Dec. 7 - Reflecting on the past days

Cannot post any new pictures until I upgrade my Google account.....or delete some of what I have posted to date it appears.

These first few days of December cause me to reflect on all that has happened recently. We had a great Thanksgiving week with all our family here. Frank, Crystal, Frankie, Lily.......Tyler, Emily, Connor. And niece Kristin and her two children.

After the holiday, I wrote this entry on Sunday evening but never posted it.

"The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. We've said goodbye to all our family and we spent a sad, quiet Sunday with a suddenly empty house. Just Brenda, me and Trapper. And we're not sure how much longer Trapper will be here. Since his overnight stay under the veterinarian's care Friday night, he has been better but will not eat. The end is near for him."

Trapper did not eat anything until the afternoon of November 27. Later, he could not make it back up the steps into the house when we let him out. He just laid down on the sidewalk. I had to carry him back inside at dusck and laid him down on his blanket.

Well, he never did get back to his feet. Trapper died late on the evening of November 27. Brenda and I stroked his still beautiful coat as he struggled through the evening to hang on to life. We cried and consoled him all the way to the end about 11:25.

Damn these dogs. All pet owners know the feelings we have for these members of our families. Trapper was a pain in the behind. I always hated it when he incessantly pestered our house guests. He just wouldn't back off and leave them alone causing the bad side of me to show up. But he just wanted to be loved and to play with anyone. It was always about his ball and play. He could care less about other dogs. His happiness came from interacting with humans. Always hoping someone would pay attention to his needs. A little selfish on his part I always thought. Shame on me for feeling that way. But he was a great dog and we both loved him dearly. Dogs teach us a lot of lessons about ourselves.

The next morning I sobbed as I dug a grave for him below the house. He has a great spot facing the lake below our bedroom. Several stones will mark his spot. When we find Tori's ashes somewhere in all these boxes we will place them in the ground with Trap.

I got to do a lot of deer hunting over the past weekend. Bender, Tyler and I hunted on Saturday near Mt. Pleasant, IA as we've done for many years. Two deer were tagged on Saturday. Bender and I hunted on Sunday in a fog. But by noon, we had tagged and field dressed two more deer, having a nip of TR and a cigar. We were done for the weekend. Most of the meat has already been processed and is in our new freezer. It took only one day for them to process 4 deer!

I had one more antlerless tag to fill for Appanoose County so I hunted alone late Tuesday afternoon near Sundown on some private property (where I shot my wild turkey this past spring). I saw some deer that afternoon but they were too far away from my setup. Wednesday morning, I was back before dawn in the same area but in a different spot watching a wooded ravine. Before 8 am I had bagged a nice doe to fill my last tag. 5 tags filled.

Talk about timing. Brenda and I had shopped in Centerville for a new freezer on Monday night. On Tuesday morning we decided to purchase the only in stock unit that was big enough for our needs. After all, we would have a lot of venison to pick up soon. When I took the deer in on Monday morning, they said they would be ready about December 11th.

By noon, the new freezer was delivered and powered up in our lower level. One half hour after the delivery truck left, the locker called to advise that our venison could be picked up. Boy am I glad we found one in the store!

While Brenda was in Ankeny the past couple of days I've been working hard to get the boxes out of the garage and make room to park vehicles inside before it snows. Last night was the first night that the Flex spent the night in the garage. Two days of opening boxes and moving them into the house where they can be opened and the contents put in their rightful place. I put many boxes into the Gator and shuttled them around to the back door and into the storage room. I assembled three sets of very sturdy shelves in the storage room in recent days and began to fill them up. All the Christmas decorations were placed in the great room. We'll decide how much of them we will use and store the rest in the basement.

We are getting used to the fact that this is now our home. Every day when we rise, the first thing that you see is the lake. It's pretty cool. A year-round front row seat admiring nature's beauty. Deer in the yard in the morning and evening. Geese noisily flying by. Always something to see.

Once I decide how to handle my Google account, I'll get some more pictures posted. To all of you that have been following our project....thanks! It's been a good way to track the progress and log it like a piece of history and stay in touch with you all. I've saved the contents of the blog for my future reference and may decide to end my writings sometime in the near future. Or, maybe not. We'll see.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

2012 has been quite a year for Brenda and me. I mean QUITE A YEAR. Here's wishing that 2013 will be a year full of promise and great experiences for all our family and friends. Especially, here at Lake Sundown! We built this house to enjoy our retirement years near nature and to share it with you all!

Nov. 17 - Internet Service Installed

Here's what I woke up to this morning.

Our satellite internet service was installed this morning.

We have TV.....

Brenda has been busy cleaning now that we finally have no one else showing up to do some work for a few days. We're going to start getting the kitchen ready.

The next step in the construction process is the final grading work which will start and hopefully finish in one day.... next Tuesday.

Nov. 16 - We are open for business!!!! First night in new house!!!

The day has come when we can finally move in. We will spend the night in our new home for the first time!! The house is still in disarray but we will start the process to transfer ourselves, our food, our personal things and Trapper to the new house.

We have Dish TV service working in the house as of this afternoon. We are eating supper in the rental house and then will be getting the bed ready in our new master bedroom. We bought a new Select Comfort bed a couple of months ago and got it set up in the new house today.

Tomorrow morning we get our internet service installed.

Sunday afternoon or evening Frank, Crystal, Frankie and Lily should arrive safe and sound at our new house. From there, Tyler, Emily and Connor will be here by Wednesday evening. Thanksgiving is going to be a very special time for all of us this year. It will be the first time for ALL of us to be together at the same time.

Here's a pic of where we started out on May 7........

And here's what we have created.......

Nov. 13 - Appliances arrived today

Our major appliances were delivered today but not without some drama. They were delivered in a semi which had to back down our driveway. The doors had to be removed from the refrigerator before it could be squeezed through the front door.  Keep that in mind if you ever order buy of the new big refrigerators. We have an issue with some creases/dents on one side of the frig but we have accepted it with the expectation that there will be some future compensation for accepting it in that condition. The front of the unit is fine. The delivery guys were very good and conscientious. The dents were not their fault.

The final state electrical inspection was completed today. And, two installers from Ottumwa completed the granite counter/vanity for our lower bathroom. The lady we hired to do window and door painting showed up to paint a little more. And, Larry worked all afternoon and into the evening on the tile backsplash in the kitchen.

We had a real traffic jam through the middle of the day with the semi blocking the drive and all these folks trying to get their work done.

Tom is back for one more day of work tomorrow and then he is planning to be done with his work on our house. He'll be hooking up all the appliances among other things tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning I'm having a couple loads of gravel delivered and spread out in front of the cement driveway and up the hill. Hopefully, their won't be too much work for me if the driver does a good job spreading it out. He's the same guys that has delivered gravel here all summer. We'll see how much shoveling I'll need to do.

Our furniture and all the other stuff we had in storage for the past year+ will be arriving on Thursday.

Nov. 9 - Carpet installation is complete

When I woke up this morning, this dude was just walking into the yard with a doe behind him. Living at Lake Sundown, you quickly realize that nature is all around you. We're encroaching on their space. It's like living in a state park. 

Occasionally, we can see beavers swimming in the bay. You see a wake on the glassy surface of the lake and a head sticking out of the water and, then, suddenly it's gone. One day Brenda had to stop the car while 4 deer and 11 turkeys crossed the road in front of her (about 100 yards from here). I've counted as many as 19 deer between our house and our mailbox. We're worried about planting any trees or shrubs near our new house because of the deer. Our landscaping may end up being big rocks instead of trees. We like rocks, too.

Oh, ya. They completed installation of the carpet today. We cleaned and picked up wood scraps/trash and stained deck railing. The boat and the Mustang are now in the new house's garage, too.

Nov. 8 - Kitchen!!! And Master Bath!

Hal finished up the kitchen and master bathroom vanity work today.
We are very pleased with the result.

And how about Hal's talent to produce this bathroom double vanity and center dresser?

The carpet for the stairwell and lower level was installed today. The main level gets done tomorrow.

As of last evening, we have working faucets functional toilets. Since the showers are virtually finished (except to clean up some grout work) they could finally turn on the water to the whole house.

We are still waiting for all our major appliances which will be delivered on Tuesday, November 13. The moving truck from the Quad Cities arrives on Thursday, November 15.

Some parting shots taken today....

Nov. 6 - Deck Railing! Shower Pics!

They got a good start on the deck railing system today.....

Here's the master bath shower....

And, they grouted the shower in the lower level.....but it's not cleaned off yet.

Nov. 5 - Working hard to get the house ready to move in

Our appliances are still en-route. Not sure when they will be delivered. Hopefully this week some time. We wanted them last week.

Brenda was busy all day touching up the white trim paint and removing the protective film from the Eagle windows and doors. The screens are on and with the film removed the view through these windows/screens is quite clear. There's a lake out there!

Today was a door day for me. I applied a third coat of polyurethane to all the interior doors first thing this morning and then changed all the hinges to satin nickel. Chuck was on the same door trail installing all the levers. Tom worked on the bathroom pocket doors to install the latch assemblies. For the most part all our interior doors are functional. We still have to install lever handles for the French doors to Brenda's "Do Room".

Tom and Chuck also the front entry door and the other exterior doors with their latches and locks. It's starting to feel like a home now that the front door is done. No pics just yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Larry and his helper Dave continued to work on the master bath shower tile. They also need to grout much of the lower bathroom shower are so Tom can set the toilet. They're making progress but it's moving along slowly.

Tonight Tom and Nick are working on plumbing under the island for the kitchen sink.

Another long day. Tomorrow I know that I have to put more poly finish on the stairwell and the lower level bedroom closet doors.

The kitchen cabinets will be completed on Wednesday/Thursday. The rain gutters are scheduled to be installed Wednesday. The carpet will be installed on Thursday and Friday.

Nov. 4 - Catch-up pics

Here are pics of my painted garage floor. I haven't even walked on it yet! They say 12 hours before foot traffic, 48 hours before driving on it and 72 hours before parking on it.

Stairwell.  I'll be applying the first coat of polyurethane varnish on all the stained areas today.

Here's the wet bar area of the kitchen.

 Half bath with toilet and porcelain sink installed....

 Brenda's pantry with shelving installed.....

Laundry sink in the "Do Room". The cabinets that Brenda ordered arrived by FedEx Freight on Thursday afternoon. When we unpacked everything we soon learned that they shipped two 30" base units and neglected to send the larger upper cabinet. The packing list was correct but the actual product mix sent was wrong. The washer and dryer will be stacked to the right of this base unit.

We spent the afternoon in the Des Moines area yesterday. We returned a lot of unused tile and got a refund. We picked out new backsplash to be applied in the kitchen. We also bought as much of the kitchen cabinet hardware as we could at Menards in Altoona. When you are building, Menards rarely has as many units of whatever you need in stock. We are short about 9 knobs and will have to hit the Menards in Ottumwa to get the rest.

We towed our enclosed trailer so we could also pick up a couple of tables that we bought from a business in Huxley, IA. Grab some take-out barbeque in Ankeny to share with Tyler, Emily and Connor for supper and then we were back at the lake by 10 pm. It was another long day on the run. Trapper was glad to see us as usual.

Here's the kitchen with the island pendants finally installed this afternoon. (They had been backordered since July.)

And, they installed the hanging light and the sconces in the stairwell.

Nov. 2 - I've got a painted garage floor!!

I have no pics yet. We just finished painting of my garage floor. It's 7:45....Tom stayed late to help me complete the job. He did all the rolling of the paint. I brushed all the edges and corners, mixed the epoxy goop and applied the sprinkles. It took us 3 hours. Tom wanted to help me get it completed tonight versus finishing in the morning. Earlier in the day we cleaned all the clutter out the garage for the first time in months. Emptied it. Before lunch I power washed the floor and after lunch cleaned/broomed it with the special degreaser/concrete wash provided in the kit. From start to finish it was about a 7 hour job.

For me this was a top priority job to get done before we move in. Glad it's done. Many thanks to Tom!

Brenda spent the whole day face painting the trim.

Larry is working to tile our shower in the master bath. He's got several days of work left for sure.

I'll provide some pics sometime soon.

Nov. 1 - Countertops

Kitchen countertops were installed today.

Another long day for all of us.

Halloween - We've been busy. We're gettin' there!

Brenda has been painting spindles for the stairway railing.

Tom built the railing for the stairwell on Tuesday and today I stained all the oak railing and steps.

Yesterday I painted the last two garage door panels and today, we FINALLY have functional garage doors that are painted to match!!! Chuck and Randy spent the whole day getting the garage doors and openers installed. They started to clean out the garage, too. My goal is to get the cement floor painted before the weekend.

Garage door installation. It should never be this tough for anyone. IF ONLY we had been dealing directly with a professional garage door installation company (instead of this absurd garage door fiasco created through the local lumber company) this should have easily been completed 90 days ago.

Larry and his helpers have been creating an awesome bathroom and shower in the lower level.

And tomorrow morning......the kitchen and bathroom countertops arrive and get installed!!!

On the down side, there is still no word if our appliances have shipped and will arrive.