December 2005

New House Progress

The heating system is nearly finished, wiring for power and lights appears to be done, and the gas fireplace has been installed.

New House Progress

The bathtubs and shower stalls have been installed, along with water supply lines and drain pipes. There's only a little bit of siding left to do on the front. It looks like the roof is done, so interior work can proceed. The heating system installation has been started. More pictures have been added to the photo gallery.

New House Progress

The siding isn't quite finished yet. I was hoping it would be done and the installation of shingles would be in progress by now, but the weather turned cold and is surely limiting working time. The weather forecast predicts some snow and/or freezing rain in the next few days, and the house won't be sealed up in time to keep the moisture out. The good news is that weather like this rarely lasts long here, so things should be back to normal in a few days. I only added a few pictures to the photo gallery this time.

Kostya's Surgery

Kostya had surgery this morning to relieve the pressure on a pinched nerve in his knee. He has been using a leg brace for months because of a lack of ability to control the movement of his ankle. There's no guarantee of a full recovery, but it wasn't getting better on its own. He will still have to wear the brace, for a while at least.

New House Progress

The front and rear doors have been installed. The siding will probably be finished in another day or two, and it looks like work has been started on the shingles.

New House Progress

I only added a few exterior pictures to the photo gallery today. They show windows and some siding installed. No major interior changes this time unless you count the windows.

Hillsboro now has the world's largest Costco store

On Thursday, November 17, 2005, the world's largest Costco store opened in Hillsboro. I haven't found information about the total size, but they say it's over 60,000 square feet larger than the Aloha Costco where we've been shopping for a long time. FYI, the Aloha Costco was expanded after its original construction, and the new store is still that much larger. By the way, they expected the opening day sales to reach $750,000...

House News

I had the "electrical walkthrough" meeting for the new house this morning. The windows have been installed and other work was being done while I was there. More materials have been delivered to the site, including siding.

Our present house was shown by several realtors today. The madness begins...

It's official - our house is on the market...

Our present house is for sale. This is a necessary step in the process of buying the new house. Naturally we hope to be able to move directly into the new house when it's ready, and our realtor will do his best to make that happen.

New House Progress - More Photos

The roof is on and looks about ready for shingles. Windows are sitting in the garage. I added new pictures to the photo gallery with captions that explain what you're looking at.

New House Progress

It was too dark for pictures again, but I took a good look with a flashlight. Most of the roof area is covered, except for a section at the North end and another above the bonus room. The view from the open entry area is impressive right now since you can see all the way to the top, which must be close to 30 feet high.