ta-da! we're done! of course, not really and truly done, but we hammered smashed jackhammered in the last of the rebar on our wall and lay the last piece of wood.

some quick specifications acc. to curt: 1/2", 7ft rebar, 3ft. below the ground, spaced every 4 ft and double reinforced at intersections of 25 ft long wall (4 ft tall); 2, 4x8 deadmans in the middle and at each end we put nice drainage in (look papa! gravel...)and caulked (think the wall might be held together with caulk)...it still needs to be painted, we need to move the dirt behind it and then there's the stairs. oh boy. the projects just keep coming...or we keep bringing them, i guess.
we're rebuilding the first two steps that lead up past the perfect new wall. curt started it last evening as the sun was setting and he was determined to get it framed before we called it quits for the day. i called it quits when we couldn't see any longer, but he kept going. that blur below is him and the light of his handy new flashlight.
check out what a few days of rain has done for the backyard. it's pretty wonderful.

and finally, some photos of the living room:

the fabled ebay couch arrived and after much frustration, clamping and wood glue, it made it to the living room. the cushions are pretty hideous so you'll have to do your best to imagine them covered with a deep forest green velvet. until then maybe just squint your eyes.we just brought our little wood-burning stove back in from it's outdoor summer storage place. we still need to get him all fixed up and get a chimney for him but here's where he'll live.
craigslist vintage cabinet turned in to our makeshift tv storage (originally from bullocks!)and the gorgeous hand-me-down vinyl wingback chair....my favorite knitting corner. we've yet to find the perfect coffee table (curt tells me it might live in germany, at his mother's home), there's no molding or baseboards and the curtains haven't been hemmed but it's coming along. we haven't decorated or put any art up, that'll come soon, but we did bring home a new bookcase today. photos of that will be next.

we are officially now retaining-wall experts. i've never been better at hammering and curt is a madman with the drill.
more of the same this weekend. the wall is almost done. it's now nearly 4 feet tall! just need to finish the last layer, caulk, seal and paint, move the dirt and build a little bench in to the wall for sitting...not too bad for our first wall.

end of summer/beginning of fall tomato harvest

rain is forecast for this week. as much as i'd like to curl up inside in our fabulous kelly green wingback chair and knit the day away, we have much to do before the rainy season starts in on our little abode. finishing the wall is first up, hanging gutters comes next. the porch rehab will probably have to wait until spring. who knew that such a teensy tiny house could demand so much?

we spent both saturday and sunday working on the retaining wall. i think we've figured out how it should work. now it's just a matter of repeating it over and over until the wall is high enough. 2 more full weekends maybe?
remember "my big fat greek wedding" and how the father claims that windex is the cure for everything? caulk is our windex. it's probably not technically what you're supposed to do with it, but some of our recycled wood needed a little fortification. and once you get started with silly-stringish caulking, the party just doesn't stop. really, it can't hurt...

this became our first official "ready the cabinhouse for the coming winter" weekend.
as of late, the majority of our projects haven't involved much construction and curt's been itching to build something again. hence the renting of a jackhammer:and the retaining wall construction begins! not to be outdone by a boy, i tried my hand at the machine but i found shoveling the dirt to be much more enjoyable and so generously let curt absorb all of the vibrations...the wall is coming slowly, but we've got the first layers in. gravel underfoot and recycled wood from the old structure we knocked down.new tools:potting break:tomato break:we had to make a quick trip to home depot for some more wood and rebar. bet you wouldn't think that a zippy little honda civic would happily transport 10ft long rebar and 4x4's...you would be wrong. they fit easily along with an exhausted curt in the backseat.too big of a job and too huge of a learning curve to be finished in one weekend, but i think we've gotten over the hump and figured it out....we'll see what next weekend brings...oh, and we finally put up the last curtains in the living room!