Free at last

When we arrived at the land, we were glad to see Juan had started grading the roads, which were in pretty bad shape after the summer rains.

It didn't take long to do the few little things we needed to do to get ready for the inspection. I caulked a few holes in the floor and Gerald framed in the flue on the upstairs fireplace.

On Friday morning, Gerald busied himself with the guest shower and we waited for the inspector. About noon, Gerald took a break and we talked about having lunch. Then we heard the inspector's truck.

The inspector was there for nearly two hours, and it went very well. There were a few things we still needed to do: install a firebreak and some flashing for the upstairs fireplace, which he said we could do for the next inspection.

Also, we had not resolved the issue of how to heat the place. Our plans called for a furnace, but we were leaning toward thermostatically controlled gas stoves. If we did that, we needed to get the approval of the planning office and change our plans accordingly. Until we did so, we could not pass our combo inspection. But he signed off on everything else: plumbing, electrical, solar hot water. This was very good news. It meant we could connect electrical outlets and plumbing fixtures, and skin, insulate and finish walls. We were ecstatic.

It called for a celebration, so we popped a cork and some microwave popcorn (an excellent pairing, according to friends who would know, and we had to agree).

The next day, Gerald went back to the shower, while J.C. worked on connecting lights and outlets. J.C. showed me how to install outlets, and that's how I spent the afternoon.