We have a building permit!

OK, so that is today's news, in its entirety. But it is a good feeling just the same. Curtis will be calling to order the materials today and he should be back on the roof in a day or two.  

Weather permitting of course.

Oh, speaking of weather, particularly COLD weather, the new boiler is on order as well.  Not so exciting, but these are some of the major, yet basic projects that must be completed before we can move in. 

No, the roof isn't done yet........

It rained a lot this week.  Seems like a good time for a break.

OK. You know Curtis.  He doesn't take breaks. 

So, just a change in focus for a minute.  In between storms, he did finish the roof on everything but the garage and the two add-ons in the back.  There are two separate pitches on the roof here, which is just beggin' for trouble.  Add to that a little girl who wants a window-less room upstairs to be her bedroom.  

To proceed, Curtis needs a building permit. He went in to the Cache County Building and Development office with a nice set of drawings on Tuesday, but the dude wanted them drawn larger. So, Curtis spent most of the night redoing them, and we went back .... now we are just waiting on the official OK. 

In the meantime.......

Curtis went to work inside...... in the dungeon, haha.  I don't like it down there much. Creepy.  And I can only imagine how many spiders are down there.

Before: this room looked so small when it was full of stuff.

The creepy stairs going down into the creepy dungeon.  Did I mention I don't like going down there?

Well, OK... this is kinda cool...... I have been told this is where the old coal chute was.

There is a cellar/partial basement in our house, with one larger room and one bitty room, where the furnace/boiler/water heater go.  Well, now that the old furnace and  water heater are gone, that bitty room is a lot bigger..... 9' x 4' . 

Curtis had to take everything out and upstairs in pieces.

All  of this out of the dungeon.

Then, he dug out the dirt floor ..... about five inches of dirt, or 100 5-gallon buckets up the stairs and out the window to the wheelbarrow. Who counts this stuff?????  Yeah, Curtis does.   Oh ..... and the giant boulder  that had been pulled from the cellar wall to put pipe where it needed to be....  I was waiting for Curtis to tell me that he ate his spinach and hauled it up the stairs by himself.  I was impressed when he said he didn't. That boulder is now buried in that dirt floor,

Curtis hauled a bunch of square pavers down into the dungeon, so the bitty room has a nice concrete floor now. It is still creepy in there .

the smaller part of the dungeon after Curtis got done with it.

The cluster of pipes that will heat my home.

In the upper-righthand corner of this photo, you can see a portion of the hole that the boulder came from.  Curtis said that boulder was at least two feet in boulder. 

We went  up to the house together today.  My house is all but done and on the market now, so I can go to Hyrum more often.   We didn't do much.... just cleaned up his mess in the yard.   Shingles, shakes, nails everywhere.  He filled in one flower bed for me so I could get my irises in the ground.  It isn't perfect yet, because let's face it... he isn't done making a mess. But it does look like a house again, instead of a demolition site. 

Curtis should have his building permit tomorrow, so he should be back on the roof in a day or two.   

A Glimpse into the Past

The Hyrum House, date unknown.

The Hyrum House was built in 1890, by a farmer whose name was Jens or James Jensen.  I am still working on digging up the history of this home, so we still know very little about the house.  I know it was originally made of brick, and because the home has been added onto many times, so one of the former owners covered it in siding at some point.  When I have gathered all the stories I can, I will post the story of our home.

In the process of buying the house, Curtis founds some photos in the county treasurer's office, and yesterday, we were lucky enough to get a copy.  I took the photo to my friend, Sean Hales, who is a genius with Photoshop.  He scanned the photo for me and enlarged it just a bit.  I mean, let's face it.... I can take a good photo, but I haven't mastered the editting possibilities. He has. 

So..... check out the house.  And while you are at it, look closely at the car in the lower left corner. Based on that, what era do you think this photo was taken??  Comments are welcome!