The house is done! On second thought, that's a little small

I got a new exercise machine last week — I got sick of not being able to get any exercise when the weather is bad, which is more often than not lately — and after Dave put it together (and carried all 150 pounds of it into the house, with his broken rib! I feel a little guilty about that) we had all sorts of left over cardboard odds and ends. Sofia and I decided we would build a house with it. So, on Friday after lunch, while Erik was sleeping, we got it all put together.

There's a sleeping loft, a table and three stools, a couch and a TV, a kitchen counter and shelf, stairs, a door and a window. We finished this house in an hour and a half -- I don't know what's taking Dave so long! (Well, OK, our house should have a bathroom, and electricity. And a roof, come to think of it.)

JAN. 24 UPDATE: A word from Dave

We had nice bright sun dogs (as well as a wind chill advisory) to greet us on Friday morning.

Well, according to the internet it is -19 outside right now, with today's high temperature forecast at 2 degrees. So I figure that is a pretty good excuse to stay in help out with the recently neglected blog for a while.

We are still working on the wiring. It is actually quite close to being done. I need to run cable for the smoke alarm circuit and the baseboard heaters and finish up all the connections on a couple of lighting circuits. It shouldn't take more than a day. Most of the outlet circuits have been tested and there weren't any surprises — everything worked.

The cold weather has really slowed down the work in the granary. The woodstove can get the temperature quite comfortable out there, but it takes several hours so it doesn't work that well to just put in an hour or two after the kids are in bed. The weather also causes a lot of other projects to take priority, mainly keeping the tractor running so we can clear snow, clearing snow, and keeping all the cars out of the ditches and starting.

The ditches are full of snow, so drifts can wind up covering the roads even if we just get a little wind without any new snow. We figured out during the last cold snap that the block heater on the tractor wasn't really working and needed a new cord. Fortunately we could replace it from the outside so we didn't have to drain the block to get at it. It has been nice to be able to work with John on the old tractors and other things around here. Most of the machinery here is older than I am and has a lot of little quirks that he knows all about. Generally when something around here is broken he knows better than I do what needs to be done to fix it, but he sometimes doesn't have the eyesight or hand strength to do it (although it is pretty amazing what he is able to do at 86). So when he works in management and I provide the labor we are able to get most of our problems solved.

We have also been dawdling a bit on finishing the wiring because we have to make some decisions about whether to have bath and kitchen fans. I had been planning on a pretty conventional building plan, with fiberglass insulation and poly vapor barrier and kitchen and bath fans venting both to the outside. Heidi went and called a passive building architect from Minneapolis and he made things complicated. In the buildings he designs he tries to control all of the air coming in and out. He recommends using spray foam insulation and then installing a heat exchanging ventilation system. It is a ducted system that brings in fresh outside air but passes it past the air that is going out in a heat exchanger. The system he recommends won't work in our house because we really don't have anywhere to run large ducts. However, they do make a similar thing that is just like a wall or window mounted air conditioner. This architect was also very much against fiberglass insulation with the poly barrier. He says it winds up trapping too much moisture inside the wall and causing problems later. He admits that plenty of people, including most of the local builders around here, do build that way though. If I was building from scratch I think his ideas would be great, but I don't know how well they would work in a retrofit especially since he uses triple-pane windows and more outside insulation, which we didn't use and can't change now.

We are thinking about doing the spray-foam downstairs but not in the addition. I'm leaning toward installing a bath fan that vents out but just a fan with a filter over the stove — especially since I'd have to cut a stud and put in a header to vent the stove out.

I have a little time to think about it since I broke a rib playing basketball last Sunday. I just thought it was going to bruise, but it started to get kind of painful especially after I spent Tuesday afternoon digging my car out of a snow drift (with some much appreciated help from our neighbor Lauren Witte and his tractor). So I went to the doctor on Wednesday and he said it was broken. I don't have to do much as far as treatment because the bone is held in the right place to heal by the muscle and cartilidge. I just have to avoid being hit in the side again (no basketball) for two weeks. I can work as much as I feel up to, but I think it will be a few days until I want to work on things where I have to stretch my arms over my head much.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Lots of updates

I hope everyone is happy to have ushered in a new year! 2009 should be a good year for the Marttila/Losure clan -- we're still hoping to get into the new house by spring (though spring does technically go until June, the calendar says), we should have a little more time for a garden this year, and there will be another cousin for Sofia and Erik to play with sometime in May -- I'm looking forward to a lot this year!

A happy Christmas was had by all, I'd say. I thought I'd just post a few pictures of our gatherings.

(Except the first Christmas party, at the Marttila farm on Dec. 23 -- for some reason we didn't get our cameras out. Maybe because we had a hectic schedule, with the eating, the churchgoing, the present opening, and work the next day for several of us, along with the Losure clan's departure for points east and south the next day.)

Our Christmas Eve stop was the Losures' in St. Paul, where we entered a neat, cozy home and within a day had created this:

It wasn't quite that bad the whole time we were there -- this was the scene of a seat-cushion "doghouse." But we were pretty good at bringing a little bit Christmas chaos with us as we traveled!

Erik got to meet his Great-Aunt Karen (as well as Great-Uncle Walt, and Uncle Michael). Isn't it awful that it skips right to "great" on the aunts and uncles -- they don't get to be "grand" first? It makes them sound old before their time. If it would do any good, I'd start a protest.


Sofia stayed busy with many activities, including Nerf ball "hunting" in the basement, playing on her new (toy) laptop, reading books, playing on the neighbors' swings, and tea parties with pirates and monsters.


On Sunday morning, we headed down to the Losure farm in Iowa for yet another Christmas gathering. There were several hits of Christmas, including this little combo mirror/brush compact, which, for Sofi, also served as a phone -- she and Great-Uncle Dave made many "phone calls" to each other.

This zebra hat got a lot of attention as well (as you might guess from looking at it). Great-Uncle Dave got himself a funky hat too, and little Erik got one also -- a black hat with orange spikes, including a spiky tail.


There's music everywhere the Losures gather, and Sofia did a little dancing ...

... and a little playing, on her bongo drums.

A snow bunny -- or snowman with bunny ears, depending on whom you ask -- was built also. It didn't stay long, however -- the weather was too nice for just sitting in the sunshine!

One last gift was waiting for Dave when we got home. It's got a bit of a story behind it: Ever since Dave got his master's degree in the spring of 2006, he's been complaining (in jest) that he never got his "Master of Science" T-shirt. (There's a hokey radio skit about a master of science on public radio sometimes, if you've ever heard it. The phrase also has a "He-Man: Master of the Universe" ring to it.)

So, this Christmas, I thought I'd get him something he'd actually asked for. I had it printed by a seller on Etsy, the site where Mom has her shop:

Dave's worn his new T-shirt proudly already. (Though not to work -- he thought that might be a little obnoxious, since no one else there has a master's degree and they might not get the joke.) The peach-colored thing in the middle is a fist, in case you can't tell. I should have make that a little clearer in the design, but it still works, I think. The plant is crown vetch, the invasive species that Dave spent two years of his life studying.

Now to sell a few of these on eBay (for all those other satirical masters of science who studied crown vetch -- it's got to be an underserved market).


And THIS is a picture of a young man who just ROLLED OVER! (For the second time -- it took me a minute to get the camera, so I missed the first one.) He looks a little concerned in this photo, but in general once he gets on his tummy, he's quite pleased with himself.

Mom wrote in her Christmas letter that Erik seems to develop before our eyes, and that seems especially true in the last few days. Erik had two teeth show up on the night before his five-month birthday (Dec. 28). And on New Year's Eve, he rolled over for the first time; sat up in his swing trying to get the little stuffed animals hanging above him (Mommy's got to remember to buckle him in that from now on!); and played for about half an hour in his exersaucer (which is far longer than he's been able to stand up till now), just entertaining himself with the attached toys while we got ready to go to my sister's for an informal New Year's Eve. Today, he showed he is a little man with ambitions -- Dave watched him as he lay on the floor, eyeing the garbage can nearby; then he rolled over so he was within reach of the garbage can, grabbed it and tipped it over! (Then Daddy picked him up and spoiled his fun.) Also new today, he's also standing nearly on his own strength -- Mom and I both noticed that we have to hold him mostly just to help him keep his balance.

It's exciting watching him -- but there's also a fear starting to nag at me as I look at this old crowded farmhouse, summed up in two words: BABY PROOFING ...

Sigh. I'd better get started on that soon -- Erik's growing as we speak!

DEC. 22 UPDATE: Catching up on photos

Online shopping has kept me from blogging for a while. (I'm only half joking. I had a little too much fun shopping on Etsy this year. It was way too easy to personalize gifts that way.)

And it's way past my bedtime, but I thought I'd at least catch up on uploading photos for you all.

Erik is still as smiley as ever. He really wants to grab and chew things lately. No tooth coming in yet, that I can see, but I can't imagine it will be long.


We've had several good storms since I last wrote. This photo was taken inside the granary after the Dec. 14 blizzard. Snow was whipped around and driven into every possible crevice -- including, as pictured here, through the point where the siding meets the eaves. Not really a good thing. We'll ask the Prairie Builders construction company owner about that soon.


This window was not quite latched, and the snow found that crevice, too.


Snow was piled up pretty good in front of the door to the tractor shed.


Visibility wasn't very good for much of that Sunday blizzard. This is the view from the kitchen window.

SOFIA IS THREE! We had a nice little party on Dec. 13 before the storm hit, and everyone made it home safely. We had a Santa Lucia-themed cake -- this particular Santa Lucia doll just happens to have three candles. Who could have planned it better? (Actually, the theme was a last-minute diversion, just because I didn't want to have a Barbie-themed party.)


Since the blizzard day, the weather has been COLD. Wind chill warnings for many days. But on Saturday morning, even though another blizzard was forecast, it was pleasant enough to head outside for a bit of sledding ...


... as long as we stayed out of the wind. Doesn't that just look cold? We didn't venture past the trees on our little walk.


The wind is going to be a bit of a problem for us -- the north wind creates a nice drift right in front of the front door. And the wind just whips around that corner -- we'll have to consider planting trees.

Oh, and how's the house coming? Well, Dave hasn't been putting in the longest hours when the wind chill is 35 below. The slacker. (Note: There was sarcasm in the previous sentence.) And winter brings its own to-do list: Snow-blowing the road, plugging in the tractor, plugging in the car, etc. But he's still managed to get quite a bit of wiring done. If we had a stretch of decent weather, I'd say what he has left on the wiring is just a weekend's worth of work.

And we'll soon be off for a few days of Christmassing! As long as the weather holds, and it looks like it should be OK for our drive to St. Paul on Wednesday and our drive to Iowa on Friday.

Merry Christmas, everyone! May your holiday fill you with gratitude and peace.

DEC. 11 UPDATE: Still wiring

Does it look cold here? That's because it is! Sofia and I went out and investigated the frost on the porch windows Tuesday morning. It was pretty with the morning light shining through it; I had fun taking a few pictures.


The sparrows were huddled in the lilac bush outside the window.


Winter sunrises will be nice once we get into the new house -- look how much light we'll get in those south windows!


Sunrise through a lilac branch.


Just an artsy frost picture. The color was more impressive in person.

... Dave has been working steadily on wiring. The upstairs is nearly finished; Dave just needs to wire the smoke detectors up there. I think then we're down to wiring the kitchen and bathroom, and a few other details here and there that need finishing or changing.

It's good that the wiring is nearly finished. It's starting to get seriously cold here, and every time the temperature drops into the single digits, Dave gets nervous about the above-ground pipes freezing. They are inside the house, but it's still unheated when he's not out there working in it. And even then there's nothing to stop the heat from going out the vents in the roof in the addition. Once the wiring is done, Dave can get busy putting up insulation -- which will not only help the pipe-freezing worry, but will make it much more comfortable for Dave when he's working in there.

Dave and I plotted out where the appliances in the kitchen would go with chalk on the floor last night. Everything will fit where we'd planned it, but with not a whole lot of inches to spare, and we have to get the skinnier versions of the refrigerator and the dishwasher. Oh, well -- it's probably what I would have picked, anyway. We will have a large freezer in the addition to help with food storage as well, so hopefully the 30-inch fridge will be OK, and I think the 18-inch dishwasher will be adequate.

... It really is nice to be able to go into the house and really envision where everything is going to be! It's calming, really -- even if we're standing in the midst of construction mess, it's nice to think of actually living in that space. And it's so interesting to be creating something new on the old homeplace -- outside the door the farm is just as it's always been in my memory, while inside the door is something completely new, more like the design books that I've been reading than the granary it used to be.

... I've been working on planning Sofia's birthday party on Saturday, and now it looks like it might be done in by the weather! Hmph. Well, we'll see. Sometimes weathermen are wrong.

DEC. 2 UPDATE: Days are shorter

We went for a nice walk yesterday evening and enjoyed another lovely sunset ... though we didn't really enjoy the fact that it was setting at 4:30 in the afternoon! Hurrumph. Dave said that by the time he stops in to get some coffee and we go for a family walk, he doesn't have any natural light left to work by. Ah, well. Tis the season.


The renter's cows were grazing in the pasture across the road; one was out when we returned from our walk. It didn't look like it was in a big hurry, just grazing on the other side of the fence. Our renter's hired hand arrived shortly to shoo the cow back in. We weren't sure how it got out, as the fence didn't look to be down anywhere; maybe the cow was inspired and jumped!


Mari and her girls (Viena, Eliana and Amara) came over for a baking day on Saturday -- we made four different kinds of Christmas cookies. It was a little chaotic, but I think the girls had fun!

Eliana and Viena are posing here with some of the finished treats. (Sofia was too tired to smile by that point.)

Sofia's cookies had a signature look. She's apparently a frosting minimalist. Can you pick out her creations?

NOV. 26 UPDATE: Happy Thanksgiving!

I've really fallen off the wagon blog posting-wise -- I haven't been out to get many pictures lately, and the things Dave's been working on haven't been all that conducive to photos in any case.

But here's a quick update:

There are boxes in the walls all over the place! Not sure exactly what the grand total is, but I'm guessing that part of the wiring job will soon be finished. Then Dave still needs to figure out what goes on which circuit and thread wires to all the boxes.

The electrical inspector showed up unexpectedly the other day, and then called the next day. We were under the impression that we'd call him to come when we were ready, not have him poking about before that point. Dave left him a message that we weren't ready for him yet, so hopefully we're not on his bad list.


Dave finished framing in the east side of the upstairs -- someday, if I get my way, the little room on the north (left) side will be a second bathroom (cozy, I know, but the essentials would be there). Just south of that is a smallish closet, which opens into the bedroom on the south side.

All this framing had been in the plans as put off until later, but it made more sense for the wiring to have them in place now, so here they are!


Dave also finished the small section of the wall that covered the ends of the knee walls. Just another little detail that has to be in place before drywalling can begin.


I took this picture today -- just wanted to point out how well our passive design seems to be working! The sun is low enough in the southern sky that the eaves no longer cover any part of the window, meaning quite a bit of warmth and light is getting in.

I took the photo above at around 1 p.m.; compare that with the photo below, which was taken Aug. 9, about 9 a.m. (well before the sun was at its highest point):

Of course, the pictures seem persuasive, but does it feel warmer inside? I'd have to say yes, after stopping in this afternoon -- it was noticeably toastier indoors than out, and Dave had not built a fire in the house the day before.


... Since I know some of you are fans of pictures of the kids, I thought I'd add a few:

Snow doesn't stop a girl who wants to swing! (And Dave's taken to wearing orange most times he's outside, just as a precaution. Two people were shot in separate hunting accidents in the past two weeks, and one of them wasn't even hunting at the time. ... Or maybe it's just Dave's seasonal fashion statement.)


Sofia said she was going to do some weaving the other day. She hopped right on Mom's loom and grabbed a shuttle!

She knew what to do!

We recruited all available heads to model Mom's wares for her online store. The goal was to get as much as possible posted before "black Friday." And we did it! Nearly every hat Mom has in stock is now online. Erik complied with our requests quite admirably -- he smiled and cooed for the camera. But then, he smiles and coos most of the time.


Sofia did not hold quite as still for the camera, but she had a good time, too! This is one of the few shots I took that weren't blurry.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am feeling tired but thankful for all my blessings this year. In a time when so many people are feeling economic hardship, Dave and I both have work that pays reasonably well and is in our fields. And we both have shorter commutes than we did a year ago (me, much shorter -- just down the stairs to the computer). Our future abode has gone from a dusty old granary and a design on paper to something that really resembles a home in less than a year. We have family nearby (OK, sometimes a little too nearby, but let's not nitpick here) to help and support us when we need it, and to celebrate holidays and every-days with. And we of course have a smart, beautiful near-3-year-old and a handsome, healthy, smiley baby.

Life is good, really!

Enjoy your turkey! (Or ham, as the case may be.)