I am supposed to be writing a letter of application for the Editing Certificate program through UW Extension. I am having a hard time putting into words why I want to do it. I love words. I see mistakes everywhere and want to fix them. I am editing in my head all the time. I am dismayed by the rampant poor use of the english language. I go to websites and find mistakes, poor grammar, and spelling errors, and I immediately lose respect for the company. I have always been very detail oriented and strive to speak and write well myself. I have a natural aptitude for editing and proofreading and want to learn even more so that I can help others be clear in conveying their ideas. Marco loves to write, but tends to write off the top of his head and often repeats and restates his ideas over and over. He is beginning to understand that his point loses impact if it is stated too many times. Hmmmm. Maybe I can use some of this in my letter.

Now that they are done, the rain has stopped.

Now, the rest of the story up to this point, has been pretty amazing. The crew working on the house is great. Day one had 60% of our roof gone and the demolition guy estimated it weighed 16,000 pounds. That means that with the remaining 40% plus the little bit we took of the kitchen, our roof weighed 30,000 pounds. I am shocked, but amazed that this little house held up so much weight.

The floating floor is a really cool bit of engineering. You can see photos of all of this at http://www.marcoprozzo.com/renovation. Add a 2 to the end of that address for part two.

It's been so eventful that I have a hard time remembering what all got done when. The stairs got torn out and rebuilt the other direction, the knob and tube on the upper floor has been redone, plumbing mostly done, and to float the floor, they had to build up the perimeter to level it, pour two new footings in the basement for the posts that support the giganto central beam, and pull a bunch of walls down to get the posts inside the walls.

Somewhere in there I had a birthday. That was nice. Diesel put his purple elephant on my side of the bed while I was in the bathroom. I went to yoga for the first time in ages, we walked the lake, and then went shopping for sinks. Then we went to Saltoro for our anniversary. The fam went to Wild Ginger on Sunday night for my b-day and we all came back here for cake. Marco made a box out of house parts and put in it all the artifacts that we have found. Sharon and Nick stopped by, and Thomas and Laura joined us for wine and cake - all before dinner.

I knew this was going to be a big project, but you never really know until it gets going. We, apparently, are going for it.

Seattle, Washington (98115)
TODAY Showers HI/LO °F66/58
MON Showers HI/LO °F67/59
TUE Showers HI/LO °F63/58
WED Showers HI/LO °F64/58
THU Showers HI/LO °F67/57

 

Today
Cloudy with showers. High 66°F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Tonight
Showers this evening becoming less numerous overnight. Low 58°F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Monday
Showers early becoming a steady light rain later in the day. High 67°F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Monday night
Steady light rain in the evening. Showers continuing late. Low 59°F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Tuesday (24 hours)
Periods of light rain. Highs in the low 60s and lows in the upper 50s.
Wednesday (24 hours)
Chance of showers. Highs in the mid 60s and lows in the upper 50s.
Thursday (24 hours)
Showers possible. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50s.
Friday (24 hours)
More clouds than sun. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50s.
Saturday (24 hours)
More clouds than sun. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 60s.



OK - chance of rain 50%??? Rainfall around a quarter of an inch??? Who is doing these forecasts?

Water, water, everywhere

Well, Brad and Mike have been here for over an hour, tarping the whole house. They showed up right away, after I made Marco call Brad at about 6:30. They had to wait for Home Depot to open at 7 and then came straight over. The basement floor is also really wet but will not be a lasting problem. This rain is unreal. In my 38 years in this city I have never ever seen it rain like this. The Seattle Times forecast calls for showers through Thursday. I checked as many forecasts as I could until I found a good one and the P-I says light rain on M, T, partly cloudy on W, and some sun on Thursday. I'll take that one.

The constant stream of water coming through the light fixture in the living room is now down to a slow drip. We thought we had it at 3:30, but it only got better because the rain stopped for about an hour.

I feel a little better about it all now, but it's hard not to think that your whole house will be ruined when the rain comes in through your ceiling.

MONSOON

We are three weeks into our renovation. Up until now, I had virtually only excitement and good things to write. Since the roof came off 3 weeks ago, we have had 2 of the heaviest rains I have ever seen in Seattle. And it is only supposed to continue. I'm up now, at 5:30 a.m., because I just came in from my second time up on the roof in pouring rain, trying to correct the poor tarping left on Friday. Of course, these guys could not have predicted that we'd have a monsoon, but it doesn't take much logic to figure out that if you direct the water toward the front corner of the house, and that corner is still unsealed and has a big open gap between the floor and ceiling joists, then the water is going to find its way in and drip through the cracks in the ceiling that were created in the demolition. I am about to empty a second large soup pot full of water and the drips are not even beginning to slow down. And the basement is wet as well, because all of our siding is off. I know it will all be fine, but I am really pissed. I should not have to go up on the scaffolding at 3:30 and 5:30 in the morning to correct inadequate tarping. I am soaked, I am tired and I just want to sleep, but I can't, as long as water is dripping in my living room.