House Move - A synopsis

From here....

to there...

The back-side view... 

From here... 

to there...

The whole project took just about 2 weeks - ~ June 8 to June 21...

Reindeer Hills Memorial Day

We had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend with Matt & Nina and Joe on the Nenana River through Reindeer Hills.  Maiden voyage for their new raft!

Yes, its a moose - no reindeer in sight at this time of year ...

Chillin' at the take-out waiting for the car shuttle...

Moose Mt Rendition of "Up"

After much waiting for the road restrictions to lift, we're finally on our way to moving house v1 to its new location in order to make way for excavation and construction of house v2...  I'm waaaay behind on the photos and updates so I'll start with today and work backwards...

6/9/10
We're finally off the ground!  The engineers have spent the day jacking the house up little by little with bladders (like the one shown here) and support blocks.  This picture is the back of the house (north side).

And here's the south side, 7 courses off the ground...

All in all, we're elevated about 2ft.  This original support post was left in place for now.

Here's the east side view...

With close-up... We have steel I-beams holding everything up and keeping it all together.

The house hasn't been this level since we've moved in! (notice the gap at the bottom of the door...)

6/8/10
And here's the front view yesterday evening - original posts still in place, just starting to place the I-beams and support towers.

6/7/10
Porch is off and I-beams delivered...

Spring Update

We're long over-due for an update of house plans and puppy pictures that don't involve late-night angst or moose wrangling...

Here are our current 1st floor plans - hot off the press today.  2nd floor should be coming soon.  All of this to go to the engineer this week...Then we'll order the foundation blocks and lumber, etc.  Its a bit small, but hopefully you can enlarge it somehow in your browser.  Currently most excited about the laundry shoot in the pantry...which will also come from the closet above...

Today is the first day that leaves are starting to emerge on the birch trees!!  This April was, on average, 8degrees F warmer than normal, so even though we had flurries last week and cooler temps, looks like green is on its way!!

Wilson make it home from his moose adventure last week unscathed, although very sore from running and chasing wildlife for 5+ hours straight...

These pics of Max are a couple weeks old.  Max is now officially taller than Wilson - and he keeps growing!  He met rain for the first time this week and was hilarious snapping at it and trying to bite it. We got him in Dec. and he took his house training so seriously that he would only pee on the snow for quite a while.  Things were touch and go for a couple weeks, but fortunately the snow melted gradually, so he figured it out..

A couple weeks ago we taped out the first floor dimensions to see what it would be like... Here's a pic of Tom and the dogs in the kitchen, between the stove and the island.  Joe is standing on the dining room table..

Hope you all are enjoying spring-time!

Dodging Moose....

Tom's the man! Wrestled Wilson free from Mama and calf moose at the bottom of the drainage, while ducking behind trees to avoid getting trampled...Everyone is safe at home now...Looks like we'll be investing in an electric fence and shock collar - or building a dog run! Just when I thought I should try letting Wilson off leash now and then...They don't call it Moose Mt for nothing....

WILSON GONE ROGUE

Wilson ran off this evening after a rabbit and is still at large. We're worried sick.... We spent the first 3 hours until nightfall combing the woods and driving the roads.  Tom just went out on a search.  I'm home holding vigil and baking cheesecake  (when the going gets tough, the tough bake cheesecake...) ....I have a clear view of the motion sensor flood light from the kitchen....I am visualizing him alive and well. What else can you do?

The engineers came this afternoon for a review and update of the house move.  Joe went straight to work clearing trees for the new house v1 new location.  Photo update coming soon...

Send your positive vibes for Wilson's safe return!

is that a red on my neck??

We are now proud owners of a 1978 KIT Companion, 17' camper trailer.  A score from Craig's list that we got for use during construction next summer.  Very pleased to have successfully towed it up the Moose Mt hill without incident... Is retro still in?

Max supervised as we chained up the truck to make it up the driveway...  Can you believe how big he is now??  No way he'll fit in a back-pack anymore!!