Things are progressing well!

Isn't it great?
My dogs look so happy. They love going up to our new house, and I really think they know it's theirs. Scottie and I were at the house on Sunday cleaning up the inside (a VERY dusty job). We kept the doors closed and the dogs inside so they couldn't run around the neighborhood. After checking out everything, they decided to set themselves up on the little balcony off the master bedroom and survey their domain.

I think the bags on the front porch are the stuff that will be used for the stucco, but I have to confess I'm not sure. It could also have something to do with the drywall. . . .


This huge stack of drywall is in the living/dining room, and appears to be slated to go on the downstairs walls. You can also see all the insulation in walls and ceiling. I'm pleased that whichever sub put in the insulation took the time not only to put the bats in place, but they also put spray foam insulation around every single hole trough walls, ceilings. etc. When we were there cleaning with one of us upstairs and one down the noise between floors was very minimal.




This stack of drywall is in one upstairs room, and there is an equally large stack in the master bedroom. We weren't around when all this was delivered, and I can't figure out how it was unloaded. Given the yellow hazard tape left on site I'm guessing they used a similar system to what was used to move the shingles. The stacks are so perfectly aligned that I don't think the pieces were brought in one or two at a time.
Doesn't matter - just my ongoing curiosity.



OK, just for fun:

This is one of my favorite photos of Cocoa and Buck. I took it last year, just about now, as we were getting ready to move from New Mexico here. I got into a whole black and white thing with my digital camera for a bit, and I took several shots of the puppers. I especially love how this one catches personality.

Wrapped and waiting for stucco

It's looking like a house! And, I'm seeing the vision of our architect, Gary Cort, more and more as this develops. For instance, the roof of the porch and the dividing line between stucco and Hardieboard are raised to the bottom of the upstairs windows. Gary's idea with this was to break up the height and give some interest to a rather square, boxy design. Ditto the raised window above the kitchen sink, visible on the front porch. Rather than keep it at the same height at the top as the other windows and make the window smaller, he kept the window size the same and raised the height to accommodate the sink. Guess that's why we paid him the big bucks.


Now that the house is closed in the various rooms have taken on more of their real character. This view is of the fireplace wall in the living room. Beneath the two small windows will be shelves reaching to the side walls.
Behind the interior wall to the left will be our little den/tv room. The window visible through that wall is bumped out 18 inches or so and will have a window seat. My favorite thing in our house in New Mexico was my library with its window seat. Many hours were spent there reading, sketching, dreaming, playing with kitties, even cat-napping myself.


This view is from the dining room into the kitchen. On the other side of the half wall is where the cooktop will be and a quite cool stainless steel hood will hang above. In the back corner with the two windows will be built in seating; and we'll put our round table there. The little hole to the right of the door at the bottom will become the dog door, but it's been moved up a tad. Our puppers are so big, especially Buck, that he'd be crawling on his knees at floor height!






And this is the view from the upstairs landing down the U-shaped stairs. Of course, it won't be quite so dramatic when you can't see through the walls below anymore.

Notice the white pipe in the walls? That's for the central vacuum. I'm SOOOOO happy.

Notice the larger pictures this time? That's to make my hubby happy. I think he and I are both getting old eyes, and he wants to be fully able to appreciate all the photos of himself that end up here.

Life is GOOD

Finally, the blankety-blank framing crew is gone! Funny thing is, they are very good carpenters - just lousy at dealing with the real world. We got all sorts of promises from "we'll be done before Christmas" to "we'll be glad to put in the dog door", and not ONE promise was kept. Along with that, we were hit up for side payments in the form of "you don't need to talk to the general about that extra window you want, just give me $50 on the side and I'll frame it in for you." When I asked where the window itself would come from, they had no answer.

So, here's the happy husband, that would be Scott, on what will be the small balcony off our bedroom. This was last week, which as you probably know is long after Christmas, and the house still wasn't framed.

Friday, after mid-week assurances they'd be done by then, one of the guys hit up George, the General, for an extra $50 to install the doors to said balcony! That takes some nerve. By then, George was as sick of them as we were and paid the kid just to get it done. So, Monday AM, I went up to the site to find George alone installing the doors! He was furious and said he was going to tell the kid he wanted his 50 bucks back. Of course, he'd have no problem finding them since they STILL weren't done and were overdue to arrive at the site. I figure they've cost us $2000 in delays. Here's George coming in those doors - after I got to help put the pins in the hinges, it being really a 2-person job.

When we did that, the little balcony still had no railing. Yuk. But it does now, and I love how it looks. Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo? Pretty Cool


You can see the dividing line between siding and what will be stucco below. The house is to get wrapped for the stucco tomorrow.




And these handsome characters are the electricians who bailed us out after we came to our senses and decided that installing the central vac was more of a job than we wanted to take on.

That proved to be a very lucky choice on our part, both 'cuz it did turn out to be complex, and because we've been dealing with frozen pipes, broken pump, no water, etc., etc., at the place we rent - starting last Saturday! With every plumber and pump guy busy with the big orchards that have much more serious problems than us, it's been a challenge. Scottie and his buddy Rene' worked on it repairing broken parts and doing all they could, then Scottie disassembled the big pump and took it down to Visalia to a pump person since we simply couldn't get anyone here. We now have outdoor water running, but still something frozen in/under the house. But, we are closer. Fortunately we have a wonderful landlady who put us up for several nights in a motel. Hopefully, we'll finish thawing out soon and won't need more of that.


Now, for a couple of things you haven't been treated to on the blog before.

First, our house as it appears from the "down" side at Mineral King and Hammond.






Then, my beautiful Lucy Cat. I know, I know, it has nothing to do with the house building, but isn't she pretty? Her eyes just match the soft green throw. There are SOME silly people who think that Lucy has a bad attitude. I know that she's simply expressing the proper disdain for lesser beings.


So, we're doing well. Life really is good. More later.

Under Roof!!

Wow. It's been over a week since I've updated. Busy, busy, busy. The early part of last week seemed to be really going quickly. Then we got rain, bringing everything to a halt.
I LOVE the way the whole area looks when the clouds come in and the mist settles in the valleys. So, work slows down but the place takes on a mystical look.

Over the weekend I figured out that there is an issue with the configuration in the half bath on the ground floor. After meeting with George this AM, I feel certain his compromise solution will work.

So, last week the rough in plumbing got done as well as rough in heat/ac. The shingles were delivered Friday, but it was too wet to start putting them on. It was quite cool to watch the big truck delivering the roofing materials and the way they are placed on the roof - via conveyer belt. Gone are the days of climbing up and down ladders with bunches of shingles!


All the materials were there, but nothing more was happening. After a heavy rain on Thursday, things had to dry out on Friday.



Oh, most of the windows also went in last week.

It's looking more and more like a real house!








I rushed up late this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see all that was accomplished today!

Check it out! Most of the main roof is on!! The roofers will be back tomorrow (Tuesday) to finish that and put the roof on the two porches. In addition the boards went on part of the top section and the windows in that part were trimmed out. The top 1/3 or so will be board, then bottom 2/3's stucco.




Looking down-canyon from our lot the evening mist was just starting to move in. It's so amazing looking - Edgar Allen Poe stuff.

I ordered our central vacuum, and it is due to arrive tomorrow. Scottie and Rene' will be doing the installation, and I'm hopeful that will get accomplished this week too. Things are really hopping at 42457 Hammond Drive. Let's start a pool on the move-in date and give Prince William a break!