IT'S COMING TOGETHER!

The progress on the house has been amazing this week.  Not all of the progress is visible in a picture but there has been a houseful of workers all week.  Our cul de sac is often lined with pickups and workers' cars.

The electricians came and finished all the wiring. The plumbers came and we even have water in the house--at least that is what they say, but it is hard to tell because we don't have any fixtures, sinks, toilets or other "water features" in yet. 

Today trim people worked on more siding,Tyvek covering for the porch, and exterior siding on the house. 

Each day things look a little better than the day before. 

Next week it is my understanding that the trim people will continue to do their work, we will wait for a few inspections and then the insulation people will come in and do their work before the sheet rock people begin.

Meanwhile, we are doing well in our neighbors' house but our dog is exhibiting signs of extreme agitation over all the changes in her life.  She is 14 years old and was already a bit senile before all these changes began.  The noise and people in our/her backyard was very disturbing to her, then a few thunderstorms caused her to dig out and run away.  Moving her to the yard across the street from our house (where we are staying) was just about the last straw for her.  She has spent part of her time trying to dig out and part of her time pacing the fence line.  She has not been eating well and sometimes acts very confused.  Funny thing is I can understand--I often feel exactly the same way--very confused!

PROGRESS BEING MADE

Workers have been busy at our house all this week.  Much of the progress is not too noticeable from the outside, but the electricians, plumbers, a/c men and cornice workers have been very busy on the inside and outside of the house.  We now have a front porch.  They worked on that today and put the little curved "eyebrow" on at the end.  The fellow who did it was so proud of it and came to get us to see if we liked it.  We gave our approval!

I was also surprised this afternoon to see that we had a bathtub in our upstairs bathroom--full of WATER!  They said they were testing the system for leaks.  I was excited to see that we now have a bathtub.

Next I found a chair in my "studio" ready for me to set up my easel and begin painting.  I just might do that in the morning if the workers are not there and while it is still cool.  However, the workers worked all day last Saturday and seemed to think they would come again this week.

While we were showing a friend our house Bossy Mama and our neighborhood does came with their four babies and paraded back and forth in front of our living room window--showing off their youngsters for us to admire.  Bossy Mama came right up to the window to make sure we saw them out there!

Bossy Mama and her crew are definitely NOT shy!

GRANDCHILDREN

At the first of May we went to Soph's First Communion in the Panhandle.  She was beautiful and very prayerful.

After her First Communion we gathered at her parent's house and enjoyed visiting and eating.  We were glad Son #3 could also join us.  Below is a picture of Son #3 and Son #2 with their dad.

At the end of May we went to our oldest granddaughter's graduation from high school--daughter of Son # 1.  It seems like just yesterday I held her as a newborn and let her play in the water in our backyard without anything except her diaper.  Guess she will blush to hear that.  She was beautiful the evening of her graduation and has many interesting things to look forward to in the future.

We had a dinner party for her before graduation and took lots of pictures.  Here she is with her grandfather and me.

Son #4 and his family joined us for the graduation dinner and we had a great time at the hotel before the graduation ceremony.

To the right is a picture of the graduate and her sweet mother.

HOUSE IS WRAPPED!

Last week we had a stairway to nowhere and this week it leads to our marvelous attic above our kitchen and dining room.

This week the framers finished the outside of our upstairs and put on most of the roof decking. The picture below shows the attic storage space with most of the roof decking in place.

This morning I came home from exercising and found that the upstairs of our house had been wrapped with Tyvek and men were installing windows upstairs.

The front:

And the back:

Next week our builder says they will work on electrical and plumbing. Things are really moving along nicely!

A BUSY WEEK!

Tuesday I had my second cataract surgery and this one was much more painful than the first one and I have not seemed to bounce back as quickly as before although my vision is so much improved that I cannot complain too much.

Wednesday we had a big rain storm in the evening and we suddenly realized that the workers had removed part of our garage roof on Tuesday. We rushed over to the house and, in running across the front yard, my husband slipped in the mud and fell heavily to the ground. At first he could not get up and I tried to help but fell on top of him. Finally we both got up--all covered with mud and found that our garage was flooded. We had stored some of our appliances and our lovely wooden front door there and all were sitting in about two inches of water. We spent quite some time cleaning up the water and putting everything up on blocks to keep them out of the water. Next we went out to check on our dog in the back portion of our backyard and she had dug out--evidently when the thunder and lightning started. The next morning a neighbor who found her called and told us that she was safe. Whew!

Thursday we began to move into the house across the street from our house since those neighbors left for the summer. Yesterday, in the steaming heat, we finished bringing our belongings to their house and found that it was full of mosquitoes. Itch, itch!

Our house is coming along nicely. The framing is mostly finished and the sides went up on the upstairs rooms. This is how things are looking from the front of the house.

And this is how the house looks from the back.

I also found another stairway to nowhere. However, on Monday they will cut a hole in the upstairs floor into our attic over the kitchen area. We have a huge area for storage up there. For someone who has lived in a house with almost NO storage for about 40 years, that stairway looks like a stairway to heaven!

Monday the workers will put roofing on and we will go around and mark where we want electrical outlets, cable outlets, and switches for lights.