With a Little Help

The last few weeks have been crazy, and somehow three weeks have gone by without a post.  We're still not in the new house, but are getting close.

In the last three weeks, the remaining solar panels were installed,

Solar hot water panels in the foreground, photovoltaics in the back.

and we started generating electricity

After three sunny days

There is an inverter in the utility room that gives a digital readout of the power from the photovoltaics every second.  So far the record is 2.7 kW, at about 2:00 pm (as a calibration, refrigerators use about 0.5 kW).  By watching the inverter and the meter running backwards, we have no need for television. 

The concrete floor was polished (you can see how shiny it is in the pictures below.)  With that done, some of the cabinets were delivered (we say "some" because there was confusion about the space needed for the microwave, so some of the cabinets are not yet complete.)

Kitchen

Part of the island separating the kitchen and dining

Pantry

Pantry with a pass-through to the kitchen

Bathroom vanities

The upstairs floors were completed, and the baseboard trim was added.  The baseboard is actually flush with the walls.  This made sheet rocking trickier, since the bottom edge of the sheet rock is exposed.  But it is awfully pretty once Matt figured out the finer details of the groove between the sheet rock and the baseboard.

Jen's mom Jean and stepdad Dean also came out to visit, and spent almost their entire vacation working.  To save some labor costs, Matt and Dean installed the v-notched pine ceiling for the porch.  It took four days but the result is beautiful.

Day Two

Admiring the complete job

In the process, Matt found a nest of five baby birds on one of the supports under the porch (we think they are phoebes).  No sign of a mother, though the babies were obviously well fed.  We protected them with a board until they flew the coop.

And, we had our first homemade meal in our new dining room.

We are still waiting for the remaining cabinets, a sub-contractor to pour the base of the master shower, the tile, the counter tops, the fancy door hardware, and the stairs.  The plumbing fixtures are sitting in boxes in the entry way and the lighting fixtures are due in this week.

Other than that, we've been incredibly busy getting the old house ready to sell.  Jen's mom cleaned all of the windows, sucked up cobwebs (with a vacuum cleaner), and helped clean out the basement (next time we promise them a more relaxing vacation!)  But the house is finally on the market, and we have a showing this week.

And then, just when we thought we could sit back and relax a bit, the tree in front of our old house was hit by lightning.  The house and tree are fine, but it's been a hassle getting everything sorted out.  However, we do know exactly what time it hit!

This battery powered clock was zapped!

Getting close...

A coat of paint makes a huge difference!

South side of the "great room"

Great room from the other direction

First floor hall

 And baseboard trim makes it look even more complete.

Coat closets in the entry

But with a real floor, the second floor is beginning to feel like a real house.  Also note the baseboard radiators and less obvious in these pictures, the outlet covers.  Those finishing touches really seem to make a big difference.

Upstairs hall

Master bedroom

Guest bedroom

Stair landing

We've also been making more decisions.  Most recently, we spent some quality time at the lighting store, and totally made their Friday afternoon fun (or at least interesting.)  While we are down to a matter of weeks before we can spend the night at the new house, there is still a lot to accomplish before then.  The bathrooms both need to be tiled, the interior doors hung, the remaining baseboards installed, and the permanent stairs built. The cabinets were promised almost two weeks ago, but we haven't seen them yet, and the plumbing fixtures can't be installed until we have cabinets and tile.  There is also quite a bit of exterior work to be done, but that can happen after we have moved in.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we've been gradually moving things to the garage at the new house, building new septic tank covers (don't ask, you really don't want to know), and waiting for a kitchen counter to be delivered (it turns out they have to make it before they can deliver it.)  But, hopefully we'll be able to get the old house on the market in the next week or so.