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
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