Gary’s post: A pretty routine day today. We shared breakfast with Wendy’s brother (who’s dealing with some back issues) at TJ’s New Mexican Restaurant. Then we went to the Albuquerque Home and remodeling show. It’s definitely NOT like Seattle and Dallas home shows. Much smaller and many fewer vendors. We did find a couple of good vendors at the show. One for sconces that are custom which we’ll use outside for lighting and another that does countertops – which are amazing. We talked to a landscaping company that does beautiful work using native plants and water conscious designs. Most interesting part of the show was the RV’s. We toured a beautiful 37′ 5th wheel that was a 4-season trailer so it would be much warmer and cooler than our current trailer. We’ll see where we are financially after we get the house built. We may trade in our current trailer for a new one that’s 4-seasons and livable full-time.
Did the Sunday shopping at Whole Foods for fruit and veggies. Didn’t get to ride the side by sides this weekend as Wendy’s brothers back issues precluded us going out on the UTV’s. Since I’m in Seattle this week, we’ll try for Sunday next week and maybe do a 40-60 mile ride in the desert. Should be fun and nice to take out the UTV. After we do the ride at the end of the month, I’ll do some maintenance on the vehicle and get it ready for our ride in May in the Monzano Forest out by Mountainaire. That should be fun.
I’ll keep this short tonight as today as pretty laid back and nothing huge happened with the house. Tomorrow will be more activity with foundation work continuing. I’ll post pictures.
Gary’s post: Not much happening on the house yesterday and today. Yesterday things sat and I went and schedule to have an induction loop put in for the gate. That will let people out automatically without having to have a “clicker” or the entrance code. Simplifies things a bit.
Today Wendy and I went a looked at “stuff” for the house. It’s mind-numbing how many decisions we need to make for everything in the house. It reminded me of when my late wife and I tried to build a house early in our marriage. It was a complete disaster. We couldn’t agree on anything. She had a degree in interior design from Parsons School of Design – very prestigious design school on the East coast. I was an arrogant, pigheaded engineer who knew everything and wanted it all my way. Total disaster and largely my fault for being an idiot.
SO, this time I’m learning and trying hard to work with Wendy on this project. For me, the issue is the massive number of decisions we need to make. At this point in my life, I’m okay with just about everything Wendy picks out as her sense of style is similar to mind. One point of contention is that she is a big mid-century modern person and I’m not. I grew up with mid-century modern and it’s not my thing. I’m more into Shaker, modern and Chinese Chippendale – so there’s a disconnect there. Generally, I’m trying to stick to the construction, plumbing and mechanical stuff and let her pick floors, tile and colors. There are so many items that we need to decide on that I don’t really care what we get as long as it works and looks decent.
Today was a bit overwhelming but we did make progress. We found some lighting that we liked for outside. And we did make progress on cabinets, but we need to make sure they fit in budget. I think we’re going to have a professional friend of Wendy’s do the cabinet layout and design for us. Too many choices and options for my old brain – so let someone who does it for a living do ours.
Tomorrow we’re going to the ABQ Home show and wander around to get ideas and talk to people about fixtures, bathroom stuff, tile and landscaping. We need to get tile for the entrance picked out, flooring for the house, carpets for the bedrooms, hardware for the cabinets and the list goes on and on…
As for building the house. Next week a lot will be happening, and it’ll happen while I’m in Seattle (of course!) Monday, the foundation guys come and fix a few things and begin to lay out the insulation. Then the electrician comes and puts in the conduits for the electrical needed for in-floor and kitchen island. Then they put in crusher fines and pack things down. Week after is the slab pour. Then things sit for a few weeks while panels are delivered, and windows come. Then things begin to happen. May should be an interesting month. I need to talk to the electrician about how we power the house. And I’m a bit concerned about the heating and cooling. Our architect only has three mini-splits in the house. Two in the living areas and one in the garage. I know the house is super-efficient, but I would think we’d need them more in the bedrooms. That’s a conversation I need to have with our HVAC guys so we can wire for proper outlets.
Well, that’s pretty much it for today and yesterday. Life is a bit slower down here, which is a good thing. Tomorrow will be more house stuff, so I’m sure that will be interesting. It’s time to put out the puppies and get ready to wind down. More blogging tomorrow evening.
Gary’s post: Rough-in plumbing is done. Wendy is inspecting the work, fortunately the real inspector passed everything so we’re on to the next phase. Now for the electrician to set the conduit for the in- floor outlets and the outlets for the kitchen island. We had a small disconnect with the wall faucets, Wendy wanted them on the long side of the tub and said the back wall. The plumbers put in on the narrow side of the tub, but on the back wall. We’ll figure it out with our contractor on Monday.
The house is starting to take shape, and it’s going to be beautiful. This weekend we’ll spend looking at floors, faucets and lightening. And we need to get the kitchen appliances purchased. I’ll call our builders rep tomorrow and start getting quotes on appliances. I’ll need to go to Ferguson and look at their appliances also – the issue will be column refrigeration as it’s expensive and GE Cafe doesn’t have those, so I’ll have to mix with something else.
Tomorrow, I go on semi-retirement and start working 25 hours a week. I’m excited and not excited. With the current administration, it’s hard to know what is going on with Social Security the next four years. I would think that making any changes would cause massive revolt. You’d get a grey hair revolution. Hysterical to think about that. Thousands of wheelchairs flooding the streets of Washington DC. I think this will be good for me and what I needed. I’m more focused when I’m in meetings during the 3 days that I work. And I have a lot more energy, so I think this will work out for the next year. On my days off I’ll end up sitting the contactors and playing golf, shooting and riding my vehicles including my mountain bike.
Not much more happening. I think tomorrow will be electrical work and then foundation work early next week. Next week I’m back in Seattle for my cardiologist appointment. I have another appointment at the end of the month with a cardiologist here in NM. And I’ll get an endocrinologist and general MD lined up this month.
Well, it’s time for bed so I’m going to cut this short. We’re slowly starting to meet people, so we’re expanding our friend circles. This will take some time, but we’ll get there.
Tomorrow is Friday, so everyone enjoy and have a good evening.
Gary’s post: I’m skipping yesterday’s post and including all of it in this post. Yesterday was more of the same, plumbers finishing out the rough-in plumbing. Today they finished their rough-in plumbing and are ready for inspection tomorrow. I’m wondering if the inspector is our friend, John Tanner. We’ll see in the morning. So, plumbing rough-in is done. Next step is rough-in the electrical floor outlets in the living room, which is not a big deal. Then the rigid insulation is put down after the trenches are filled and compacted. Then the final 6″ of crusher fines which are compacted and then the concrete pour. Panels will arrive next week. Concrete should cure in about a week. During the cure time, I’m going to have the gate company put in the induction loop that does that auto opening of the gate.
Finished up the work on the Can-Am, added a spare tire rack so I think it’s about done. I just need a rear bumper and some lighted whips and the vehicle is as complete as I need it. I’m waiting on our dealer to call with the on-road license and sticker. Once I have that, I’m good to go around here. I still need the trailer license plate. Then I can load the Can-am on the trailer, bolt down the wheel locks and it’s ready to be hauled around NM and Utah. I’ll pick up a spare tire when I get the license plate from the dealer. I’m stoked to take it out again into the desert.
Wendy and I settled on a kitchen. I think we’re going GE Cafe for all the cooking and either Z-line or Jenn Aire for the refrigeration and wine cooler. We’re doing column freezer and refrigerator which is crazy expensive, but it allows us to separate the two and create a more interesting setup for the kitchen. I think we’ve decided on doing a “dark” kitchen because the house will have so much light that a dark kitchen will look much lighter and have a huge impact on the visual aesthetic without appearing like a cave.
I’m starting my semi-retirement this Friday, so I’m excited and nervous, but I believe this will be a very healthy thing for me. I think this will help me focus better when I need to work and be more productive. I really need to start moving back from work and focus on my new life here in NM and adjust and start to integrate into the city and circle. I’ve been thinking of running for political office at some point, but I’m not sure I’d be good at the job. We’ll see if maybe I run for a county commission position. I really want to integrate into this area and contribute to its growth and future.
Bought airline tickets today for our journey up north on Memorial day. We’re meeting up with friends and going to Walla Walla for a weekend of wine tasting. I need to get a tour arranged this week, so I’ll get on that later this week or first of next. Trying to sort out which company and which vineyards. It’ll be a fun weekend with friends. Hopefully we can see the grandkids before we head back to NM.
Alright need to head for bed as tomorrow is a big day with plumbing inspections and electrical work. And I get some packing materials delivered tomorrow so I can repack the rear bumper and send it back. I need to schedule a UPS pickup for Friday.’
I’ll update tomorrow on the inspection results. Take care and happy hump day.
Gary’s post: Not much thrilling happened today. More work on the rough in plumbing. It’s taking shape and you can start to see where rooms are and when sinks and toilets will be in the house. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Fortunately, the weather is excellent, and it’ll be warm for the plumbers.
I need to get the NE gate replaced. Dennis (Wendy’s cousin) took his cow to the butcher and the gate is pretty makeshift. Harp and Juni are always going over there and getting into Dennis and Margaret’s pasture. I’ll work with Dennis to get a gate installed so it’s more secure for his animals and my dogs. Wendy’s brother has a guy (I’m sure we’ve heard that phrase before) that does good work. I’ll ask him about building the gate.
This house thing is pretty stressful. Picking the appliances is really putting a lot of stress on us, me especially. We can’t agree on the appliances or the budget. I come up with a solution that’s within budget and Wendy doesn’t like it. Then she shuts down and won’t participate in the conversation, then I get frustrated because we don’t make progress. I’m just going to let it sit until it becomes a fire, and we have to make a decision. I’m really starting to dislike this process and want to disengage competely.
I finally got construction liability insurance yesterday. Cost me $920 for a year, but at least I have the insurance. It’ll cover most everything except the material loss – which I’m not expecting to be an issue. When the house is built it converts to homeowners, which I’ll use for a year, then reconsider our insurance needs. I really want to move to USAA for auto and home, so I’ll let the Farmers homeowners lapse after a year. I like USAA but they are pretty limited on what they insure. Our RV, UTV and trailer are insured under Progressive, USAA’s partner. Farmers would ensure everything, so all under one policy. Need to think through that.
More parts for the UTV arrive tomorrow, so I’ll install the spare tire carrier on the UTV then and we should be done with accessories that are needed. I still need to add a rear bumper when one becomes available and some lighted whips but those aren’t mandatory. I do need to get a portable pump, some tools and a first aid kit. That should round out most of the mandatory stuff. I’ll got to our motorsports store and buy a spare tire for the UTV and add it to the vehicle.
We need to go to the home show this weekend to start working on A/C, faucets and flooring. Still need to pick out stucco and light fixtures. I’m going to leave that to Wendy and just deal with budget. And we need to pick out toilets and wash basins along with shower fixtures. It’s crazy how much stuff we need to deal with. Wednesday our contractor is going to meet with us to discuss schedules and everything else we need to pick out. Big one is cabinets and getting a cabinet plan put together. Our designer is in Croatia on vacation, so that’ll be a delay in the plan.
Alright, time for bed. It’s been a stressful day and there’s house tension between us so that makes for a miserable evening. And Wendy’s allergies are getting worse, so that doesn’t make for her to be in a good mood. Gotta love the human side of living. Stupid stuff that makes you crazy and riles up your emotions when you least need it. Time for some meditation before bed.
Gary’s post: Evening post. It’s been almost 3 months since we left Seattle. Hard to believe that we’ve gone from living in a house in a residential neighborhood to rural living in a trailer. It’s definitely a night and day experience. To go to Costco, it’s 18 to 20 minutes and 20 miles in New Mexico. Seattle it was 18 minutes to go 12 miles. Crazy, crazy stuff. We’re settling in this life’s routine and finding that the weekends are busy. It’s similar to Seattle, but with a different focus. The house building is starting to move at a much faster pace in terms of getting organized ahead of the need. We’ve picked out appliances, now it’s about faucets, light switches, lighting and all the little things that go into making a house complete. We’ve still not focused on flooring, tile and countertops, but we’ll get there. We are working with a designer in Seattle to get a cabinet plan put together so we can get cabinets picked out.
The hard part about all of this is that all the places we need to go are 8-5 working hours during the week. That makes it impossible for Wendy to attend as she only gets a 30-minute lunch break. We’ll have to make a bunch of appointments on a Friday and then pick out stuff. I’m thinking a couple of Fridays, and we can knock out the simple stuff like faucets, drain covers, shower fittings and get all of that ordered.
Today was a routine day for us. Felt sorry for the dogs as they were in the trailer most of the day. Breakfast with Wendy’s brother, grocery shopping and then visited with Wendy’s dad and mother-in-law. Pretty tame. Looking forward to next weekend. We’re going riding in the Can-Am’s on some local trails and spend some time exploring the desert. Should be fun. Jaret will be here, so we’ll see how much drama that brings.
Tomorrow is back to the house building. Plumbers will be here to work on rough-in and we should see our electrician come out to put in conduit for in-floor outlets in the living room. We’ll have the discussion on how to power the house and get some temp power closer to the site (i.e. move a power pole 100 ft). Debating on pulling power from the shop to the house or doing another meter on the pole to the house with a separate 200-amp service. It’ll be cheaper to pull from the workshop meter but more useful to install another meter. I’ll have to weigh the cost versus benefit.
I need to talk to our plumbers tomorrow about the supply plumbing. I’m thinking a manifold system where we have shutoffs for each part of the house on a supply manifold. I’ll see what they think about that concept.
Enough blogging, time for bed. I’ll blog more tomorrow. Have a good evening!
Gary’s post: Today was the Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest in Albuquerque. What a good time and crazy event. There were over 200+ chocolate, coffee and food vendors there sharing their products. Frankly, I had no idea that Albuquerque had over 60+ micro brewers here for beer. It’s quite a scene. Of course, we bought coffee, chocolate and some biscochitos. Wendy signed us up for a chocolate and beer tasting which was quite and experience and super interesting.
5 beers and 5 chocolates.
The photo above does not show the other two beers, but it was 5 beers and 5 chocolates. 2 ales and 3 lagers. We got a lesson in beer brewing and chocolate tasting – brief but interesting. All of the beers and chocolates were from local companies. My favorite was the pairing in the top, middle – a Mexican Lager and Cappuccino chocolate. Really interesting how these all played out. Some complemented, some played down a tase in the beer (like a smoky Ale) and some played up a taste in the chocolate. Fun.
We didn’t get to spend a lot of time there as I had the truck in for a windshield replacement. The shop closed at 1 pm and our breakfast burrito took over an hour to make, so we missed the opening by about 45 minutes. Not sure that would have made much difference, but at least we had some time to shop, experience some of the vendors and do our class. There are a couple of other classes I want to take next year, like chocolate tasting, making truffles and some other fun classes.
With the cold weather coming today, we didn’t do much outdoors because of the wind, snow and just cold. We had planned on visiting with my father-in-law, but his wife suggested it wasn’t a good idea today since her kids were visiting. While I think she’s a decent person, she’s definitely a schemer and not a good one. I keep her at arm’s length and don’t get involved with the family drama. I let Wendy manage that part of the relationships and I support her. Jim’s wife’s daughter is worthless and a gold digger. It’s clear she doesn’t have a clue about anything other than her immediate world. Hard to take her seriously, but I do try and treat her with some respect. Wendy on the other hand makes is clear to her that she’s not Jim’s daughter. Kinda like watching out political drama – reality politics and reality family drama.
We spent some looking at appliances and lighting for the new house. We need to get on this and get stuff bought before tariffs.
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.
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.
The Force Awakens…..
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.
