Day 171

If there was any work done at the house yesterday, it was so minimal that it's not worth mentioning. Brock was out of town, so, as usual, things slowed down.

Today, Mark installed the handrails. The stairs are just about finished. 

Handrails

When the kids and I arrived this evening, the lawn crew was working away. The kids enjoyed watching the machine that blew straw all over the seeded yard.

At the end, the crew covered the yard with hydroseed.  They also laid down some erosion control mats along the back of the house, and cleaned up the mess the storm left. I didn't take pictures of the before or after, but it was a big improvement. 

Yard

Day 170

When we got to the house after the storms rolled through on Friday, we discovered that sand and dirt had washed over our beautiful new driveway, leaving the place looking, once again, like a construction site. But considering something like nine tornadoes touched down in the area that evening, we were pretty lucky. 

Brock and I spent Sunday cleaning the house. Brock also installed closet shelves and clothes-hanging rods in the kids' closets. 

Closet

Brock worked on stairs again this afternoon. Using a cutting wheel, he cut and bent the goat fence to the angle of the stairway, then attached a wooden edge along the top. Mark used the planer and the router to finish the wooden edges, as well as the handrails, which will be installed next. 

M. C. Escher-esque stair shot

I painted the green in B's bedroom today. I am definitely the slowest painter ever, so it took me almost five hours. 

B's room

Mark drilled a hole in the side of the foundation to install a vent for the new water heater which arrived today. Funny story about the delivery...Brock went out to meet the delivery truck in the driveway, and the driver realized that he had dropped off our water heater with the previous delivery. Everything worked out, and he was back within the hour with our water heater. 

The electrician was back. I don't even know what to say about him any more. I'm pretty sure he didn't finish, though. 

Day 169

We're not used to this happening, but the driveway crew arrived as promised, and finished their work shortly after noon today. 1 Locust Ave is starting to look like home instead of a construction site! Now we just need some greenery. 

Driveway and parking pad

Looking up the hill from the bottom of the driveway

Brock got to the house in the afternoon and finished up a bunch of little projects, including installing kitchen trim under the cabinets.

Kitchen trim

Then he and Mark finished installing the downspouts at the back of the house.

Installing downspouts

I continued with the seemingly endless task of vacuuming up construction dust inside the house. We moved all of the power tools and hardware out of the living area, pulled up the floor covering, and moved some furniture around. I meant to take some pictures this evening, but bad weather kept me from returning after I left to pick up the kids. 

Oh, one more thing:

Fail

Yes, that's right. We failed our electrical inspection. I know; it's surprising, given how diligent the electricians have been. We'll try again next week.

Check in over the weekend! 

Day 168

It's the 31st, so I thought we'd be scrambling around moving the last few items into the house, but we're not quite there yet. We're getting close, though...

The day began at the scrapyard, where Brock unloaded the heap of steel that's been cluttering our yard all of these months. Recognize any metal in this picture?

Scrapyard 

The driveway crew arrived late morning, and worked conscientiously until about 8 pm. They were very meticulous about following the engineering plans to the letter, using a laser level, tamping down the sand, and working in the crushed concrete (a recycled product) to make a base that will prevent vehicles from getting stuck.

Skid steer working

Here are the kids watching the action from B's window:

Watching the fun

Driveway grading

First layer of crushed concrete

A little irony: the dump truck that was carrying the crushed concrete got stuck in the hill. I guess there's still more work to be done. These guys are pros, though, so they knew how to get unstuck quickly without tearing up all of their work. They'll be back tomorrow to finish up...as long as it's not raining too much. Cross your fingers; the weather's not looking promising.  

The electricians were back to finish, but the inspector never showed up. The plumbers were there today to hook up the hot water heater and the laundry room sink. 

Laundry room sink

Brock and Mark worked on stairs more. Hopefully they'll be able to put the handrails in tomorrow, if Brock can fit it in around his work schedule. 

Mark did some cleaning in the kitchen, including removing all of the protective coverings on the appliances:

Kitchen

When the kids got tired of watching the skid steer, they played with the trains in the sheep room until it was time to head home.

Hard at play

Day 167

The electricians arrived at 5:30 this morning (so they said; no one was there to verify), but Brock had locked the deadbolt, which, as it turns out, doesn't use the same key as the one that is in the lock box. At 7 am they got in touch with Mark, who called us, and Brock raced over to let them in. They worked a respectable shift, but didn't finish, and their inspection has been moved until tomorrow. 

When I arrived this morning, I saw the flurry of activity that I've been waiting for all month. Cement crew, painters, and electricians were all on site. The cement crew framed out the stairs and sidewalk and poured the cement. 

Stairs and sidewalk frame

Cement

They also poured a slab at the freshly painted back door (There is a spacing problem with the lights that's bothering me, but that will have to be addressed later). 

Slab and red door

One of their trucks got stuck in the side of the hill, which is a familiar theme here. I really wanted to take a picture of the foreman yelling and swearing into his phone, but I decided against it. He didn't look very happy with the situation. They finally were able to tow it out, using another one of their trucks and some straps.

Anyway, here's what the concrete looked like this evening. At the end of the sidewalk will be the driveway and a parking pad.

Concrete

The painters were all very friendly. One of them, a big, burly guy, told me that our house is lovely, "especially that little girl's room." He also wished us a long, happy life in our new house. Very nice. 

Painting the front door

Brock continued working on the goat fence. Here he is trying out some welding ideas.

Welding

More goat fence

The gas is now connected to the stove top. It's got a handy little child safety feature that, when activated, sets off an alarm if the knobs are turned.

Mark testing out the stove top

Mark installed the mirrors in the basement powder room and the master bathroom. The master bathroom mirror lights are in the wrong place; we'll move them so they're above the mirror, and Brock also has a plan for some indirect lights behind the mirror.

Basement powder room

Master bathroom mirror

I only managed to move one load of boxes today because the driveway was so cluttered with trucks, and the house was difficult to access with all of that wet cement. Instead, I finished the sheep wool and touched up some green spots in the hills. Then Brock set down the grass rug, so I brought the kids by to see the finished product. They loved it.

Admiring her new room

Petting the sheep

Hanging out in the hills

I know I said the driveway and yard people would be there today, but they were not scheduled to arrive until tomorrow. Today they dropped by to discuss logistics. 

Brock has been on antibiotics for his wrist for a week now, and finally, his body has rejected the splinters that were too elusive for the doctors to find. This is pretty disgusting, but look what popped out of his wrist this evening (not the dime).

Splinters

Day 166

It's crunch time. I guess even the electricians are feeling the pressure, because they were working away when I dropped by at 7:00 this evening. We now have outdoor lighting (or fixtures, anyway), and there's more electricity throughout the house. Supposedly they're finishing tonight.

Front porch lights

Close-up of front porch light

Side door light

Kitchen canister lighting

Kids' bathroom (with drywall touch-up)

Basement powder room (minus mirror)

Master bedroom light

Garage light illuminating Brock's fleet

Brock will be back to finish the stairs tomorrow, and the yard crew will be on site to give us a yard.

Update: 11 pm. Brock just got back into town and stopped in at the house. The kitchen appliances are all connected, but not all the lights and switches are working. Hopefully they can get everything up and running before the inspection tomorrow, not that we have any reason to be optimistic.

Weekend projects

We had a busy three-day weekend! We made a lot of progress in the moving department, thanks to friends and family, who helped haul furniture and watched the kids for us.

My sister Sarah flew in on Saturday evening to help us with some painting projects. I'd had some ideas for the kids' bedrooms, but with Sarah's creativity, everything turned out better than I had imagined. On Sunday morning, she started on the baby's room: 

Sarah, getting started

Nature scene emerging

Detail work

While Sarah painted hills in the baby's room, Brock started painting B's room. He finished the blue sky; the bottom half of the wall will be green, when we get around to it.

B's room

After lunch today, Sarah and I (but mostly Sarah) painted clouds:

Sarah painting clouds

I didn't take the best pictures, so it's a little difficult to see the clouds, but this will give you the idea:

Sky bedroom

Then, back to the baby's room to start in on the sheep.

Sheep

Baaaahhh!

Sarah and her apprentice 

Admiring Aunt Sarah's work

She didn't quite finish before it was time to race off to catch her flight, but all that is left is to add a little fluffiness to the lambs. After dropping her off at the airport, I headed back to the house to try my hand at lamb wool. Turns out, I'm practically a pro. I finished one flock before I had to go get dinner ready. 

Sheep with wool

The electrician made two appearances over the past few days. He slipped in late at night or early in the morning, undetected, leaving very little evidence that he'd been there at all. He's installed a few more light fixtures, smoke detectors, and the doorbell, but what we really need is for him to install the breaker panel so that there is electricity to the fixtures. Yesterday, Brock got fed up with looking at the dining area light sitting on the floor, and installed it himself. He'll probably tackle the breaker panel next.

New electrician on the job

Finally, look what's up and running!

Kegorater