It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Hits the Electrical Cable

Monday morning I was on a conference call, relaxing and watching Mike work the backhoe. That was until the electrical cable was hit. Well, the electrician was disappointed that he didn't have more work at the house... 3 days later, I hear it's finally fixed.

Painting Party!

While Jason tears up my property with his machines, I am working on beautifying the inside of the house. Donna and Tom were excellent painting consultants! Don't worry, that peanut butter color looks excellent with a second coat.

Debris

This is the couch frame (or whatever it is?) that was pushed up against the bridge in a recent flood. The bridge will be put back in its former home, the couch frame will go to rusty metal stuff heaven.

This is where my new shed will go!

...and look at that sexy Kubota backhoe!

The Burn Pile

All the overgrown stuff from the front...

The New Steps

Work began this week on grading the land in the front and ripping out my old steps and putting in new (see Overgrown post) Oh, and look how nice the roof looks! If only the roof guy hadn't left roof debris everywhere...

So, I wanted progress!?

I arrived to the house Friday night with an ominous message from the landscaper (more of a land fixer) "There are some things you should know." I ventured out with my big flashlight that came with the house, and saw that the septic had been dug up. As I stared at the ceiling that night, I realized he was going to arrive Saturday morning to tell me that I had to spend some sort of money. And indeed, that was the case. I'm happy to report, it was just a new tank, and in the scheme of things, not too much money. Got a message today that all is back in order. Notice the new eaves where the pergola of the deck used to be.

Construction Destruction

There wasn't much to photograph this weekend. I arrived to find that not a whole lot of progress (at least nothing that really appeared to be progress) had happened. The washer-dryer unit was still in the dining room, but more of the closet had been removed to make room for it. The roof was still covered with tarps. The dumpster was gone (20 tons of stuff in it!) but more debris still remained. The contents of my utility room remained on my hearth. I did make it to Wal-Mart to work on organizing the miscellaneous from the utility room, stealing the idea of using plastic bins without the covers from Beth. (Note to self: stay away from Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoons.)

Today saw a bit more productivity with me around to crack the whip. A new skylight arrived and the old one was noisily removed and the new one installed. I got my office completely set up. Tom fixed the heater in my kitchen (thermostat was not working) and identified some new problems/mysteries with the electrical. We're calling in the experts. The plumber came by and there is promise that I will have a working laundry center by the time I arrive on Friday. I also threatened the roof guy - the roof better be on by the time I arrive "or else." I'm sure he was shaking in his shoes. The landscaper is coming by this week with his "ho" and will be causing more destruction I'm sure. By the way, "ho" is country speak for backhoe - what were you thinking!?

Da Roof

My leaky, nasty falling-apart roof has now been stripped off, and a new improved one will be on soon! Many bees have been killed and roofers stung in the process, but I'm sure it will look fabulous in the end.

"I'm surprised it's still here"

Demo on my old deck, which will be replaced with a 900+ square foot new deck (including hot tub and fireplace) commenced today. The contractor thought he would need to use a chain saw to get it out, but since it was just about to collapse anyway, a simple tap of the hammer made pretty quick work of it.

Connected in the Country

I now have cable and wireless internet! And it all happened quite painlessly. The cable guy says I have an "excellent signal" too.