Mary and I recently attended an open house at our Second Street project. The owners have been moved in for several months now, so they have had time to turn the house into their home. In celebration, they hosted the event.

It was a fine time. The home worked very well for a large gathering. The size of the spaces was just right, and the quiet nooks and away room allowed more intimate conversations. Tours flowed easily around the home while other guests enjoyed appetizers and beverages. I like the photo above, because it shows how work and visiting are accomodated together.

I had less luck with other photos because of the amount of light coming into the space from the windows, which fooled my camera but not my eyes.

In the end, the owners are very pleased with their house and home and the process we walked together to get there.

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It was a pleasure to be of service.

Wednesday evening, Mary and I attended the Super Wednesday meal and Dedication of the newly remodeled kitchen, which we designed. The place was really bustling, unlike this photo shows. It looked like a full hall after everyone had been through the serving line.

The food and company were great; it was nice to see the fellowship and community action supported by our work.

Super Wednesday happens each week during the school year; I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you dropped in to see the kitchen if you stayed for a cup of soup and a sandwich!

Northfield Construction handled the demolition and construction; Nerstrand Custom Cabinets built the cabinets; Bierman’s installed the flooring; Keith Pumper took care of plumbing and HVAC; Guth Electric did the wiring and lighting. The church is pleased with the project and the improvement it has made in their meal ministry.

Although my tenure as Cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 300 has ended, I remain involved as a Committee Member and a scout parent.

Late in November, local peace officers visited the Bear Den. Topics of conversation included safety, what to do in an emergency, what information a witness might provide the Police, the role of the Police in the community, and all the gadgets on their belts (my personal favorite.)

This is one way in which Scouting grooms our boys to be good citizens, understanding the role of government around them and learning how they can help.

As a parent, it is interesting to learn more about my boys (and the other dads’ sons) through these activities. Attraction to tazers seems to be a universal boy thing, at least in the Bear Den. Some boys are very verbal, describing in detail which characteristics of a car or person would make a good description. Others are more hands-on, acting out how they think a baton might be used. One of the activities we did as part of the meeting was to cast a plaster footprint, like a detective might do upon finding a print in the sand at a crime scene.

For more on Pack 300, see www.cubs300.org. The Pinewood Derby, a perennial favorite, is coming up next week!

With a smallish back yard and limited privacy, the owner of this home envisioned a new hot tub on the flat roof over the second floor three season porch. The project involved a master plan for converting the attic to a new master suite, bringing the porch up to four-season use, and remodeling an existing bedroom into a new bathroom on the second floor.

This was no mean task! The hot tub’s weight, including people and water, is about the same as the curb weight of a 2007 Volkswagen Beetle. Routing plumbing for the new restrooms without disturbing the existing first floor finishes also proved to be a challenge (that we were up to!) Add to that working out a feasible master suite layout in the attic with no knee walls and you’ve got a fine architectural adventure.

Working closely with the Owner, we found a way to make it all happen. More shots later of work in progress, but I just can’t pass up the insulation now.

The insulation shown here is a foamed-in-place cement product called AirKrete. It carries a relatively high R-Value, does not shrink after installation, and has great smoke and fire resistance. It will not burn, gives off no smoke or hazardous gasses in a fire, is insect and rodent resistant, and will not offgas. There is no petroleum in this foam, only cement, a foaming agent, and minerals found in seawater.

I’m currently checking with my insurance agent to find out if there will be any savings when we install it in my house. Whatever happens there, we will benefit from high performance insulation, safety and air quality from this product, just as the owners of this house will.

Well, the house couldn’t be ready for Mary’s fortieth birthday.

So, we decided to create a scale model for the party.

It worked out that a 9×13 cake plan is a close approximation to the proportion of our floorplan at a 1′=3′0″ scale and that chocolate covered graham crackers were a close-enough match to our window sizes. So, my brother Bill and I conspired to create the edible model. My mother baked three 9×13’s in Wausau, Wisconsin where the party was to be. I crafted the roof out of foamcore boards (had planned peanut brittle for the roof, but ran out of time for the casting.) Then in a matter of hours, we transformed the cake in to the model. I think we’re a little short vertically (cake is a difficult material to be exact with!) but the overall impact was successful.

Mok, my sister-in-law, created an impromptu figure of Mary and our dog, Promise, for added realism. She whipped up the clay using bread, glue and (yes) hand-lotion!

Happy Birthday, Mary! And, thanks, Bill and Mok, for your expert help!

A startup company called Freenerg (”free-energy”) will be leasing PV systems to homeowners, starting next year. This will help beat the up-front costs of the systems, allowing more families to reap free energy from the sun (for a fee, of course).

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