A Day for the History Books

Dateline 1955: Walt Disney opens the most famous theme park in the world …. some say to celebrate the birth of baby Dana. Walt was heard to say “I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a little boy*”… People came from far and wide in hopes of catching a glimpse of baby Dana, born a few miles away in Pomona, CA on July 23.

footnote: * the PR people didn’t like the way that sounded, so they changed it to “it was all started by a mouse”.

60 years later, people flock to Anaheim, California and Valley, Washington to celebrate the 60th birthday of Dana…. and to a lesser extent, Disneyland. Gee… why didn’t we all just go to Disneyland instead?

left to right; Sheila, pat, Frank, Reggie, Mack, Gary, Carolyn and Eric

L to R: Dave, Teresa, Janette, Kyle, Xin Xin and Jason

L to R: Frank, Katherine, Eric and Kyle

L to R: Sue, Reggie, Sheila, Maria, Victor, Mack, Frank

About 1:30, the sky let loose with a downpour

  

So people grabbed chairs and ran for the safety of the new house

  

Frank didn’t want to play reindeer games

 

Then Dana led a couple rousing chorus of happy birthday

 

Then blew out the candles

 

Folks enjoyed hanging out in the gazebo

 

and playing games…watch that slice, Carolyn!

   

Who’s teaching who here? Carolyn and Maria

 

Isn’t that a ball still on the ground Victor?

Maria chipping into the net

   

Victor, Katherine, Maria and Sue at horseshoes

 

L to R: Xin Xin, Jason, Sheila, Pat, Frank, Kyle, Reggie, Mack and Gary

then around 4pm, the power goes out for a couple of hours. Good thing for backup generators

Dana and Victor setting up the generator (after killing the wasp nest at the outside plug)

    

Katherine cooking beans by candlelight.

 

Then the power came back and the grub was on. Jason digging in on Salads, brisket, pulled pork, rolls, beans, pies and carrot cake

 

 

Dave, Maria and Jason

 

Sue, Dave, Gary and Carolyn

 

Kyle all by himself

 

Teresa, Janette, and Maria, with Dana, Victor and Sheila in background

  

Debbie, Dana, Jason, Xin Xin, Dave, Reggie, Sue, Sheila, Maria and Victor

 

Victor, Mack, Frank and Katherine

 

Carolyn, Gary, Dana, Jason, Reggie

 

Jason, Xin Xin, Reggie, Sheila, Dave, Sue and Maria

 

Reggie’s legs, Sheila, sue, Maria, Victor, Mack

 

Katherine, Eric and Kyle

It was a great weekend. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us.

A New House – Episode 22 – Stained Glass Window, Soffits, HVAC and Insulation

 

The past couple of weeks has been mostly a jumble of “ miscellaneous stuff on our list” that we’ve been trying to finish up. Most of it fun, rewarding work, some not so much fun …

 

The “not so fun” part is putting up soffit boards on the underside of the left gable end. Easy to put up, except for fighting wasps at the top of a 100’ ladder (or at least if felt like 100’).

 

We also finished the underside of the porch. Fitting along the logs was tricky. On my next house:), I’ll put the rafters on a 1x4 on top of the logs to make room for the soffit boards.

  

We also built the frame for the stained glass window Deb made many moons ago.

  

Inside view from the foyer. Pretty cool, eh?

  

   

I also finished the installation and setup for the mini split heat pump systems. We have two – a 12,000 BTU system for the upstairs, and an 18,000 BTU for the main floor.  The Fujitsu units will both heat and cool and are efficient from –13 to 115 degrees. I installed these systems without professional help, but had to buy a vacuum pump and gauge to purge the copper lines before the refrigerant was released into the system.

  

Our mini splits are “ducted” so that the indoor components are hidden. Most mini split system use wall mounted indoor units. This unit for the main floor is located in the ceiling of the basement freezer room, and is ducted up to the dining/kitchen area.

The upstairs unit is located in the bedroom closet above the ceiling. ducted to the bedroom and the loft areas.

 

Deb took the opportunity to install insulation on the basement walls, where we knew we would not have any plumbing.