Moving dirt

Came back from the lake and saw that our driveway was started. Have to dig down and slope the water away from the buildings.

Nice gentle curve from the garage drive along the back of the West Wing to the front drive. It needs to be wider on the curve so that it goes in front of the dumpster. All the dirt in the front of the well house (shed) will be made into parking using the same rock as the driveway rock.

 Of course what would dirt work be without a cut line. Th phone line was marked. Our dirt guy never thought it would only be 3 inches below level. So no land line, no internet and no cell phones at the house until we get AT&T out to repair the line. Since we have to use a cell booster for our cell phones and it goes through the phone line we are really unconnected at home. Maybe by Friday they say we will have new lines.

Here is Bill's great retaining wall with dirt put into the space between it and the drive. Now we get to move it where it needs to go and get it ready for the river rock that will go here. Last night in an hour we moved about 4 tons of dirt. Too much was put in so we had to shovel it into a wheelbarrow and take it to the east side that needs dirt built up. Buried a flat rock under the dirt where the driveway runoff goes so we shouldn't have a hole develop.

One Small Step

One small step toward maybe something happening

With winter weather coming in again next week we needed to get the house wrap on exposed wood. Can't put the siding or trim up around the door since the manufacturer is replacing the door sometime in the next two weeks. The outside of this should be finished by now but we have to wait for this to happen. We are in a constant waiting game. 

Rental Repos

 Building has come to a screeching halt; but we are still doing what we can. We own rent houses and when a tenant moves out and leaves belongings behind we call them Rental Repos. We love our Rental Repos. This chair was left behind about 6 years ago and it became my sewing machine chair. The chair I had before was okay but it wasn't hefty enough for the Hooligans aka Grandchildren to sit on my lap and sew with me. This chair works perfect.

It was a boring medium oak stained chair so I painted it a gorgeous color. I don't know if it will stay my sewing chair and be in a turquoise laundry room or if I will move it to the kitchen office. No matter where it ends up it will look beautiful! So excited to have the first of my decorating done. It may be years before it has a permanent home. Right now it sits outside our front door which is at the back of the garage. Makes us smile when we come home and see it.

New Techniques

We are needing to learn new ways to do things in our house building. Instead of the old straight edges for corners, the fashion right now are rounded corners. We have never done that before. So out to building lots to see how to do this. Talk to the professionals we know to get their tips.  We know we don't want to do the corners like they are in the apartment because you can tell there is no mud behind the plastic and we are concerned there could be problems. Sure enough the pros tell us you can do it either way but the preferred way is to put an inch of mud in the rounded edge for stability.

Okay time to try our hand at this.

Look at that pretty soft rounded edge. As if Bill has been doing this forever. You notice I say we but most of this is Bill.

The other thing we needed to figure out are arches. We want all of our openings to be arched. So back out to the building sites and learn from them.

 

Now all that needs to be done ate the rounded edges and mud. So glad we are doing this hallway first.It is a small area and not looking at the whole house to do while learning.

Gotta Be Pretty

I am such a girl when it comes to looking nice. I never leave the house without full makeup and jewelry. When we started the rock yard I wore low heels and skirts to work. Quickly found that that didn't work and had to buy my first pair of jeans. Still hate wearing them but as life changes so must you.

When I am working with Bill on the building I have my make up done, my hair fixed, and my jewelry on. I respect him too much for him to have to work with me sans make up; it is a scary picture. Maybe if I had color in my eyebrows and eyelashes it would be different but they are clear without a little help.

My work gloves were worn out so I needed a new pair. No splinters wanted! Bill was with me when I was finding my new pair and was laughing at me. Had to try every pair on to see which ones were the prettiest and could stand up to 2x4's.

I think I got the perfect pair.

Can't Wait

There may be snow on the ground but we want to see progress. We are too anxious to wait for this weeks warmer weather to take down the garage door and put up the exterior wall and french door for the Trophy Room. So onto working in the cold.

This is what the West Wing looked like with the garage door. We are selling the door if anyone knows someone who needs one.

Door is rolled up and new wall has been raised. We built it on the floor and then had a wall raising to put it up. Didn't build it all the way to the top so it would be easy for the two of us to lift.

It's cold outside when you have to put a blanket down for your knees to rest on.

Love the nifty little tool with the .22 to puts the nails into the concrete. So much easier than drilling a hole and hammering.

Time for the upper part of the wall,

This is why we bought ourselves a scissorlift. No climbing up and down ladders. Everything you need is on the lift with you. You just drive it back and forth to where you need to be working.

Time for the door!!!

It's wonderful, except it has to be replaced. The paint is peeling off the trim. When we put the handle on; the paint scratched off. It doesn't appear the factory primed the door and trim. We bought a never needs to be painted door and it isn't working that way.Oh, well at least we know we like the way it looks.

Thinking Way in the Future

This is a decision we are way off from needing to make, but I am already thinking on it.

 I thought I wanted to go with the dark wood floors everyone is doing right now. We had light wood floors for almost 20 years so a change would be nice.

 I got my wood floors in a barter with Bill. He wanted to hunt a Zebra and I said no, it's just a pretty striped horse. Then I came up with the idea that if the Zebra was hurt so bad that it would be a Lions dinner soon and if he would let me put in hardwood floors throughout the main floor of the house he could go after a Zebra. Our PH (Professional Hunter) had never had something like that happen before on one of his hunts. Oh, and I said I had to have proof that the Zebra was actually injured they couldn't just say it. He got his Zebra and I got my hardwood floors.

As you can see dark floors will not work for us. We live in the country and even with us walking on a carpet before coming into the house way too much is tracked in for dark floors. Guess I will have to look for other options. Thought maybe a distressed wood; it wouldn't show the dirt as much; no the indentations that make it so pretty will trap the dirt. May have to go with tile that looks like distressed wood but doesn't  have the indentations