oooh, pretty...

The floors are amazing. This is the kitchen, with the base cabinets waiting to be set. Its just getting prettier and prettier in there.
Rob had to fill in the septic lines he had started to dig to make room for the 5th line. I hope the backhoe holds up.

Picture this...

No picture today. It would just be a sad, overcast picture anyway. The backhoe is still broken, so no new work on the septic. Rob thinks he might have dug the first 3 lines too close together, and that he'll have to fill them back in. At least there's no gravel in them. We have $1000 worth of gravel onsite now, and may need more.

We had the floors installed, and there are many gaps. Some of the boards weren't as wide, but I don't understand why the installers didn't pull the bad ones. So Rob is having to fill and refinish our prefinished floor.

Money is draining at an alarming rate. With the gravel and floor costing much more than anticipated, and the refinance on the rental for a cash boost not looking so good, we're getting into a tight spot. Stupid economic downturn.

Both boys are sick today, and probably will be home from school tomorrow. sigh.

Floored

For your viewing pleasure, our brazilian teak floor being installed. And wait until you see the koa floor in the bedroom.
Backhoe is really broken. We'll have to order a part. Rob is bummed.

Get the big picture

because its hard to see in this one, but we changed out the porch rails for these nice ones with a hand rail on top. I know, like you care, but it looks better...

In the background is the first ditch for the septic. Rob met with the guy from environmental health, and got a better idea of what he was doing. Because we underestimated the length of the septic field, we asked for reduction in the line length. We got it down from 100' lines to 80', but added a fifth line. That's what you get for building in a pond. With this much line to fill, we are going to spend about $1500 to $2000 just for the gravel. We had budgeted $500.

Today Rob has dug some more line, but now he's waiting for Denny to come see if he can weld something that broke on the backhoe. I think we will be seeing a lot of this guy for a while. Also, today Melvin is installing the wood floors. That will be an exciting transformation. Its a good thing we didn't know what the floors were going to cost overall, or we would have put down plywood.

hey, where do you get one of those?

After a time of cluelessness as to where to find a septic tank, I found one. And here it is! They set it right down in the hole Rob had dug. The big problem is that somehow we made the field too short. Way short. I think some survey equipment might have helped, instead of walking through the woods with a measuring tape... So Rob is going to try to get permission for 4 75' lines instead of 100'. Might not happen, so then we would go through the permit process again, this time for a 3 bedroom, which should allow for the shorter lines. The bids for the septic were $4000. The tank and plastic pipes cost $800, and we need gravel, but even if we have to re-permit at $250, we're saving some money.

The backhoe is taking a rest at a friend's house. He's going to replace some seals that are leaking. Meantime, Rob put tile in the bathroom and on the screened porch floor. I put putty in nail holes. woo hoo. Tomorrow Rob is going to rent the tile cutter, and a wet sander for the travertine.

See the picture album for the mud hole where the backhoe started sinking to China.

giddyup

or just giddy.
Here is the backhoe someone gave Rob. He has been pushing dirt around for 2 days, not necessarily into helpful places. Yesterday he thought he would dig out the pond, and instead dug out the backhoe. Its not too solid down there by the water...
Today he is digging a hole for the septic tank, which should be delivered this afternoon. We will save over 1/2 the cost by doing it ourselves. And by 'ourselves', I mean Rob doing it.
There will be more pictures later of this undertaking. If he can pull this off and pass inspection, it will be a major milestone.

umm, does that look purplish to you?

Well, it should!
That's the spare room. I'm so excited to get purple walls. Look in the picture album to see the green of the boys room. Rob gets to pick the living room and exterior colors, but these rooms were mine. I may get sick of the colors, but for now it's cool. Wait 'til you see the almost black blue that Rob picked for the exterior.

So this is just a base coat, to see the colors. Rob started putting up trim today, because he was excited to see how it was going to look. Looks fab. We're going very simple and straight, and it looks good. He's going to put up the rest of the trim, and set the door jams, and then our new plan is to do the septic. If you can believe it, someone GAVE Rob a backhoe. And we found a source for a tank. So if we do the septic, then we can grade the yard, and I can build the coop and goat shed, and start moving trees etc. Also, it's our biggest worry in finishing, so we can get it out of the way and the rest of house will be more fun. That way, too, if we run out of money, at least we have a septic. We can live without a couch or closet doors - ya know what I mean?