Upstairs, Downstairs

Our game and media area. Around the corner ahead is the alcove for the widescreen television. The long room here is just at the top of the stairs, and the bedroom leads off to the right. Rex will have his desk up here, and we will have bookshelves and reading chairs and lamps. Unlike the downstairs, this area will be carpeted for comfort on bare feet in the morning.





Here we are standing in our master bedroom. That opening you see ahead is the entry to our huge walk-in closet. I'm only slightly embarrased that this closet will be as large as some small bedrooms. I like being able to move around and to store more than clothing in a closet. This will give us room for quality storage and a closet system. To the left through the framing you can see the run into the tv area I spoke of above.




We are now standing in the kitchen. The sliding glass doors to the right will lead onto a small patio and herb garden area. We plan to have native plants, including seed and fruit bearing shrubs for wild life habitat. Directly ahead of course are the stairs leading to the second floor. I have bowed to the inevitabilities of time, and we will have a chair mounted to a rail that I can ride up and down stairs.



This is the front room, showing the open floor plan of the downstairs with no break between front room and kitchen. I guess they call them a great room these days. All of the floors on the main level will be hardwood. To the left is the framing for the downstairs bath.

Picking out counter tops, wall colors, etc. has not been so much a challenge as an opportunity for self-expression. Nevertheless there are so many details.

Now This Is Truly Frightening

Not too much frightens me any more, but this truly terrifies me. I would think that even my devout Christian friends would find this descent into superstition and Dark Ages practices, endorsed by a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States to be frightening and appalling.

It's Coming Right Along

It is so exciting to go there every day and see more and more changes as the house goes up. From bare ground, to two stories now, with roof to come soon, along with windows and doors. The inspection process is a genuine pain. Every day the inspectors decide not to come is one day longer we cannot live here. I long to move in, to hang art, to create, to grow things.

It is an amazing creation, this thing called a house. I am intrigued with how the construction guys read the blueprints and put everything just where it should be.


We are blessed with an excellent contractor who seems to know everything he should, at just the right time. And just the right people to do it. They are so patient with us, as we dither and change our minds, and worry about the bank balance.




There have, of course been changes. It was inevitable, despite my early protestations that we would not be changing our minds. Nevertheless it is our house and coming along nicely. It will at least be fully enclosed before winter so the inside work can go on without delay, and the workmen will not suffer too much with the elements.

The floors, we have decided, will be wood only in the kitchen and my workroom. The rest will be carpet, though nothing fancy or deep ply so as to minimize pollens and other nastiness like that.


It is a very nice house.

Ground Breaking and Foundation

Nothing says construction quite like the ubiquitous portapotty. So there it was when we arrived to view the ground breaking.





The tonka toy used to clear the lot was impressive to say the least. More impressive was the way that Sean, the operator, maneuvered that thing around.



That's Roger, our wonderful contractor and new friend, consulting on the grading. Unfortunately his wife Liz was not there that day to get in the picture.




The concrete forms, plumbing pipes, and everything was ready for the concrete.







When we left, they were busily pouring the foundation. and now the real fun begins!

Family Values?

I cannot remain silent on the whole Sarah Palin fiasco. But I think I have a somewhat different perspective on it than what I am hearing in the news. So her 17-year-old daughter got pregnant. It happens, even in fundamentalist Christian families that preach abstinence. Anyone who has parented a teenager will tell you that reigning in teenage hormones is sometimes as successful as making ice cubes without a freezer. And attempting seems almost as futile.

No, it isn't Sarah Palin's impending grandmotherhood that bothers me. It is her willingness to subject her daughter, her other children, her future grandson, and her future son-in-law to the kind of media scrutiny and inevitable mockery that is now going on. She HAD to know this would happen. If she didn't, then this more than anything else speaks to her inability to lead politically. Naivete may be charming in Alaska, but it is meat for the rottweilers in Washington, D.C. and on the world stage.

I don't believe for one moment that Sarah Palin gave even a moment's consideration to what accepting the nomination for Veep would do to her family. This is not a rock solid traditional family values family. This is a family in crisis, that needs all of the energy of both parents and the extended family to get them through it. Their 17-year-old daughter is about to become a parent way too young. They have a special needs infant, and having had a Downs child myself I know what they are in for. This baby needs special training, special care, close medical supervision, and a host of other special stuff. What he doesn't need is the Washington limelight or an absent parent. And the teenage mother and father are going to need privacy, assistance, guidance, support -- not the mayhem and blinding expose that will be afforded them if their mother continues this reckless path.

I can only conclude that this is one of the more egregious examples of blind ambition with which we have been entertained in some time. I would have found it incredibly admirable and brave for Ms. Palin to have continued as governor under these circumstances, and applauded a decision to step down and put family first in the face of these dual crises. Instead I find myself appalled that any mother would for a moment consider doing to her family what Sarah Palin has done.

Family values? Real values require that family comes first, ahead of ambition, ahead of power, ahead of the spotlight. Do conservatives now believe that family values mean expose your extremely vulnerable children to as much blinding, negative publicity as possible just so you can brag about carrying your disabled child to term? Only to neglect him in favor of national political office?

It reminds me all too well of how many pro-life folks I know are pro-life as long as the kid is in the womb, but once she's born it's every one for themselves. Who me help them out? Help the people who didn't want still another child they couldn't afford? Not me! Let them practice abstention. Right, and we all see how well abstention teaching is working.

Nope. My sympathies are not with Sarah Palin. I do not see her as a mother who sacrifices herself for her children, who puts her children and family first, who treats parenthood as a sacred trust. I see her as someone who is both exploiting her children and failing to protect them from what should have been seen as inevitable.

All I have to say to her is, "SHAME ON YOU!"