Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Hang on!



Thanks to Cara and the parents, we’ve got 50 more pieces of siding stained and ready to go up. Likely, the snow will be flying when I put these on. The furnace venting is now complete, and the pigtail and shutoff wired in. The LP was installed for a princely sum and not quite where I had wanted it…another story. But we have heat and that’s what counts when you’re trying to keep things from freezing. I’ve got my eye on a nice thermostat which will be the subject of another post, but at the price of an iPod, it’ll have to wait right now.  

The final drywall coat and spray texture is finished upstairs and we actually started priming the walls and ceiling last night..given the consistency of the paint and the number of gallons we’ll need, this could be a long process. I also lined up delivery of the carpet, which is scheduled for Wednesday. AND, found an installer who will take the job on, hopefully this week. It’s a delicate balance between getting it done “now” and giving us time to get all the paint up, plus he’s doing it in his spare time.

Picked up the floor registers and repainted them a nice dark hammertone to cover their beige-ness. Have some 9x9 VCT for the kitchen that might work if I can make use of a couple of cracked corner tiles..NOS so it’s not like I can run out and pick up any extras. The laminate samples arrived but that’s also a big-Q. Nice patterns, but you either get super-gloss or uber-matte. No in-between.

As if this weren’t enough excitement….plus my day job of trying to keep projects on schedule…there was a hearing on Friday to share with the public, Mid-America’s plans for upgrading their high voltage transmission lines over a route that passes directly over my land. This is a major upgrade with poles much larger (towers, actually) and taller than current and of course the path has changed dramatically. Since it affects both us and the neighbor, we’ve got plans to discuss and hopefully arrive at an agreeable placement of one of these towers. Otherwise…we’re looking at a game-changer.

Now, Dec 1 is move-in day, but I leave this Sunday for testing in Chicago, will get back just in time for Thanksgiving, hop in a car and head for MN the next day, re-pack my bags and turn around and go back to Chicago that Monday, and come home the day before move-in.

And to add the news that trumps all of this petty running-around, my grandfather passed away on Veteran’s day, with funeral planned for this weekend.  He fought at Anzio, one of WW2’s bloodiest battles, losing an arm and taking much shrapnel, and against all odds, made it home alive. Amazing.



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