Time for another post as it’s been a while since the last one. As you can see, things have slowed down on the house. We’ve managed to get all the rough-in plumbing done, HVAC rough-in’s done, and all the vents finished. The roofers came on the 4th and sealed up all the penetrations so there is no leaking during the monsoon rains.
Our HVAC guys will need to move one vent as it’s too close to a Canale. That should happen this week. Yesterday our electrician started, so there was a lot of discussion about where switches are placed, how to power the house, running ethernet cable and small changes. We’re still discussing about fireplaces in the living room. Wendy wants a wall-hung fireplace, and I don’t want one at all. I’d rather use the space for furniture or entertainment center as this house has limited wall space. I can’t see the point of having a fake fireplace in the living room, especially since we have a Kiva fireplace on the patio. I’ll have the electrician wire in an outlet, and we can decide later.
We got all our windows and doors yesterday. Now our framing crew gets to install them today and tomorrow in 100-degree heat. Totally sucks. As we’re in monsoon season, it’ll be hot for the next few days and then storms move back in on Saturday with rain (which we need). The framing crew needs to do some more soffits down the long hall and a step soffit on the living room outside wall to cover an HVAC setup. I should have eliminated the beams on each wall of the great room which would have made things easier. And we have a Canale that drains over the door to the garage, so we need to move that at some point or figure out a way to redirect the water. 90% of the time it won’t be a problem, but when it rains during the summer, it will be annoying.
Saturday we have the cabinet lady coming to do final measurements for the cabinets. And I’ll order all the bathroom trim for the 1/2 bath from her. And finally, we have a meeting with our light fixture person on Thursday at noon to pick through light fixtures, switches and outlets. We still need to find a fireplace option for the living room.
Generally, things for the house have been pretty mild and not a lot of drama. Most of the drama will be figuring out how to fund the final costs once the funds from the house sale run out. The payment for the windows and doors will pretty much drain things, but we do have funds to finish. It’ll be a question of taking out a small loan or just paying for it out of savings. All about tax advantages.
On a different note, we are slowly getting settled in the community. Los Lunas isn’t a bustling city like Albuquerque where there is most everything available. We are in a rural area, so there is limited availability for shopping, doctors and vets. We did go to church this last Sunday and I really enjoyed it. Nice people, small congregation and low key. I’d like to figure out a way to make that a weekly thing and still have breakfast with my brother-in-law. I think it would be good for my mental health and attitude to keep going to church. I’ll talk to Wendy and my brother-in-law about moving breakfast to Saturday or early Sunday.
Today will be too hot to do much in the day. Need to get stuff done in the morning or evening. During the day it’s super-hot and humid during the monsoon season. I know it’s high desert, but 25% – 40% humidity here is killer. Today will just be work stuff and killing the darn fly’s. I’ll need to chat with our electrician to talk about the fireplace in the living room and light switches and outlets.
Wendy is looking to upgrade her job now that she’s been here a while. Her current company is a revolving door as the owner can’t let people he hires do their job. He and his “circle” micromanage everything. The issue here is that jobs as so “gate kept” that you have to be related to someone or know someone to get the good jobs. She’s been turned down for several jobs where she is the best qualified candidate but didn’t have the right last name (Hispanic) or knew someone. Albuquerque Public Schools is the worst as they actually rewrote a job that was exactly like her job in Washington for Lake Washington School District because she was better than the candidate APS wanted to promote. This place will never grow because they suffocate innovation and reject new thinking and the people who bring that to the table. New Mexico is very ladened in Hispanic and Indian thinking. Arizona, next door, is growing leaps and bounds because they welcome innovation, new thinking and the people who bring that. New Mexico rejects that and continues to embrace legacy thinking and anti-growth. It’ll always be poor but rich with “Heritage” which is another way to say “we don’t want progress”.
Okay, enough soapbox. I need to get ready for the day. Lots to do.
Take care everyone.
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