Been workin'.

So ... long time since the last update. The remodel became that kind of project since the last post in April, as did everything else — Anna getting married, classes wrapping up, Sarah graduating, etc.

And we've been working on the house pretty much every day. I won't bother recapping the play-by-play for the past two months — too much to cover there. In terms of the past few weeks, however, we've had the electrician finish off our lighting, painted the kitchen and living room, finished installing the cabinets, had the concrete countertop poured, and demoed and mostly rebuilt the guest bathroom (a little side project).

We're getting close. This week we'll move to the exterior for a little work, the countertop will be sealed and done, the bathroom will be finished in the next two days, and this weekend new wood flooring will be installed throughout. Then it's appliances and — done.

It has to be.

Jason

Indoor/outdoor.

The pace has been slow but busy for the past few weeks. Trying to fit our square new construction into the off-square structure that exists, updating and improving sketchy work from the past, and adding French doors where a window was planned have pushed things like drywall and painting back. But, we successfully installed our new back door and in the next few days we'll patch a few holes in the roof and put in our new windows — then it's a week off for Anna's wedding.

We've been working on the yard as well ... because the kitchen remodel just didn't give us enough to occupy our time. We cut down some birch trees from the front yard and replaced them with an English oak. They had been topped and mishandled by people who'd cared for them in the past and were not salvageable. We also built a new staircase between the upper and lower levels of the back yard in preparation for next year's landscaping project.

And we finally fixed the pool filter so we can clean the pool in preparation for all the pool parties people have been telling us we will be having this summer.

Jason

Raise the roof.

Yesterday we built a pair of temporary walls to hold the ceiling joists — and the ceiling — up while we demoed the lone load-bearing wall to come down in the remodel work. Part of reworking the kitchen involves opening up the original entryway so that the kitchen, dining, and living spaces will be more integrated and seamless.

A lot of progress has been made in the past week, despite me being damn sick with some cold from some damn student for the first few days. Demoing dusty, heavy drywall for eight hours with a head cold is suck work. But we finally finished demo — for good. We've said that several times but keep running up against parts that need to go. In addition to the last of the demo we rebuilt about 25 percent of the sub-flooring and the threshold for the back door, all of which had been reduced to spongy nothingness by decades of termites and rot. We also had an electrician out to wire up some can lights, switches, outlets, and run some new circuits.

We ended today on a high note, situating a new beam up into the attic to replace the original low-hanging load-bearing structure, then strapped all the sliced joists to it. After removing the temporary walls, nothing caved in — likely because when dad modifies something, typically strength and sturdiness increase by several orders of magnitude. That's the Williams way. That's just how we roll.

Next up — prepping for the drywall install March 30.

Jason

A legacy of destruction.

Dramatic, but those damn termites got off a parting shot before we tented the house: At least 25 percent of the sub flooring in the kitchen had to be torn out because the termites had eaten it paper thin. Yesterday was supposed to be all about plumbing, but tearing out the flooring to see how much and how bad took time, making for a long day.

But, we got the plumbing in, too — without any leaks.

Now we have to rebuild the floor today so the electrician has something to stand on when he comes Wednesday.

Jason

Kitchen demo. Check.

The kitchen is gone. Last Saturday while Sarah was in Vegas for Anna's bachelorette party, my dad, Mark, Sarah's uncle Scott, and I demoed the old kitchen. As has been the case with all work at the house, we found all kinds of sketchy modifications that had been made since the place was built in 1956.

The masks came on after we discovered a skeletal rat corpse and nest under the cabinets. Otherwise, there were few surprises. We took about 4,000 pounds of cabinetry, drywall, and framing to the dump today.

Now I guess we're committed to building the new kitchen. Next up — adjusting the load-bearing wall.

Jason

Blog neglect.

We've been neglecting the blog for the past month — for good, but usual, reasons (getting settled into the new semester) and some novel ones (readjusting after the month-long honeymoon, planning for the Spring Remodel).

We returned home from New Zealand with more than 3,000 pictures between us. I've gone through my half, and we've shone some of those around, posted some on Facebook. I've also embeded the more than 800 keepers from my pictures in a slideshow below if anyone is that interested. Sarah still hasn't gotten a chance to sift through hers; she'll have some excellent shots.

The Spring Remodel officially kicked off today with the installation of a tankless water heater in the garage, where we'll be moving the washer and dryer this coming weekend after a bit more plumbing gets finished up. Then the kitchen will be preped for demo, and there will be no turning back (actually, there's already no turning back).

Jason

28 days later.

Waitomo Caves, NZ. Today we toured beautiful inland valleys with rolling green hills that peaked like mohawks. Sheep had worn tracks along them like terraces. Our last roadtrip took us from volcanic highlands back down to the west coast that we have spent many of our days traveling along. Yesterday we hiked the Tongariro Crossing, a 19 kilometer day tramp around the base of an active volcano.

Last night while compiling a last few postcards we tried to sum up the last four weeks by recounting our adventures or trying to name our favorite moments. We stopped when the count ran too high to write home about.

Huddled in a tiny computer room and waiting out a sudden downpour, we are looking forward to heading home to see family and friends.

Jason & Sarah

40k with sheep, cows, and two Germans.

Wellington, NZ. We just finished hiking a 40 kilometer coastal track in the south island's north east. A good, tough hike, with lots of beautiful coastal scenery and expansive views. One whole day was spent marching along an empty Pacific coast with towering sandstone cliffs.

There were only six of us on the trail at any one time, and two of the other travelers were a friendly pair of guys from Dresden. After the trek we gave them a lift up to Picton where we all caught the ferry to the north island and parted ways.

Today we start our last leg, roadtripping along the west coast of the north island, trekking through some thermal and volcanic areas, and heading in to Auckland for the long flight home.

Jason & Sarah

Roadtrippin'.

Jason & Sarah

On the rocks.

Franz Josef, NZ. We ate PB&J at the nose of the Fox Glacier today, watching the icy runoff and listening as it dumped rocky debris and split apart.

Jason & Sarah

Sweet as.

Franz Josef, NZ. The Tasman Sea is warmer than expected. We spent yesterday driving the southwestland, which is marked by rocky outcrops that crumble into the ocean. The Tasman is not for swimming as it pounds unrelenting. The water is an inviting Caribbean aquamarine, a clean blue like the glacier water that runs beneath the bridges that span the highway's ceaseless river crossings.

New Zealand is a perpetual national park, with every view and vista scenic and every 100 meters a new preserve. If all of America's national and state parks sat back to back along a highway, that would approximate our road trip here, thus far. The landscape possesses spectacular variety.

We're camped at the base of the Franz Josef Glacier, and will hike the nearby Fox Glacier today as soon as the weather breaks. All that is available is an ancient computer, so we'll post pictures later.

Jason & Sarah

82 kilometers done. And done.

Karamea, NZ. We just finished the Heaphy Track, a Great Walk that runs along the northwest coast of the south island. We have been hiking 15 - 27 kilometer days for the past four days, tent camping on mountain saddles and river deltas, and crashing in huts when the rain and cold drove us indoors.

The Kiwis like their tramps uphill and fast. We had trouble from the start meeting the time estimates for each leg of the track. A five hour section took us eight, even if we booked it. We thought this tramp, marked as a casual, easy trail, would be just that, but it turns out tramping in New Zealand requires a brisk pace we're just not interested in. We like to stop and see the scenery, take a few pictures, soak it all in.

Which we did, but the long hikes wore us way down, as we spent twice as long on the trail each day as everyone else. No training, perhaps, played a role in this. But Christmas dinner at a delta on the rough Tasman Sea, even if it was a freeze-dried chicken and rice concoction, and the late-night sunset on that rocky coast is unbeatable. Excellent first Christmas and 6-month anniversary. And we got the chance to try out our gear. Our best "kit item" - as a fellow hiker from Wellington put it - would have to be the super compact cook set, used every morning and night, and the water filter, used several times a day for some of the best tasting water we've ever had.

We are beat up. Sore and sand-fly bit. We're recovering at the Last Resort hotel in Karamea at the southern end of the trail before heading back to Nelson by bus tomorrow to retrieve our brightly painted van and then head farther south to shorter trails. The place has a green roof, sod and plants hanging off the top, and edible landscape out back where they let me grill up my own 17-ounce T-bone steak. Sarah had what she'd been craving: a mountain of salty fries (chips).

And they had Old Dark on tap.

Jason & Sarah

PS: Merry Christmas!

Not a single damn Hobbit.

Nelson, NZ. New Zealand is amazingly beautiful, constantly. We got out of Auckland fast at the suggestion of everyone we met after landing: We landed on the last day of work and school for New Zealanders before they take a long holiday. However, traffic New Zealand style seems to just mean there are other people on the road driving the speed limit, just like you. I'm not sure what they would make of Los Angeles.

Our plan was to spend a few days on the north island before heading south for our first big tramp. However, we found that we needed to book a ferry passage between the islands ahead of time, again because of the holiday, so all we could get was 3 a.m. the morning of Dec. 21, basically a day after landing. So we spent our first afternoon and the day after on a leisurely drive to Wellington (distances are short here, despite the Kiwis thinking a few hours drive is a quite a long one). The north island is green like Scotland. Sarah says it is like all the best parts of California in one place. All the Kiwis have told us, "Just wait till you get to the south. It's really beautiful there." Maybe it's because we're from out of town that we can't tell the difference between one bit of beautiful and another.

We knew it would be our kind of country when shortly after we landed we saw a sign that read "Earth before politics." Also, all the food is excellent and seems to be organic or locally grown. The bread is great. I had one of the best burgers I've ever eaten last night at the Pheasant Plucker Pub, one of the oldest in the south. We discovered a brilliant beer called Hearty Black there. Night before last in Wellington we visited the Backbencher Pub (at Mark's suggestion - thanks, Mark), and there we found another great beer, Old Dark. Kiwis know how to brew. Their only shortcoming seems to be that they are all tired, dangerously so based on the road signs every 100 meters that warn people to pull over and take a nap, that yawning is a sign of fatigue, and that driving tired is the same as driving drunk. They're not afraid to illustrate in graphic detail what happens to those who get sleepy behind the wheel. We haven't noticed New Zealanders to be any more sleepy than anyone else.

Anyway, great time so far. We just finished finalizing our plans for the Heaphy Track, which we will leave for this afternoon and be hiking for the next five days. With roadsides so picturesque, it is hard to imagine what the back country will be like.

Jason & Sarah

7 to the 28.

After much delay on our part we were finally able to reconnect with Stan and Jeannette and pick up our full set of pictures from the wedding — all 1,386 of which are amazing. We've enjoyed sorting through them during the past week and being reminded of our wedding days.

Actually, the timing is great. Flipping through the pictures and re-experiencing the wedding is the perfect send off for our upcoming honeymoon.

Which we leave for in seven days. While we're in New Zealand we'll post a few notes and pictures here — so check out the blog for updates. Four weeks should be just enough time to re-invigorate us for the spring remodel: Despite finals, during the past week we managed to fit in getting a new garage door, and we took delivery of our new kitchen cabinets. Two massive pantries now stand in our living room, and the garage is half-filled with stacked base cabinets.

But before that all takes shape, back country tramping. Lots of it.

Jason

Remodel presupposed.

And done.

Since its completion, we have been looking over the patio cover and thinking how great it is, how happy we are with it — and how it clashes a bit with the rest of the house as is. We have decided that it presupposes the completed remodel, going beyond even the spring Phase II of the current set of projects to offer a little glimpse of the real finish, including improvements we haven't even thought up yet.

Until then, we'll just drink beers and plan away in the newly christened Belikin Memorial Patio, so named for that fat, lazy, favorite cat we lost shortly after moving in.

As soon as the weather breaks for summer, we'll have everyone over and give this space a fitting grand opening.

Jason

Like a rock.

Eight nuts and bolts; 52 lag screws and cut washers; 52 screws; four column bases and heavy angle brackets; 40' of 6"x6" doug fir; 48' of 6"x8" doug fir; 144' of 4"x4" doug fir; 34' of 4"x6" doug fir; 10 bags of concrete; and one gallon of weatherproofer chocolate semitransparent stain.

Yesterday my dad and I finished building the new patio cover after three days of construction and about a month of prep (see posts below). It's damn good, and damn-near indestructible — which is pretty much the only way dad builds. We lucked out with the weather Wednesday. Clouds and the weather-person threatened, but we felt little more than a few sprinkles while we worked. As we slammed the last nail home, the rain fell hard and the last of the daylight winked out.

All that's left is cleanup and planting the red/green grapes that will grow along the beams and provide shade when set, as well as the Dutch clover at the base of the posts — and this remodel project will be done and done.

Just in time, too, since we leave for our honeymoon in less than three weeks!

Jason

The way of the samurai.

The patio cover project moves forward. Yesterday my dad and I poured the footings. This proved to be the most difficult stage of the project thus far, and it required us to Williams it up a little.

What does the verb "to Williams" mean. Well, many things, depending on the situation. In Saturday's context it meant to push forward with a project, despite uncertainty regarding the outcome; to wing it; and to work only with the materials in one's immediate vicinity despite the ready availability of perhaps more fitting materials nearby (i.e. at Home Depot), even if that means constructing or otherwise modifying existing materials so that they 1) no longer function as intended and 2) somewhat resemble and mimic the functions of that other, desired object.

How'd it go down. We were pouring footings with brackets embedded in them, and the brackets need to be absolutely level and square to the other brackets 10' to 12' away in order for the finished structure to be level and square. No big deal, but we were working in a tight space that became ever tighter the more we modified our forms to level and square the brackets. When it came time to smooth and finish the concrete around the brackets, we found my dad's finishing tool to be about two inches too wide to fit between the forms and the bracket. Problem: The cement must be perfect. Solution: 1) drive to Home Depot and buy a new, smaller finishing tool for $3 to $5 or 2) modify the tool in hand.

Two: The modification of the tool began logically enough — if we could bend two inches of the tool up out of the way, it would work. However, the tool was made of a stiff metal and was only 3" by 5", so there was no leverage, and thus no easy bending being had. Nor would the metal yield to a saw. Part of it bent when wedged into a crevice in the cement and kicked, but we needed an evener bend than that method would allow. Hammering the metal against the curve of a cement step also failed. Final solution: Placing the tool on end between two boards, stepping back, then jumping on the board, creating a sandwich action that bent the tool and snapped off the tool's handle, yet yielded a twisted metal contraption narrow enough to fit between the tight spaces left by our improvised forms.

Worked, though. And it's really not about the means. Anyone who has seen my dad's remodeled house, or any of his other work, knows that he produces precision craftsmanship, excellent work, and there's no question that the footings will hold stable what will be, in the end, an indestructible, appealing patio cover.

To Williams.

Now we let the footings set for two weeks — then we build!

Jason

Patio's progress.

My dad and I spent the day cutting four 18" x 18" squares into the existing patio. We chipped and smashed out the cement so that we can pour foundations for the new cover next weekend — which means I will spend the week digging holes in which to set the cement (always a pleasure in the rock-clay soil of San Diego). Eventually all of the cement that surrounds the pool will be removed and replaced, but that's a task for another time and another budget.

So far the project's been smooth success. I had no idea you could just saw through slabs of cement. But I guess a wet-saw with a diamond-tipped blade will do that for you.

Jason

Mrs. Williams.

Well, it only took us four months to find the time, but after a quick visit to the Social Security office this morning, Sarah Leone Sturm has officially become Sarah Leone Williams.

Just in time, too, since the airline tickets for the honeymoon are in the new name — and we still need to order up Sarah's new passport. And change her name on all accounts and legal documents.

Husbands have it easy.

Jason

Finishing what the termites started.

The termite eaten, dry rotted, all around unattractive and unstable patio cover has become the first significant casualty of the remodel project. My dad and I demoed it today — part one of a multi-stage project that should result in a sparkling new patio cover built by Thanksgiving.

Sarah and I have been slammed with school and work, nothing new, so besides the little fixes here and there around the house to get settled, this is our first major work on the house since we moved in. Rebuilding the patio cover will likely be our only big ticket remodel project this fall, unless someone gets elected president who's willing to "spread the wealth around." Joe the Plumber may have $250,000, but I don't.

Jason