Spur of the Moment House Project

So, we moved into our house about 10 years ago. As we looked around the house, we notice there was no insulation between the crawl space on the north end of our house and the upstairs (which is the master bedroom). We resolved that we would put in insulation in the next few months.

Ten years later, we finally got the job done. We had a few packs of leftover shingles from our roofing job and I wanted to store them in this crawl space (it's actually about 5 feet high when you first go in the access door, then it tapers down to about 3 feet). I thought about just setting the shingles on a raised piece of plywood and calling it good.


Justin Stapling


Well, I got a wild hair and told Denise I'm going to Home Depot to get some insulation. The crawl space had a bunch of garbage and cardboard and it stunk of moisture and moldy smells.

Paul Stuffing the Insulation

While I stuffed the insulation up between the joists, Justin and Nate took turns gathering scattered rocks, cleaning up some of the garbage and stapling the insulation in place.


Nate Stapling


I was impressed with the boys because Justin had just returned from an overnight 18 mile hike (getting ready for the 50-miler we're all going on in a few weeks). Nate had been busy with his lawn mowing business during the day.

But, they pitched in with minimal complaining and did a great job!

About 3 hours later, we spread out plastic sheeting to cover all the dirt and distributed rocks to hold it down. We put the shingles away and called it good then went for a refreshing swim!

Arborvitae Gone!

We HAD a 20-foot tall bush on the northwest corner of our house that was getting a bit large and unruly.  Denise wanted it trimmed and I convinced her that just taking it out was the best option.

I convinced Denise to take it out and we went to work.  The location of the overgrown monster was convenient.  It was right next to our driveway.  I borrowed a flatbed trailer and rented a chainsaw and started cutting away.

The rental company warned us about the nasty wood we would be cutting through that is part of the arborvitae but the chainsaw worked great!  We had the beast down within 10 minutes and with a little push from Denise, it fell right on the trailer (see the video).

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Untitled from Paul Shoemaker on Vimeo.

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We then tackled the stump.  We dug out quite a bit of dirt and exposed the major roots.  We cut them off with the chainsaw and then hooked the tow strap to the truck and a few tugs later it was out of the ground!  The boys and I made a run to the dump and all we had left was a nice hole in the ground.

We may put a column water feature up or plant another tree or bush.  We'll just have to see what strikes our fancy.  Next project, paint the house!

Projects Around the House

The rain has finally let up in the Tri-Cities and the sun is shining (most of the time). That means its time for projects around the house! When the rain started, we noticed our first ever leaky roof problem. We decided we put off the inevitable for too long so we bit the bullet and put a new roof on!

An experienced friend and his helper guided and helped us along the way. The shingles arrived on a large truck. The truck-mounted conveyer shuttled the shingle packs up to the roof where another worker distributed them across the roof.

We had a couple air compressors and roofing nail guns.  We laid out the shingles and fastened them down, working from the bottom up.

Nate, Justin and I had fun running the nail guns.  We all pitched in to get the job done.  We were a little sore from walking sideways the whole time but it all turned out pretty well!

It took about a day and a half.  Within two days the heaviest rainfall we've ever experienced in the Tri-Cities deluged our home.  It was the ultimate test and the new roof passed with flying colors, not a drop inside!

Nate's Graduation 2011

Friday night was quite an event as we celebrated the graduation of Nathaniel from Richland High School. The graduation ceremony was at the Toyota Center. That was the only place in town that would hold the 500 graduates plus the thousands of other family, friends and supporters.

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Here's a brief video of Nathaniel.

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The ceremony was okay though it was a little dry and boring at times (what graduations aren't?) 

 But Nathaniel seemed to be enjoying his time as he waited for his name to be called.  Nate graduated as a member of the National Honor Society.  He is also hoping to have his associates degree from Columbia Basin College in the next few weeks.  After the graduation ceremony, we gathered outside for some pictures with family and friends.

Treasure Hunt on Badger Mountain

We had a great time the other night for FHE on Badger Mountain.  Even with the light drizzle, we enjoyed renewing old friendships with Lamar and Kristen Linde and their family.

We hiked to the top of Badger Mountain and went on an orienteering course I had laid out earlier in the day.  Everyone seemed to have a good time working the compass, especially when we dug up the bag of treats at the end!

Go Bombers!

Justin was getting a little wacky the other evening.  He is in the support his high school team mode.  So, he dressed up in his Richland Bomber attire and put on a show for us.  He isn't really leaping that high in the picture below, its an optical illusion!

Easter

In celebration of the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Nate and Justin (and mom and dad) colored eggs and Mindy hid them for the traditional easter egg hunt.  Its cool how the teenaged young men still have fun with this holiday tradition!  (they like the goody filled easter baskets too!)

Portland, Oregon Family Outing

Sorry for the long delay between blog postings.  I'll try to get several updated entries posted.  This is from the weekend of April 9, 2011.

We had tickets to see a Dave Ramsey show in Portland so we decided to make a family weekend of the outing.  We got there and checked into our hotel  in a suburb of Portland to the east that is close to the light rail system.  Then, we headed to the Pittock Mansion on a hill overlooking the city. 

  The century old mansion, built by a newspaper magnate is an architectural masterpiece.  Appointed with period furniture, it was a neat tour.  Justin got to play the antique grand piano.  The view from the 1000' high hill was spectacular so we took a few pictures.

 The next day it was time to go see the Dave Ramsey event.  Ramsey is a nationally famous radio host who focuses on "Financial Peace".  I've listened to him for years and was excited when I heard he'd be coming out west as he is based near Nashville.  We got to meet Dave and get this picture and enjoyed a great show.

It just so happened there was a bicycle show at the convention center the same weekend as Dave Ramsey, what a break!  We had a great time seeing the bikes, bicyclists and accessories.  The picture above shows Ryan Leech, he is a professional mountain biker and the things he can do on a bicycle are amazing, you can watch this video if you'd like to see his show.

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Nate and I did a sprint race on these stationary bicycles.

We also had a chance to test ride some unique bikes.

After the bike show, we headed for the Saturday market in downtown Portland.  We had fun browsing the vendor booths with lots of arts and crafts.  One booth caught out attention as we each got to try out our "through the head" items.

The weather was a little gray but the rain held off, it was a great view along the Willamette River complete with street vendors like this silver painted guy juggling glass balls.

On the way home, we stopped at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.  I had been here numerous times but had never hiked to the top to look down so we made the hike with a great view from the top!  It was an enjoyable weekend!