wholegrainsurf: The ultimate bread and water diet.

smiles turn to frowns

2011-10-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Laundry chute in position: can't be raised once the beams are placed

Beam hanger preparation with a dummy beam

Beam me up: beaming smiles, we lifted this without mechanical assistance

Another beam we lifted without mechanical assistance. This one jammed and had to be taken down and re-sized and put back up again.

E on the walky-talky directing our skyhook! We wish!

Beaming again: putting a raincoat over the morticed intersection: a portent of things to come.

I'd like it just here thanks: directing the skyhook.

Not quite a skyhook: but these were way too heavy to lift with out mechanical assistance.

Kind of in place: large beams create seemingly intractable problems at times , this one is being stubborn about getting into the correct alignment [still not resolved]

Frowns: the shop-vac raincoat says it all!

Sunday 5 pm

Kneading conference west photos

2011-09-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

50% barley flour pita: with help from Leslie Mackie of Macrina in Seattle. Leslie showcased some of her breads made with barley and gave her own workshop on her breads. Leslie's bakery is extremely well regarded - Macrina was named one of the USA's top 10 bakeries in 2011 by BON APP ÉTIT

Fairhaven mill whole barley flour, pita, & barley bread in the style of a baguette,.

Barley pretzels, getting ready for the lye [NaOH] dip.

The evening before: getting pain au levain with 10% barley ready for the next mornings workshop

Eat your wholegrains: barley that is!

Photos courtesy of Patrick Hayes, the leader of BARLEYWORLD

There's gotta be bread sometime

2011-09-26T17:08:00.001-07:00

We [everyone I think] had a ball at the Kneading Conference West. There have been a couple of blog posts about it

http://www.farine-mc.com/2011/09/back-from-kneading-conference-west-2011.html

http://reallygoodwriter.com/uncategorized/kneading-conference-west-over-and-out/

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25147/kneading-conference-west-2011

I had 2 shared sessions. One with Lee Glass on science and testing that was remarkably well attended with enthusiastic bakers. The second was with Leslie Mackie of Macrina bakeries in Seattle on barley in bread that was also well attended by an enthusiastic audience [the promise of warm soft-pretzels was too much for them!].

Never easy

2011-09-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

Out timber framing guy working on the beams

On the posts

With his giant circular saw

Detail of the bottom of the post that's closest to the kitchen: no hint of a problem yet but it was 5/16 to tall and these are NOT easy to move, even less easy when they are assembled and in place

Post "A" bottom

Post"B" bottom, the center of the three large posts.

Instructions

Plans and tools

Instructions

Internal walls

2011-09-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

Internal walls going up... looks like a room: the "away room"

Panning right: A kitchen wall with the entryway behind

Two little walls define the kitchen.

Another view

Add "framer" to her list of accomplishments

Drain and drain fabric placed behind the porch foundation

CONCRETE!

2011-09-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

grade stamp on a "re-purposed" wood beam

rebar detail

Ledger boards staged for lift off [lift up]

pre-ledger boards: cutting windows for anchor bolt placement [these will be full of concrete]

more anchor bolt windows

and more

even more

First ledger board goes up

concrete day again: just as crazy as ever

big machines

happy to be pounding the house [to make the concrete settle inside the forms]

just hanging around [actually checking anchor bolts]

big machines

Miss general contractor has a word to say! Not sure what Kurt is about to do with the hammer.

more foundations

our help - without which we'd be much poorer

YES! right here...

big machine parked on out turnaround

t'other side

milling the beams

3 at once

great place to do it

planning

planning - wide view

double checking

and again

getting the formwork bracing off is no easy task - just hanging around, AGAIN!

yes; they are full of it [concrete that is]

finishing touches while the scaffolds are still there

so we remember where to put the scaffolding on the next floor

Wow! No scaffolding - a whole new look

Really different : you see the concrete in the windows where a temporary ledger was removed

another view of the interior - in the entry way, mud room to right near stair well, kitchen to left. The room with all the beams is where the floor is stepped down and has the big window with the view.

Progression: the art of moving forward

2011-07-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

Rock for under the slab

After the plate compactor

Finishing touches

voila!

Setting formwork

Basic formwork up and vapor barrier placed

Setting grade on the forms that will hold the rebar

Fist rebar goes on

Rebar all round

How the verticals are kept in place before the concrete

Even more rebar

Beginning the rebar mat

Local wildlife

More local wildlife - the giant fat feral rabbit [it's 5x the size of the brown one above] that's been near the apartment for at least 3 years

Before the deluge

2011-06-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Photographing the photographer

Wild strawberries

One reason we have a 4WD pickup

Another - more rebar to cut - Oh joy !

Airborne

What you need to do to bend #5 rebar when you only weight 45 kg [100 lbs]

Pretending to work

The late June deluge on its way - Oh joy [NOT!]

Excavation - the act of creating by removing something

2011-06-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

Cleaning rocks for the rock drain behind the house

Clean rocks

Picking up rocks

Cleaning scrap styrofoam for recycling as "rock"

Styrofoam recycled as "rock" between the back basement wall and the false wall keeping out the dirt [soil, clay]

Yet more rock, goes onto the styrofoam, a layer cake

The cut for the concrete water tank going under the porch

Stabilizing another cut using the wild strawberries

The wild strawberries are sending out runners right now.

Moving rock to the hole in the front porch to pour it into place

Like a duck swimming - all the real work going on underneath spreading the rock

Cheating - using the digger to fill my wheelbarrow

Not cheating, at the other end filling buckets manually for placement above the styrofoam and the ventilation pipes

More rock - for the road and underneath the water tank slab

Precarious - getting the rock down there now the cut has been made.

Backfilling soil under the front porch

End of the day

Hungary

2011-05-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

Szeged Town Hall

Hero's Square : Pest

Opera House: Pest

Looking to Buda

Hungarian Parliament: Pest side

Mythical Creatures

2011-05-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

Local dragon

In context

Making a hole in the concrete for the passive ventilation: it's easier when it's just foam!

Measuring up the big ventilation pipes

Cutting to length

Trimming the ends

Trimming

Pipes in place

The other side of the hole in the wall: these'll be buried to condition the incoming air: te green ones worked, the big ones still need to go around the corner.

Stabilizing and K-State Cleans Up

2011-04-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Grass from our last attempt to stabilize this cut: but still it crumbles

Food science in action - using alginates to form a gel on the surface of the cut using the calcium ions in the soil to create the gel structure

This shot and the following - The ultimate in recycling. E uses a favorite old K-State sweatshirt [passed down from her aunt] wrapped around an old ball from the neighbors to clean out the insides of the recycled PVC pipes for the underground passive ventilation inlet.

Random, OR & CA

2011-04-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Wholewheat sourdough from local wheat

What's flowering March 31st

Who are yew?

Shasta and little Shastina, Northern CA

Ponsford's Place a.m. Monday

Work schedule

50% Barley bread - Tamalpais hull-less barley flour from Certified Foods Woodland CA left; our Streaker naked barley right - volume difference a result of different water additions and te Streaker was coarser because it was milled on our small stone mill here.

Ready to ship

Sewing

2011-03-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

Higher and higher

2011-01-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

STONE FOR THE BASEMENT EXTERNAL WALLS: quite the job getting the whole pallets off without a forklift

Last block for the main floor walls

The dark clouds in the background came and dropped wet heavy snow

From below

From below, other side

Work: flour mills

Work: wheat samples

Thanksgiving tracks

2010-11-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

We had a visitor - evidence

E on top of the world

Tracks - evidence that I was there too

Another hot buy - 33 cents in the dollar for 180+ retaining wall blocks, about 30 kg each. E has manhandled 60 of them already, onto the truck and off again by herself

One more pallet for more blocks

Hard to get the glue to set in the snow

At work after setting some more rebar in place

Finished for the day and off to TG dinner up the hill

Not often seen: the back gate.

A different perspective looking towards the back gate

My present - a stone mill - makes great floue - E got it for less $94 including shipping - it had a crack [not a functional problem] and they dropped the price from retail: at least $600

Block surfing

2010-11-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

This and that: gloves and rebar: bread and brioche

2010-11-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

brioche oven ready

Swiss mountain bread - rye levain with a mix of baker's and wholewheat flours

yummy wholewheat sourdoughs

easy now to spot the difference

steps for the side porch - ready to go $150 off Criagslist

The builder at work

The tripping hazards are multiplying as the scaffolding goes up amongst the bracing

Lying down on the job

Well - looks can be deceptive - doesn't look very restful

Busy hands need good gloves: Elizabeth says thanks you Ella

championship rebar tying

fiddly bits part 2

2010-10-22T17:23:00.001-07:00

More spot the difference

2010-10-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

before

after - septic approved and covered

first attempt at brioche with turbinado sugar on top

Other stuff

2010-10-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

sourdough miche - 1.5kg

oops, caught working

Going up

Inside my stone flour mill - the rotating stone - yes it's pink!

Fiddly bits

2010-10-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Spot the difference

2010-10-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

Increments

2010-09-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Cleaning up the struts for the cantilevered ledger for the porch slab with the wire brush

More work for the wire brush [well for E] - a cast iron grate for the interior

Detail

The top surface cleaned

Chipping away at excess concrete - another "easy" job

Door bucks going up - look below to seethe difference from last week

Brother James visits and works non-stop for 6 days

2010-09-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

James working very hard drilling holes in concrete - its easier when it's just styrofoam!

Even I do some work occasionally

Getting the next layer of blocks trimmed and leveled

Up we go!

Bending re-bar out of the way

Me working again - miracles do happen

Working out the tricky corner

Frame for bracing

Drilling the holes to secure the bracing

With instructions [for vertical]

No - it goes there

Piecing the bracing together - into the night

SURF - remembering Fall

2010-08-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

More baking

2010-06-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

For the 100th anniversary of the Sherman Experiment Station: They had a nursery of historical crops grown there over the last 100 years. I was asked to bake from what grain/flour I could glean of some of the historical wheat varieties [and barley].

I baked wholewheat sourdough loaves in a traditional style made from stone-ground wholewheat flours with the coarse bran [>850 um] sieved out.

Norwest553 - one of ours; a modern semi-dwarf hard red winter (HRW) . Made good bread; its very strong dough properties make it a great choice for wholewheat products made by long fermentation processes. A robust flavored HRW.

Turkey - a HRW introduced to Kansas only a few miles from Elizabeth's family farm. Origin Turkey/Ukraine. Made good bread; the dough was a bit tender to too much molding. Also a robust flavored HRW, not much different in flavor profile to the Norwest553 bread.

Red Fife - an old hard red spring [HRS]. A parent of "Marquis", the foundation variety of the Canadian western HRS industry. Made good bread; but the dough was very tender to too much molding and mixing. The least robust flavored of these red wheats; suggesting other attributes other than being grown in the 19th century, in terms of the grain's contribution to bread flavor.

Red May - a very old soft red winter. Grown in the east and grown in Kansas prior to the introduction of the hard wheats, which were more winter hardy. This made a dense bread with a crumbly non-resilient crumb typical of breads made from soft wheats. It also took about 10% les water and even then the dough was close to being unhandleablt sticky. This isn't ideal for making bread, but was a lesson to me in what was available for breadmaking in the era prior to 1860. Elizabeth made cookies out of it from a old "White House Cookbook" recipe from the 1890s - a far more appropriate product for this wheat.

Spelt and Emmer: These ancient wheats were still grown in yield trials at the station until the 1930s. The milled nicely and as expected had tender, rather fragile doughs, susceptible to overwork, but with proper attention made nice bread in this style. Both type, especially the emmer, had unique flavor profiles, very robust, but qualitatively distinct from all the modern hexaploids we baked.

Hard white winter blend: In deference to the hard white wheats grown in the region mostly before 1940. Including the Australian varieties "Baart" and "Federation" which had a considerable acreage. This was a less strong dough than the Norwest553, comparable to the Turkey, but it milled very granular from the stone-mill. The bread had the least robust flavor profile of all these breads, as expected. Some will like this flavor better for wholewheat products, but basically it depends to some extent on wheat consumers are used to.

ORSS1757/Skiles: Modern soft white winter wheats bred by our program. We made cookies out of these, as appropriate to the class of wheat. The cookies were fractionally, but noticably more tender the the Red May cookies.

We also made a bread dough out of this blend for the Summer Ag Institute. It was very notable that after about 2 hours of bulk fermentation that the dough had started to "pin-hole" leaving the fermentation gases to vent to atmosphere instead of being trapped by in dough [as with the bread wheats; the contrast was striking]. The pin-holing showed the weakness [literally] of the soft whites for bread making; and you could track at which point the dough stopped rising.

Front to rear: Each different cut pattern in turn: Turkey Red, Red Fife, Red May, a multigrain made with Norwest553 and grains of many of the elaternative crops tried at the station over the last 100 years [barley; millet; buckwheat; rye; & flax]

Summer Ag Institute: Baked contrasts: long v short fermentation baguettes [standard roler-milled bread flour]; red versus white wholewheat sourdoughs; and of course strong versus weak doughs as noted above. Lots of fun.

Wholewheat sourdoughs for the Summer Ag Institute: losest - Hard White, cross-hatched - Norwest553; rear - Turkey

Beautiful tasteless short fermentation baguettes rear; rather ugly looking but tasty [very] long fermentation "pain a al ancienne" a la Peter Reinhart front.

Kansas, Australia: sinks, stained glass, & surf

2010-05-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

Turning the reclaimed 14 gauge stainless steel counter top into kitchen counter with sink. one of many projects for E in KS. The start above. Measuring and plans below.

The finished product with co-conspirator a former school buddy.
Packed and ready to go to Oregon.
Not great surf in Australia for me but warm and constant.
Above: Thanks Coastalwatch
Another huge E project, hanging the stained glass window from an old Newton KS presbyterian Church in her mum's sitting room.

Preparation

Final adjustments

Driving home - spring in Wyoming - Interstate 80

E gets serious

2010-03-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

E gets serious with one of the innumerable little projects that need to be done - stripping the 90 year old varnish from one of our Japanese shoji doors.

Pretzel logic

2010-03-13T21:06:00.001-08:00

From the other blog...

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/deliciousnessw09/2010/03/13/pretzel-logic/

a bit of baking - a bit of building

2010-03-06T13:02:00.001-08:00

Our siding arrives, but it needs to be kept dry - it's SIDING - isn't it supposed to be able to shed rain? Well apparently standing water is no good for it.
So we needed to put it in under cover. We got a little break in the weather, although the day it was delivered it poured, hence the styrofoam insulation "umbrella". E got this again at some riduculous price - way below retail.
E is putting down the fiberglass grating she got for the floor of the deck to help us get the 93 packets of siding down the still muddy hill.

Made some bread with M. Rubaud's shaping method. It turned out really well, inside and out. You can find the link to "Farine" and the videos here http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/deliciousnessw09/2010/02/28/new-link-farine/

Tsunami - or not

2010-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Didn't happen here.

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-24T17:23:00.000-08:00

A bit blowy...
3 deg C [38 deg F] foggy and dismal in Philomath.

12 deg C [54 deg F] and brilliantly sunny at Newport, only 80 km away. Swell 10 ft @ 16 seconds.

Cedar

2009-12-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

So we helped pull down this ceiling and reclaimed the tongue and groove cedar. This is about 1/2 done with the cedar panelling [background], there is as much over my head on this side.Later, cedar down, "just" all the nails and insulation to go. There was gyprock [drywall] between the cedar and the batts. took about 16 hours to get it done.

I can't believe how cold it is...

2009-12-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

-13 deg C [9 deg F] again this morning.

Yesterday a.m.
It is even cold at the beach - right now 8:30 a.m. Thursday Dec 10 it's -3 deg C [27 deg F]
Maybe tomorrow it'll be beach weather [i.e. above 0 deg C]

And it just keeps coming...

2009-12-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday:
What's wrong with this picture - the white frosting on the sand is just that - frost just before sun-up air about -2 deg C [28 deg F] and windy.Interestingly crowded with people - not sea-lions - considering the temperature, good waves though.Sunday
Colder, windier, still good, somewhere else nearby.

A surfeit of sea lions sing [bark] a soulful symphony

2009-12-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

Lots of sea-lions this fall

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/12/california-sea-lion-surplus-seen-on-oregon-coast.html

This bunch barked a baroque ballad at us for at least half and hour. At least they kept their distance, not like their 150 far more intimidating comrades one beach further south.
Doing the "flipper thing" where they just hang out with their flippers up in the sunshine.

Not building - surfing

2009-11-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

Well not entirely not building - gathering more materials and doing things that can be done indoors.

But surfing is happening between storms. And sometimes it is BIG surf. Not me - somewhere close by.

Surfing på Norsk

2009-11-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

To år siden. Min venn Ben Raymond.
Spenning og forventning!Surfing.
Og hans venn.
Også i norge, mann vente alltid på bølgene Men, "kommer noen bra sett nå snart, tror jeg, så kom, kom!"Fra SAS E-Magasinet "Les Sas Magasinet HER" click på link.

Bens venn Rune ble intervjuet av dette magasinet i sist måned.

Side shore

2009-10-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

A few waves this weekend...

Somewhere nearby...

SUP lefts

Unknown surfer...
Me heading out.Photo attribution Elizabeth Thorpe.

Dust cloud

2009-10-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

From NASA's great Earth Observatory site.

Wednesday 23rd September 2009. Details here http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40274&src=eoa-iotd

the dust storm is probably more than 3000 km from north to south

Vacation time: surf, sun, sand, and, well, dust & lightning too.

2009-10-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Curious Aussie magpie: 30 deg C and sunny, small surf not worth showing the pics: remember you can see the pics larger if you click on themUp the coast: frothing 15 year olds surfing a protected peak

North Brother From Dunbogan
Dunbogan from North Brother
Who's this?
North Brother rainforest walk tree ferns and elkhorns

E has an affinity for purple flowers

And some others
Bangalow palms
A pea by any other name

North Brother in the distance
I finally got some quality surf, even if it was if small

The flooded gums near Buladelah - the same type as the flooring E got recently.
And also the tallest tree in New South Wales is a flooded gum [Eucalyptus grandis] all 72 meters of it [about 240 feet]
Decided surfing wasn't such a good idea right then.
Central coast rainforest walk

King parrot
Crimson rosella in flight
Confused kookaburra - not laughing
No color retouching - this is how the dust storm looked from the inside

The sunlight turned blue
Finally the real deal - quality surf - a favorite right hand point break

Me enjoying the conditions.
A few rocks
Nature's surfers
Perfect beach breaks & bowling lefts

Staining floors and starting formwork for the next floor

2009-09-10T10:59:00.001-07:00

Spot the difference
Elizabeth's great idea to use ferrous sulphate fertilizer at $21 a bag as the staining agent for the floors.

However, a very large dollop of sweat equity for this item...
Lots of cleaning and scrubbing and recleaning - and now some further remedial work because of rain diluting some of the stain before it was sealed... large bummer

My bread gets a 1 millsecond spot on the the new oregon State TV ad

2009-08-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

At about 17 secs, I prepped the dough that's there as well.

http://poweredbyorange.com/video/

It is the video with the wind generators at the start screen.

this that and the other...

2009-08-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

A while of this that and the other since finishing the concreting. [That means E is doing all the other hard work of researching the fittings and construction techniques and ventilation and plumbing and roofing and skylights and flooring and and and and...]

Now back to the physical work of construction. The first things for going up another level, kitchen, lounge room front door etc.

Up with new door bucks and the first block for the next stage [all temporary installations at this point till they are plumbed and leveled].

Constructing door bucks.

Too hot...

2009-07-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday record high temperature for Corvallis of 108 deg F [42.2 deg C].

Think it was 39 or 40 deg C today.

Too hot to work outside.

A little cooler tomorrow and next week.

LINK: News story

Concrete & dust

2009-07-20T11:11:00.001-07:00

After the concrete cured a bit we needed to cut the expansion joints to stop it cracking and the decorative cuts in the great room to make the finished concrete floor look like tiles.

It took a bit of doing. The concrete sawing is hard hot and dusty work. And in this room, as there were some cuts only 75 mm apart, the measurements need to be spot on so the lines were exactly parallel.Checking the guide board along the chalk line.
Dust dust dust.
The idea is to draw the eye to the big window in the 45 degree corner and the view of Mary's peak.

Bastille Day 2009 - We's got concrete

2009-07-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

The day before - uncovered, approved by the county, and [almost] ready for the concreteThis years new crop of quail babies are now flying
but maybe not as stylishly as the adults
Bastille Day...

dawned bright and sunny. The lead-up was a succession of at least 14 h days on site, lots of heavy work for both of us, dealing with 35 deg C [95 F] temperatures or unexpected deluges [see previous post], and thankfully with a little help from our friends.

The day before Bastille Day we went from about 6 am to 11 pm and were back on site before the concretors, at about 5 am Tuesday - Bastille Day. We thought we could just sit back and watch the progress; the joke was on us. The immediate prelude to the concrete was a hectic flurry of last minute necessities, we did not seem to stop actually running from one task to the next.
The boss supervising
More running, the concrete pump operator stumbled ["multi tasking" on his cell phone - see photo above] and stepped between the styrofoam forms where there is no structure and fell through leaving a 6 foot by 1 foot hole. This is the emergency shoring we did to plug up the hole. It's the piece of plywood towards the back with the less-than-vertical bracing underneath. I won't go into the details.
Nearly finished.
Facing the porch
Watering down the setting concrete in the setting sun. Some of these floors are going to be finished concrete with a pattern of cuts. We elected to put in the control joints [cuts] ourselves. This meant we needed to keep the concrete wet until we cut them the next day to stop it from cracking. The next day [no pictures - too busy] we cut control joints with a circular saw and diamond blade [see http://wholegrainsurf.blogspot.com/2009/05/finally-some-shade-memorial-day-weekend.html ] for an idea.

Oh ! Lets build a concrete porch in our spare time.

2009-07-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Porch beams almost in - finishing rebar mat on house so we can cover it to spare the PEX from UV while we finish the porch

Working late every night
Soon to be blackberry pie
Getting started on the porch formwork

Meanwhile, my baking class for high school science students diverts me from the house

Porch formwork well into the process

Building the rebar cages for the concrete beams - over-engineeered enough to hold a pugnacious pack of parading pachyderms
OH JOY - NOT !

And while we rush to get this all done by Tuesday 6 am - on SUnday we get the most rain ever seen here on July day - 0.6 inches official, we got an inch - turned everything back to mud but we had to keep going till 9:30 pm - back at it at 5:45 this morning. Turn on the sound to hear the rain. To make up for the dreary winters here in Western OR it is not supposed to rtain from May 30 to October 30, that's the deal - not this year.

Don't blink !

2009-07-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

Seems that we work and not much seems to visibly change and suddenly -

A cow of a job !

Finally finish putting up the waterproofing - it's heavy, the weather was hot, it was hard to hang straight and to stick together, and we were teetering on ladders etc etc etc.

Then no sooner was it up than we covered it with filter mesh to protect it from the drain-rock.
A great day

We finally start to backfill over the perimeter drain... This is the very first drain-rock.
Seeing the last of the bottom of the trench we've been mucking out for @#$%^& months
And the cause of ALL the trouble,

old gopher holes - EVERY cave-in started at one of these
Pea gravel in front of the garage for drainage and to support the garage apron.
E's clever idea to hang the drain fabric separating soil from drain rock over a wall of plywood. Dirt one side rock the other, saved on buying more rock.
Voila !!!
Finished product (well for now - we can only backfill this high yet)
Don't blink.

So I go off to work for a few hours and come back to find a 40 meter by 1.2 meter by 1.2 meter (120 x 4 x 4 feet) trench in the front yard. E had a logistic problem with some deliveries and couldn't do what she'd planned. She had the excavator there and decided to get the utility trench dug.

And now for something completely different.

The rush to get the first floor slab poured is partly to get the PEX tubing out of the sun and UV as soon as possible.

And now it's pressure tested.
It never lets up.

We need to get the porch footings formed and poured as part of the logistics of the first floor slab pour.

So far we've had a string of 12 hour plus days of hard, hot, heavy, and dusty labor so digging the footing pads by hand (me) and setting the formwork (E) is pretty taxing. Thankfully we had some well received volunteer help today, as well as a paid crew.
The mad rush during the pour.
Columns for the porch to rest on.
More of our wildflowers

pex, pipes, and plumbing

2009-06-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

The last of the underfloor heating tubes into the entryway.
Where the tubes gather...Warming up the waterproofing membrane while I take practical photos so we know where the tubes went if we need to know after slab is poured.Some more flowering plants I found.
May be Fool's onion Triteleia hyacinthina

Random...

2009-06-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Random early summer stuff - more tubing installed for the under-floor heating in the great room.Not the same ones, but a pack of orcas was through a week ago. Lots of sightings - including one of 2 orcas killing a full grown sealion in the surf zone not far north of here. (photo attribution - blog.oregonlive Associated Press/File)
And sights like this in a number of coves, injured sealions that didn't get eaten by the orcas and that hauled up to rest, only to die and become a feast for the carrion birds: crows, seagulls, and of course lots of well-fed...
turkey vultures.Summer: surf - small, but fun on a longboard.
Summer also means surfing schools. Goodness only knows why they try to learn here in the summery 50 deg F [10 deg C] water.
Our place has a new spectrum of flowers this week...
Large Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)
Including a patch of striking Columbia lilies that I didn't mow so the can set and scatter seed so there's more next year.
Meanwhile back in the bakery, some fun with different bread styles.
Very striking and unusual [for western tastes] barbari bread that is a flat bread that can be successfully made with soft white wheat [SW].
And some product development for the food barley program - marvellous 50% barley pita bread. [HW = hard white wheat]

For James

2009-06-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

a link to the jello ultra slow-mo on the other blog...

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/deliciousnessw09/2009/05/11/the-most-amazing-footage-of-energy-storage-and-elasticity-in-jello/

Downpours, mudslides, and radiant floors...

2009-06-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

Showing the line of thunderstorms that passed through OR, south to north on Thursday June 4th. The only time since we've been here that a storm through Benton county had an official National Weather Service severe thunderstorm warning. Another severe one did pass 20km to the east of us the day before as well. We got at least 2 inches (judging from the height of water in vertical walled containers) within about 1/2 an hour. This is EXTREMELY rare weather for these parts. The aftermath - more [expletive deleted] mud from the back wall. Grading from naught to about 300 mm thick, wet slimy, at least not hard packed, that flushed down from the same back wall.

A few muddy hours later...
Meanwhile up above, E was working with Josh Storer, of Barefoot Radiant Heating Corvallis OR, putting in the first of the pex tubing for the radiant floor heating of the main floor. This is the first time we can really make out the rooms. The tubing already laid down is in the kitchen floor.

E, I suspect, showing Josh the troubles were having setting grade around the step-down into the great room.
Getting it right.

Like a duck swimming...

2009-06-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

... not much seems to be happening but there's a lot of action going on under the surface.

Bracing for the stair headerBracing for the little pieces used to make up the 45 degree corner under the great room.

Rebar for the beam under the garage.
The view from the top (great room view window goes here)
Waterproofing starts to go on

Rebar mat for the garage floor

Detail of rebar hooks connecting floor to walls.And up we go - the first increase in the height of the walls for a while.

finally some shade - Memorial Day weekend

2009-05-29T16:10:00.001-07:00

The panel deck form work for the basement ceilings/garage and house floors goes in [mostly]DAY 1 SATURDAY - sawing the patterns into the concrete floor in the basement bedroom.
Measuring it up.
The saw - with diamond tipped blade.
The saw couldn't quite get to the edges - needed an angle grinder with no guard and a diamond tipped blade - at 10000 rpm you can bet I was concentrating.
SUNDAY
Litterbugs - styrofam that needed to be removed for the basement ceiling slab.
First piece of the ceiling formwork
The first panel-deck pieces go in
Temporary shoring walls go in
More panel deck goes up

Bluejay
Plywood to protect the bedroom floor
MONDAY
Spring wildflowers on our place

Aquilegia formosa

Western columbine (Buttercup family)

Iris tenax

Sisyrinchium angustifolium Narrowleaf blue-eyed grass (Iris family) Sidalcea sp - mallows

Panel deck trapeze
Getting there
More goes into place over the laundry
Discussing the next bit
A [few] days work
WEDNESDAY - a mornings work for me

An irridescense of irises - on a big day

2009-05-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Iridescent irises invoking intimations of incomparably inviting summer daysGetting prepared in the frost of a clear late spring morning - just after 6:30 am.
Yet another concrete pump.
All that work to set the radiant floor tubing starts to disappear.
Getting it to grade.
More concrete.
Starting to smooth it out.
Into the middle room, covering the radiant artwork.
Fillin' up the garage basement,

Smoothing it out.
The extra concrete into some extra formwork - creating stepping stones and test squares for trying out different concrete stains.

Smoothing - with big floater kneepads.
Hand prints - ours
His helicopter won't fly.
Sawing the expansion joints.

Finished - just wetting it down to even out the cure.

Another job - cleaning the oxidized styrofoam so the waterproofing membrane will stick.
Our ever present friends on hot days - big turkey vultures.
First time we've seen that corner since mid-December thanks to E's hard and heavy shovelwork.

Random stuff

2009-05-19T12:06:00.001-07:00

Pulling broken bolts from some other recycled timbers so they can be milled to size - these are I think 17 x 3 1/2 "

We took some plastic off of the back wall to see what needs to be done to finally resolve the cave-in mess and apparently disturbed this cicada that immediately stepped out of its shell and pumped up its wings.
The remaining mess...

From the top looking down.
Still lots of shovel work to go before we can reset the geocloth and get this backfilled - after the basement ceiling/main floor is put in.

Completely awesome

2009-05-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

I have seen the little vortices behind the wave in other shots so the BBC guy isn't right about the first time they've been seen - but the super slow mo is great and you can forgive his enthusiasm. If you've got the bandwidth click on HD and watch it full screen.

And then go to the other blog to see jello in super slo-mo HD.

Milling and [not] baking

2009-05-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Big step - turning some of the recycled 14 x 8 inch (36 x 20 cm) warehouse timbers into "new" 8 3/4 x 6 inch (22.3 x 15 cm) posts. Done nearby & luckily a very nice afternoon.E striding in to action.
Checking the sizes - and for knots and nails and where to cut to get the best out of the wood.
Decision made
Another one.

The old and the new ---
Seem to have lost something - no just shimming it so it's square !
Old and new mark II
Almost done, second last one on the saw.

More tube time

2009-05-14T14:10:00.001-07:00

Formwork boards for the slabRetrieved out recycled timbers from our friend's shed Saturday a.m. Quite the test for the new truck.
Grand central station - one more change. It now has a manifold and a pressure gauge attached - and passed the pressure test and inspection.
Radiant floor artwork - soon to be covered.
Took a bunch of these so we know where the tubes are under the slab in relation to things like plumbing.
The basement bedroom tubes finished.
These "thermal breaks - vertical foam insulation every where the slab would meet the outdoors, to keep the radiant heat where we want it.
Same between the hosue basement and garage basement, but more tricky with the tubes coming through.
Ready to go ! Need just to wait for a couple of sunny days to get the concreting done.

Getting tubed

2009-05-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Radiant floor heating tubes that is...Basement - grand central station - I guess the distribution manifold will be here.Garage basement

South room
More tubing arrives - E putting on a rigid 90 degree elbow - the black things lower left.

On the grid...

2009-05-05T12:14:00.001-07:00

Electricity arrives on site.

Thanks to Josh Storer, of Barefoot Radiant Heating Corvallis OR, for the pictures.

Insulation days

2009-05-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Even more [extruded] styrofoam - underslab insulation so the heat from the radiant floor heating goes up and not down into the earth. Over the poly vapor barrier.The tricky room before the work.
Poly in the south room.
Insulation going over the plastic.

Saturday: sun interspersed with gully-raker downpours.
Sunday: spring irises.
Plastic going down in the tricky center room.

Cutting styrofoam.

Rock time again...

2009-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Rock time again - with the amazing rock shooting conveyor truckBetter than shovels and wheelbarrows
First lift in the center room - the plate compactor is back again - obscenely heavy - but i guess it needs to be.
Some (a lot of) shoveling and raking needed

Garage basement waiting for more
Finished level in the center room
Garage basement getting fullDone and compacted in the evening after the rain and hail went through
Bit of a change from this...
Checking the plumbing for leaks.

Plumbing...

2009-04-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Rough-in under-slab plumbing for the drainage of the household fittings is in...

Apparently ..it flows downhill. E with our "upstairs" - up the hill - neighbor.And a little fun at work.In keeping with the idea that this is a surfing blog too; there was nice surf at the weekend and through last week - my friend Randy leaving some isolated PNW goodness

Looks different without the bracing and formwork...

2009-04-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

VOILA !!!

2009-04-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Getting a bit less crowded inside as the formwork starts to come down.Before unveiling the column in the garage basement - remember the construction phase and you can see how empty it looks now with the scaffolding mostly down.
So the tab that was connected to the vertical 4x2s is where the tube is glued and it "just" rips apart for removal.

Voila - a concrete column
A bit different from this...I thought the trench digging was over - apparently not !

It's not raining and we're pouring

2009-04-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Pouring day opens bright and sunny - spring in the valley but still winter atop Mary's Peak The boss in action - before the action - well not really there was still a LOT to do before the concrete trucks arrived.
Teh first concrete goes into the fabric from for the column - notice that Andrew doesn't do any work - just takes photos.
First concrete going into the walls
Bracing on the back wall to cover the holes caused when the soil fell in in December and damaged the styrofoam blocks
Whacking the block to make sure the concrete goes all the way to the bottom.
The 30 metric ton concrete pump.
Bit of a change since last time it was here.
Concrete that's come from the top flowing into the space below a window - this was topped off through this gap.
Using the mechanical vibrator to take the strain off of her elbow.
Concrete and steel
It made a frightening noise going down through all the rebar and wire ties - but they don't rattle anymore when we walk the scaffolding.
Getting concrete into the space below where the laundry chute goes bewteen rooms through the wall - tight fit.
What happens when concrete goes somewhere you don't want - punch holes in the foam - these will need to be fixed before we pour the basement ceiling/garage floor slab

So we are up to the red line. The garage walls will be a conventional stud construction, the house will be more styrofoam and concrete

Welcome back Welcome back Welcome back

2009-04-08T14:43:00.000-07:00

Some pretty good weekend surf somewhere in Oregon - not me in the photos - but I didn't hang around taking pictures too long.
Then back to work in GOOD wetsuit drying weather
Last details before pouring
Worked into the glowing sunset

playing with photoshop

2009-03-31T17:41:00.001-07:00

The long and winding... rebar

2009-03-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

We try to build a rebar cage for a column in situ with a fab-form fast-tube but without any instructions - at least on day 1 (Saturday). We start building the rebar cage with uprights tied to the rebar coming out of the footing, and with pre-coiled sections to make the cage
Seems easy enough, and up we go.
Adjusting the coil spacing by hand.
Up and over to slide it on - the whole edifice is really shaky - no bracing at all.
E tying the cage to the uprights.

Next day after finding some instructions - not comprehensive - but better than naught.

The full cage with the bracing poles for the fast-tube. You can't tear the fabric; the reason for the funny hat - to stop the ends of the rebar tearing the tube as we fed it over - from the top of a ladder.
In place
The tube has a "tab" [flap] that is stapled to the upright brace, and another brace is then screwed to it to sandwich the flap. Then ya just fill it with concrete and, voila, a column to support the garage floor and the cars.

The back end of a hail storm we needed to take shelter from - weather from the north today.
The column looks so insignificant in the middle of the garage basement.
Mary's Peak shrouded in cloud - it snowed up there all day.