Wings 2005

Welcome to SAPSOFT
(Soquel Aging Phi Sigs Old Folks Turf)

Unlike most good stories, this one contains no confused yet earnest young male protagonists, damsels in distress, a mysterious one-armed man, or steamy, dripping sex scenes. Rather, it is simply the saga of how Judy, Geoff, Jennifer & Clayton, in a rare moment of madness, decided to build a house together on a five-acre plot located at the end of a mile-long logging road in the bucolic town of Soquel, CA, just south of Santa Cruz. Our tale begins in reverse chronicle order as follows...

Simply click on a thumbnail to get larger images.

February 2006 - September 2006: We've been very busy the last seven months as we reach the convergence of the end of construction with the end of money. The house looks like an anthill with all the tradesfolk crawling over the place. We are approaching the finish line with our eye on having an occupancy permit by the end of October. Yes, that's October 2006 for you skeptics.

Our heating system is fully functional, and we are grateful we still have the requisite brain cells to understand it.

Crawford's bedroom divider will provide yummy ambiance.

The stairs (what you see is shown completely raw) that transition from great room to pool grotto (or vise versa), are, to use a time-worn term, awesome and by any measure known to mankind, they truly are.

The flooring in the great room is eastern black walnut, a designer's fantasy. Notice how we brokered the marriage between floor with pillars by cutting grooves at the base of the pillars to receive the flooring.

This is the spalted bay laurel, harvested from the property, that we'll use to face the kitchen cabinets. What you see are unfinished/finished versions of raw material.

Finishing the windows and doors has been a real challenge, requiring a complete dismantlement of each window before applying the final finish. This has been time intensive, but the results speak for themselves.

The pantry cabinets, shown rolling through the pantry door for installation, are completed. They are both functional and attractive. The 800 pound range resides in THAT PLACE WHERE IT WILL RESIDE FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITY. The remaining appliances are on site and ready for installation.

With a nod to Escher, what Alexanderian bathroom floor would be complete without kites and darts?

Crawford's deck is underway. All the bathrooms are in final preparation, and the carport storage unit is, alas, already full.

We have drilled a new well to a depth of 430 feet, hopefully with output of a quality that will not to turn Judy's and Jennifer's hair orange. We've also dug an extensive array of trenches to deliver water to the house, hold power lines, gas lines, and drains. Good thing we didn't do the landscaping first.

AND, just when you might think that we weren't busy enough, get a load of how much it costs to maintain our driveway.

December 2005 - February 2006: We enjoyed our first Christmas in the new house with family and friends. In January, the drywall was installed and the interiors begin to take shape. We finished the outside of the fireplace and made some headway on the heating distribution system.

June - November 2005: Lots of electrical work, plumbing, roofing, siding, and whatnot. In late October/early November the stone masons kicked in on the wainscoting and fireplace, we dug lots of drainage, and the front entrance emerged.