Working on the Workshop

The tandem bay of our garage is a great place to store canoes, but it is also Rusty's workshop.  He's already begun the process.

Rusty insulated the back wall and is measuring for pegboard.

Rusty uses the big table saw to cut the pegboard to size.  I started painting the interior garage walls.

Our home looks so much better with sod.

Welcome!  We're ready for visitors!

So many jobs to do! MAILBOX Installation.

Now that the furniture has arrived, this place feels much more like home.  Predictably, there are many, many boxes yet to unload.  Even though we thought we were being very careful in labeling our boxes, we still are searching daily for things we need.

Like any new home, there are lots of things that need to be done.  Rusty is such a trooper!!!!  The first day he built a rack and hung 3 canoes in the garage.  The second day he hooked up the washer and dryer so that I could do laundry.  The third day he assembled our desks before the cable guy arrived so that we could be connected. 

 And Rusty has done so many other things.  He's organizing the garage and the basement, no small task there.  He tacked sheets to the bedroom and bathroom windows so that we could have some privacy.  He also did a fine sanding on the built-in cutting board so that it would be more to our liking.  He hung a hook in the bathroom next to the shower for our towels.  And now I need him to install the paper towel rack.  Oh yea, and the microwave shelf needs to be installed.

Today he is installing the mailbox.

The temperatures today are in the 90's and the dew point is way up there.  This picture is foggy because my camera can't deal with the humidity.

Installing a simple mailbox is more complex than you might imagine.  First you have to cut the cedar post to the required length.  None of our saws are deep enough to cut a 4 x 4 post.

Some of the scrap cedar post is used to pound the base into the ground.  Of course it doesn't fit into the base, so it had to be "downsized" in order to fit.

Once the scrap piece is fitted into the base, it has to be pounded into the rock-hard dirt.  The ground did not yield, and eventually the scrap piece splintered into smithereens.  Rusty had to drill a hole in order to pry it out and then use a second scrap piece.  Then he applied ample water to the ground in order to get the base securely into the ground.  Remember, this is the day when it's over 90 degrees and the dew point is off the charts.  My ears hurt from the pounding.  I can't imagine what his shoulders and arms must have felt like.

Rusty measures to make sure we are compliant with postal regulations.  (Notice the storm blowing in.)

I think we are in for nasty weather tonight!

Moving Day

Gene was AWESOME!

And so was Nick.  These guy were still running after 8 hours of moving.

Chet's is a local moving company.  They are incredibly awesome.  No broken furniture.  No holes in the wall.  Pleasant to work with and VERY reasonable.  If you live near Lincoln, this is definitely the company to hire.

We have closed on our house and now camping in our new home.

After closing on our new home, we were determined to live in it, even if it had no furniture.  We dined on a box and slept on the floor.  But it was our new HOME!!!

Who cares if it's HyVee carry out!

We sat on the deck and celebrated with a bottle of champagne.

And we watched the full moon rise in the eastern sky!

Lookin' Good

After being out of town for a week, it was fun to come home and see the progress on our home.  These pics were taken two days before the "walk-through."

All the kitchen appliances have been installed.

The interior doors have all been hung.  Here you are looking at the pantry doors.

Both bedrooms have been carpeted.

The wood floor really makes our Big Space look cool!  It just needs some furniture.

We did the walk through on Wednesday and marked all the little spots that still need attention, like the blue X on the wall in the above picture.  Lots of painting touch-ups are needed, but that is to be expected.  By the end of today, everything should be clean and ready to go.

Tomorrow morning we give the builders one last check and the house is ours!