This week the plumber put in the "rough-in plumbing", which are the connections to the sewer and water main needed to supply the new bathroom and laundry area.


The start of putting in the plumbing for the bathroom.


The long trench down the middle shows where they dug down to connect up with the sewer main. The old pipes sticking out in thin air are the old pipes for the now-demolished laundry area. I need to check with the contractor on Monday about when/how they will upgrade the old kitchen pipes, some of which you can see on the exposed wall of the house.


And this is the start of the plumbing for the laundry room.

In other news, Blackjack the rescue kitty has gone to Seattle to be offered for adoption. I hope he finds a wonderful, loving home. Now I just need to find homes for the rest of the outdoor tribe -- the two Siamese brothers definitely want to move in with people, so perhaps in the fall, we can put them up for adoption.

The young man with the backhoe and dump truck finished leveling the area for the new addition and digging the footings. The work was completed Monday and I was much impressed with what one person with power machinery and a laser level could do.

Most of the pipe-like objects sticking out are the irrigation lines, which will have to be fixed after all the fun and games with the foundation is completed.

Then it poured and thunder stormed all day Tuesday. The packed footings weathered the weather just fine.

Today the crew came out and started in on the concrete forms for the foundation. It is kind of like having house-elves -- I go to work, and when I come home something new has been done.



I also put in a request to have the contractor's plumber check the old piping that is now exposed and easy(er) to get to and give me an estimate on the cost of replacement. If I can, I will, since the old galvanized pipe is the same age as the house, which was built in '48 or '49. Might as well upgrade that while it is relatively easy.

I got tagged to do a silly meme over on DeviantArt, and it got me to try my hand at drawing a childhood hero, Black Fury, wild mustang and all-round horse hero. I read this comic way before I ever encountered Walter Farley's Black Stallion books, so to me, Black Fury is still THE black stallion of my dreams.

Black Fury is from the old Charleton comic book of the same name. The perfect wild fantasy mustang living in a 1950’s idealized Western universe where horses are smarter than humans and the bad guys (usually) miss their victims, and an untameable black stallion can solve most any problem with the proper application of hooves, teeth, or blinding speed.

This series had a number of artists, most of whom could draw horses, animals, and western scenes quite well. Even now, many years later, the images have a vibrancy and movement that I still find compelling. Alas, most of them didn't sign their work, especially their best artist. My version is a try at his style.

Black Fury was copyrighted to Charleton Comics in 1950, which is over 50 years ago. I've no idea who holds the copyright now, since Charleton is long gone, alas. I'd still be buying and reading this comic if they were still here.
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On the cat front, Saki has been diagnosed with hyperactive thyroid, which may be part of beginning renal failure (kidney disease for the layman). Hobbes went that way, so I'm not exactly looking forward to things, but... right now I've got meds to give him, and he's hanging in there. Rum had a tooth infection. After a course of Clavamox, he's feeling pretty good, so next week, he'll go and get his teeth cleaned. Then hopefully he'll feel better yet.

Grey is healthy, thanks goodness, as is the outdoor crew. Phew.

Oh yeah, still working on house renovation plans. I need clones! Lots of them. 0_o

Here we go... new pics now that I'm inside thawing out and catching my breath. I've been shoveling snow like a coal miner. The tendons in my arms hate me, and we're supposed to go to work at noon. We'll see. I don't think I'll be able to type very much -- maybe it's time to load NaturallySpeaking on my work machine again.

On the upside, I've got a bunch more pictures both here and after the cut, taken about 20 minutes ago. The sun came out while I was working, so later photos look just gorgeous in the sunlight.



First is the same little fir tree I photographed yesterday, if you compare them you can see how much the snow built up during the evening.



And here is the very elusive and camera shy Sister! Her brothers were nowhere to be seen this morning, except for their tracks in the snow. I think they were having way too much fun chasing each other and frolicking to come get fed. I fed them late last night before going to bed, and I believe some of my neighbors have been supplementing their diets, so they're in very good shape. I could definitely see where they had been spraying and marking their territory on the snow-covered potted plants and things. Nothing like retired tomcats. -__-
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Now it remains to be seen whether or not I can actually get out of my street and onto the major roads.

Didn't get my tomatoes planted this weekend, but got a lot of other stuff done, including more comic-drawing. Got the pipes ground out by the nice Roto-rooter people. I usually get the roots done before they get too bad in January, but this January we were all in crisis mode with my dad, so when I noticed symptoms and checked the calendar, it had been six months since it was done. Oh dear. The pipes were so full of roots it was scary. Now I get to have the plumbers out every month for a couple months still we get them under control. Sigh.

More manga to share:



Got the yard spring-cleaned by the local lawn and tree service - it looks much more tidy - they even edged along the sidewalk and driveway. Wow. :D I also signed up to get the mutant quackgrass sprayed. I'm usually organic all the way, but this stuff is BAD. I'm half afraid it'll turn into triffids if I let it go. 0_o

Had a lovely dinner with mom. The official forms for military pension from DFAS finally showed up... 2 months after they claimed they mailed them. By this time, I had downloaded most from the web, filled them out, and faxed them in. We'll find out on this month's bank statement if our efforts were successful.

Got the latest panel done last night, tonight was RPG at Scott's place. We're still running with the Radcon scenario Russ worked out in February. It's been challenging and fun. Tonight on the menu, Gibbering mouthers, one for each of our party. We kept having to contend with party members getting Confused by the mouthers' screaming (imagine gloopy piles of flesh holding random eyes, mouths, etc. shrieking and gibbering and attacking with pseudopods.) Yuck! We finally killed them off - my cleric was actually very useful, having acquired a Greater Ring of Elemental Power - Fire. This meant free-use of Burning Hands at caster level 15. :D

The house is painted! I paid the craftsmen today once I got home. What a lovely job they did - they power-washed, scraped, filled (and repaired a number of downright holes in the old cedar siding), caulked, primed, and painted and the result is a house that I hardly recognize it's so nice looking. Wow, worth every penny. Thad says they do interiors, too, so after I get the electrician in, I'll see about that - probably next year. W00t! My neighbors are painting, too, so this part of our block is lookin' good.

Once the painter-folk had gone and taken their gear, the outdoor kitties were lying in the driveway soaking up the sun and probably reveling in the fact they had the yard to themselves again.

Had a rather long nap after work, got up and did a bit more artwork.



The house-painters did caulking and priming today and left me with a 'card-deck' of paint chips. I think I'm going with Barrister White, which is a pale warm dove grey, and Ruby Red trim. I like the red that Prismacolor calls Scarlet Lake - a deep clear blue-red. Will check the chips in the morning light before phoning in my selections. It's pretty much what I had last time before 11+ years of desert sun roasted it. The scarlet lake trim turned a bit more fuschia the last 2 years, but it still was a nice color, so no complaints. I get the door painted red, too, a Scandanavian tradition, according to my mom. A couple of my neighbors did the same, after seeing mine. *grin*

The front yard has been mowed, too, and I called in a request for a spring yard cleanup from the garden folks. Yay, the place is starting to look respectable again. :D