September 2012 Tiny Home Update

Our tiny home is coming along nicely and we wanted to give you all an update. =)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Putting up the tongue and groove aspen paneling on the walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Installing the loft (aka bedroom) and Dondi’s prized hand-hewn aspen post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erin sanding the aspen paneling for the ceiling. . . one board at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dondi taking a break in the (almost) completed loft!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The aspen walls and ceiling are officially done (well almost) and ready for the built-ins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The closet and office wall install.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dondi building the stairs to the loft that will also double as our dresser. The drawers will be built sometime soon. . .

Staircase to the loft. . . check!   Closet (for all of our clothes, shoes, etc). . . check!

p.s.- if you look closely, you can see the finished flooring!
Until next time. . . leave us a comment if you’d like. We’d love to hear from you!

Tiny Home Update

It’s been an interesting summer between all the forest fires, camping, and traveling. . . and working on our tiny home. More to come on all of our adventures including our trip to Seattle, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Olympics in London. We’ve had several e-mails in the last couple weeks wondering how the “tiny home” is coming so here is a quick update!

The framing is done (well almost)!

Starting on the roof with Dondi, Nick (from Saratoga Springs, NY), and Tyler (from Walden, CO)

We have a roof!

View from the inside. . . all ready for windows.

The windows are in! Our first dinner in the tiny home after a long day of working with Dondi, Nick, Erin, and Sarah.

Plumbing, gas, electric and spray foam insulation are all in– now we’re working on the hardwood floors.

White oak hardwood floors! We’re planning to finish them with Linseed oil and wax to showcase the graining in the wood.

That’s all for now. We’ll send another update soon. Hope you’re having an awesome summer!!!
If you’d like to leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you!

Erin and Dondi’s Tiny Home

To fill you in. . . the first half of 2012 has been nothing short of interesting. Dondi is pretty excited about our tiny home. Its been in the works (the thought at least) since January and we’re finally in the construction phase of the project which started on June 2nd.

Cutting down the 50 foot trailer to 29 feet for the foundation of our “tiny home”.

Dondi welding the trailer.

Erin using the angle grinder to prep the trailer for a fresh coat of paint (this is after 8 hours. . .)

Framing out the floor joists after a fresh coat of paint. Almost ready for decking and then the big floor flip.

Dondi, Erin and Sarah (a friend in FoCo) flipping the 500+ pound floor. . . that was brilliant. Could have used some brute force for help. . . Dondi and 2 girls was just a bad idea but we figured it out.

Erin– helping to set up wall #1.

Framing the wall with a very eery background. Day 2 of the High Park Fire about 15 miles west of Fort Collins that has now burned about 92 square miles of private land and national forest.

Erin scoping out the new composting toilet and 300 gallon water tank. This tiny home is going to be 100% off the grid.

Dondi cutting and laying out rafters for the roof of the tiny home.

Dondi framing out the rafters and contemplating on how to frame out the dormer (aka “bedroom”).

Dondi standing on the ridge beam after a long day of framing up the roof.

The floor plan for our 200 square foot tiny home.

That is all for now. Hope you enjoyed the pics of our new “home”!  Until next time, Erin & Dondi

Christmas in the UK

January 14, 2012

Hi everyone and happy holidays to you! I’ve been slacking with posting on the blog. . . its been really busy! Anyway, we’ve had several requests for pics from our Christmas UK trip so here are some of the highlights:

The cottage where we stayed in West Marden, Southern England

Chris (Erin’s mom), Chloe (Erin’s sister), and Dondi at “The Keepers”

A stop in South Harting on Christmas Day where the Collins’ lived for 2 years while in the UK

Erin and Ryan’s old 2 classroom school which is now converted into several housing units

One of the local South Harting pubs “The White Hart Inn”

Christmas lunch (of the 5 course meal variety) at the Royal Oak in Hooksway. . . and yes, we actually knew the owner at the bar from when we lived there

Dondi after his first pub meal of the trip. . . and a great meal it was!

Idsworth Church. . . a really old Church from the 12th century (?) that is still in use today

A visit to Portsmouth to look across and see the Isle of Wight and Southsea Castle- that’s Fred (Erin’s Dad) on the left

Dondi walking the labrynth at Portchester Castle near Portsmouth

Ditcham Park- the school on the hill with the horrible green uniforms that Erin and Ryan went to when we lived in the UK (the second school)

Erin at Ditcham Park

Chichester Cathedral, Chichester- a really old walled city in southern England

The “Round Table” hung on the wall at Winchester Castle

 

The Golden Lion- a great little pub with and a lovely lunch in Winchester

We took the train from Petersfield to London (about an hour) for the day; went to see Wicked at The Apollo Victoria Theatre

Dondi and Chloe in front of the Tower of London

We took a tour and got to walk in the Tower Bridge- very cool with great views of London!

Erin, Chloe, and Dondi took a 6 mile hike through the South Downs on the public footpaths and bridle-ways

Dondi hiking on the public footpath right through the middle of the farmer’s fields

Walked around the ruins at Cowdray Castle in Midhurst

Visited the New Forest and saw some of the 4,000+ wild ponies

Went to the Beaulieu Motor Museum and saw tons of old cars and the James Bond car collection

Went to visit Kate, Jumbo and the kids Alex, Emily, and Edward for a lovely dinner and fun night- Kate was Ryan and Erin’s childminder after school and we boarded our horses at their farm in East Harting- Jumbo is a sheep farmer with thousands of sheep all over the South Downs and they live in a 1600’s farm house

 

Overall we had a great trip and were very fortunate to get a last minute invite from Erin’s parents to join them! Good times. =)

 

We sure hope you enjoyed all the pictures from our trip. Leave us a comment if you’d like! Until next time, Erin and Dondi

 

 

September and October Adventures in Colorado

October 30, 2011

Hey there. . . its been a while! Things got really busy. Dondi got a job in August and started working full time for JVA Consulting Engineers (jvajva.com) shortly after.  He’s loving it! Erin’s been busy networking and building her business in Fort Collins and enjoying the challenges of being in a new place and building a fairly new business. Its all good. Here are some of the highlights from September and October:

Another splendid sunset from our window in August

Brother-in-law Harmon came to visit on his way to Wyoming

Erin's new secondary form of transportation (2nd to biking). . . affectionately called "scoot-scooting". The snow has been a bit challenging for the "scoot-scoot", forcing us to get creative!

Dondi and his colleagues at the tournament at Mad Russian Golf Course. . . and the course lived up to its name!

Dondi and Erin mountain biking around College Lake in Fort Collins

4 x 4 driving up Moody Hill. . . it was a bit more than we expected! We were passed repeatedly up the 8 mile road (see next pic). Somehow (not sure how exactly) Dondi's stock 4 x 4 came out without a scratch and only bottomed-out once. It was really gnarly!

Yup- those were the guys who passed us on their way to the big shindig at the quarry at the top.

Dondi in Wyoming with Harmon's bull elk

Erin on a hike at Lake Tahoe, California

Fun day hanging out in Boulder. . . couldn't resist taking a pic by the "love" rock

Erin climbing at Red Rocks Park in Boulder

October 26th- our first real snow. . . sadly it was about 6 inches that took down a lot of trees but it was beautiful

Erin enjoying her straight hair for a day or two

Yay pumpkins for Halloween. We couldn't resist. . . =)

Please leave us a comment if you’d like! Until next time, Erin & Dondi

Road rides, Horsetooth Mountain, and other fun adventures

August 19th, 2011

Wow- its amazing how time flies.  Dondi and I have officially been in Colorado for about four weeks now.  We know how to get around Fort Collins (by car and bike), where to shop for food and all sorts of other stuff, and what to do for fun.  Well, we’re working hard on that last one. . . exploring the vast array of opportunities for fun here and its been a blast!  Check out our pics below to see what we’ve been up to this week. . .

Sunday morning ride from Full Cycle Bike Shop- we left at 8am with a group of 6 and did a beautiful 30 mile road ride

Pedestrian and bike bridge over the Cache le Poudre River just Northwest of Fort Collins

Another incredible sunset from the dining room window

After looking at the notches on Horsetooth Mountain (in the back), we decided it was time to climb it

On our way up the mountain

Dondi's brother Bob and his colleague Aaron were in Denver for business so they came to visit and did the climb with us which was a lot of fun

Getting closer. . .

The top of Horsetooth Mountain up close

We made it to the top of Horsetooth Rock. The view of Fort Collins to the East and the mountains to the West was totally worth it every step uphill! =)

Bob climbing down from Horsetooth Rock

After lunch at Coopersmith's, we took a walk through Old Town Fort Collins and chatted with a "bicycle keg-delivery guy" from Equinox Brewing Company

And to top it all off, Dondi and I were invited to the Intel annual party (thanks Matt!) and had a lot of fun learning how to play Roullette and winning (Dondi) and losing (Erin) lots of fake money on the BlackJack Table

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  We are certainly getting acquainted here and having a lot of fun!  Don’t be afraid to leave us a comment. . . =)

Adventure update- lots of biking!

August 13, 2011

Greetings friends and family.  Its been a super busy couple of weeks continuing to get set up, get settled, and get to work here in Fort Collins.  Dondi and I have managed to find some fun things to do amongst all of the work and getting caught up.  Here is a quick run-down of some of the fun adventures we’ve had in the last couple weeks.

Old Town Fort Collins at night- a happening place

Old Town Farmer's Market- every Saturday from 8am -12pm

On our bikes again. . . the bike paths here get you pretty much anywhere you want to go

We made a spur-of -the-moment trip to Denver to accomplish 2 things- an American Society of Civil Engineers BBQ and to. . .

Replace this (an incredible uncomfortable air mattress topped with a sofa bed mattress). . .

With this! =) An eco-friendly soy-based foam mattress. The best part (for Dondi) is that I no longer complain all day about my broken back!

FYI- if you come visit, we no longer have the “back-breaking air mattress” pictured above so don’t worry!  We got you covered. . .  =)

We just had to see why on Earth people in Fort Collins were towing boats- so we did a nice 18 mile bike ride up to Horsetooth Resevoir and figured it out in a hurry! This beautiful 6.5 mile long lake is gorgeous.

Horsetooth Resevoir on our way back

We stopped at a rock outcropping on our way back down from Horsetooth Resevoir- the city of Fort Collins is behind us

Dinner at Nyali Ethiopian Cuisine in Fort Collins- if you've never had Ethiopian you are soooo missing out! The best part is you get to eat with injera bread and your fingers =)

Dondi and Erin at the Colorado State University Trial Garden in downtown Fort Collins

This one's for you Nana

Stopping at the Sculpture Part on the CSU campus

Au revoir, until next time!

First week in Colorado

August 2nd, 2011

Wow- what a crazy week!  We arrived in Fort Collins, CO on Sunday night of last week and in one weeks time we. . .

After being on the road for two straight weeks, we were pretty eager to find a place to live so on Monday, we arranged something like 7 showings on the hour every hour for the whole day.  Two we liked and the one we got allowed us to move in on Wednesday.

Learned that arriving with all of our stuff in a pickup truck leaves a pretty lonely looking apartment.

To remedy that, we figured out that a little bit of money can buy a lot of really good stuff if you know where to look (Craig’s list, Target, thrift stores, antique stores, and garage sales- in order of preference).

Learned that lotion and hydration is super important and the sun shines here just about all day everyday and if it rains there is often a rainbow.

Figured out that you can get just about anywhere in the city on one of the paved bike paths and biking 14 miles in an hour at a comfortable sight-seeing pace is no big deal.

Now know to watch the sun set to the West every night because the sunsets here over the mountains are truly spectacular.

Went to the Cheyenne Frontier Days on Sunday to see what all of the fuss was about- we agree, the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo probably is the “daddy of em all”.  For our first ever rodeo experience, we had a lot of fun.  =)

YAY! We have a place to live- its amazing how much can fit into the back of a pickup truck

The sunset from our dining room window

Grilling some pizza on the porch

Dondi in the living room after a long day of Craigs-listing and thrift store shopping =)

Home cooked meals again- for real? Woo hoo!

Who in their right mind would get on a pissed-off bull? Well, we experienced the wonders of the rodeo at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Our favorite event was barrel racing

Overall, it was a great first week in Colorado (with a quick jaunt to Wyoming). . . leave us a comment or two- we'd love to hear from you!

Kansas City, MO to Fort Collins, CO =)

July 24th, 2011

YAY- today we made it ALL THE WAY through Kansas and arrived in Fort Collins, CO!  Not too much to report other than a few pics of our adventures (I mean drive). . .

What is there to see in Kansas besides cornfields? Wind farms!

The never-ending wind farms in Kansas- now there is some good news

YAY- we made it to Colorado!

A big storm rumbled in just as we arrived to Fort Collins and the lightning was pretty incredible

The sun set behind the storm over the mountains

A quick pic before the rain

Next stop- Whole Foods for some groceries then off to the hotel. . .

We made it!!!  =)   12 states and 2 weeks later.  If you’re curious, our road trip took us through New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado- about 2,800 miles in all.

Franklin, TN to Kansas City, MO

July 23, 2011

Today we left Tennessee and headed West Colorado-bound.  We drove about 10 hours today through Kentucky, Illinois, and a long trek through Missouri with a nice stop in St. Louis, Missouri.  We quickly figured out that after St. Louis, there are a lot of cornfields- hence the flurry of blog posts.  You’ve gotta keep yourself entertained somehow right?  =)

The long road from Illinois to Missouri

It was obvious the Mississippi River in St. Louis was really high because Lewis and Clark were underwater

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis

Erin looking out from the top of the arch at 630 ft

The shadow of the "Gateway to the West"

The Gateway Arch and Dondi- he was amazed by the engineering and construction that went into the project

We had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory which was in a beatiful old building then headed off on our drive across Missouri to Kansas City