After searching for a month for a front door we ended up getting a good one. What's left to do is the trim around the outside and varnishing the door with Spar Varnish. Chris C. will do the outside trim and I'll do the Spar Varnishing. I already stained it.

 



The trenching contractor is here today covering some of the trenches he dug this past Saturday and Sunday.  He glued and installed the water line on Sunday so he's covering it today.  Still to go is the sewer line, gas (propane) line, and the electric line going to the shed in back.  Janice and I are waiting for AT&T to come fix a cut land line wire.  They trenched across it.  We've been using our cell phone to communicate but it's difficult getting a signal out here.

 

The insulation is up on the walls.  This is looking
towards the Kitchen and Formal Dining.  The window on
the right is over the kitchen sink.  The framed area
without insulation is the pantry.

Looking down the Sewer line trench (I'm standing over the Septic Tank). 
To the left are the trenches for the gas line and electric line going to the shed. 
The water line is not visible.

The insulation guys arrived Saturday and did a great job.  I'll take some pictures of the inside tomorrow and post them.  Tomorrow Janice and I have to sweep up the inside and lay out thick paper over the floor.  This is to protect the floor when they sheetrock.  When Janice and I finish I'll call the guys and they'll come to install the sheetrock.  After the sheetrock they'll tape, float, and texture the walls.  After that they will put the insulation in the ceiling.

Another sunset from the porch.
It rained last night, HOORAH!
It woke me up twice last night, it was a good rain.

The electrical is finished (with the exception of some in the ceiling).  The insulation guys will probably be here this week to install insulation in the walls.
We are going to see where we can rent a buffer for the floor and a trencher to dig the sewer and water lines.  We also have to dig a trench to the shed.

Sunset last night.  From the front porch.

 

Sunset when the cold front was coming in.
 Also from the front porch

We're at a stand still again.  I had the insulation guys here two days ago and received a good bid.  The sheet rock folks will come in after them, I haven't received a bid from them yet.  Then, the insulation guys come back and do the taping, floating, and texture. 
The only thing we're waiting for now is for the electrical to finished.  Once it's done, then the insulation begins.

Everybody is here today.  They are installing the gas lines.  The HVAC folks are here installing the ducts and HVAC system.  Janice and I are on our way to buy conduit for the electrician's to run power to the AC condenser outside.

 

The remains of the fire are between the tractor and wheel barrow.

 

My worries begin when they burn the garbage wood outside.  It's kind of close to the house.  I can't help but think of Jack London's 'Wolf House'.

The sunset I saw while standing on our front porch.

Sunrise is even more dramatic.
I'll try to get a photo of one from our back porch.

Yesterday we received an email to tell us the shell (outside) was finished.  Janice and I walked around taking notes and found a few problem areas.  I called the framing boss and he came by to see the areas that either needed repair or replacement.  The outer edge of the decking on the porch will be finished after the sheetrock is installed.  It looks pretty good overall.  Now we move inside.  The electricians are still working and the HVAC person came by to plan his installation.  The plumbing looks good but I'm still concerned about the Master Bath shower.  It is really a custom job. 
Well, so far so good.

The Front Elevation as built.

The Front elevation as designed. 
The 3 foot by 5 foot windows became
3 feet by 6 feet for egress and the porch
posts were spaced 8 feet instead of the designed 10 feet.
All in all, pretty good.

 

After some problems at the ranch and other delays the soffit is coming together.  All the window trim is up.  The electricians have about three days left to complete the house wiring.  The plumbing top-out is almost done (we have to buy a tub and faucets).  I am hoping that things will start to move faster now.  I emailed the HVAC person today to tell him he can begin the installation.

The roof came out really nice.

 

The roofers have been here for the past three days.  I believe they will probably finish putting on the roof tomorrow.  It looks really good.  This morning I told them that I didn't want any of the roof vents in front, I needed them all in back.  They told me that they had planned on installing them in back.

The electrician dug a trench from the pole to the house and buried a conduit with the electrical wire in it.  It took quite a while to dig that trench.  The house is now ready to be wired.

Things are moving too damned slow.  We got all the siding that was needed, they started putting it up, and then they left without finishing the job.  We got part of the soffit for above the porch.  They are going to order the rest tomorrow and it should arrive this coming week.  They also need to finish the porch floor.  Right now I'm trying to calculate how much trim is going to be needed for around the windows and doors and the corners.  Once I figure it out we'll buy it and have them put it up.  The roofers are supposed to arrive tomorrow to begin putting up the metal roof.  I'll believe it when I see it.

 

The carport came out pretty good.  You can see the costly LVL's holding up both the roof trusses and the porch roof.  Although there are two metal poles, the distance between them will allow my truck to fit.  Actually, my truck and Janice's Mini Cooper will fit in the area between the house and the inner pole.  The main reason I wanted the porch roof to extend further out was to keep the rain off of us going from the carport to the porch steps (I know, what rain!).  The entrance to the carport is located to the right of the house, basically where the date on the photo is located.

 

We've been at a stand still for two weeks.  We haven't been too happy about this.  Today I spoke with the contractor and they will be installing the fascia board on Monday.  I told him that I had scheduled the roofers for this coming week and that they may begin on Monday.  I also told him that we would be buying the siding this weekend and leaving it on the trailer under the carport.  I have the HVAC person coming by tomorrow to look over the house so he can give me a bid.
I need to get going on the house.  WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THESE GUYS!!

It seems that everything has come to a stand-still.  I believe it's because the LVL's (Laminated Veneer Lumber - strong, can take weight at longer spans) that we ordered for the carport overhang haven't come in.  However, I thought they were coming in this past Friday.  I'll have to check. 
My sister Deanna told me that the Ranch House reminded her of an Australian Outback house she had seen in the movie "Quigley Down Under".  She was right.  I was inspired by several designs when I tackled the Ranch House, Australian Sheep Station houses in the Outback, Quanah Parker's "Star House", and typical old Texas ranch house design.  The Ranch House is a conglomeration of all these styles.  


Australian Sheep Station above, Quanah Parker's 'Star House',
and an old Texas ranch house.



Today is the anniversary of our moving out to the ranchito.  We sold our house in August 2011, moved to the Candlewood Suites for 5 weeks, and then to the ranchito and RV on October 3rd.  The bunkhouse was finished about a week later and the RV moved next to it.  Janice, Eric, and I built the corridor between the bunkhouse and RV and our temporary home was complete. 

I took this picture in March after the Spring rains.
In June the green was gone when the drought returned.

Today they continued with the vapor barrier.  They also installed all the windows.  I have to admit that they are really nice windows.  We were both very happy with them.

The moisture barrier is being put up.  They installed one window.  It looks pretty good. 

They're working on the deck boards on the porch.  Man it's a big porch.  I walked on it with Janice and I kept repeating "damned, it's a big porch".  I really like how they are installing the corners. 
They are going to finish the back porch tomorrow.  They plan on finishing with the OSB and then wrapping the structure with Tyvek.  After that, it's time for the windows.

"Damned it's a big porch."

Great looking corners.

They rushed to put in the roof decking over the porch because of the rain that due here later this evening.  They ran out of OSB so they covered the porch all the way to the top headers on top of the porch posts.  Chris C. tells me he discovered that he was short 35 sheets.
Janice and I drove to south Austin this morning pulling our cattle/horse trailer to pick up the windows that we had ordered.  They are beautiful!  They are aluminium, double pane, energy efficient, bronze color with the ability to swing in for easy cleaning.  A Brother Mason that owns a window/glass company ordered them for us for a good price.  Janice and I saved on the delivery charge by picking them up ourselves.  I never expected one of the workers loading them for us and strapping them in the trailer.

Enough protection from the rain.

The inside of our trailer with the 24 windows we ordered.

They are almost finished with the porch rafters.  The only part that is yet to be done is the area that extends the carport.  They still have to add a post.
I received an email today telling me that the windows are in Austin.  I replied to see if we could pick them up at 11:00 tomorrow morning.  Our stock trailer is clean so it won't be a problem loading them and storing them in it until Monday, when the guys will begin installing them.

Porch Right Side

Porch Right Side and Back

They've been putting up the porch posts and rafters. It's a little labor intensive. The porch posts, I discovered, are not the length that I specified.  They were however, cheaper than the longer ones I had drawn. I had changed the size from 4x4"s to 6x4's to give them more heft. The length they used seems to work nicely. Tomorrow they'll continue over the carport on the left side and then cover the porch on the right, then the back. I sent an email to the window folks. I need to know if they will be coming in this week. When the porch is finished they will want to install the windows. When they finish the porch I'll get the roof folks over here. It's been quite stressful.

 

Everybody disappeared half a day on Thursday, the whole day Friday, and part of Monday.  When I called the crew boss I asked him if they had gone on strike.  He laughed and said that they were waiting for a cement truck to come in on Monday to pour cement in the piers they had dug.  It had been difficult scheduling the truck to drive all the way out to the ranch.  If the windows had arrived they would have installed them Thursday, Friday, and Monday.  I'm still waiting for them to come in from Georgia. 
Today they were back at it.  They are almost finished framing the porch joists.  They will level them tomorrow and start the decking.  I am in awe with the size of the porch.  This is what Janice really wanted, a porch going around the house.  IT'S HUGE!!  I'm almost wondering if I should have designed it going around the house but only 6 feet wide.  Designing it eight feet wide makes it almost as big as the entire house but oh is it going to look nice.  It's a very Republic of Texas design.



The porch in front. 

 

The porch in back.

We received a bid for the roof.  It's in line with the other bids we've received.  We haven't heard from the window contractor yet.  Hopefull he'll call next week.  The crew has been working on the porch.  Half the crew has been preparing the piers while the other half built square joists for the decking.  They will be pouring the concrete tomorrow to form the piers.  Once they set, the pre-made joists will be installed.  Then they'll build the porch roof.

Porch in front.

Modular joists for the porch.

 

Porch in back.

I received the bid for the windows and it was a pretty good one.  I went ahead and ordered them.  We selected aluminium windows in bronze color with energy efficient glass and tilt out lower section for easy cleaning.  They'll take about a week to a week and a half to get here. 

It rained pretty good today.  The guys arrived this morning just before the rain and tar papered the roof.  They left soon after. 

We thought that the piers for the porch would have been poured today but I think they focused on the roof because it may rain.  I think they will cover the roof with tar paper tomorrow.

Trusses are almost done.  Tomorrow they'll cover them with OSB.  After that they'll start the porch.  I have to watch the porch closely.  It needs to look a certain way.

The crew worked today nailing on the OSB (Oriented Strand Board) board on the outside.  The windows on the right side have the sills but the board hasn't been cut to them.  They are 3 feet by 6 feet.  They also moved most of the trusses to the top of the walls.  I imagine they'll turn and position them tomorrow.
You can really see the size of the rooms now.  Janice is very satisfied.  Dang, all that worrying I did.

They just about finished framing the walls.  We were able to walk the floor plan and check the room sizes.  They worked out fine.  All the windows and doors are framed.  The windows have the headers in place but still need the sills and cripple studs to complete.  I've decided to change the door opening into the Master Bath to 2'-8" (the minimum wheelchair accessible door width, straight shot, is 32 inches).  I'll leave the door to the Master Bedroom and Master Closet at 3'-0.  It's sort of weird planning ahead to old age but what the hell, it's inevitable.
I'm getting a bid on the electrical.  We are also going to have to get bids for the windows and doors.  Janice and I will be getting the windows, doors, plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, counters and cabinets.  We're working little by little keeping track of expenditures while paying close attention to the construction timeline (once the roof is finished we have to immediately get the electrical contractor going).  We're also still waiting for the metal roof bids.

Front and left sides.

Rear and left side with carport.

The walls are starting to go up.  There's still one bedroom on the right that hasn't gone up.  All the back walls aren't up yet either.  I'll bet that tomorrow they'll finish the walls and start putting up the trusses.  I hope so because I'm still sweating the size of some of the rooms.

Last bedroom on the right is yet to be framed.

 

 

From the corner of our bedroom to the formal dining.

Today we begin!!  Halleluiah,  ha a le lu iah,  ha le lu uu iah!

We finished sealing the stain on the slab at 9:00 p.m. last night.   When we lost the sunlight we used the lights of my truck and Eric's Tahoe to illuminate our work area.  We took turns mopping the sealer on the slab until we finished.

We thought that we would be taking pictures of the slab staining finished and ready for the framers at about 7:00 this evening.  We were wrong.  This has been one of the toughest projects Janice and I have ever done.  We are exhausted.  We are so tired that we can barely walk.
Today we started the morning by wetting the slab and squeegeeing the stain dust off that we were told would form on the slab when the acid stain had dried.  We did it once and didn't get it all.  We did it a second time, this time Janice brushed the slab while I sprayed the dust off and we eventually squeegeed it.  We went at part of it a third time and thought that we had all the dust off.  We walked to the bunkhouse and took a 30 minute break enjoying the air conditioner.  We thought we were ready to seal the stain, we were wrong.  I called the framing contractor and told him to begin on Wednesday instead of tomorrow, Tuesday.  I told him that we hadn't finished with the squeegeeing.  I was sure we could finish it on Tuesday.  However, tomorrow I teach my morning class and I have a doctor's appointment at 1:00 p.m.  I called Eric and told him we needed his help.  He said he'd be here whenever we needed him.  I think that the three of us can finish the job.
Never again.  JANICE AND I WILL NEVER STAIN ANOTHER SLAB!  We've been at it since Friday.  This project surpasses our putting up almost a half mile of electric fence a few years ago in August in 104 degree weather.  That was to keep our bull on our land.  This is to save $6000.00
Both times it's been Janice and I shoulder to shoulder laboring through the work.  I swear, the people some people marry.   

The wood has started arriving. The trusses we ordered should arrive Tuesday. With the wood that's been coming in and the engineered trusses we ordered we should see the house framed pretty quick.  The framing contractor said he will begin on Tuesday.  I had to delay him after getting a call from Loredo Truss telling me they couldn't deliver the trusses this past Friday and asked if they could deliver Saturday or Tuesday.  I told them Tuesday.  This gave us the time to stain the entire slab.  Otherwise the framing would have started and we would have had to stain room by room.