Author: Gary Kessler

Gary’s post: Rough in plumbing starting to take shape. The plumbers have been busy, setting up where drains and water will come in and go out. They’ve done a really good job, and I’m seriously impressed with this husband-and-wife team. They brought their kids to the site and the kids keep Harp and Juni busy most of the day. Things are starting to take shape.

Today was my initial retirement date. My VP convinced me to stay part-time as I indicated earlier. So, I’m semi-retired and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I think I’ll go along with this for a while and see if I’m more invigorated or not. Having the insurance coverage would be good and the salary is always helpful while our President keeps doing dumb stuff that’ll ruin the economy.

Did some cleanup on the property before taking Wendy out to dinner tonight. As you can see from the picture above, the weather is moving in with some rain (YEAH!!) and of course, wind. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold with mixed snow and rain, so it’s the typical April weather event in spring. Warming up next week, back to the 70s and 80s. For now, this is a welcome break as the rain will clean the dust out of the air.

Tomorrow is the Coffee and Chocolate Fair. We’re going to explore it and have some fun. I’m going to drop off the truck and get the front windshield replaced. Lovely rock chip ran through the windshield down through the driver’s side. Takes 4 hours to replace this windshield. In talking to the shop, the Ford logo windshield is $1,200, the same windshield from the same manufacturer without the Ford logo is $450 + $200 to recalibrate all the electronics. I can live without the logo.

The hard part about our choice to move to NM, for me, is meeting new people and making new friends. It’s difficult to spend all day on the property and in the trailer without any interaction. The dogs have a fit every time I leave, so I feel guilty leaving them. When I leave, I have to guess if I leave the furnace on or put on the A/C so the trailer doesn’t get too hot for them. Not a big deal, just another thing to try and not forget. I was hoping to be able to get out more, play some golf and meet people. So far, that’s been difficult. One of the things that shortens people’s lives is isolation and lack of social interaction. While Facebook, texting and all the technology connections are nice, real face-to-face is what keeps people engaged and active. I’m struggling with that, and I really need to up my game on this. I keep telling myself, once the house is built, but I think I need to start making those changes this month and next. Need to think about this more. I am looking forward to better weather and getting some bike riding in, more off-road riding and generally getting out more.

Well, need to get ready for dinner as Wendy will be home soon. Need to make sure she enjoys her birthday and has a nice dinner with some great Italian food. Ta-Ta for now.

Gary’s post: Doing a late in the day post today. Not a lot going on as the foundation crew generally finished their work and the plumbers were here today to stake out the plumbing. You can really start to see how the house is going to take shape. I made some changes to our initial plumbing thoughts. We wanted an infinity drain in the shower, but I can’t do that as we’d have to remove some of the foundation and there’s not a good location for an infinity drain. So, I’m going old school and putting a drain in the middle of the shower. Boring but the only solution I had. Couple of other adjustments to the master bathroom also. And we made some changes to the outdoor sink also to keep the drain from freezing using heat tape and some shut offs, trying not to add penetrations to the SIP panels.

I think the adjustment of going from our Renton house, which was spacious to this house will take some time. We’re losing 1000 sq ft of living space, so rooms are smaller because we wanted more rooms. I was hoping living in the trailer for 8 months would adjust our expectations of space, but I’m not sure that will occur. We’ll have to see how this plays out.

I totally space on getting construction insurance through my original broker and now I’m spending a lot of time trying to find construction insurance. Construction insurance is just a bundle of policies that provides liability, theft and disaster during the building process. I’m more worried about liability than anything else. Sometimes they do builders liability that converts to homeowners once the construction is done, which State Farm offers, but I’m not sure I want State Farm Insurance on my home. If I have time tomorrow, I’ll try and get this finalized.

Tomorrow the plumbers were going to dig out the plumbing, but there’s supposed to be a weather change for the worse/better. Rain moving in which is supposed to change to snow this weekend. We’ll see how that happens. We need to moisture and the rain to keep the dust down and finally get the pasture to grow.

I’m excited to start working part-time. This trailer life is getting a bit stressful. I spend all day in the trailer without people or socialization except the dogs. My voice is starting to get worse, so I need to get out. Hoping more time will get me out of here.

Well, time to go. More later.

Gary’s post: As you can see from the picture, the foundation is being framed in for the concrete pour. This part of the house building is particularly important because it is literally the foundation for the house. From here, the plumbers will be in tomorrow to start their work on the rough in plumbing. That’s putting in all the pipes that come through the concrete into the correct locations for toilets, bathtubs, sinks, showers…. you get the picture. And we have a couple of electrical outlets that will need conduits in the foundation for floor outlets. After the plumbers, the foundation contactor lays insulation on the dirt pad, then 6″ of crushed gravel compacted and then he pours the concrete. We’re doing 3,000 psi concrete for the house and 4,000 psi concrete for the garage. The rating is the pounds per square inch the concrete can support before crumbling.

These guys worked through our 40mph sustained winds yesterday. Blew dirt everywhere and must have been miserable. I stayed in the trailer all day and worked. The windstorm was from a cold front that moved through here. Our temps went from 70/40 to 55/28 this morning. It’s supposed to snow this weekend, which is crazy because the trees, weeds and flowers are out from the warm weather. It’s not a bad thing though, it kills the flys and bugs that hatched last week.

You might have noticed the covered off-road vehicle in the above picture. That’s the Can-Am we bought for driving in the desert. Owning one of these is like going to a strip club. You keep throwing money at the stripper hoping for the ride of your life…

I do enjoy the Can-Am. It’s like a blank canvas. While the basic vehicle is awesome and fun to drive, I can add all sorts of stuff to make it look cool and drive even better. Like I said, you keep throwing money at it hoping for the ride of your life…. We’ve added turn signals and a horn to make it street drivable, when necessary. I’m going to add fenders to keep rocks from coming in the cabin and I’ve added a spare tire holder so that when we crush a tire, we can quickly change it out and head back to the trailer or house. The idea is to keep from getting stranded or seriously hurt. When I lived here last time, we had motocross bikes, so we did a lot of dirt riding. I still have some of the gear. I must say that I look ridiculous wearing a helmet at my current age.

Yes, that look of terror is real. Taking that thing off was painful. My ears were bruised for two days thanks to blood thinners and big ears. Needless to say, that helmet was returned for something a bit less brutal on my ears and more comfortable.

Back to the house. We finally settle on windows and doors. We wanted a multi-slide door for the living room to patio door. It was 4 panels, so it would slide into one panel leaving a three-panel opening. Well, that would have been an $16,000 door from Pella. While it is a damn cool door, it’s not $16,000 worth of cool. We’re staying with double opening sliders and keeping the costs reasonable. Pella windows and doors are part of the package we bought from our architect – so we’re locked into those product lines. We decided to go with fiberglass windows as they have a lifetime warranty, are triple paned, and oblivious to weather and temperature. Doors are from the reserve collection, which should work out well as we’re mixing collections and looks. Hoping to have those delivered sometime late April.

Enough for now. I wanted to catch up on where we are with the house construction. Things are getting very real, and I need to start watching the budget to make sure we cover our costs. With the dirt pad going over, we’ve come close to eating up our savings on the foundation. I have to update the house cost spreadsheet later this week.

Hoping everyone has a good evening and enjoyed “hump day”. Take care and more tomorrow.

Gary’s Post: Haven’t been posting in the last few days – vicious cold (or whatever) clobbered me thanks to my wonderful wife sharing her version with me. I think there should be a new phrase when it comes to germs – “NOT sharing is caring.” Lordy. Two days of sleeping on the movie recliners so my coughing doesn’t wake up Wendy is enough!!!

Yesterday the foundation crew started their work. We stringed out the outside of the house, made sure the pad was 2′ 4″ from the original grade (which it is, but it seems high for sure). They dug out all the footings yesterday. We have a general idea of how the outside of the house looks. The interesting thing will be how the floor plan room sizes translate to reality. The house is 2650 sq ft, which is about 1,000 sq feet smaller than our last house. And we designed it with 4 bedrooms, which I think might have been a mistake because I think the bedrooms will be small. But it’s too late to change it. Our Texas house was 2,500 sq ft, but three bedrooms, so each bedroom was bigger.

Today, the weather will be crappy from noon to 6pm, so winds with dust. Our schedule is to have the framing done by Thursday with plumbers coming in on Thursday to lay the rough out plumbing. That makes any changes inside permanent. Wendy did a high pressure pick for her soaking tub last night as the plumbers needed to know where to put the drain. We could still eliminate a bedroom as the inside floorplan can still be changed. I don’t think we’ll make any changes inside unless they are small.

The goal is to pour concrete next week. Then there is about two weeks of cure time until we start putting up the frame. Things are moving faster. Need to pick out cabinets, bathroom fixtures, appliances and all the other stuff. I think we’ve picked out the doors and windows so now it’s about stucco texture and final colors. Next will be carpet and tile. Crazy how much work we still have to do as the clients.

With the foundation, the final grade is going to be 36″ above grade, so that’s pretty high but generally what everyone is doing here to use gravity septic. Where it’ll be interesting is the garage and driveway. I left 60′ between the house and the workshop. Looked like a lot on paper, but it’s not really a lot of space in the real world. We’re going to have to be creative when building out the driveway. In retrospect, it might have been better to flip the house as then the garage would be directly in line with the access road. But then we’d lose the views of the mountains from the living room and patio. I’ll just have to use 4-wheel drive to get the truck into the garage.

Alright, need to med up today to keep the cold under control. I’m getting better, but I still hate being sick. Need to prep for the crappy weather today and keep things from getting to dirty with all the blowing dust. Hoping for rain this weekend to dampen the soil and keep the dust down. In NM, the windy season is March – June with April being the windy month. Our version of the rainy season in Washington.

Happy April Fool’s Day. Enjoy the pranks and silliness that should lighten your day. This will be a busy month, travel, home building, recreation and I get too semi-retire on 4/11. Lot’s happening.

Take care and be safe today. Take time to let your loved ones know that you love them.

Blog ya later!

Gary’s post: I didn’t post yesterday as I’ve been down with a really nasty cold that my lovely wife shared with me. Still not feeling great today but better. Worse part is the watery eyes and trying to sneeze but can’t. Makes it hard to see the computer screen. Was hoping to ride the Can-Am today, but I don’t think that going to happen today. Just want to sleep.

They finally finished with the dirt work yesterday, everything is ready to start laying out the foundation. Monday we’ll string out the foundation and start with the framing for the concrete pour. Once the framing is done, then the plumbers do the rough in, and the electrical outlets in the floor. Then we’re ready to pour concrete. Exciting. I’ll post more pictures as this develops.

Jaret is getting ready to ship out to North Carolina for the big fire there. Hoping he’s trained enough. He still has gotten paid yet because of all the crap Elon Musk is doing with DOGE. It’s infuriating that an idiot who has not understanding of how government runs is allowed to affect millions of people who rely on timely payments from the government. You cannot run a government like a business. Business can fail and come back. Governments collapse and it’s a revolution where people die. Alright, enough I don’t want this to become a political commentary on the self-serving idiots running our administration.

I’m going to keep this short today as I’m still working on getting better. I should be better by tomorrow – today still isn’t great.

Hopefully everyone will have a good weekend. I know weather is going to make the East Coast difficult.

Take care.

Gary’s post: Yesterday they finished the dirt pad for the foundation. Now it’s time to fine-tine the height and leveling of the pad. The plumbers will start the rough in of the plumbing and one electrical socket in the living room floor. Not sure exactly how all that will happen. I’m assuming the surveyor will come back out and plant corner stakes and key outlets that need to be buried but I’ll have to ask and get and adjusted timeline.

Spent the day working on the Can-Am yesterday, putting in blinkers and horn to make it street legal. I also redid some bolts and torqued them down so that things wouldn’t come “undone” while out in the desert. Everything works, so that’s good. Now for fine tuning and getting some lighted whips installed and we should be done. Still waiting on the tags and plate, but that will take some time.

Today, I’m in the middle of fighting Wendy’s cold. She claims she didn’t infect me, but I don’t deal with people all day, just dogs. So, she DEFINITELY got sick at work and passed it on to me. Gotta love germ sharing. The fun of being a loving couple – germy kisses… I’ll spend the day blowing nose and doing inside works. I think I’m going to try and get my NM licenses fixed today – the local MVD (really not good service) managed to miss my motorcycle endorsement and restrictive lenses requirement from my Washington license. I’ll go to the MVD Express place, they are better and faster. Worth the extra $10 to get it right.

Jaret, our youngest, is getting shipped out to North Carolina next week to fight fires there. He’s excited, but nervous and needs some things he forgot here. I’m shipping them today since yesterday got away from me.

It’s Friday, thank goodness, one week closer to semi-retirement. I can’t wait as I’m just not engaged anymore with my real job as it’s so superficial and doesn’t use any of my skills. I’d rather be playing golf, driving my Can-am or riding my mountain bike. I’m close to getting off the blood-thinners, so I’ll be able to do more active events without bruising or bleeding. Looking forward to that. Speaking of Can-Am, I do need to get a first-aid kit. Costco run.

Well, I feel like crap today and my nose is running faster that I can, so the Kleenex box is almost empty. I’m going to suck down some orange juice, take some airborne and load up on meds. I hope everyone has a good weekend. Enjoy!

Later!

Gary’s post: The dirtpad for the foundation is taking shape now! Yesterday the contractors managed to build it to around 2′ 6″ which is where the dirt will stop. They will compact the pad more today and smooth it out. Then an insulation blanket will go on the pad and 6″ of gravel fines will be compacted on top of the blanket. That brings the pad to exactly 3′. Then plumbers and electrician rough in and the foundation is poured. Exciting stuff!

I have some bill paying work to do today, so that’s going to be boring. But necessary. In addition, I’m going to start looking for utility trailers to haul the Can-Am around and other items, such as my father-in-laws tractor and stuff to storage for the kid. Debating if I get a normal steel version or do an ultra-lite aluminum trailer. There’s about a $500 difference. I don’t really need the ultra-lite as the truck doesn’t care because it’s a diesel and can haul the 5th wheel (13,000 lbs) just fine. So a 1,250 lbs UTV + trailer isn’t a lot of weight. I’ll sort it out when I go look.

Wendy is finally starting to feel better. Hoping it was just a bad allergy attack with all the wind and dust. We have lots of Juniper here, and she has issues with that plant. Weather is going to be hot today for spring, 80 degrees again. We still need some moisture, which should happen tomorrow. While she’s getting better, I’m fascinated with my Oura ring. It’s showing me data that my Garmin watch didn’t. For my sleep, my recovery rate isn’t good. What that means is that when I go to sleep, instead of my heart going to resting heart rate (which most people do), my heart rate rises until I hit deep sleep. That means my metabolism rises and makes it harder to get to sleep, which is weird to me cuz I feel like I fall asleep just fine. I need to talk to my cardiologist about this and see if there are lifestyle adjustments I can make to help mitigate this anomaly. And the ring catches my naps, which my watch never did.

I’m working on getting all my health stuff moved to New Mexico which will make things easier. It’ll help reduce my travel to Seattle to a couple of times a year. I am looking forward to going in April to see Lauren and Matt. Speaking of kids, Jaret is going to get his “red card” next week for the Forest Service, which means he’s now available to go fight fires. He has all his equipment. He thinks they are going to send him to Virginia to fight a fire there next week. So, his season is starting now. He’s going to be a busy, busy man the next few months. He’s excited.

Today I have a few more Can-Am parts coming to install. Turn signals and mirrors which will make the Can-Am viable to drive on streets when I have to. In NM, you can use paved roads to get from one trail to another but not for general transportation, like going to the store. It varies from state to state and city to city. Generally, the law enforcement doesn’t bother you as long as you’re not being stupid, and people don’t complain. I still need to add another rack to the back for a spare tire (Utah and Moab) and lighted whips for safety and visibility. Then we SHOULD be close to done. Wendy wants to add tunes to the UTV, and that’s expensive stuff so we’ll see if we do that. Frankly, I think that invasive and we don’t need tunes because you can’t hear them anyway. We’ll probably add an upper windshield for dust and window nets too. That’ll be about $5k worth of accessories… crazy.

Okay, time to start the day. Need to exercise today to keep the body from falling apart. Have a great day, stop and enjoy the day, it only comes around once. And try and ignore the political stupidity that our ridiculous administration is creating. Where’s common sense and respect in our society gone?

Take care.

Gary’s post: Another evening post. Today was dirt day. Met with our general contractor and our dirt team. We agreed that the soft spot was a vein of iron rich clay that had gotten moist from the south neighbor’s field flooding. They dug out the vein and replaced it with engineered soil. Now they are starting to level out the dirt and build the pad.

Is it wrong that I want to fire up the Can-Am and do donuts in the pad? Tempting…. Anyway, there’s been one of those long trucks that hauls dirt and gravel coming and going all day. Dumping a lot of engineered fill (looks like sand to me). I think the term “engineered fill” is another marketing term to allow them to charge more money. It’s all a racket.

I was totally stoked today to find the gas cap on the Can-Am. They hide it under a movable panel. Good design but terrible user interface. I could have looked for days and not found it. Finally had to deflate my manhood and read the manual to find the gas cap. Such a humiliating moment. And my Oura ring came today. I bought it for my 72 birthday present to myself since everyone else thinks I’m dead and never buys me presents anymore…. probably because I really don’t need anything, but I like guilting them. And I have a 25x30x10′ workshop full of crap that I hardly use. I figure after 8 months of not using anything in there – we can take it all to the dump. Live the minimalist life in our new house.

Anyway, the Oura ring. I got it because I was tired of my Garmin watch telling me that I’m always stressed and never sleep. So, the ring is my backup. If it ends up telling me the same stuff, then I have a problem. Might be a little late to fix it but worth a shot. And I want to stop wearing a smart watch and go back to good ol’ fashioned regular watch. Part of being retired and not worrying about emails.

Painful thing about relocating is finding good medical care. Albuquerque isn’t known for its amazing medical care, so you have to be selective in your choice of doctors. Found my dentist today, hopefully he will be as good as my last dentist. I do need them to figure out my jaw issue. Tomorrow I’m going to make a cardiologist and endocrinologist appointments so that I’m in the system down here and can stop going to Seattle. Too darn expensive.

Starting to get excited (and a bit nervous) about my looming retirement. It’s a week away. As I said before, I’ll go to 25 hours a week, 1/2 the pay but 3/4 less stress. And I’ll have more time to relax and get things done around the “farm”. With the warm weather coming, the weeds are starting to take over. I need to spray, which is my plan for tomorrow. Clear out the weeds under the trailer and around the living area. I’ll also spray the North fence line to kill those weeds, so they don’t overgrow the fence again. Probably will have to make a run to Tractor Supply to get more herbicide and ground clear.

Weather on Thursday is supposed to be a bit crazy. Thunderstorms and some rain. I’ll need to adjust my Tempest weather station so it doesn’t vibrate in the wind. That makes the rain sensor crazy and misreport rain. I’m going to put it on a metal post eventually – just haven’t done that yet.

Tomorrow is more dirt for the house. Hopefully, they will be done by Friday and starting next week the plumbers can start the rough in for the plumbing, then the foundation is poured. I have to remember to get the one in-floor outlet set in the foundation also.

Well, enough for tonite. I need to take care of Wendy. She’s been sick with a cold or allergies for the past two weeks. Nasty cough and runny nose. She’s taking a bunch of natural remedies from the company she works for – it’s pretty interesting. Hopefully things pass in the next few days. NM is one of those places where dust, pollen and pollutants blow all over the place in the spring. And with 128 days of no rain, the air needs some rain to clean it out.

Anyone reading this – have a good evening and sleep well. I’ll report out on how the Oura ring does tonight. And who knows, there may be some donuts in the house pad in the morning!! NOT!

Take care!

Gary’s Post: Late day post today. Busy day with our normal breakfast with Wendy’s brother, then up to Albuquerque to grocery, shoe and part shop. Had to move some gravel with the tractor, then took it back to my father-in-law.

Went riding in the new Can-Am yesterday with Wendy’s brother leading the ride. Freaking dust everywhere. I had dust caking my face, cloths and the vehicle. I was blowing dust out of my nose this morning and was beat up. I’m not sure which is worse, take a 40 mile ride in the desert or drinking and entire bottle of wine. Either way your feel like crap the next morning!!

I spent last night until 9pm wrenching on the Can-Am, putting on some accessories. Finished this morning. Hands are sore from holding bolts, moving the shell and generally being a mechanic. Been a long time since I’ve done that. It’s pretty clear why getting a college education is a good thing. You’re not completely debilitated the next morning when your done working your normal day job.

I think I’ve decided that when I retire, my role in life will be to pick up dog poop. With two dogs, I go through a role of poop bags in week. Talk about a shitty job… Lordy, these dogs poop more than Jaret (our youngest) after 2 cups of coffee. Thank goodness for our local garbage pickup.

Well, it’s late Sunday night and I’m tired which is why I don’t write these posts in the evening – I’m generally brain dead and tired. So, I’ll keep this post short. Have a good evening and Monday is tomorrow – which sucks until next month!

Take care.

Gary’s post: Yesterday the dirt guys hit a soft spot while building out the pad. They are concerned about the location that it may impact the foundation and cause settling. I’ll meet with them and our contractor on Monday to discuss resolution of the issue. Frankly I don’t think it’s a problem but I’m not a soil engineer. More to come on that topic.

Today, my bro-in-law are going to pick up our new toy, the Can-Am off-road vehicle. We’ll pick it up and then probably go for a ride today to break it in. I do need to get a different helmet for it as the one I bought rips my ears off when I try to take it off. I’ll probably change it out for a Shoei or Arai dual sport that is easier to get off. love the helmet though. Carbon fiber and so cool looking. I’m looking forward to using the vehicle a lot this year and getting it fitted out for us. I do need to get a spare tire holder at some point and a trailer to haul it. I really hope Wendy drives it and enjoys it a bunch. I know my brother-in-law is pretty excited about us having one. And it’ll be good to get him out and with friends.

Got more gravel yesterday. Spread it around to keep the dust down. I do need to get it finished this weekend and get the tractor back to my father-in-law so he can replace the drain field. I’ll get that done Sunday.

Weather is finally starting to get warmer. We’re going to hit the 80’s on Monday and the evenings are now in the 40’s. Of course, that means the bugs and weeds are going to come out – not looking forward to that. Wendy is getting some of the ultrasonic pest deterrents for the workshop to keep the spiders and bugs out of our stuff. Personally, I’m going to buy some pitcher plants for the RV to eat the Flys. We have a lot of Flys from the cattle ranch next door. I’ll start treating the weeds next weekend.

Flying back to Seattle on 4/16 to meet with Cardiologist. I’ll spend some time with my son’s cats and hopefully some quality time with my daughter. I do miss both of them a lot. It’s hard to be this far from them even though we didn’t see them a lot when we lived in Seattle. I think it’s knowing we don’t have the ease of access to just meet up. I do need to get into a rhythm and talk to them every weekend. Video calls will make a difference. But nothing compares to being in person with them. See, feel and hug them means everything.

Okay, I’m going to run to the local deli and get some coffee and a breakfast burrito this morning. Take care and have a wonderful weekend. I’m going to try and not hurt myself on our new toy.

Later!