'Twas the Week Before Christmas... (12-21-15)

…and the artwork was hung by their wires with care…..hmmm. Or something like that….

Paul and I have been busy hanging things, buying things and organizing things.  We realized as we put things on the wall  that 90% of what we have, whether it be pictures, charts, paintings, signs, or sea glass, pertains to the ocean. 

In the midst of this we got a call from our friends Brad and Marilyn, who wanted to know if we were home…Yup!  And just like that, we had guests!

They parked their rig in spot #2 and since it’s so close to Christmas, they are going to stay! 

 We haven’t had too much time for field trips but we did drive to nearby Quartzsite to have lunch with friends…

And we found the time for one hike-a 4 mile hike to the Pittsfield Mine.  It was a little underwhelming but at least we got some exercise.

House Update

We are now just finishing up the punch list on the house, down to about a half dozen issues that need to be addressed.  And we have a pool! I wish I had known when we filled the pool that the water temperature  would plummet due to the cold weather we are having.  When it was filled, it was 65 degrees.  It quickly dropped to the mid 50s.   Is sure does look pretty at night, especially with the Christmas lights!

Looking at the gorgeous water, I got desperate and decided I needed to go for a dip..

We called Brad and Marilyn and they came over to take some pictures….

With a water temperature of 56*, one dive in, and I couldn’t wait to get out of the pool

…and into the toasty warm hot tub.

The weather has NOT been conducive to heating the pool and hot tub (BRRRR….) but we did manage one evening in the spa.

Once we got a cover, the pool stopped looking as pretty, but its a solar blanket and will help keep the water warm.  Today is the first day that both the pool and hot tub have been usable.  The pool water is  80* and the hot tub is plenty hot.  Just in time for Christmas!

Settling In and a Buying Frenzy (12-10-15)

Editor's Note- I post this even though it took me a very long time.  The program I usually use to compose my blog posts is not working right now and its much more time consuming to post without it, and pictures hardly ever line up correctly it seems.

It was with much interest, and some sadness that we watched Mike and Julie pull their rig around the house as they took off to their next destination. We were thrilled with how easy it was to maneuver the rig all the way around to the front.


We’ll miss them, but not for long- they are coming back for Christmas!!








In the meantime, the days haven’t gotten any less busy for us.  We are still working on the punch list, but luckily it is getting shorter and shorter.


Every day there are two or 3 subcontractors at the house doing small jobs.  The AC system was replaced, and now the dry wall guys and then the painters will have to come back in to do their touch up.

The pool is very close to being finished.

The 3 of us have been settling in as best we can.  We still don’t have all our stuff yet, but we have enough to get by.

  Many people have asked how Dozer is doing settling in…. he has lost the wild eyed look but still follows me from room to room when he is not off exploring on his own:

It took him some time to find the comfortable places to snooze.  Just call him Goldilocks I guess.

He finally found a soft spot!

Now that most of our stuff has arrived, we have started a buying frenzy to fill in the “blanks”.  Our first major purchase was a king size mattress.  We didn’t keep ours so we have been sleeping on the full size guest bed.

  Off to Bullhead City we went, looking for a mattress at Sam’s Club.  Of course, “we” couldn’t pass up the great Black Friday special on TV sets.

 The patio heater was next on our list. Not that we were desperate for it, but the price was right. We’ve used it several times already.

  Whenever we can, we shop the numerous garage sales, looking for bargains.  We don’t find much but we did find a great deal on the two chaise loungers. 

One thing I have been looking for, but unable to find, is a plastic butter dish.  Imagine my surprise when I opened a package delivered by the mailman. Inside was exactly what I was looking for, along with a thank you note from Dave and Nancy, who claimed they were “buttering us up” so they would be invited back!  What a great gift, and it worked- they are coming back for Christmas!

Giving Thanks (11-27-15)

The few days before Thanksgiving were frantic with last minute details.  Every morning when I arrived at the house at 7 am, there were 12 or so trucks crowding the yard and street. Everyone from painters to cleaners and plumbers were all trying to get their part of the job finished.

Amidst all this chaos, our friends arrived.

 

These are special friends- you know- the kind who show up when you are at your busiest, and most stressed, and manage to reduce your burden instead of adding to it. The kind of friends who bring you lunch without being asked, and who say “dinner is at our place” for the 5th night in a row, because they know you are too tired and too stressed to think about food.  The kinds of friends who just start doing whatever needs to be done…

from building a fence…

…to spreading gravel, they helped us push our projects forward.

At the end of the work day their job was not over, no sir, they managed to entertain us and keep us laughing no matter how tired we were.





Julie was quickly elected “Reader of the Owner’s Manuals”. With all new appliances, we are constantly hearing beeping and whenever an appliance made a noise, the call went out for Julie to decipher its meaning.

I have been so tired, I can hardly remember what we did in the last week, so in addition to all of the above, Julie was even the ghost writer for this blog post! We sure are lucky to have friends like that.


After the first of our stuff arrived Tuesday, Wednesday was finally moving day.  We were all determined to be at the house for Thanksgiving.  We spent the day mostly transferring our stuff from the resort to the house, and unpacking a few things. By about lunchtime, Mike and Julie were able to move to their RV spot at the house.

The spacing worked out just how we wanted it to, with plenty of room, and a great view of the unfinished pool!

Our move was more complicated-

-we had to take the camper off the truck, use the truck to transfer all our stuff, and then put the hitch back in so we could move our trailer over-we backed it into it’s spot just as it was getting dark. 

Finally it was Thanksgiving Day!

We got the good news that Dave and Nancy would be coming back for the holiday, and they were our first guests in the new guest room!

Cooking a holiday dinner in a house that we had just moved into the previous day turned into a complete comedy and involved countless trips out to the camper and trailers.

All morning long questions abounded-

Where’s the colander?  In the trailer. No wait, in the camper.

Do we have a bowl that will fit the cranberry?  Check in those those boxes over there…No?  Look in Julie’s trailer for one.

How do you use the timer on the oven?  JULIE!!!!!

Did we bring over the butter?  Nope, gotta go get it in the trailer.

Where’s the cover to that pot?  Apparently its on the other moving van- the one that didn’t arrive.

After a few hours and much laughter, the meal was ready and as always, we had a great time.





After just one day of standing around the island in the kitchen, the decision was made that we needed bar stools ASAP, so off we all went on Friday, to Lowes, where the Black Friday price on barstools was awesome!






We women split off to visit the stores we were interested in, while the guys headed to Tractor Supply and Harbor Freight.  Once we were all back at he house, the project of the day was the assembly of the stools.

All too soon it was time for Dave and Nancy to leave.  We sure enjoyed having the driveway full of vehicles, and hope it will be full often!

FINAL-LY (11-24-15)

As the build of the house drew to a close, we kept hearing about going for “Final”.  The electrician had to finish the outlets, so we could Go for Final.  The plumber had to finish the shower fixture, so we could “Go For Final”.  However, the painters didn’t have to finish painting, because we didn’t need that done in order to Go For Final.  It slowly dawned on me that, in my head, I was thinking went we Got Final, we would be finished and ready to move in, and that’s not so.  “Final” is final inspection for the city, certifying that the house is livable.

 Only the basic necessities have to be finished, so in the last week we have put off anything that wasn’t needed for Final Inspection.

Then I found out that even though we were Going For Final on Thursday of last week- Wes didn’t really expect to pass it- he uses the first go-around as his punch list for what else needs to get done.  Luckily there were very few items on the list, and we were able to pass Final Inspection last Friday. Hooray!

One of the major last minute items we had to do was final grading of the lot.  In order to pass inspection, the lot has to drain away from the house and towards the street.





  When the excavating company was here to do the final grading, they agreed to bring and spread all the gravel we need to cover the yard.  That was a huge help!

They even let Paul help with the grading…

Just kidding- they left the equipment sitting idle and we took advantage for a photo opportunity.






We have taken the time to get and install a mailbox, so we can get packages delivered, and the washer, dryer and refrigerator have been delivered and are fully functional- Yay!.






Once we passed inspection, the race was on to finish the house enough so that our household goods could be delivered on Tuesday.  There have been 3 major glitches in the last few days:

The movers showed up early, which was nice, but the painters were still painting the trim at the front of the house, so they had to wait to move things in the house.

 

As I mentioned previously, they weren’t able to fit all of our stuff on one truck (because we were the third household loaded onto the truck) so we had no idea what was coming.  We have since found out that they couldn’t fit the remainder of our stuff on the second truck either- so there will actually be three trucks delivering our stuff- but only one of them made it before Thanksgiving.



Our intent was to pile most of our stuff in the garage, and work from there, but ran into a problem.  When they painted the garage floor with epoxy, they hadn’t waited long enough after the acid wash, and the floor has a mottled look to it.  The decision was made to clear coat the floor, which was fine, but now it wasn’t dry enough to put anything on it.  Fortunately, sort of, they ran out of the clear coat before they finished, so one small section of the floor didn’t get done.  That’s where we piled our stuff.

Once we are done moving everything around, they will come back and finish clear coating.

The biggest, and most serious issue is the HVAC system.  We paid to have an Energy Star rated home, and there are a bunch of tests that are done, by an independent company, to make sure the house is energy efficient.

  In the picture he is testing the air coming through the vent, checking for temperature and force.  Unfortunately, the HVAC company decided that the original system that was supposed to go in the house was too small, and they upgraded it and put in a 5 ton AC system instead of a 4 ton one. In reality our house only needs a 3 ton system.  The larger system will short cycle, coming on and off much too frequently, and the blower is too strong for the house.

The energy company won’t certify the house as Energy Star until the issue is resolved, which will most likely involve cutting a huge hole in the garage ceiling to remove the existing system.

It will be annoying, but not the worst thing that could happen.