As August closes out its month and the summer, we have in earnest begun construction on Heron’s House. It’s a hard swallow to write about Heron’s House and watch the scenes of utter destruction in the Hurricane Katrina area.
We were ecstatic to receive our building permit August 8th, the city of Carlsbad was great to deal with and we were grateful and willing to pay our fair share of school fees and building permit fees. We live in a great city and our children have gone through the Carlsbad school system.
Demolition was on the 15th of August and it was quite a site. They took down the whole house in less than 45 minutes and then spent the rest of the day sorting and removing the debris, happily most to recycling. On the second day they broke up the slabs and footings and removed all of that as well. 100% of the concrete and bricks from the fireplace are recycled.
Immediately following demolition we began excavating for the wine cellar. Ron was outstanding in setting the lines and our friend and golf buddy Johnnie drove the backhoe for three straight days. The cellar is incredible. On the first night I was sitting in a beach chair on the dirt bottom of the cellar with a glass of…..beer….(the wine will come later) thinking about the years and years of good times and friends that Julie and I will entertain in the wine cellar. That coupled with what will undoubtedly be really bad wine from our vineyard is going to create a whanabee vintners paradise! I suppose we are crazy for actually digging a wine cellar instead of a pool but hey, it’s our house so we can do what we want to! Well, as long as Julie says it’s ok!
August 25 we ordered the steel moment frame. This piece of red iron will be 22 ft tall and 19 ft wide. It is necessary so that we can do the Nanawall system that will open up the entire southwest corner of the house. The steel will be installed in a couple of weeks and it will act as a backbone for the entire house.
Sheawaanah Creek was enhanced by the placement of 27 large boulders, (15 tons.) Our landscaped architect, Rich Risner, called for this in his design and it was necessary to get them all the way in the back of the lot before we cut the footings for the house. The truck that placed them, under Rich's direction, was amazing with a big grapple device on the end swinging 1-ton boulders like they were made of paper. One of the neat aspects of the design is a small rock amphitheater were several folks can sit by the waterfall. It is already breathtaking in its beauty and the landscaping and lighting are months away. We are setting our forms and placing this week, next week we will have an inspection and then we pour our first concrete for the house.
Back to Katrina,
Disasters happen all over the world. It also happens to us. I can understand that and the loss of life that goes with disaster. What I can’t comprehend is what I am seeing in the aftermath of Katrina. America is hurting and not just from the hurricane.