Chugging Right Along

We are working on the house full steam without reservation. Thank you to all our friends, family, neighbors, Juneauites, and Alaskan Community who came out or spoke up on our behalf. The Conditional Use Permit was granted, and now it’s up to us.

I’ve been spending my evenings and weekends doing electrical rough-in. This consists of a lot of head scratching, figuring out the best route for the electrical wires, and then boring the holes and stringing the rubber-bound copper throughout the house. My brother-in-law Joe, a journeyman electrician has come through for us big time. He and I have spent the last few weekends pounding it out, a couple more weekends and we’ll be all done. I’ve been learning the electrical theory behind it all, how to “trim out” outlets, and he’s been patiently teaching me and doing the hard parts.

Here’s the bathroom switches from behind. First I plot out where all the wire will run and to and from what. Then drill and pull the cable:

Last weekend Laura and crew painted all 28 4×10 Hardie planks. This is the cement board siding that will go on the back and side of the house (the non visible portions). This weekend we’ll start on painting each individual cedar shingle, which will go on the front and visible facades. Here’s Sarah and Claudia slinging the pink:

Meanwhile Alan’s crew has been busy continuing the weatherproofing mission. We now have an almost completely shingled roof!

I can’t tell you how good it feels to be doing things with my hands. After over a year of plodding along through bureaucracy after bureaucracy and working mostly with information and concepts, I’m finally able to do something that has an immediate effect. With our very limited budget, the task is daunting, but it’s something real now, so I feel more in control of my family’s future than I have since the fire.