Catching Up

Today is November 7, 2013 and I have been in Singers Glen, Virginia for more than a year. Wow! My sister and her husband (Buffy and Fred) had long ago offered me land on their farm, so that I could build a house. In January I accepted their generous offer, and then went off to El Valle de Anton for 10 weeks. When I returned in April we started the process of "house building"...ha ha ha...April to the end of October was spent in all the administrative stuff, including 1) surveying the lot, 2) deeding the lot to me, 3) working on building plans, 4) clearing the lot, 5)obtaining approvals from the Health Department, the Planning Department, the Fire Marshall, and VDOT, and 6)costing the house. At the end of October, I signed a contract to build the house. Ray Guthrie is the builder/contractor. And then I went to California for two weeks to take care of Morgan and Travis while Chris and Kerry were in Europe. So, now I'm back and here are some visuals...

This is my lot, after Buffy and Fred cleared it. They did a magnificent job, didn't they? My niece, Maureen Ward, also lives on the farm. She and her husband Dave built their house about a year ago. Her advice, records and enthusiasm are invaluable! She told me about the "auctions": various building supply stores (e.g., Home Depot, Lowe's) and contractors, send their unsold overage items to "auction". These auctions are held periodically in various cities. In early October, Mo took me up to Woodstock and we bought three toilets, a front door, a basement door, marble tile for my shower, and the kitchen sink with faucet. We figure that we saved about $1000, but that was only because Mo took over the bidding. She is so much better at bidding than I (at one point, I seemed to bidding against myself!). I handed the bid card to her and she did great! We loaded everything on the trailer (with many comments about the pregnant woman doing manual work), drove back to the farm, stopping for a delicious Thai dinner on the way. On Sunday, Dave, Mo and a little me unloaded the trailer, stashing the stuff in their basement and in the bank barn (each of the barns has a different name). Here's Mo, after we returned to the farm:

In early November, when I returned from California, this is what I saw:

Yesterday the "Precision Wall" guys were there. Their mission is to erect wall forms, into which concrete is poured. I'll have a photo later. But while there, a stray dog came by and followed me home. We are trying to find the owner, but isn't he lovely?