The Visalian - Part Two

Hi everyone.
I hope you all had a great Christmas and I want to wish you all a Happy New Year.
You are probably all wondering why I had Kinsey's house upside down the other week.

I was doing some paper mache on the walls. Why am I doing that?
Well, the wood in this house is delaminating in some areas and it is very uneven.

See the naughty wall with the arrows down below?
Well this piece gave me an armful of splinters, 31 to be exact.
I was removing the wall when it suddenly gave way, and my right arm slid right across it.

All I could say was "Silly wall, now you look ugly with half your wood missing," when all of a sudden I felt searing pain in my wrist and forearm.

I then noticed I had a million slivers of wood in the area below the wrist where the tender, delicate piece of skin that barely covers the veins is.

Shaking like crazy, I got one of my kids to hold a magnifying glass while I very carefully pulled them all out - and with my left hand too!

Let me tell you that this is the absolute WORST place on your body to get a splinter.
I wish I had a photograph, but at the time I was just too preoccupied with surviving.

I am also toying around with some LED lights I have from IKEA.
No, these are not silver snakes but maybe the beginnings of a tree-like ceiling texture.

Cheerio,
Sam

Thanksgiving

Hi all.
I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a good one. I had to host it for the first time EVER. (It is kind of weird that the only Australian in our group of relatives is the one who prepared an American Thanksgiving meal!)
We had a total of twenty-five relatives over for dinner. Even though I am not a cook, I managed to get the main meal together. Of course the highlight was dessert. Thankfully my sister-in-law and her kids are expert pie makers and came to my house early in the day to make them. We had various pies including pumpkin, peanut butter, mince-meat, and my two utmost favorites - apple and pecan. They were totally delicious!

We spent three days celebrating together and playing many rounds of Bananagrams. (If you have never played this game I highly recommend it. It is faster and easier than Scrabble and everyone can join in.)
The visitors have gone now and we are getting back to normal.
I know Kinsey is about to be homeless so I am working as fast as I can on her house.

YES, I KNOW KINSEY'S HOUSE IS UPSIDE-DOWN. (I am working on the interior.)

Cheerio,
Sam

Meeting Harley - The Ent-Elf

Kinsey had an appointment with the Ent-Elf.
She had been forewarned that Ent-Elves did not operate on standard Elven time, but even so, she could not help feeling a little annoyed when he was more than a couple of hours late.

Finally Kinsey heard a heavy clomping sound accompanied by a musical whistle coming closer.
It must be him, thought Kinsey.

"Hello, I am Harley," he said. Kinsey just nodded in amazement.
"What a wonderful house you have!" exclaimed Harley in a deep sing-song voice.

Harley extended his huge, branch-like hand for Kinsey to shake.


Harley said that it would take many hours to "talk" to the wood.

Kinsey stood transfixed as Harley began to sing a deep and meaningful song.
The melody resonated through Kinsey, and she found herself humming along.


When Harley finished his song, Kinsey wanted him to continue. With a pang she realized that music was missing in her life. She was spending too much time being a realtor, while her true calling was in playing the piano and teaching music.
Kinsey thanked Harley for all his work and told him that he was welcome anytime.

Now we just need to wait and see what happens.
Cheerio,
Sam

Kinsey's House - Part Two

Kinsey was fascinated with the tree-like exterior growing on Fairy Hazel's house.
Hazel explained that trees have an innate knowledge that they have a particular purpose in life whether it be for furniture, the walls of a house, or even firewood. However, it has been found that some wood likes to keep growing.
There is a forest creature called an "Ent-elf" who can communicate with the soul of the wood to see if it wants to do so.
Kinsey was quite interested with the idea of a living tree-house. "If the wood of my house wants to grow freely, I shall let it!" she exclaimed.
Hazel said that she would arrange for the Ent-elf to visit Kinsey's house sometime next week, but he would need some area of bare wood available.
(The old siding around the porch area was the first to go.)

During the siding demolition, Kinsey noticed that she had really cheap porch flooring and wanted it to be removed.

Floor boards should not come off in one piece!


The porch ceiling was the same material as the floor so that came down as well.

One stripped-down, bare porch ready for meeting with the Ent-elf.
Cheerio,
Sam.

Kinsey's House Quandary

Builder Sam here.
Remember Kinsey's house?

I was moving it to Willow Ridge when I hit a rather large snag. Or a small one - depends on how you look at it.
Kinsey's house is 32 inches long. The doorway to the basement is only 30 inches.
Mr Kovu suggested turning the house sideways, but it was still too wide.
It seemed hopeless. No matter which way we turned it, it just simply was not going to fit.

I told Kinsey that her house was not going to make it to Willow Ridge. Kinsey was adamant that she wanted to be in Willow Ridge and that I HAD to make it happen.
I studied the house for a while.  With my hammer and chisel, I managed to pry the roof off.
That was the answer!
Without the roof and tower attached, the body of the house is just under 30 inches.

Bit of a tight squeeze, but it fit through the doorway. Yay! Kinsey will be happy - I think. The roof will be reattached but will be removable for moving purposes.

Now I just need to finish it.
Cheerio,
Sam