of the Avocado Festival.
• I am very happy with the plumbers (Joey Steffan and Larry Hasbrouck) that are working here this week. They are able to take the initiative and to make decisions on their own within the parameters that I have defined. Their work looks good and is not sloppy (as far as I can tell). Even at the end of the day, they still have a good attitude. They are from Colorado, but I would be happy to refer them to anyone for any plumbing project.
• We will be running 1″ copper trunk lines for the water under the house.
• Trench digging is no fun. The plumbers determined that with all the appliances that we are putting in (2 furnaces, 2 water heaters, 2 washer / dryers, an oven, a stove, etc.) the BTU requirements were for 660,000 BTUs. That means that diameter of the natural gas line coming into my house had to be increased from 3/4″ to 1 1/4″. So dig, dig, dig for me this weekend. I dug out a new trench across the front of my yard to accomodate the new gas line. The plumbers were able to use a plastic tubing for the gas line instead of cast iron so it makes the job a bit easier.
• Second worst question about the house project : Aren’t you / you must be so excited?
• Worst question about the house project : What is the estimated completion date?

Here is a panorama shot of the North face. I took these pictures while standing on the roof of the van. You can see the top of the hedge at the very bottom. I’m trying to figure out how to make a picture of the whole front. Maybe on a ladder inside the hedge.

North panorama – click for fullsize