Our trips “over town” — island-speak for going to the mainland — are rare, so we try to get as much done as we can. This past weekend was one of those trips. We went over for a party and concert, but crammed in a bunch of errands.

We started off by driving to a tile store on the south side of Seattle to choose wall tile for one of the bathrooms in the new house. Mission accomplished, we headed back up I-5 to Lynnwood, had lunch, and checked in to our motel. After a brief break, we headed to our first event: a birthday party at the Edmonds home of our friends Cliff and Heather. We went to college with Cliff, so we’ve known him a long time. Continue reading

The roofers have completed their work, except for the cupola on the garage, which is awaiting a weathervane; the windows are beginning to go in; and the house is getting wrapped.

In addition, the plumber is moving ahead on the rough-in, and we had the walk-through with the electrician this week. The electrical is pretty complicated, so the walk-through took more than four hours. Lots of outlets and switches.

It’s very exciting to see all the activity and all the trucks. I counted nine on Tuesday. The roofers cut the metal roofing on site and installed it. It was also fascinating to watch the workman ratchet themselves up on the scaffolding to install the upper windows.

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The framing of the house is pretty much complete, and work has begun on plumbing and roofing. We’re about two weeks behind schedule.

Our framers, a father-and-son team named Fred and Jake, came from Sedro-Woolley, almost a two-hour drive, so they camped on the property during the week. They did a great job, so we took them out to dinner last week to show our appreciation.

One of the last things they did was to add a cupola to the garage roof. The cupola will be topped by a weathervane that is being made for us by a local Whidbey artisan.

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All the plywood is now on the outside walls of the house, and it is going on the roof as well. It really looks like a house now. Continue reading

Let’s get this out of the way up front: The Dixie Chicks were right about George W. Bush. When Natalie Maines told a London audience in 2006 that the Chicks were ashamed of Bush, the band took a whole ration of crap. Her comment was pretty mild compared with what has been said about President Obama by some of the same people who blasted the Chicks. Apparently speaking ill of the President is only a sin when the chief executive is a white Republican. (And if you think this is old news, read the comments on any recent article about the Dixie Chicks.)

The London incident derailed the Dixie Chicks’ career for a while, but they are touring again after a 10-year hiatus, and we went to see them this weekend at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, a suburb south of Seattle. Continue reading

The roof trusses are now going on and the decks are being added, so the final shape of the house is becoming clear. We have about three weeks of framing left. We do a walkthrough next week with the plumber, who starts work about the time the framing is complete.

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Framing is now up for the four large windows on the front of the living room and for the loft, which extends over part of the first floor. The living room will have a high ceiling, but the area under the loft, including the kitchen and Robin’s sewing room, will have normal-height (10 feet) ceilings. The builder says that framing of the first floor and loft should be finished up this week and roof trusses should start going up next week.

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We went whale watching this past weekend. It wasn’t the best day for it, overcast and cool, but it was fun to get out on the water. And we did see one whale, albeit from too far away to photograph, at least with my cheesy camera.

We went out of Cornet Bay, at the north end of Whidbey, through Deception Pass, and up into the San Juans. We did see a sea lion and some cormorants on a buoy and some harbor seals on the rocks. And we got wet from the boat spray. It’s an open boat, but we were wearing “cruiser suits” that keep us fairly dry and warm. Continue reading

Sunday we headed to the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville for a concert by Bob Dylan. We came of age with Dylan’s music, but we had never seen him live and were not that familiar with his recent work. It turned out to be a fascinating concert, as much for the audience reaction as for Dylan’s performance. Continue reading

Continuing our musical summer, we have made two recent forays into Seattle for concerts.

The first was a couple of weeks ago to see Commander Cody at the Triple Door. Those of you of a certain age will probably remember “Hot Rod Lincoln” and “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette.” The Lost Planet Airmen are scattered, and the Commander, whose real name is George Frayne, plays with new, smaller aggregations that he calls variously the Modern Airmen or, in the case of the group we saw, the Western Airmen. In the old days, he said, a $35 ticket would get you an eight-piece band with a busload of instruments. Now “you get four old guys in a minivan.” Continue reading