Houston, we have cabinets

In the new kitchen we're going with lower cabinets only along three walls (no uppers). On the fourth wall we designed floor to ceiling walnut cabinetry.

This is the original vision, a sketch I poured over (and erased and re-drew and erased and re-drew) for months.

The carpenter made it come to life. This week the upper section went in.

Wine storage was a no brainer. We do live on a vineyard.

The master craftsman, Robert, taking it all in. That man's got some mad skills.

We're still lacking the sparkle: appliances, glass doors, pull out drawers, hardware, staining. Pretty much everything. Even so, my heart skipped a beat when I saw it today. It's really something delightful to watch a paper drawing become reality.

Digging holes

In preparation for the new house we're putting in the water line from the well to the house site. Nathan was able to use machinery for most of the dig, but there remained a half dozen sections to shovel by hand.

We really think that's what Cotton believes we do all day: dig holes. 

Within minutes of us picking up a shovel, she joins the work party. Every member of the family's got to contribute in some way after all. Cotton uses her nose.

It's really hard to keep a straight face. She's just so proud of helping.

Until she gets bored. And then she just watches from the top of the nearest sand dune.

We're thinking of renting her out to ditching crews.

How many?

How many guys does it take to stay warm in a trench?

All I know is six isn't enough.

I thought hot chocolate would help and suggested as much. Was quickly told whiskey would've been a better offer.

Noted.

Breathing deeply again

I'd just like to point out the marvelous reason I'm getting to post so frequently these days:

That's right. The fiber is officially installed at the vineyard. I can breathe again.

Case in point: I'm uploading blog photos (on the first attempt!), streaming pandora music and buying a shower curtain for the new house all at the same time. This is one happy pregnant woman.

The irony, of course, is that we still don't have a proper water closet on the place. But baby steps, folks. Baby steps.

The greenhouse

Year two of our vineyard adventures includes the addition of a commercial greenhouse. We started constructing the skeleton last week.

Nathan began by burying steel pipe in the ground to serve as anchor points.

Then we cut 1" pvc pipe to the proper dimensions. Our research said 3/4" pvc pipe would be sufficient, but we wanted the extra strength to withstand the wind.

After each arch was completed, we braced them together with a "spine" running the length of the greenhouse.

Total time for construction thus far: 2.5 hours. If only future weeding would go this smoothly.