Stir Crazy!

We are closing in on three months of sitting.  Thankfully, my dire weather prediction of this post did not happen.  After a December cold snap (Winter-Phase 1), we had a late January/early February "tease" when the weather warmed up (close to 60 degrees a couple of days) and local Facebook friends warned to not start our gardens (Ha! As if) lest they will be cruelly zapped by the onslaught of Winter-Phase 2.  During that warm spell, we trotted around in our shirt sleeves thinking, "Spring! .... Where are the crocuses?"  We even bought our exterior house paint because (!) the house siding (!!) is done. (!!!)  But the temps immediately plummeted making the conditions too risky for a lot of very expensive paint.  So it's now sitting as well.  'Tis then we remember we are in the High Desert where crocuses don't grow and paint doesn't cure ....  in February.

We live with interim periods of lots to do (as with the wiring) followed by more waiting.  But we're close to the end .... or at least to the end of the sheet rock stage and to the point when things really will get interesting.


It's all still surreal.  It seems we will live forevermore in a parked motorhome in an endless winter with an unfinished house.  We pretend that someday we will actually move in .....  But it's a silly dream because, as we all know, stuff like that doesn't happen in real life. 

So .......

....... what are we doing in the meantime?

Husband grabs every opportunity to go fishing.  And he's now recruiting others.  (Beware!)  I suspect it's a plot to take over the world, turning everyone into zombies anglers, bwahahaha.  They call their recruiting stations, "fly shops", where they gather and scheme, using code words like midge, blue-wing-olive, nymph, and the like.

And I ...... um ..... go for walks, shop occasionally, hang out at the laundromat and grocery store, perfect my solitaire game, and try not to eat.  Our tile, carpet, paint colors, yada yada, for the house are decided and the cabinets are ordered.  That part is done.  I also putz around our "yard" gathering wood scraps and deciding where we'll put things like the wood shed or my patio swing.

Needing a diversion, a few days ago we hiked into one of our fabulous neighborhood canyons so that Husband could explore another fishing spot.  Check out this view which is only a few minutes from our door.

 

Oh, and I discovered that Redmond is a haven for antique shops.  Not that I'm a big collector.  But who doesn't love seeing (amongst the really old stuff) things that you routinely used when you were a kid (or got as a wedding gift and still use ..... feeling old yet?) that is now considered chic and worthy of an expensive price tag.

So that's kind of it.  Stir crazy and bored.  Always waiting for workers to show up and finish their latest project.  And as you can probably tell by my randomness, all this sitting/waiting is causing ..... my brain cells ..... to

die off ....
                     
          one .....

by ....
                 
       one ....

I've Got The Power

The Dilemma

About a month ago we were informed by our builder that the electrician who had started on our house by nailing a few outlet boxes here and there, was let go.  The reason --- apparently electricians in this part of the world are in crazy-high demand and as a result, his price doubled.

And our builder could not find anyone else to do the job.  In fact, no one was returning his calls.

The Solution

Husband is now our electrician and I am the assistant.  He and his dad wired our home 30 years ago, so with that limited experience, copious online research, questions to experts, frequent visits to a new home being wired nearby, and as little guesswork as possible, we have been hoisting, hauling, pulling, and stripping endless miles of wire.  Plus hammering nails, drilling holes, dragging heavy ladders from one end of the house to the other, and daily runs to Home Depot.  The homeowner, working on his own home, is the only non-licensed entity allowed to do such a thing, so our options were limited, to say the least.  At this point, we are nine days in and The Electrical Monster To Do List is growing mercifully shorter.

I texted this picture to our kids saying, "We found an affordable electrician and he's cute!" They didn't realize it was their dad.  (Hehehehe.)

As I said in a previous post, the original plan was to finish the house ourselves.  This meant flooring, paint, trim, hang cabinets, and pavers outside.  Or, in other words, the pretty stuff.  Stuff that, after a day's work, one could step back and admire the fruits of one's labor before collapsing into an exhausted heap.  Wiring, as essential as it is, is not pretty.  By five o'clock each day, when we are bone-weary and out of daylight, we don't have the reward of a pretty hardwood floor, a painted wall, or a trimmed window.  We have a tangle of unsightly wires going every direction within the stud walls that, a few months ago, were exciting to see but are now tiresome and in dire need of covering up .... with .... sheetrock .... please!  The upside is that from now on, when I plug in an appliance or turn on a light, I will know exactly where that blessed electricity came from and the route it took to get there.  Plus Yours Truly has earned her very own tool belt.

Needless to say, we were on ladders a LOT.  These 10 foot ceilings were certainly not MY idea.

Longtime Friend Dave, who happens to be an electrician as well as a very kind and sympathetic soul, and who lives in our previous hometown 3.5 hours away ..... is driving out tomorrow to spend a couple of days correcting our mistakes and finishing up, in hopes to placate the county inspector.  I told Husband I don't want to be there when Dave first arrives at the house and sees our work.  I'm too afraid of hearing ..... "Um, looks like we've got a problem." ... in stead of, "Looks good!  You guys don't need me!"

Update and The Result

Dave came bringing much wisdom and expertise and guided us to within sight of the finish line.  Turns out most of what had been done before he got there was okay.  Thank you, Dave!!!

I call that panel where all wires converge, the "Mother Ship".

'Twas another long day after Dave left to finish it all before The Inspection.  We felt like we were up against finals at the end of a long semester.

But as it turned out, the inspector was VERY nice and hardly looked at most of the details we were somewhat nervous about.  He almost seemed more interested our plumbing and happily offered a few tips about the bathtub.

And we passed!!!!!

Another hurdle cleared.

P.S. Much credit goes to Husband who puts in the bulk of the work and long hours, with much more to come.  I am reminded yet again, that he can do pretty much anything he puts his mind to.  And I deserve the credit for marrying well.

And so it goes ....

Geez ..... I need to write another update.  But our life has been kinda boring .....

Unless, of course, you're excited to hear about shingles, or trenches, or those little switch boxes our electrician has nailed randomly around The House.

WHICH, by the way, is becoming more real, although it's still far from livable.  And I'm not sure when it WILL be livable because the construction industry in this area is governed by snails, AKA contractors, who always seem to have another job that they MUST finish before starting on, or finishing, ours.

So we wait.


And wait.


And tear up with joy when we find an actual work vehicle parked on our property, with actual work people, who are actually working.

And (dare we hope) we might have electric power soon.  Maybe within (gasp!) a few days.  (How naive were WE, to expect power to be wired onto our property from an existing power pole that sits capably across the street, in the same year we request it?)

Husband working on The Box where there will soon be an OUTLET which will allow us to PLUG stuff in!  (Note the brand new pole on the right.  We honor the two trees that gave their lives for that pole.  One from which it is made, and one that was in the way.)  Oh .... and that flat area where the tractor-thing is sitting is where Husband's shop, housing many guy-toys, will be built. 

A couple of posts ago, when I mentioned we might be painting by late November ..... Let's all have a good laugh.  How silly.  Now we're thinking January.  But we'll see.

We met with Eric -- Awesome Cabinet Maker from Spokane, recommended by Favorite-First-Son-Who-Knows-This-Stuff.  Eric delivers all the way down here.  And he is making our cabinets!  Or at least he will ... make .... our .... cabinets ..... someday.

I don't mean to sound cynical because truthfully, I'm not.  Life is great!  And we are excited.  So rather than cynical, let's just say I'm anxious for each new stage of the building process.  I JUST wanted to see the house started and as soon as it was started, I wanted walls, and as soon as there were walls, I wanted windows and a roof, and now there are windows and a roof, and I just want doors!  How wonderful it will be to have doors to lock it up securely!  And THEN I'll want that boring wiring and plumbing to be DONE because they're ... boring, and life will be perfect when we FINALLY get siding and sheetrock ....

Anyway, you get the picture.

Should've got over to get this pic sooner, before the sand pile arrived.  It's for the future pavers that will comprise the driveway and sidewalk.  

Rear view and another sand pile awaiting a gazillion more pavers.  

Future patio.  We have no plans to landscape beyond the rock wall perimeter.  It will be au naturale. And if there are any remaining funds, there'll be a hot tub on the patio, outside the slider door, toward the edge of the rock wall by the trees.  

And that's all for now.

Oh, and by the way -- Merry Christmas!