DeeDee and me on my bike

Today was a beautiful, sunny day in Portland. Michael and I took a quick bike ride over to the clinic to pick up a bid that one of the framers had dropped off - get this, he slipped it in through the opening in front between the studs - yes the space is not quite finished with open spaces to the outside! You must admit though that it was ingenious of the framer - and it does look somewhat like a sideways mail slot! It was also DeeDee's first visit to the clinic and she rode there in her basket and did great!

We have had a lot of activity at the space this past week and quite a few hiccups that we bulldozed through and, like true Americans, worked around them in real time! There was no way we were getting delayed by things out of our control anymore!

Our casework lined up against the wall

First off, our casework (cabinets for the back) were scheduled for delivery on Thursday but instead came on Tuesday. We were trying to have the back area floor done so we could move all of the boxes back there for storage. Sadly the floors were not ready by Tuesday but no big deal - we figure we'll just move the boxes later. The truck arrived at 7:30am and Michael, myself, Vern (our Butler rep), Dragan (our friend and Micheal's coworker) and Katie (our technician) were there to meet him. This 18 wheeler drove by with our casework on board and we waved...he honked and then disappeared. 8 minutes later he drove by again and blocked traffic while he and Michael figured out where to put the truck. The driver, Dave (who turned out to be very helpful moving the boxes) pulled to the end of the block - breaking a few small tree limbs and parked. We had to walk these huge boxes almost a whole block back to the space. We were hauling boxes and marking off the purchase order to be sure everything was there. Did I mention it was 7:30 in the morning? Everything arrived and we got it all secured in the clinic - and then I had to rush off to do relief work at Rose City by 9:00am! That was a long day.

The backdoor finally hung with our hand placed lock

The day before the casework arrived the landlord was supposed to have the back door hung but they wouldn't have locks in until the following week. Michael called our insurance agent and found out we are only covered if the space is locked. So Michael went to Home Depot after work to pick up a lock and put it in the back door (in the dark). He came home a little too quickly and I knew right then...the back door wasn't hung! Yikes - but not to worry, he called the General Contractor and he hung it the next day and Michael put in the lock...whew! I put paper over the windows the next day - we didn't want anyone to think those big boxes were big screen TVs!

Pipe in and concrete poured!

They have finally put in the pipes for the bathroom and water connection and poured the concrete! It looks so nice without the pile of dirt in the space (although Michael did take an excellent picture of it).  Not to be too critical here but we looked back through our emails and Michael had set a "next steps for space delivery" outline on 12/19. He set the goal of 12/26 for concrete cutting and digging the trenches, 12/27 for laying the pipes, and 12/28 for pouring the concrete. Certainly a tight schedule but they just finished that part on 2/12! Can you see why this is taking so long? The electrical panel is technically in the clinic but it's on the floor. The hole is cut for it in the dry wall so we are almost there! Luckily the rent countdown hasn't started but the landlord has been generous enough to let us in to start our work. 

Michael's fancy picture of the dirt

Things are looking good and like Katie said on Tuesday - it's just so nice to hang out in the clinic! It's feeling more and more real and the space really is beautiful with the sun streaming in the skylights. The next update will be from Michael about all the cool technical building stuff - he will be sure to dazzle you with pictures. (For those of you who don't know, Michael has a hobby business - Portland Pet Photography - and he has taken all of the really nice photos of the space!)