Welcoming Committee

When we returned to the land, we were met by creatures great and small.

This horse, one of a small group, met us on the road just off the highway.

This cow and her very young calf were at the seasonal stock pond on our property.

JDK's crew had been there while we were away. Our closet, textured and ready to paint was a welcome sight.

Gerald and I spent the first day doing various odds and ends in preparation for our final inspection. Gerald adjusted the self-closing hinges on the fire door in the garage, and built and installed this fire door leading to our crawl space.

Moving Toward the Final Inspection

JC arrived early the next morning. He spent the first part of the morning installing the porch gates he had welded...

And changing out the back porch steps so they would meet code.

Meanwhile, we needed to get the ground ready for site work. That meant we needed to find somewhere to put our flooring, which was stacked outside the back door.

Gerald had the idea of stacking it on the deck. But first we had to do something with all the piles of scrap that had accumulated.

By lunch time, we had cut and stacked all the scrap and moved several piles of flooring off the ground and onto the deck.

We absolutely loved having a nice, clean deck. If only it would stay that way....

I can hardly wait for the time our porch is just a porch and the only thing I have to worry about sweeping up inside is dirt and not sawdust and construction debris.

Now that the place is beginning to look and feel like a home, I confess I long to organize kitchen utensils instead of tools and nails.

Hands on Deck

After lunch, J.C. helped Gerald with the west end porch.

By the end of the day, they had gotten as much done as we planned. Because we're still using part of the porch for construction, Gerald will nail down OSB on the remaining portion of the porch for now.

While they were doing that, I went upstairs to paint. I had asked Gerald to bring up enough paint for the upstairs so I could work on it in pieces when Gerald was working on things I couldn't help with.

I surprised both of us by getting it all done. I was very happy with the color and the way the space felt when it was done.

Next, I'll work on the bead board in this room, which will eventually be my office. It makes me almost giddy to think that it's just a little bead board and a floor away from being ready to occupy.

By the end of the weekend, we expected to need just one more day to finish up everything we needed for the final. We left with the hope of calling for an inspection the following week.

After all the time we've spent, it was hard to believe we were finally at this point.

Housekeeping Details

On our next trip, we spent the first day on housekeeping details.

First, we hung the print that would hide our TV above the downstairs fireplace.

We spent the rest of the day installing cabinets in the kitchen and master bathroom. With these cabinets in place, the only "hole" left to fill on the wall is the one for the vent hood.

Inching Closer Toward the Final Inspection

The rest of the time, we spent covering the rest of the studs and insulation as required for the final.

We had left one part of the north wall undone until we decided whether we wanted to finish it with brick or the natural wood we had used elsewhere. We settled on the brick. So Gerald sheeting the remaining wall with plywood.

The other area was the guest room closet. We put that off until last because it was holding all of our tools.

Gerald dismantled the shelves.

But not before we had relocated the tools unto folding tables. We took the tools and equipment we were finished with down to the garage and still managed to fill up three tables.

Gerald was able to tape and apply the first coat of mud before we left.

We had hoped to get to the crawl space opening, but had to leave it for the next trip. We hope that with JC's help we can get everything done for the final with the exception of the site work next time. We'll see....