Jeanine’s tulips and pansies were in full bloom today at the Road House. Spring in New England feels like the shortest of the seasons but makes up for that with the beauty it brings.

Having tested many reclining sofas with Jeanine earlier in the week, I returned to the store today to select an appropriate color and place the order. I choose the patterned charcoal grey pictured below. The sofa is for what we call the media enclave, essentially a home theater for two people located just off the kitchen. Delivery is expected in July, when we hope to be ready for it.

This morning, drywall was delivered to the River House and strategically positioned throughout. A special lift was used to hoist the product from the delivery truck up to various windows where it was offloaded by the crew. I spent the morning finishing up low-voltage wiring for the powered window blinds and caulking all remaining penetrations in the building envelope. On the way to pick up lunch, I spotted one of our resident bald eagles perched majestically in a tree at the edge of the river. He was kind enough to remain there until I could drive to the Road House and return with my long lens.

A neighbor was kind enough to share this photo of a fox and her kits taken one house down the river from us. If I were not so busy with the house construction, I would be making an effort to photograph these cuties myself.

Pictured above is the apparatus for conducting a blower door test. An outside door is removed and this device is installed in the open frame. Fan speed is increased until a pressure differential, inside to outside, of 50 pascals is reached. Then the amount of airflow is measured. This is the amount of air that is leaking from the house. Knowing this number and the interior volume of the house, simple math will provide the number of Air Changes per Hour at 50 pascals (ACH50). Code for new construction mandates a maximum ACH50 of 3.0. Passive House certification requires 0.6. This morning we did an initial blower door test to determine if we had any major issues to address before drywalling. We measured 0.65 which is an excellent result considering that we have loosely fitted sheathing where our front door will go. I fully expect that we will hit the Passive House target when the house is finished.

Today, family and friends participated in the Bionic 5K in solidarity with Nicolai who has become involved with the sponsoring organization. Not pictured is Jeanine, who took the photo nor several of Maya’s colleagues from Formlabs. Nicolai finished in 28:14 placing first in the disabled men’s division. The race attracted 700 runners and took place in the area of Harvard Square in Cambridge.

I was unable to attend since the event conflicted with my soccer match. Had I known we would have been beaten so badly, I might have opted to join the running crew.

What I have learned after building two full-size home theaters, is that 98% of the time it is just Jeanine and I watching TV. Our new home features what we are calling a media enclave, a small room with a big TV and seating for three (or one seated adult with a second reclined adult having his head rubbed by the first adult). It is located just off the kitchen so it can be watched from there and for nearby access to food and beverages. While shopping for rear surround speakers, I came across the image above and decided to add a niche similar in size to this one to our mini-theater. I had to make the framing additions today with drywalling set to begin this week. I also completed the last of the low-voltage wiring and marked the location of all studs and ceiling lighting fixtures on the sub-floor.

A second large-screen TV will be in the living room area for when we host viewing parties (World Cup matches, Super Bowl, etc.)

Jeanine and I attended Chopped for Charity this evening, an event that she introduced to Open Table when she was its Executive Director. Each year, the fundraiser has grown bigger and more polished. This is the first time we could enjoy the event as guests rather than participants. I was particularly pleased to see Jeanine recognized in remarks by Massachusetts Senator Jamie Eldridge (pictured above), the retired Chair of the Board and honoree of the event, Jill Block, and the current Executive Director, Alex DePalo. All acknowledged the successful transformation of the organization under her leadership to become one of the premier food relief organizations in the state.

Jeanine suggested I bring my camera even though I was no longer responsible for documenting the event as I have done in years past. Instead, I was free to capture special moments as they appeared before me. My favorite, pictured below is a portrait of celebrity judge Tiziana Dearing, the host of Radio Boston on WBUR.

I am familiar with most ways of transporting a dog. This method is not one I have seen before. Leave it to Maya to turn her bib overalls into a puppy pouch. Seeing this picture that she shared with us, I cannot help but imagine Maya as a mother one day. It remains to be seen whether any of our children will choose to be parents but it is clear to me that all three will be great at it.

Sometimes, the picture tells the whole story or in this case, strains the imagination. Maya has become the goto dog sitter at Formlabs and here she is seen extending the maximum hospitality to one of her guests.

Harry Belafonte died today at the age of 96.

From CNN reporting:

Belafonte was dubbed the “King of Calypso” after the groundbreaking success of his 1956 hit, “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O).” He also became a movie star after acting in the film adaption of the Broadway musical, “Carmen Jones.” But Belafonte’s biggest contributions took place offstage. He was a key strategist, fundraiser, and mediator for the civil rights movement. He continually risked his entertainment career – and at least once his life – for his activism. He became a close friend of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who often retired to Belafonte’s palatial New York apartment to talk strategy or escape the pressures of leading the civil rights movement.

My Uncle Earnie was a professional guitarist who played with many celebrities including Tony Bennet and Harry Belafonte, pictured here in attendance at his wedding to his second wife, Barbara Massey.

Barbara started her career as a backing vocalist working with Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, and Cat Stevens. Together with Ernie, they produced one album called “Prelude To…”

As the sun was setting and the sky was clearing the Sudbury River was aglow with spring color. It made me feel very fortunate that we live where we do. Work on the new house is progressing well. I spent a good bit of the day planning the location for Wi-Fi access points and then running a CAT6 cable to each location. I imported our floor plans into a signal strength modeling application and determined that 3 access points (2 on the 1st floor and 1 on the 2nd) would provide complete coverage for the house and garage with no dead spots. It is possible that we will get full home coverage with a single standard W-Fi router. For the cost of the cable and a couple of hours for installation, it is cheap insurance if we need to enhance coverage. Since every light switch in the house is a Wi-Fi node, it is pretty important that signal reach every corner of the structure.

Our house has been getting quite a bit of coverage on the Build Show with Matt Risinger and our architect Steve Baczek. This particular clip was shot a few weeks ago and covers details of the garage framing.

The second disappointing week for my team on the soccer pitch. We scored first against Wayland. They equalized. I scored off a rebound from the goalie to put us ahead 2-1. They equalized. In the match’s closing minutes, they managed a third goal for the win. In addition to the goal, I picked up my first yellow card in years. I was marking the goalie aggressively and their sweeper took issue with this. The next time I received the ball he knocked me to the ground with an undisguised retaliatory American football-style tackle for which he was immediately issued a yellow card. Despite the flamboyance of the collision, I did not get hurt. Moments later, a cross was served into the box and I went up for the header. In doing so, I may have crashed into their sweeper sending him to the pitch in a heap. I may have also missed the ball entirely and one of my elbows may have made contact with his head. Let’s just say the score was settled and I was promptly issued a well earned yellow card. There were no further incidents during the game and we shook hands at the end and apologized for our respective transgressions.

The roofing crew finished paneling today. On Monday, they will return to fold the standing seams and finish some of the edge treatments. We choose a light color for energy efficiency reasons even though we thought a darker grey would have looked nicer. Because of the way the house is situated on the lot and relative to the river, it turns out that the roof is only visible for a few seconds as you turn into the driveway from the street. We could have picked pink polka dots and it would have made no difference to the appearance of the house (unless viewed from the air).

While the roofers were on top of the house, I spent the day in the basement redoing every pipe joint (some 40+) of my compressed air distribution system. Earlier this week, I discovered that the Teflon tape method I initially employed leaked at almost every joint. I have since learned that this application calls for pipe dope. Once I completed the very tedious rework, I ran a 240V line to the shop and fired up my new air compressor. No leaks and everything is working as expected. I left the lines pressurized and will check to see if there is any loss of pressure tomorrow.