how much longer?

I'm really struggling in the campers. Tonight I actually suggested we go rent someplace for the last little bit. I didn't really mean it, but it sounded good when I was saying it. I know the worst is behind us and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

BTW - No picture of the brick because they didn't lay any today. All they did was setup the scaffolding.

Cheaper By the Dozen

On one of my trips out of town a couple of years ago, Rod went and bought chickens. We have had chickens ever since then. Tori has many sources of revenue - baby sitting, grooming dogs, baking her homemade dog biscuits, and hard labor around the land. As Tina is growing up, she felt the need to make some money of her own. So about 8 or 9 months ago, she invested in 30 chickens. Over the last 6 or 7 months, these chickens have had a rough time of being transplanted to the land. Sadie, Tina's dog, had a taste for these chickens and thinned the flock to 11 layers and 1 rooster. We have finally broke her from killing the chickens. The chickens are free range and Tina gathers and sells the eggs for $2.50 a dozen (a cheap price for free range, organic eggs). Lately with the warmer weather, she is getting about 4 - 5 dozen a week. As of tonight, she finally has an "official" waiting list for these yummy eggs. She is selling so many, I am going to have to buy some just so we can have some eggs at the house!

Here is a picture of her customized pink cartons.

Brick delivery

1/2 of the brick was delivered today. We have ordered 19,000 bricks for the exterior of the house. This does not count the block that was laid for the part that will be below grade. Because of the grade of the south wall of the house and the retaining wall that will need to be built, the brick came in over budget. The block and brick so far has cost $11,500 which is $4,000 over budget. Sand and and 2 pallets of mortar were also delivered. According to Jim, the builder, they are going to start bricking tomorrow, so check back for a picture.

Fun Evening (can you hear the sarcasm?)

Tori is in a nice hotel room, Rod and Tina are at the ball park, and that leaves me, the animals that are pets, and the ANTS home alone. Right now I am really just posting this to take a break from the work that I am doing. I have real work to do (coding some stored procedures) and house work to do (taking care of the ants). So to take a break from both.. I decided to whine a little on the blog. Since I have been home from work, I have loaded up all the food that is unopened in the camper # 1 and taken it to camper # 2. I have removed all paper plates, napkins, plastic silverware, etc. Tonight when we go to bed, Tina will sleep in there with Rod and I which will make this camper empty. I will set off a smoke bomb to try to kill the ants. Tomorrow morning we will open the windows and tomorrow night I will have the fun task of wiping everything down, bringing the food back, cleaning, washing all the pots, pans, glasses, etc. Like I have said before... I hate ants.

Living in a camper, camping in a house

Last week they started the drywall on Wednesday, taped it on Thursday and Friday. We worked for a couple of hours on Saturday cleaning up some of the construction trash around the house. Saturday night we decided it was finally time to camp in the house. We started out by vacuuming the room. We decided to sleep in the master bedroom because it was upstairs where it was warmer and had the least amount of stuff for us to clean up.



After vacuuming, we brought in the air mattresses, laptop, oreos, drinks, and space heater. Before the night was out, we did get cold. It was certainly quiet in there. There were storms on Saturday night and we could barely tell it was even raining.

Bathroom Tile

We have decided that we are going to attempt the tiling of the bathrooms. Our builder told us to use the Durock for the backerboard.

Here is Rod working in the master bathroom.


Tori helped out in her and Tina's bathroom.

Ants

Many people seem to assume that camping in the winter has been harder than in the summer. Often we are asked if we will be happy "when it warms up". The problem with warm weather is the bugs. If you have followed our blog you know that in the first two weeks of living in the campers we battled the ants. We won that battle after a ton of hard work. But we apparently didn't win the war. They were just laying low until we were unsuspecting. Last night in the cover of darkness they found some strawberries with sugar on them that were left on the counter. I got home today and had to start the process of throwing out all the open food. Luckily they had not invaded the cabinet yet so any food unopened I kept. I still fed Molly and Dolly anything that had the seal broken on it. Now all food is back in ziplock bags.. UGH.. I know this is just the start and it is only going to get worse from here. 6 - 8 more week, for some reason I fear these might just be the hardest I have done so far.

Congress, watch out - Tori is on the way!

Tori for Senate? I don't know if that will happen one day or not. She would be a great leader, but she is too nice and unbelievably honest. So not sure if she would be Senate matterial or not. However, on Sunday she headed downtown for 3 days to pretend. She is part of the 4-H Congress this year. Each county takes high school kids to the capitol to learn about the state process. In order to be selected, the student had to write an essay. I'm not sure how the selection process worked completely, but Tori ended up being a Senator. When she got the paperwork in the mail of responsibilities, she discovered she has been selected to lead the senate in the opening prayer. Speaking in front of a large group of people is something that she does not have any trouble doing. As for praying in front of a large crowd, she will feel right at home.

As I type this, I hope she is having a blast. Tomorrow night is a big event where she has a new formal gown to wear. If nothing else, she is sleeping in a nice, comfortable hotel room at the Shearton!!!

Drywall

The drywall was delivered yesterday. Today in 4 1/2 hours, they installed all the walls. The will come back and do the taping and mudding starting tomorrow. They have told us that we can start the bathroom tiling. We are going to try to do Tori and Tina's bathroom ourself. If that goes well, we are going to do the other bathrooms.

Geothermal - Aquarius

The geothermal unit is now connected to the ductwork. They finished drilling the wells today and inserted the "closed loop" pipes into them. The unit is a Florida Heat Pump Aquarius 3 ton. It has the ports to connect it to the water heater for free hot water in the summer and radiant floor heat in the winter. I will be installing radiant heat beneath the master bathroom floor (someday).

Poking another hole in the ground

Now they are drilling the wells for the geothermal system.

Spray Foam Insulation

We are having the spray foam attic insulation installed. The company is Tennergy. They claim the open cell spray foam will give me a R-24 insulation value on the entire roof. This also means we have an almost air tight attic for storage with no itchy blown in insulation. The spray foam goes directly on the bottom side of the roof decking and between where the rafters and walls connect.

Inspections - PASSED

We have officially passed the Electrical, Plumbing, and Framing inspection!!! YEAH!!!! Sheetrock is on the way next week.

Renewed appreciation for MOM (and Dad)

The laundromat should be a 4 letter word... Mom (and sometimes Dad) have been doing our laundry since we moved into the campers. I take her baskets every few days and pick them up the next day folded and back in the baskets. I have been buying all the supplies for both us and them as well as giving her money to offset the huge electric bills she has been having. Remember all the mud I have been blogging about...The clothes are often real dirty!

This week I had 3 full baskets of clothes, all the sheets, all the comforters, and some couch throw type blankets that needed to be washed. Their washing machine just can't handle the down comforters. It was late in the afternoon and I headed up to the laundromat. It took me $42 to wash and dry the clothes. As the clothes were drying, I had my laptop and aircard on one of the folding tables doing some work to pass the time. All of the sudden the attendant came out of the office and started shouting at me. We have had rain here and I did have a SMALL amount of mud on my boots, but it was really not that much. She said "If I had seen you come in, I would have made you go outside and take your shoes off!" Then she started sweeping the floor and was trying to sweep under my feet where I was standing. I was not going to cooperate, I had just dropped $42 in there, so I refused to move my feet and continued to stand there. Honestly, my boots were not that muddy, I had kicked them on the sidewalk before I walked in, and the majority of the dirt she saw came from me putting the dirty clothes into the washing machines. What was real funny was I, for some stupid reason, thought I was the customer???????

Lucky for Mom - as the weather is getting nicer, I will be able to use my washer that Rod hooked up for me and a clothes line. The reason I have not been using it is because I don't have a way to hook up a dryer.

Hello Dolly

We walked to the buttercup patch yesterday. Tina and Dolly are both looking lovely this afternoon.

Down through the chimney

Denny Mechanical finished installing our chimney for the wood burning stove in the basement. We used Hart and Cooley insulated 6" pipe. It only needs 2" of clearance between the pipe and any combustibles. I wanted the pipe to run up through the house instead of putting a hole in a wall and having it on the exterior.

Three Musketeers - Hold your fire

10:07 p.m. Tina is at Laine's spending the night, Tori is reading her book, I am on my laptop doing some work, Rod is playing the Wii. Then we have a "brown out". The electricity comes right back on. The dogs had been barking but way off from the campers. After about 15 - 20 seconds, Rod gets up and goes to the other camper to look out the window. He comes back in and says " I see a light and I have my gun. I'm on my way over there". Tori and I spring into action. I get the other pistol and start loading it. I come back to the girls camper to see Tori with Tina's pink BB gun cocked and ready. Tori has called her friend at this point and said "Paige if you hear gunshots call 911 and told her our address. As I am outside listening by the side of the camper, I can hear Rod talking and I can't tell what he is saying. The electrical pole is about 400 feet from the camper. After a minute or so I can tell someone is walking back over and I call out to Rod....

Apparently the plumber wanted to come "finish something up". He saw Rod with his gun and said "I'm glad you recognized me". I'm pretty sure he won't come after dark again. Good thing the port-a-potty is close to the electrical pole.

Geothermal HVAC

Yet another part in making sure this house is ready for future energy costs will be the geothermal heating and cooling system. We are installing a 3 ton Florida Heat Pump system. With all the insulation in the house, we are able to under-size the HVAC by quite a bit. Our old house was about the same square footage and had a 5 ton standard heat pump unit. Our builders have told us several times our electric bills should not be over $100 a month for this house.
The house will be so air tight, we have to use a device called an HRV (heat recovery vent) to introduce controlled amounts of fresh air into the house. It does this by passing it through a heat/cold exchanger with the inside air being exhausted out. This transfers about 60% of the energy that would be lost to the incoming fresh air. The system will not try to suck air through windows and doors. The duct men from Total Comfort got most of the duct work in. The geothermal lines outside are where most of the labor costs come in.

Playing in the Hay

Tina had a friend Alizabeth over on Friday night. I just love this picture of them playing in the hay ring. I know they played for hours in that hay.

We now have a Wii (in the camper)

As most people who know us know, we are not big gamers. We have never had a game console other than the old saga genesis. We most certainly do not want our kids to be kids who only sit on the couch and play games. However, last night we surprised the kids and went shopping to buy a Wii. After our 3rd stop, we finally found a Wal-mart that had one in stock. We didn't splurge on any of the games other than the sports game that comes with it.

Notice that when Rod was bowling.. he had to stand in the kitchen to play...

Wild Buttercups

Last year was our first spring owning the land. We just happened to come upon a huge patch of wild buttercups. Rod and I walked to them last week and they had not bloomed yet. Yesterday Tori and I decided to walk down there and check on them again. They are about 1/2 way in bloom.

$ 40 for delivery

Last weekend we bought 3 pieces of 20 foot culvert to work on a turn around where the pond is and the road to the barn. After working on it for several hours, Rod decided we need a 4th piece of culvert. We had already paid $40 for delivery on the first group that we bought. Rod asked if I would pick it up on the way to pick Tina up from school. I went to Simpson Culvert and the guy loaded it on top of the suburban for me. Tori and I decided that we could handle unloading. We unstrapped it and pushed.. Well as it came down, it took out the mirror on the suburban. I'm pretty sure the $40 delivery is less than what it is going to cost to replace the mirror. So much for being cheap.

100 % Dried in

FINALLY! All the windows are in. There have been 3 windows that were not put in yet because the manufacture had sent the wrong mulling strips. These are strips that join multiple windows together when there is more than 1 window in a hole. Yesterday the correct strips came in and the workers were here and put them all in. All doors are on and we even have doorknobs.

The electrician was here on Wednesday and did more work. They are hoping to call in the electrical inspection on Monday.

We had problems with the stovepipe. We want a wood burning stove in the basement. However, we are responsible for finding a company that will put the pipe in and insure it. So the first guy we called wanted too much money and didn't know what he was doing. It was not looking good for the stove. Yesterday morning another guy came out and seemed MUCH more knowledgeable than the person from Wednesday. This guy gave us a quote of $1,500 and that includes the material. The pipe he will use going thought the main level of the house is rated where it only needs 1" of clearance. So it is some great stuff. So looks like we are back to being able to put a stove in. It would be a shame to not have something in the house that burns wood with all the wood we have up here.

So far everything is going OK. Certainly there are days that are very, very stressful for me.

Decisions We need to make:
1. cabinets. I have been looking, getting quotes, etc. They are going to be there a long time and I want to make the right decision
2. Trim - the archways in the kitchen. Yesterday he asked me if we were going to trim them or drywall them? Who know I needed to make that decision already? I had honestly not thought of it a single time.
3. Material we are going to put under the roof that covers the decks. Bead board was what we are thinking but Rod is worried about boring bees.
5. Flooring - hardwood in great room, bedrooms; tile in kitchen and dining room; tile in bathrooms; carpet in Tori and Tina's bedrooms; staining the concrete in the rec room; tile in downstairs bathroom... at least this is what we think we want.
4. What kind of trim we want in the house

I'm sure this is not the entire list, but it is some of the decisions we are working on

Issues: Right now our only issue that we are dissatisfied about is the decks. The concrete on them has problems for 2 reasons. The first was the subcontractor was negligent. The second was the subcontractor told us we didn't need to put blankets on them, but the concrete did freeze and we have some pits because of that. Jim, the superintendent, told me yesterday that his guys were going to repair it rather than the subcontractor. So we will see how it goes. Rod has taken very specific pictures of the spots we are not happy with and we will make sure it is done right or there will have to be some type on compensation for it.

The big windows are in.

$'s

If you are a control oriented person who crunches numbers.... building a house is not for you. Believe me I know!

Chicken Run

Tina is playing softball for the first time this year. She has had one practice and her coach is crazy. How would I know that after only 1 practice? He asked Rod to be the 2nd assistant coach!!! If you don't know Rod, he is not a sports fan and I have never seen him watch sports!

Tina has a great arm but she needs practice. So Rod, Tori, and Tina were all going to go outside and let her practice hitting the ball. They get outside and start and the chickens were headed to safer ground :-)



Rod started the morning with a fire. He has cooked Maple Syrup all day long. As I sit here at 10:00 at night typing this blog entry, he is still over there at the stove doing the final cook of the 10 gallons of sap.

Nice Weekend

This weekend the weather has been great! On Friday the only work that was done on the house was the framers were back to put some boards up along the roof line that they needed before the brick can be put on. We had been told that they might start bricking it this weekend but that didn't happen.

On Saturday we had some gravel delivered. On one of our first invoices from the builder we were charged $830 for 2 loads of 3/4" gravel. Those loads were only 10 tons each. Granted this was over the holidays but it was still very expensive. Rod called around and found a company that would deliver 22 ton loads of 3/4" gravel for $430 - 1/2 price!!

We also did a little work on the driveway turn around near the road going to the barn and pulled some logs from the creek. But basically that was all the work we did on Saturday.

On Sunday we cleaned up the building site some more. Just sweeping up the trash in the house, etc. Here are some random pictures of the house and some of the progress that has been happening.

Here is my laundry room. As you can see they are doing the plumbing with the new PEX pipe. Rod used this to run the water to the campers and he really liked it. MUCH easier than the days of sweating pipes.




The electrician has also been working. Here is a picture of an electrical outlet in an exterior wall. They use a tool called a hot knife to cut the ICF in order to create channels for the electrical wire to run.

Mr. Mom

I have to occasionally travel for work. This week was the first time since we have been living in the campers that I had to travel. It is a running joke when Rod has to play Mr. Mom. I'm sure this time was one of the harder times. (Remember the kids and I normally go to Mom's for showers each morning) So Rod has been up every morning at 5:45 a.m., taking the kids to Mom and Dad's, coming back home to take a shower and feed all the animals, go back and pick the kids up, pick up Tina's friend, take Tina and Paige to school, drop Tori off at school and then head to work... I'm thinking next week Rod is going to appreciate me a little more next week :-) But I think he has done great.

North Side Windows

They got some of the windows and doors in today. They hauled off most of their ICF block special equipment they used to stabilize the walls while pouring the crete. The electrician also got started today.