Knowing the difference between lumber and wood...

May 13^th

We had our final foundation inspection on Monday and Passed! Tom and his crew poured concrete on the first half of the house on Tuesday and I showed up at the end of the concrete pumping at quarter to ten in the morning! They spent the rest of the day finishing the surface to a beautifully smooth texture. We decided to not cut the surface and let the concrete crack naturally. This will be easier to fill and seal than having 1/8^th inch score marks in 10x10 foot squares through out the floor.
Ana White (ana-white.com) featured a concrete seal/paint that she is using in her Mom's new place. We are probably going to use that same product to finish our floors. It looks relatively easy and as she said it is much better to use a roller on a pole than to be on your hands and knees snapping together planks.

While I was there I was able to finish removing the poison oak bushes from the “knoll” area. This was the 4^th or 5^th day I spent some time on it and have not reacted to it. I was very careful to tape my gloves and sleeves together and to wash with Tecnu Extreme after finishing. So glad I didn't pay someone to do it!

While I was working on the poison oak our designer Jim Irvine stopped by to see how things were progressing. We chatted for a few minute and I mentioned that the framing would start Monday and that I assumed that the wood would be delivered sometime Monday (its kinda hard to build any walls without wood). He paused for a minute and looked at me and said “What did you say?” I repeated that I thought the wood would be delivered Monday. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and said “It's LUMBER. Call it lumber. If you call it wood people will know you don't know what you are talking about.” We both laughed and I said “Right, the LUMBER will be delivered on Monday.” It is sure nice working with people who are friendly and help you look less like a idiot. :)

last night I called Ron Dinicola my sister-in-laws father who is an electrician. He agreed to give me a crash course in electrical work and to help me get going on the project. He is also going to perform the final hook up to the solar panels and the main breaker. It is a real relief knowing someone who does this for a living locally will be walking us through it! Thank you Ron!!