I wanted to add a couple more photographs of the staining and painting the guys did but the blog wouldn't let me. It has nothing to do with the blog site; it's the stupid satellite internet provider that's the problem.  I only wish the wall colors would come out better.
A neighbor a couple of ranches down had a modular Palm Harbor house moved on to their property last week. I noticed a strange thing sticking way up into the air on his roof. It was a tower for a wireless internet provider. We can't get it because they would have to build an 80 foot tower.
The people moving in are a little older than we are and have a son in his 40's living with them. The son is a techie type guy so I can see that a tower on the roof would be a necessity. At least it's not 80 feet high, looks more like 20.

Door to hall in Bedroom 3.

Closet in Bedroom 3.

The painters finished today.  They worked for quite a few days.  The last two, Sunday and Monday, they worked until just about midnight.  We couldn't believe it.  They arrived today and finished the job.  They then had Janice and I walk around and put pieces of blue tape on any areas that didn't meet our specifications.  They then went from blue tape to blue tape making corrections.

The Formal Dining Area.

Bath 2.

Master Bath Sink.

Master Bath cabinets and door to closet.

True to form, the kitchen counter top installers arrived to day and the painters disappeared.  This is what has been happening over and over as we try to finish the house.  The painters were supposed to work today painting the living, formal dining, kitchen and hall.  They never showed up. 
The counter top folks were supposed to be here between 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m.  A little after 2:00 p.m. Janice called them to see what had happened.  She was told they were late and would be here in about an hour and a half.  They finally arrived and did a great job.

The appliances are all over the place.  The ceiling fans
and deep sink are in the mudroom.

Bath 2 counter top.  It was too dark to take
a photo of the Master Bath counter top.

Today Janice and I picked up the sink and counter tops for the bathrooms.  They came out beautiful.  I can’t believe that they were done in one week.
We’ve been sanding the interior trim work.  We’ll finish tomorrow.  I hope to take and download pictures of the bathroom counter tops on the bath cabinets this week.  I’m sure they’ll look great.

We've been getting phone calls and emails from folks thinking that the house is finished. Well, it's not finished. I believe that we are about two months past our scheduled finish date. The problem has been getting contractors over here to do or finish their jobs. We've had delays for a number of reasons, one is that this is a custom design, second is the distance most contractors have to travel to get to us, and third, probably the most important, we've watched every penny we've spent on the house. We've always had a budget for the house and as the end of the project nears we are monitoring the expended and remaining funds closely to ensure we have enough to finish.  We wanted to build this house and not have a mortgage payment at the end.  We may make it.

We are so close. Once the painters have finished we will be able to start moving in. The only things left to purchase are the water heater and two toilets. The rest of the stuff is mostly fittings that will be needed to connect the sink water lines, refrigerator ice maker, and the dishwasher. We’ll also need plumbing fixtures for all the drains. The electrical also has to be totally finished as soon as I can them out here to finish it. The electrical has taken a pretty long time.

Stay with us, we’re almost finished.

Our neighbor and his wife arrived at about 8:30 this morning. He had called this past weekend to tell me that he was going to take the day off to come help me get his bull off my land. The bull has been here for about a month. He's been troubling for us because he kept opening the water faucets and using the faucet's PVC pipe to scratch his underbelly, basically walking over and bending it all to hell. I was sure he was going to break one of the water pipes.

I directed my neighbor to our stock trailer and helped him hook up. I then started up the tractor and Janice put a bag and a half of cattle cubes in the bucket. Janice jumped on the tractor's side step and off we went to round up the bunch and lead them to our corral. Once they saw that we had cubes we easily got them moving towards the corral pulling the bull with them. As we got close Janice got off and opened the gate. I continued on and they all filed into the corral along with the damned bull. After Janice closed the gate I directed my neighbor and we got his truck with the stock trailer positioned at the end of our chute. With Janice at the gate and me moving cattle in the corral, we were soon able to get some of our cattle out. I got the bull into the chute and pushed it on into the stock trailer. It took about 15 to 20 minutes for Janice and I to herd, separate, and load that bull. I didn't think much of it until I noticed my neighbor and his wife watching Janice and I do our work.

My neighbor and his wife watched in disbelief. I think they thought "damned, these senior citizens know what the hell they’re doing!” Although Janice and I have herded, separated, and loaded cattle before, it was our loading the last bull that gave us the experience for this one. The last bull we loaded was my neighbor's bull’s brother. They almost look identical, big, powerful, and stubborn. We got almost $1000.00 for him at the Lampasas Cattle Auction Company. My neighbor and his wife are headed to Lampasas right now.  I'm sure they’ll get about the same for theirs.

 

Our faucets are now safe, I hope.

Yesterday I received the bids for the bathroom counter tops with sinks.  It was a real good bid.  I paid for half and told them to go forward.  She told me it would take a week.
Today the guy that installed the kitchen counters returned.  He had been down with the flu.  They kept cancelling his scheduled time to finish the installation.  He installed the doors to the lazy Susan (one had been back ordered) and all the knobs and drawer pulls.  It looks pretty good.
I also had a painting contractor come by today.  He walked the inside of the house and gave me a bid.  His bid was about $4500.00 less than the first bid I got.  I have one more painting bid to go.

The bathroom cabinets have been installed.  They look pretty good and they go well with the look of the ranch house.  The only problem that I saw was that there isn't a toe kick.  I think it was my mistake when I sent the guy the drawings I created showing what I wanted.  I only drew front elevations and didn't call out the toe area.
I'm waiting for a firm bid on the counter tops with sinks right now.  When it comes in we'll review it and if it's within our budget we'll have them go forward and let them make them.  They told us that it would take about a week.  I couldn't believe the short timeline.

Bath 2

Bath 2

Master Bath


 

Master Bath over the toilet.

Master Bath.  The bottom cabinet is for dirty clothes,
the largest middle cabinet is for towels and such, and
the top cabinet is for storage.

 

 

Drain in Mudroom.  This is around the Washer-Dryer area.
Once the concrete dries around the drain I'll stain and seal it so it will
match the rest of the floor.  I plan on caulking the baseboard in the
mudroom real good so if there is ever a problem with the washer
and it leaks water all over the place it will be contained in the mudroom.
What water the drain doesn't get we'll sweep to the drain.