Soon to be June

It seems like summer is slipping away, even though we are not completely sure it is here yet!  May was a busy month for us and is pretty much history now.  We were happy to obtain occupancy a couple weeks earlier than we predicted, so that was good.  Funny thing is, we still haven't moved over there yet.  Hahaha!  We are thinking that we will move around or before the middle of June.  Sure will be different after 10 years living in 325 sqft.  We are expecting Lowe's to send in their countertop contractor later this week to address our punch list of issues with the countertop.  We will see how that goes...

The shot below is not our problem this time!  However, we did do some trenching of our own, but our equipment was not nearly as substantial as theirs.  The county replaced the culvert that runs underneath our road.  The crew said that there was some holes in the existing pipe.  They upgraded from an 18" pipe to a 24" pipe.   You can see the old broken down pipe at frame right.

From the front yard...

After obtaining occupancy, our urgency factor went down and we took an afternoon off.  We sat behind the Shop where we had recently sorted through and cleaned up our keeper lumber pile.  A lot of it ended up on the burn pile in the background.  We even burned a few scraps that afternoon as our first campfire of the year.  Sitting behind the Shop protected us from the wind, and we had a little picnic right there.  Gari fixed us a nice snack, mine was smoked Herring and a beer.  I was happy.

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Two steps forward, one big step backward.  The dishwasher drain leaked.  We got the R.O. installed with zero leaks and plugged the microwave in without problems.  Not so lucky with the dishwasher.  Note to self.  It would have been very smart to run a cycle before installing it under the counter.  Sure is easy to look back and know just what to do.

This is our trenching job for this past month.  The electrical inspector wanted us to install a ground wire from the Shop over to the house, even though we had a Ufer ground and a second ground rod buried at the house.  We didn't argue, but digging that 60 ft of trench just about killed us.  We had to dig to get the fiber optic comm line over to the house anyway, so we figured we would just throw the ground wire in the same trench.  It worked out and we lived.  Just a little bit more to go right in the middle in the shot below.

We sleeved the fiber optic conduit in additional electrical and ABS conduit and pipe.  The ground wire is just a bare #4 copper wire.  You can see the copper veering off to frame right in the shot below.

Once we finished the trenching job, we went back into the house and Gari built a wall for the Laundry/Guest Bathroom.  The wall will, to some extent, separate the two spaces.  Gari applies the finishing coat of polyurethane below.

We also installed the water softener without any leaks.  Installing the drain was the most difficult part, the rest of the install was much easier.

Laundry area prepped for washer shelf and wall install.   Studs and component locations marked with blue masking tape.

Guest side of the bathroom wall installed.  Pretty well hides the laundry business upon entering.

 Laundry business side of the wall.

After running several wash and rinse cycles out in the kitchen floor, we reinstalled the dishwasher back under the countertop.  We ran a cycle installed and all still appears well and dry.  When the HVAC Inspector came to review our final HVAC work he said to us that we had the best crawlspace in Idaho.  We thought what a great honor.  We now realize that we also have the leakiest house in Idaho as well!

We now turn our attention to manufacturing and installing shelves.  We cut all the shelf ledgers at one time and labeled each one so we would know where they go.  You can see the labels on the ends of the boards below.

Gari quietly goes about finishing each of the numerous ledger boards.  You can see more labels below.

Shelf ledgers installed in the utility closet (that's where the electric water heater is installed).

Pantry shelf ledgers installed.

Master bath linen shelves installed.  We have a dark curtain panel that we will hang from a small spring rod in front of the shelves.

Utility shelves installed.  We don't have much of anything to put on them, but they are installed.  Tape marks the studs to hang a broom and tool hanger board.  There are still many details to accomplish even though occupancy is behind us.

Gari has the first coat of polyurethane on the back row of Pantry shelves.

Below is the rest of the Pantry shelves.  The linen closets required just over one sheet of plywood.  The Pantry required over seven sheets of plywood.  Gari puts one coat of poly on the bottoms and two coats on the tops of the shelves.  By calculation she has 30 coats to go on just the shelves below, plus another 10 coats on the back row she has started.  I have seen how she does it.... one shelf at a time.

We are dreaming of sitting.... soon, very soon.