Cast and Crew Party

Doug, John, and Chris completed all the touchup and clean up jobs that they had built into a final list of things to do.  They moved the freezer to the basement and plugged it into the electrical receptacle next to the emergency generator circuit box.  They moved the washer and dryer into the new laundry and stacked them  using the hardware kit I got about 6 months ago--luckily our washer-dryer combination was designed to stack, so it only took a $15 kit to put that together.  Doug took the task of bolting everything together and getting it to sit level in the laundry.  John installed all the towel racks and toilet paper holders in the three bathrooms.  Chris spent a lot of time cleaning and dusting off the walls.  Mike the painter was around to touch up the paint where dings and marks had appeared.

Dwayne installed the 5 spots in the kitchen, although the spots need some new bulbs, 50 watt, PAR20 medium base 120 volt halogen bulbs to be exact.

Harry Burd arrived to give us our final building code inspection. He used the exterior stairs that Doug had built for the bumpout door and checked the other door that had been disabled by removing the door handle. The rest of his inspection involved checking the electrical receptacles on the great room wall and in the kitchen.  Everything passed with flying colors and Harry will issue the occupancy certificate to Huston Twp, Envinity, and us.  With that we will be able to transition the construction loan to the permanent mortgage.   

With the achievement of the occupancy certificate milestone, our construction phase II is complete.  Move in date is a moving target, but we have our 'cast and crew' party scheduled for

this coming Saturday (July 31), so we will likely be(somewhat) moved in by then.

Hoss and Empress visited for their inspection: 5' black rat snake greeted them in the coop.

Catching up

The marans have been with us for 6 weeks now and are slowly becoming less skittish.  They still hang together but don't bunch up in a corner when we come around.  Last night they pecked at cheese pieces as I threw them, a first.  One of the black ones has tiny feathers on her front legs; she looks like she hasn't shaved in a while.  Two have floppy toes as if they'd been broken in the distant past; one of them has a comb 3 times as big as the others; she better not be a "he".  All of them are growing in the bald spots caused by crowding and pecking in their former lives and their bronze neck feathers are brightening.  They are beginning to sit on the poles rather than huddle in the corner, too. Now, if they'd only go under cover at night and when it rains.

Buddy has to be lead to the pick-your-own berry feast we have, but once his nose is pushed into the patch, he gets it.  Gambol competes with the bears and chickens for best-berry-picker.
With the end in sight we are thinking about the Cast Party, scheduled for July 31, 2:-6:00.  Tacos (build your own) might make everyone happy and by then perhaps we'll have tomatoes and peppers to work with.

Reading 3 books at once which is probably why I'm not accomplishing many pages in any: Infant Massage: A Handbook for Loving Parents by Vimala Schneider McClure ***** from a course I managed at work.  It's off the deep end in some respects, but very interesting and apparently research based in most.  Maybe this one, along with Free Range Kids should be required reading for new parents these days.

Collapse, Jared Diamond *** I think I found another problem with Kindle:  it's hard to see how big a book is, how many pages.  In the very first chapter he gets weather and climate confused, so now I'm skeptical of the whole book.  Since my boss recommended it (several times) I'd better plow on through.

Shadow of Power, Martini ***Murder in a hotel; a steward is accused; his father asks a lawyer friend to defend.  Ordinary so far.

Happy 1st Birthday Western Prince

We traveled to Roselle to celebrate.  Lady Ariel and Graf vonEnaml throw quite a party.  Over 70 people were invited; more than 50 showed up despite a morning torrential downpour and forecast 90 degrees.  It never got above 75 and the rain stopped just as the party began.  Ribs and other grilled stuff was the main (food) attraction.  A science lady entertained the kids with slime, silly putty and a rocket launch.  The park had a pavilion near a small water park which helped wash off the rib juice and cake icing.  The cake was right out of HGTV: a (almost) life-size 747 (with a propeller) and a tail number 1.  Tasted good too.

It was nice to see Bill, Patty, Andrea and her family, and Liz and catch up on family happenings.

Pittsburgh to Chicago (Midway)			Travel Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
Date	Flight	Routing Details
Thu Jun 10	267	Depart Pittsburgh(PIT) at 12:50 PM Arrive in Chicago (Midway)(MDW) at 01:15 PM
Return: Chicago (Midway) to Pittsburgh			Travel Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
Date	Flight	Routing Details
Sun Jun 13	3683	Depart Chicago (Midway)(MDW) at 01:05 PM Arrive in Pittsburgh(PIT) at 03:25 PM

By car: 2 hr 53 min to PIT and 50 min from MDW to Roselle.  We traveled light in just one carry-on.

Paint

The painters began their work today on the walls that will have built-ins on them.  The kitchen and master hall have color.  Several other rooms have primer.
Our copper sconces from Lightcrafters are ready for installation.  These will go around the great room.

Bill and Jonas delivered the douglasfir railing for the rear landing.  It's the same style as the loft without the copper wave and in a light wood.

Cody has been tasked with stuccoing the foundation that won't be covered with landscape soil. It's a slow process while Scott, Jesse and Doug continue with the HardiePlank installation.  The front window wall took a long time because of all the tiny pieces between the windows that had to be cut. 

Then it was lunch time.  We had pizza from Faccia Luna for the team to thank them for their dedication to our job.

Dormers

With the crane doing all the heavy lifting of the long roof panels yesterday, it was up to the crew today to work the smaller pieces of the two dormers using only the forklift. There are more angles on these pieces so precise fitting is required. The front and sides of the dormers are up and the first section of the dormer roof on the left side dormer is in place. Besides finishing the roof of this dormer and installing the right side dormer's roof, there are some panels that will go on the peak that extends out between the dormers over the front living room bump-out.

To celebrate the panels on the roof we had an indoor pizza lunch from Faccia Luna.  It was nice to have a reason to come home for lunch!  Weather today was in the upper 20s and there is snow forecast for tonight, possibly 1-3 inches. Bring on the January thaw!