A Roof Over Our Heads

In case you didn't know it, it has been HOT and DRY in Tulsa this past week. Which has been good for us and the construction. Lots of progress has been made....the second floor is framed in, the roof framing is done and tada....today we got a roof! Take that Mother Nature....Dolce Vita has a roof to protect it from your wrath. Of course, we still don't have windows, but that will just allow a nice breeze to blow through while all the work goes on inside. That is if you consider a heat index of 105 a nice breeze.

I went out to the Dolce Vita this morning and the roofers were just starting to load all their materials on the roof. These guys are crazy...they were just walking around on the roof with no safety equipment whatsoever. Danny said they would be happy to walk on our roof because it is a lower pitched roof (look at me throwing around construction terms) than most residential roofs.

So, I'm standing there this morning looking very construction-like in my work clothes and high heeled sandals taking pictures with my iphone (check out my facebook page for a cool picture). I have Danny on the phone and he is telling me to check the shingles to make sure they are right ones. Once I have assured him they are the "Tamko Weatherwood", he promptly instructs me to "get the heck out of the way before you get hurt". I think he thought I might try to crawl on the roof with them. Stranger things have happened, but that is a story for another blog.

I back up and watch for a few minutes and finally one of the roofers who looked lik he just walked off the set of the Sopranos (tattoos and gold necklaces and all) comes up to me and and says "Hi I'm (insert Sopranos style name here -- I've already forgotten his name)". I say "Hi, I'm Tracy, Danny's wife" b/c I just assume all the workers know who Danny is since he is signing their checks. He looks right at me and says, "well I don't know who Danny is". I look right back at him and smirk and stand a little taller in my high heels and say "we are the homeowners." He was very nice after that. He even chased after me as I snooped around some other shingles in the street to assure me they were for his next job...not our house. I was a good co-project manager today. Maybe Danny should put me on the payroll.

So, lots of pictures in this blog. Lots of cool stuff to show you. But here is the quiz of the day. Check out the two pictures of the "prettily shaped wood thingies" (that is what I called them) at the top. What do construction types like Danny call these? Now, if this was one of those really cool blogs that had 1 million followers and was sponsored by Amazon, I'd have a cool prize for the winning guess. But since my blog is still small, how about a shout out on my facebook page or twitter account? You choose. The answer is below.

Up next...plumbing -- gotta get running water upstairs. Electrical, HVAC, central vacuum (that is for me even though I don't vacuum much), alarm, phone/video (hello Doodle? thank goodness he'll work for beer) and other inside stuff. No windows yet b/c Danny doesn't want everyone working inside to have a heat stroke because there is no air moving through. Dolce Vita will be really cool when it is finished, but right now it is really hot and stuffy.

And, the answer to the quiz is it is called a korbel. Yes, I know that is a brand of champagne, but those of you who know me know that I love to link things to drinks. And, to appease my former school teacher mother, the correct spelling is corbel.

According to wikipedia, the correct definition is corbel is a piece of stone (or in our case wood) jutting out to carry a superincumbent amount of weight. I don't think ours are carrying any superincumbent weight, they are just for looks. They really look cool and will give a nice, finished look to the roof line. Score one for Danny and his architectural eye.

Till next time, may your corbel hold its weight and your Korbel fizz when you open it.

Soon...we won't care about the weather!

It used to be only Sage the dog who was freaked out by storms at our our house. Well, and the girls. And me..kind of. But Danny was always cool as a cucumber about storms. Until we started building Dolce Vita. Now, he begins to toss and turn as the thunder rolls and cautiously watches the skies. He made two thunderstorm trips to the lot this week...one just to check everything out and one to drill holes for drainage with a cordless drill...thank goodness my brother had one. Electrical cord for drill + mud pond (or water feature?) in backyard = not a good combination.

Before the rain started, we took the girls out to the house and the stairs were done and the second floor was decked ready for the framers to show up and do the walls. It was fun to walk up there and see the views. Of course, Danny and I spent most our time watching the girls like hawks and yelling at them to "stay away from the edge so you don't fall". The last thing we wanted was one of them to topple off the edge while peering out their window.

The next day, the magic mexcian framing crew showed up and framed all the walls upstairs in half a day. These guys are amazing....they have a huge crew and they get it done. The girls were really excited to see their rooms and closets and bathrooms. Danny and I got excited about the second floor deck...we will have an amazing view.

The magic mexican crew was ready to get started on Monday with the roof framing and decking.

But, then came the rain. Again. and Again. I'm starting to sense a theme here.....

Anyone who has turned on a TV lately knows Oklahoma has been pounded by rain. So, the only action at Dolce Vita this week has been the hum of the pump as Danny has been working to get rid to get rid of the mosquito resort in the backyard.

But..sunny days are ahead. The weathermen are predicting 10 days of dry, hot weather. For the first time in my life, that thrills me to no end.

Of course, we are reaching a point where once the roof is done and the windows are in....(FYI: Danny's prediction: the end of next week), the weather won't be such an issue for us. It will slow down work on the outside, but all the fun stuff (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, phones, etc) can go on inside. My prediction: progress will look much slower to clueless people like me when it becomes smaller. It is pretty impressive to pull up and see an entire second floor framed. I'm not sure electrical wiring will look so impressive, but we'll see.

I'm not holding my breath....I know there will be other issues, but maybe we can all begin to enjoy the sound of rain on the roof of the smurf rent house rather than being jolted awake worrying about wood warping and wondering how in the world it is possible to flood on a hill.

Stranger things have happened.....

Watch out Mother Nature..we've got microwaves!

Midnight Memorial Day 2010: a huge thunderstorm rolls into Tulsa. I wake up because I always wake up when it storms. I turn on the TV, make sure we aren't going to blow away and then try to go back to sleep. I can sense Danny tossing and turning and the next thing I know he is tapping me on the shoulder. He is fully dressed and tells me "I'm headed out to the lot. I'll be back." Yes, its midnight. Yes, it is storming like crazy. And, yes my husband is headed out to stand watch on our lot with nothing but an umbrella and a shovel. Makes perfect sense to me because I know him so well. So, I rolled back over and went to sleep thinking "no freaking way I'm going to sit in the car during a thunderstorm and watch the dirt turn to mud, but knock yourself out honey". Danny stayed "on watch" until 2 a.m. He promised me he spent most of the time in the car, but got out occassionally to dig a trench and to make sure the duct work wasn't floating. Is that service or what? I can guarantee you we wouldn't get that service if we'd hired someone to build our house!

Well, Danny's vigilance paid off and the slab was poured last Wednesday. We went out that night and girls had a ball running around barefoot on it. Did you know that concrete feels really warm while it is curing? The girls were fascinated by that. I was much more fascinated by how small the slab looked. I'm not very good at visualizing so I was wandering around thinking, "is this thing really to scale?". Danny assurred me it was and even got the measuring tape out when we got home to show me the size of the living room and master bedroom. Again, visualization is not my strong suit, so I just have faith in Danny and I know he knows what he is doing.

On Friday, they delivered all the lumber to start framing on Saturday. Danny had met with the framers out there and had gone over everything with them. They had chalk marks on the slab to show where the walls went and I'm pleased to report that it looked much bigger. Amazing what a little chalk can do. Sophia loves chalk and thinks it can do amazing things. I, however, was not a believer in the power of chalk until I saw the chalk lines on our slab.

We went out there Friday night to see the lumber and chalk marks, but the first thing Danny showed the girls was a tarp over a piece of plywood on sawhorses. He said it was our first kitchen appliance. The girls lifted the tarp and underneath it was two micrwaves the framers brought. The girls were fascinated by this and took many pictures of the microwaves. See above for proof. At least, we know the framers are eating well and don't need to leave for lunch.

Let me just say...I'm blown (no tornado pun intended) away by our framers. They showed up on Saturday at 6 a.m. (sorry neighbors) and worked their butts off and got the entire first floor framed. Unbelieveable. We went out Saturday night and the change was incredible. Walls were up, windows were cut out and you could see the definition of the rooms. Very cool. And, everything looked the right size.

Danny and George also worked out there on Saturday clearing brush and breaking our lawnmower in the process. Oh well. Let's just say Danny thought I was "Wife of the Year" when I sweet talked some lawn mowing dude who was parked across the street from our rent house to do our yard Saturday so it would be ready for Sophia's family birthday party.

And, in case you are wondering, according to Danny and George, the framers ate really well and put the microwaves to good use. They had chicken, cheese, rice, beans and tortillas. It was probably a better lunch than what Danny and George ate. And, the framers didn't offer to share.

Of course, Mother Nature was mad we made such good progress, so it stormed like crazy this morning, which kept the framers and their microwaves away. But, today was not a total loss in the progress department...our safe room was delivered today. It will be under the stairs and hidden by the coat closet. Danny really doesn't think we need a safe room, but he caved and added it to the budget (everything has to have a line item in the budget) just to appease me and the girls. Danny feels the same way about the touch faucet in the kitchen. But, he added it to the budget for me. I'm sure he'll remind me of all this when he starts designing his man cave and he wants really cool man cave stuff.

So, what's next? Well the second floor needs to be framed. Hopefully, that will be done this week. Once the framing is done, the plumbing, electrical and alarm wiring will go in the walls. Then, it will really start to look like a house and I'm sure Sophia will start asking on a daily basis when we are going to move in.

So, right now, we are making progress. And, progress is good. We are still planning to spend our Thanksgiving being thankful at Dolce Vita. Let's hope Mother Nature gets out of the way and lets us get the work done.

P.S. Just a warning, if you come out to Dolce Vita to see our fabulous framing....be warned that we don't have any bathroom facilities. Use the potty before you come...or you could be like our 3-year old niece Becca who was so proud of herself on Saturday when she came running up to me and squealed, " Aunt Tracy, I went pee pee on your lot." Obviously, this is more of an issue for the girls rather than the guys, but just consider yourself warned. I'll let you know as soon as the facilities are up and running.