Halloween

In a surprising development our neighborhood was very active for Halloween. It's not a large neighborhood so I didn't expect much, and (as usual) wasn't exited about it. But when I turned into the addition from work at 6:40 there were cars everywhere, lining the streets, and parked in common areas.

Huh? I mean, where did all these cars come from? Is there some tradition here that people get their cars out of their garages for the night?

When I arrived home Liane confirmed that it had been very busy, and even though the trick-or-treating was to last another 90 minutes she was already concerned whether we had enough candy to last. And she bought more than usual.

A near constant stream coming and going.

Note the makeshift parking lot at the corner.
Cars were parked lining the streets near the front of the addition.

Ultimately we think we figured it out. We live in a rural area. Columbia City is nearby, but if you live west of us ours is the first real neighborhood you come upon when driving towards town. It never occurred to me before, but the house-to-house routine of the event isn't really feasible if you live out in the corn somewhere. So I think everyone drives their kids into a nearby neighborhood and lets them have at it. Fascinating.

And, I don't know really, but given that our neighborhood is relatively nice we may get more than normal. Parents may perceive it as more safe, or possibly they or their kids reckon they'll milk the "rich folks" and get better stuff. I have no idea really, but there sure were a lot of kids. It was fun, though I felt bad for how lame our decorations were. We even realized half way in that only one or our total of four lights on the front of the house was working. That's how distracted we've been with everything else.

Next year, I will be ready. This inspired me to do a little extra in the future.

Still More Decisions

Rethinking our selection for the bathroom sink counter. Which one do you like?

Grout

Grout is in the bathroom. This would be great, but there were still several issues to resolve with how the tile was installed. It's so funny (NOT) how we raise these questions by contacting the project manager, and then workers keep moving forward as if there is no communication at all. Then they end up having to undo more stuff.

More Beat Down

Continuing on the theme of three steps forward and two back...tile around the tub is going in, but as usual we aren't satisfied with the work. Some lines aren't straight, and the glass tile is again (just like the first time) not at an equal depth. It's not even at a consistent depth.

So, we fire up the bitching again.

TV Addict

There are a few spots in the remodeled areas that look like this. That open panel is for power and video to a TV. Liane is such a TV addict that she wants them everywhere. This spot is the entryway from the master bathroom to the master closet. If it seems a bit extreme (and it is) it's probably worth knowing that this TV would be visible from the tub.

New Heights

After several failed attempts it looks like the tile installation is getting on track. This is the highest we've been up the wall so far. It's far from perfect, but like so many things we're just worn down and ready to get it done. Still have the tub to redo, and quite a few other elements to finish off. I don't have a good ETA for us to move back into our bedroom yet, but I'm starting to see a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.

Wall - Pros and Cons

Well, in the grand scheme of things I'll chalk this on up as a relative win. The good news is the wall under the porch/deck is complete (the amazing news is SOMETHING is complete). The other bit of good news is that I got a storage area underneath. I had requested this from the very beginning, but they were always a bit hesitant about it until they could dig in to better understand how the foundation was working with the dirt under there.

So I got it and it's done. Great!

The buts... (in no particular order)

1. All the dirt they removed still hasn't been properly dealt with. They finally came out and graded it recently, but it's still too sitting up too high on the yard. Meanwhile the landscaper we want to use has informed us the grass under it is pretty much gone, and can't be replanted until spring. Great.
2. While I did get a very nice door to the storage space it's kind of in an odd spot. The story goes back to the fact that they dug the dirt out in both directions from where the door is. I never cared about storage under the deck. I mean, it will rain right in there. The part I'm interested in is under the porch. Well, they put the door near the center of what they dug out, but it's really at one end of the space I want to use....so when I get things in there I'll have to always be pulling stuff out to get stuff further in. This also meant they had to put a more sophisticated drainage system in. Evidently there is some kind of "tile" buried under there, with a drain to the pond. Whatever. Probably a good thing overall.
3. The area they dug out is not very deep (front to back). It's okay. They told me it might have to be this way. It's just really going to limit how useful it is. It's not deep enough for anything long (lawn mower, wheelbarrow, kayak, etc.) to be able to make the turn to get in there. 

This is one of those times where I am just choosing not to pick the battle on any of these issues. It's good enough. The dirt screwing up the yard is a big problem, but I assume we'll get around to dealing with that. The damage is pretty much done. They kept saying they couldn't move it sooner because of all the rain, but as I recall there were several (brief) periods of nice weather in there. I'll bet they just had to spend that time on other jobs.

Carpet Crawling

So they finally delivered the carpet for the porch. Liane became really concerned because...well...it's pretty ugly. Is this really the rug we picked out?

No.

As it turns out they got even this wrong. Now they have to reorder it, and of course it will take time for it to come in.

Meanwhile progress continues slowly on the other fronts. More to come (been super busy lately).