Circle B Ranch: FROM GREEN TO BROWN

Howdy Y'all!

It has been a week since we last posted a blog update, and yes, we spent all day last Monday basking in the sunshine of the Seattle Seahawk's Super Bowl win! What a great game (somewhat of a surprise re the score!). But, a win is a win. Now for 2015!

Back at the ranch, we are still having yo-yo weather between really cold days, and days where we are wearing shorts; what a crazy winter this has been so far. But, little things continue to happen pulling progress along.

The stone masons (aka The Stone Guys) continue to show up, chipping and laying stone in 40 degree weather (I wouldn't!), converting the green walls to brown stone; we are thankful for their persistence. Stone by stone, yard by yard, they continue to make progress. Since we are at the house most of the time, we've gotten to know each wall of the house intimately as they begin and finish a section. The front of the house is almost done, but a wrong sized lintel over the front arch has slowed the finish there, and we are waiting for a new one. (We do remember our lesson in "lintels", right?)

Front of the house (almost done!).

Master Bedroom main window.

Master Bedroom and Utility Room walls.

Master Bedroom second window and walkway.

The stone masons have finally moved underneath the patio cover to start the window arches. (Once these are done, that only leaves six more arches!!) These aren't exactly time-lapse photos, but they show the progression of change over a week's time.

Setting up the wooden window arch templates on patio.

Finishing the 'eyebrow' treatment on the windows.

Starting the Breakfast Area window stone.

Finishing the walls behind the outdoor kitchen area.

Moving inside, the Tile Guys have started work in the Master Suite bath, with the first tile on the bathroom floor, and one wall tiled in the master shower area. There is quite bit of tile work in this room, so we think they'll be here for awhile.

The center platform is where the master tub will sit (recessed in) once it arrives and is installed. (I tried to convince Jan it would be a cool throne stand for me, but she wasn't buying any of it.)

Floor tile without the accent pieces.

Master shower faucet wall tile.

Master shower back wall.

Beginning of the shower/bathtub wall tile.

The finish carpenters (James and Buddy) have been busy working on small, but important, aspects of the house. The beams were finally completed in the master bedroom and now await The Paint Guy to apply a final stain finish.

Beams in the Master Bedroom.
(No, they aren't bent. Weird camera angle.)

Additionally, the beams in the Great Room ceiling are waiting to be stained first before being raised to the ceiling. Because of the height of the ceiling, and already painted walls, the builder elected to stain the beam material first, then build the beams. Smart move.

While they wait for the staining to be completed, the carpenters are creating the arched frames for the three windows at the top of the Great Room. This again requires building the arches from individual strands of wet alder wood, gluing, forming, nailing, and sanding the arch around a mould. Unfortunately, one mould can't be used for all three because the windows are not absolutely and exactly alike, even though they are very close in absolute measurements (my head hurts thinking about this arch stuff again).

Building each window mould separately.

We are starting to see some preliminary cleanup taking place - mostly removing excess concrete, and leveling the dirt berms from the pool dig. We can now actually see over the edge of the pool from the house without having to view a bunch of dirt mounds.

View from the rear field.

But Wait, There's More!
Our ranch neighbors, Jerry and Cindy, have some friends visiting this weekend and joined us for a visit to the house and, a romp around the neighborhood.