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Wow, it’s almost been a year since we moved from Seattle and it’s the last day of 2025. We’re getting close to being able to move into our new house. The next two weeks are the big push. Our tile guy will finish this week and he’s amazing. His work is beyond words – he’s an artist. I’ll post some picture of his finished work.

We’re most of the tile and flooring is finished. This week is finishing up the bathrooms and grouting the tile floors and bathrooms. Then we have our awesome plumbers finish out the fixtures and hook the house up to the well. We have really good water but I’m installing some filters for particulates and sulfites. I also had them install an R/O filter under the sink for drinking water and ice cubes. There’s a few more things that need to be done for plumbing – but generally most of its finished.

We still have to hang inside doors and have out trim carpenter do the finish work on the kitchen island and cabinets. Our electrician has a bit more work on outlets, fans and our 220-volt appliances, which are installed next week. Painters are here this week doing doors and will finish out all the painting next week. Carpet will be installed after the painting. Our HVAC guy is waiting on a replacement condenser; we had one condenser go bad on us that heats the bedrooms. Hoping the replacement will be today or Friday. Crazy how the house still is warm with only two head units.

We’re closing in on the end with all the madness of finishing up the house. We both getting excited about finally moving in. There’re a million things to get done once we get a certificate of occupancy. We still need drapes to block out light, some accessories for the house like toilet brushes. And then there is the outside landscaping which needs to be done to reduce the mud and dust. I’m working on a retaining wall to keep the pad from eroding and the goats out of the house and yard.

Still need to schedule delivery of our furniture from the Amish place and the bed from Ashley. I’m thinking that will happen sometime in the couple of weeks. I’m pushing some of this out to next year to help with the tax situation – which will be ugly this year with the move and all the income needed to build the house.

So, more after the first of the year. Lots to do this morning before it gets crazy! Happy New Year and my God bless and watch over you!

Take care!!

Wow! It’s been almost a year since we started this adventure and now, we’re approaching Christmas and 2026. The house is making a lot of progress as we’re close to getting our occupancy permit.

We are at the stage where the inside is getting finished. We have some tile down, but ran short, so that’s on order. HVAC is now working, so now we have heat and cooling. Just need the wood floors installed and the rest of the tile and bathroom done. Our plumbers are coming this week to start setting the toilets and sinks after the counter tops go in today and tomorrow. Friday is the appliance pre-install walk-thru but can’t install anything until the floors in done. Unfortunately, our tile crew has the flu, so they are down for the week. Our GC got it also, so things are slowed down for now. We are still working on getting a carpet installer, which we need before we can get furniture delivered.

We’re thinking we get occupancy around the 2nd week of January. Probably won’t have everything done, but at least we can start moving into the house and out of the trailer. Lots of little stuff to do yet. We still have to pick out handles for the cabinets, get organizers for the cabinets and stuff for the house. We’ll have baseboards installed after we get our occupancy permit. And our mirrors for the master and 3/4 bath are on backorder because of parts – so those will have to wait. Like I said, lot of little things to do yet.

Next spring we’ll start with the landscaping. I’m hoping to put in a retaining wall around the house and level off the pad so we can do some xeriscaping around the house and get in some native plants. We have to add some steps up to the house and gravel around the house, so the rain doesn’t splash mud on the white stucco. It’ll be another year before we get everything settled out. And we need to have the outdoor cooking area done so we can BBQ.

So much else has changed since we first got here. Wendy left her job at Vitality Works and is now working for PNM our electric utility for NM. It’s great because I can help her with all her work. I’m retiring for good on March 27th this year. A bit scary as I’ve spent a lot of my retirement monies building this house, but I think it’ll work out fine with Social Security and my pension. I’ll need to be more frugal, which will be a challenge but character building. I think I’m going to work on a consulting business to bring in a little extra income and do volunteer work at the Albuquerque Biopark and Aquarium to use my scuba skills. I’ll also play golf and do some shooting along with woodworking and riding our Can-Am in the desert. I love riding our side-by-side as it’s sooooo much fun and really is a good workout.

In the spring, I’m going to work with Wendy’s cousins to revitalize our pastureland. We have about an acre and a half of land we can use for pasture. We’re going to let Wendy’s cousin’s goats graze the land along with the cow. And we have overwintering Sandhill Cranes that are spectacular to watch.

I’m hoping that once the pasture is revitalized, the Cranes will spend some time at our place. They keep the dogs busy watching them as they are a noisy bunch of birds. Sandhill Cranes are the largest crane in North America.

This year the holiday season is going to be pretty low key. We’re staying here in New Mexico and doing some local events. We saw the Nutcracker this year – very different from the versions in NYC and Seattle. We’ll do Christmas dinner at one of the local resorts and then stroll thru Old Town Albuquerque and enjoy the lights. It’s been warm here, in the 60’s during the day and 30’s at night – unusual for NM this time of year.

We’ll there’s a lot more to talk about, but I have to get some chores done before 7:00am this morning. Need to go turn off the lights in the house and get the garbage out to the curb. I have to leave the gate open today for all the subcontractors coming as it’s going to be busy here today and tomorrow. And I need to finish a drainage trench today with the tractor and spread the rest of the gravel. Have to get the tractor back to my father-in-law on Sunday/Monday.

Take care everyone and have a wonderful pre-holiday weekend. Wishing everyone a wonderful Xmas and New Year.

-Gary

Man, it’s been a while since I posted. Lot’s going on with the house. Interesting part of the build, there’s work occurring inside the house that’s not visible, i.e. drywall, taping and spackling and doing some cleanup work. The Pella guys were here yesterday. They did a good job of fixing the windows and they look much better. They fixed one of the broken ones except the bedroom window – which they will come back and fix once it comes in.

Last week, they did trench for the electrical and water. Here’s a picture:

The trenches need to be inspected, so we’re waiting on that before we cover the trenches. Hoping that happens this week.

Today is the start of the outside stucco, they will be brown coating which is the base coat of the stucco. Once set and cured, then they do the color coat after everything is done inside. We should be done with the inside work and plaster next week. Then we can start with the electrical and painting. We’re meeting with the tile guys again Saturday to confirm all the materials and rooms. It’s starting to come together and it’s feeling like a house. We’re pretty excited to get in the house and out of the trailer.

We’ve been going to church lately. I felt like something was missing as I get older, and Wendy likes going to church, so I thought it might be a good time to try church again. I’m thinking that it’ll help us build roots in the community – which it’s doing. And thinking it will help me build friends than relationships that are durable and lasting. I’m volunteering to be an election official just to get me out of the trailer.

Wendy has started her new job at PNM. I think she’s enjoying it as she doesn’t have to deal with people and she’s an individual contributor. Funny thing is that she understands the conversations and all the technical terms they use. She must have been listening to me at some point. Too funny. She does ask me about terms and lingo occasionally – which is good because I want to help her be successful.

Well, I need to get going today as there’s lots going on at the house and I do have some Itron work to do…. I’m going to do a walk thru of the house with all the wall board up and a drone shot of the brown coat to post later.

Take care everyone.

It’s been a bit since I last posted. Couple of weeks or so. Thought I’d post up progress on the house and what’s been going on with us as we adjust to living in New Mexico.

First, the house. Things are progressing quickly. We’re still hoping to make a Thanksgiving move-in date. It’s going to be close. Drywall is getting hung this week. All the interior framed walls have been insulated. Interior doors are here; frames are in and stained. Drywall should be done this week, then the team comes in and does plaster and texture. Here’s a picture of the current state of the dining room/drybar area. The brown stuff is sound insulation installed in the framed areas.

We’re getting the power trench dug this week and the buried pipes marked. We have cabinets on order, appliances are in storage with the vendor and I’ll be putting down some $$ for the lighting package. Our GC is dealing with the flooring and carpet. Pella will be here second week in September to fix all the windows and install the front door. The house is wrapped and ready for stucco – so that’s in flight.

We’re waiting on the Septic company to get back to us and schedule septic install. Then we’ll get water installed and painting started.

Things are starting to come together and it’s exciting. Thank goodness because I’m NOT A TRAILER PERSON. Living in the 5th wheel has been an experience, but I’m ready for my house and living like real people. Wendy is super excited. We bought Amish bedroom furniture and an Amish entertainment center. We still have to buy a bed and a living room television so there’s more monies. We did settle on Ethan Allan living room sofa and chairs for the kitchen island eating area. We have a fabricator for the kitchen counters and the quartz picked out. Once we get most of the interior stuff done, then we’ll level out the building pad and start work on the retaining wall to keep the pad stable and define a “yard area”. We’ll probably do a cinder block wall and stucco.

On a personal level, Wendy secured a new job with PNM the power company that I used to work for. It’s significantly better than where she’s currently working and close to home. She’s excited and I think she’ll like it a lot more with a lot less stress and drama. We’ve started going to a local church that’s small and has a lot of locals. Since my brother-in-law is recovering from his lung and heart issues, we haven’t gone out to breakfast, so we decided to invest time in our spiritual needs and become more rooted in the community. It’s very helpful for my mental health and our marriage.

We’re slowly finding doctors and dentists. I now have a good endocrinologist and cardiologist locally. I haven’t spent enough time finding a primary care doctor, but I’ll get that done this week, hopefully. My endocrinologist in Seattle put me on Ozempic, so I’ve lost a lot of weight (175 -> 157) and my blood pressure is way down. My diabetes is better and improving, but I need to start exercising on a regular basis and so resistance training. The Ozempic has reduced my lean muscle mass some, so I look a bit like a skeleton. Wendy isn’t happy with how much weight I’ve lost. With resistance training, it’ll restore the lost muscle mass. Still haven’t reviewed my echocardiogram with my cardiologist, but I read the results which seem positive. I’ve been taking MitoQ to help reduce and repair some of the hardening of the arteries. It seems to help but I won’t know until I talk to the cardiologist.

Once we’re in the house, I’m going to get involved in some shooting sports, specifically sporting clays. I think it’ll help me get more rooted in the community. The sporting clay shooters meet on Wednesday for breakfast before they go to the range. Sounds like fun and a chance to make some new acquaintances.

I’m planning on going to full retirement right after the first of the year. I think it’s time, and I will have the shop empty, so I can start building out my office and doing wood working. And there will be a lot of landscaping to complete. I can ride on Wendy’s medical and vision insurance and supplement with Medicare and a gap insurance plan. There will be plenty to do around the property, and I do need to get the pasture fenced.

Harp, our Wheaten Terrier has been having issues with arthritis. We took him to the vet and they gave him a shot of Librela Blue which really helped him. It’s good for about 3 – 4 weeks before he needs another one. He’s at 3.5 weeks from his first shot, so I can tell he needs another one. I’ll take him in this Friday. He’s getting up there now. He’s 11 going on 12, so we have a little more time with him and we intend to spoil him until we can’t. His passing will be really hard on Wendy and I. He’s such a wonderful dog. We are parenting Juni, which is Jaret’s labradoodle, but she’ll leave when Jaret comes to NM this October to pick up his stuff. He’s moving to Utah and becoming a resident. That’s a whole different story, but a good one….finally!!!!

Well, that’s about everything for now. There’s always little stuff going on, but generally life is trending in the right direction and we’re fortunate that everyone and everything is healthy for now.

Have a good week and labor day. We all work too hard, and need to work on being present for our loved ones. I’m so fortunate to have a wonder wife, daughter and sons. I miss them. I’m hoping I can make a trip up to Seattle and spend some time with my family and reconnect with our grandkids.

Take care –

It’s been almost a month since I last posted. Time flies when your old and having fun…

So many things have happened since my last post. Let’s start with the house. Not much has been going on from the outside but a lot has happened on the inside. All the electrical is wired, inspections passed and now for the insulation and drywall. We’ve charted a path with Pella about the windows. We’ll see how the results are once all the pieces are in place. We have updated door hardware coming and have ordered all the interior doors. The Pella sliders are amazing and will look incredible. I’m kind of pissed at us for deviating from the recommended windows, but we’ll learn. The painters are working on staining the beams and the insulation guys start tomorrow with insulating all the interior walls. The foam guy came today and foamed in all the cracks with closed cell foam to stop air loss. We’re still trying to get the front door sorted out with Pella. The local Pella team sez the current front door won’t work as delivered. The corporate team sez it’ll work fine. I’m letting my contractor and architect work out the problem with Pella. They’ve been less than helpful. The local people are awesome, the corporate people are terrible. I wouldn’t recommend Pella unless you don’t have a window choice. Nice windows, terrible customer service and support.

We’ve paid for the new bed and entertainment center, all built by the Amish who work with Simply Amish. Beautiful stuff and will last forever. We’ve picked out a sofa and dining chairs for the kitchen bar. We still need to buy a mattress, but that will wait for a couple of months until we get closer to occupancy. Lots of little stuff to worry about. We finally have a connection plan for power, and that’s getting spun up. Giant pain in the ass working with PNM, which is going to be Wendy’s new employer and my old employer. We have to put up a private pole, run the lateral up the pole and wire it over to the power pole (that I also own and has the transformer I bought) so they can hook it up. PITA!! Hopefully next week that will start. We still have the septic to install, but that should be pretty quick and easy.

As the house is sitting on a 3′ building pad, there is a bit of an uphill climb to get to the front door. I think we’re going to build a 3 1/2′ retaining wall around the property with cement blocks and then stucco it. I’ll install steps at the appropriate location for access to the original ground level. That’s a ways out.

Personally, I’m so ready to get out of this trailer and into the house. The main A/C unit fan went out, so we’re running the two alternate units. The units are able to cool down the RV to 90 degrees when it’s 110 degrees outside, so not a great temp gradient but at least it’s not terrible. The mobile RV repair people are going to replace the entire A/C unit as fan motors are not available since they come from China and are tariffed at 80%. And we all know that we pay for that, not China – so thank you President Trump. The man has no idea about the real world and is a complete moron about how things work in reality. Sorry, one of my sore subjects. Stupid people.

Okay, it’s August so I’m a little more than half way through the year. That means retirement is closer. I’m going to retire 1/20 as that will make me 73 years old and I want to have my own time now. I’m planning on learning some Spanish, playing golf and focusing on playing guitar. I think I’ll finish my drone pilot license and do some pickup work. I’m going to make an appointment with a lawyer here to get our living will and family trust set up in accordance with NM law. I think I’m going to title the land and house to the trust, and probably all the vehicles.

We thought we were going to lose our baby Harp on Sunday. He was lethargic and not eating or drinking. Having been down that path with 3 other dogs, we were going down the rathole of losing Harp too soon. Turns out, Harp was having an arthritis flair up and he was in pain. The Vet prescribed a shot, did a blood test and x-rays on Harp. He’s healthy, passed the ultrasound with flying colors. The meds are starting to take effect and he’s showing improvement. I thank the Lord that Harp is still here and will be for a while. I’m grateful.

Well it’s time for bed. I’ll post more after the wall board is up and the house is ready for stucco. 3 more months!!

Take care everyone.

Well, it’s Friday. Time to post since it’s been a while since my last post. Today is 9 years since my Dad passed. I miss him terribly. I miss my Mom and my brother too. It’s hard being away from my kids and grandkids. I miss them all. Even though we didn’t see them much while we lived in Seattle, it was always good for me when we did see them. And we had the option of planning something, which we never did often. If I had advice, I’d say stay close to your family, it brings satisfaction and keeps your mental health positive. Okay, enough wallowing.

Let’s see, the last couple of weeks have been busy. It seems like we have a weekend free and it gets swallowed up. So let’s start with the house. Electrical is on its way to being done, hopefully today. We will not lack for outlets, lights or switches!!! Our stucco guy started work today on the house. I expect to have the house wrapped over the next week. We got the Kiva fireplace installed yesterday. Turns out that the design our architect used for the chimney isn’t to code. The spark arrester at the end of the chimney needs to be either out in the open or if it’s enclosed, then the enclosure needs to be metal. Soooo, that means we need to remove the wood enclosure and fabricate a metal version. Here’s picture. The red circle is the part that needs replacing.

So, we’re working on finding a fabrication shop that can provide a chimney cap that replicates the style. Frankly, a chimney cap would be better than the original approach. A chimney cap will provide rain protection and keep the critters out of the chimney space. Guaranteed that a bird would nest up there. Still nothing from Pella about the windows. Wendy is livid and so am I. We’re close to having the windows ripped out and replaced by Anderson or something else that is better. The downside is that would set the schedule back 6 weeks. And the front door is a debacle. Our contractor isn’t comfortable with how it goes together or that it will have any structural integrity. Our architect wants to try it and see how it goes. I’m not keen on that approach as I don’t want any more digging into the SIP panels to make fixes for crappy manufacturing.

Alright enough with the house for now. Hoping to get electrical rough in inspection done next week, Pella repairs done and doors installed. The sliders should be delivered next week. We should also finalize the cabinets next week. My last lighting quote was 20k, most of it was lighted medicine cabinets for the 3/4 and master bathrooms. With the lack of space, we needed the lighted mirrors and medicine cabinets – especially in the 3/4 bath.

So, we took my brother-in-law to the hospital last Sunday. His oxygen level was at 62%. The emergency room doctor told him that if he had waited, he would have passed out and died. Fortunately, they got him on oxygen and are working on getting the excess water out of his legs and lungs. He as congestive heart failure due to his weight. His hospital doctor was very straight forward with him. Told him that if he doesn’t take this seriously and make changes, he was going to send him home and free up bed space because why waste it on someone who isn’t interested in helping themselves. I think that shook my brother-in-law up, a lot. He’s working on getting his O2 levels up so he can start walking with us. Our goal is to take the side-by-sides to Red River at the end of next month. Hoping that works out. This is why we moved here – to take care of Wendy’s family now.

It’s been hot here even though monsoon season cools off in the evening. Makes it difficult for me to get much done during the day as I get too hot. Freaking aging sucks from the standpoint of being active. I have to get stuff done in the morning or evening. Things will cool off in September. I’m going to try and get our well water analyzed on Monday just so I know what’s in the water and if I need to filter it. We’ve been drinking it with a charcoal filter since we arrived here, and the water tastes good. More worried about chemicals that you can taste, like arsenic.

I’ve been spending the last couple of weeks doing project management and sourcing for the house. Making decisions about where outlets go, thermostats for the heated flooring and a million other things. Work seems to be getting in the way and I’m seriously contemplating just retiring. I need to get the house built and occupied before I do that. I’m so underutilized at work and have so little responsibility now. If I was challenged or had a position that used my skills where I could see line of sight to results, it’d be awesome. But for now, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until they don’t want me anymore. Once I retire completely, I’m going to volunteer more, take advantage of my time and golf, read more and learn Spanish (so I can understand what the workers are talking about!) and finally get my Part 107 drone license so I can do gig drone work. I’ll spend more time in the workshop, build out my office in there and do more wood working. There will be a lot of work to do around the property too. Fencing, mowing and building out the landscaping. I don’t think I’ll lack for things to do. I’m actually looking forward to a change of pace. I think it’ll be really good for my mental and physical health. We’ve started trying to attend a local church on Sundays to build more community and a better mental attitude. With the state of our society today, church helps overcome all the negativity and polarization. It provides a better framework for living.

Well, that’s probably enough for today, Friday. Next week will be a heart test for my cardiologist. Hoping that goes well. I’ll post next Friday and summarize house progress, progress toward starting to build a new life here and anything else that might be interesting.

Take care and enjoy the weekend.

-Gary

Sometimes after a trying day it’s just humbling to go stand in the pasture and watch the goats nibble on the ground cover.

It’s been a bit since I posted last. As expected the house building is slowing down from a visible perspective. We’re in the rough-in stage now. We’ve got all the plumbing and HVAC rough-in work done, now for the electrical. This is the most difficult as it’s all about where outlets go, switches go, which switch controls what lights, how many switches control the same lights, lights in the bathroom, so on and so on. Lots of small details that need attention.

An example. We had floodlights on the exterior of the house that were motion activated. After getting the house built and all the intrusions that have been made to the SIP panels, I decided to NOT put in anymore lights on the exterior of the house that would require cutting into the insulation and putting in a lighting can. Instead, we deleted all the exterior cans and floods from the plan and put in two outlets for low voltage lighting to replace the floods. We originally had sconces for hallway lighting, we removed all of those and went with Brio LED cans instead. There have been so many lighting changes, especially after visiting the lighting store, that we finally scrapped the original plan and started over. It’s been an experience trying to get all the lighting right. Once it’s done, you really can’t change it. Locating the outlets for the built-in appliances is a challenge as you have to coordinate with the cabinet maker to make sure everything lines up. It’s crazy.

Last post I believe I talked about the mess Pella made with the windows. Well, we have a resolution but it’s going to set us back at least two months on the build. Thank you, Pella, for screwing up everything. I will NEVER use Pella again for windows. They have TERRIBLE manufacturing and customer service. Not like I’m every going to build another house….. Here’s the plan, Pella is sending a crew out to inventory the windows, fix what they can and replace what they can’t fix. Problem is the crew won’t start until the 29th of July. So, house wrap, stucco and all the exterior stuff that needs to be done is delayed a couple of months until the windows and doors are installed. And that means the framers will have to reframe the windows and make a mess of the SIP. We’re so pissed off about this. I’m trying to be level-headed about this, but it’s hard. We’ll see what the end resolution is for us.

Otherwise, things are moving along. The electrician is about 2-3 days away from finishing the rough-in work for the electrical. Monday all the soffit framing will be finished and the doors installed. We’re trying to move and not be too affected by the Pella screwups.

On a different note, Wendy is interviewing for jobs. Her current job is a mess, and the owner has to micromanage people. Typical startup owner whose business has grown, and he isn’t capable of letting go or trusting people to run their departments. His business will never grow beyond where it’s at now. He’s a genius at organic formulas and creating supplements, but terrible at running the business. He’ll spend a dollar to save a dime, then change his mind again. And his staff thrives on chaos and generates chaos just for the sake of excitement. We’re hoping that she hears something positive end of this week or next.

It’s been a crazy week. Wendy’s brother called us on Sunday with low blood oxygen level (60) which is fatal if left unattended. We took him to the hospital, and they’ve been treating him. He has congestive heart failure happening because of his weight. 436lbs and he’s 5’10”. His cardiologist has been really straight forward with the impact of his weight on his health. In the past, he’s been really depressed which has contributed to his issues. He’s finally coming out and starting to be more socially connected. We’re hoping this doctor’s tough message to him that if he doesn’t course correct, he’s a dead man, will make an impact. I think it’s making an impact, but time will tell. Hopefully, they let him out on Friday after cleansing all the CO2 and excess blood from his lungs and water in his legs. It isn’t good. He’s on oxygen now, so we’ll see how things play out today and tomorrow. Scary, scary stuff.

Well, that’s enough craziness for today. I’ll close out now and blog more later once things settle down and move forward on the house.

Take care and have a good weekend.