Victory

We're finally back after a great week of renewed friendships, outstanding wine tastings, great food, and SOME COOL WEATHER chasing wines in Sonoma, CA! Getting off the plane in Phoenix in 100 degree weather after a week of 75 degrees was another bit of a shock, but glad to be home. A big shout-out to our former homies, Carl, Susan, Steve and Pam for a great week of laughs and more wine stories to tell. Outdoor tasting at Blue Farm Winery . If you haven't been there, run, don't walk, for some terrific Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs! While we were gone, our friends at the house have been busy! Our hallway issue was resolved, and reframed correctly, amidst the taping and mudding as they prepare to apply texture (Manhattan Smooth) later this week or next. The opening at the end of this hallway was supposed to be 48", but was framed at 33", which means the new couch Jan just bought for the TV room was going to have to come through a window. NOT! Thankfully, they resolved t...

Alas , we have arrived at the point where tape and mud have now been completed in the house! According to the building super, we are on the last stretch! Except , now they have to reframe a hallway wall opening (about 12") that was framed incorrectly. Why they waited until the hallway is already drywalled, taped and mudded is beyond me; the world of this builder's logic sometimes defies me. In any case, not much more to say at this point other than show some pics. Pool is still a hole in the ground, so not much going on there. Rumor has it that they will be completing the exterior stucco of the house this week, so hopefully that will happen. Maybe the house will be done when we get back! 😂 Extra sand is always a good sign. Third garage tunnel. Front door, study, hall closet view. Portion of the master bedroom with walkout onto the back patio. Kitchen, dining room, and Command Center(?, Builder's name) view from the Great Room. Study off of the front entrance. We're of...

This week marked the start of visible progress again! The sheetrock crew was here in the last few days, and from the looks of the house, they are almost done hanging drywall.The schedule calls for drywall, taping, mud and texturing to be completed in three (3) weeks, but at this rate they may finish before that. Garage I won't bore you by showing pictures of every room, so here are a few as I walked through the house. Master Bathroom Sink Side Hallway More Garage Wall Great Room TV Wall And, not to be outdone by the drywall progress, the pool guys were out and managed to frame and dig the pool at the same time!  This picture looks a bit funky, but the pool dimensions are roughly 30' x 14', with the Baja Bench at the other end. We opted for a smaller pool this time given that our Olympic swimming days are over 😂, but more importantly, we just wanted an easier pool to maintain and not drown in.  We're happy with getting the pool dug since it now appears that pools are th...

Time to start drinking down the wine cellar 'cause we're on the downward slope of this building project! Drywall was delivered today! No more insulation foam in my beverages as I walk the build! Really good! Okay, so maybe I just needed an excuse to open another bottle of wine. Our current wine cooler setup holds about 400 bottles, but we need to drink this number down to 250 in order to be able to move the systems to the new house. I'm concerned this is going to be a HUGE problem with a wine trip to Sonoma coming up in the next 2 weeks.  Addictions can be a bitch! All of the rooms have a stack of drywall in them. I'm thankful I wasn't the one who had to carry these sheets into the house from a truck on the street in yesterday's temp of 108 degrees here. Hopefully they moved them in the dead of the night. The other good news is that the electricians were back and reinstalled the wiring in the Master Bath and Powder Room back down behind the mirrors where we orig...

Not a lot has been done this last week at the house. It seems like the crews work in 'waves', so when our wave hits a lot gets done. Otherwise, not so much. Insulation - This week we are anticipating that all of the interior insulation foam will get covered as they prepare for hanging the drywall. I noticed also that someone had gone in and vacuumed all of the cement, so nothing is on the floor now. I do like how they manage the constant cleanup of the construction floor. Master Bathroom - They did manage to sneak in and build the frame for the ceiling bump-down where the mirrors will sit (below). This has no real functional use, purely design. Finished product - Here is the  architect's view of what the finished exterior of the house will look like. Of course, our landscape plan is totally different, so the appearance changes dramatically, hopefully for the better! MORE STUFF! E-Bikes: Some of you have requested info on the e-bikes that Jan and I recently purchased. E-bi...