Falling into place

Things are falling into place...the plumbers came the week of Thanksgiving and did the rough in and hooked up the geo system/vents, etc. It was a short week, then on Monday the main guy was out sick. They were out of there in 5 days still. A day that the plumbing crew was there and Mark's crew was finishing the studs in the basement there was an accident. Mark the builder cut off one of his fingers at the first knuckle! We hope our house isn't jinxed! Mark didn't tell us, but the plumbers made sure to pass on the info to us. Mark was working the next day at the house with a bloody bandage.

Then, the electrician, Cory Best, came out on Tuesday night at 4 pm. We did a walk-through with him for switches/light needs. He and 2 guys worked until after 10. Cory was there the next day putting in boxes, then a crew of 4 guys came and they worked until after 11 pm getting all of the cords pulled through. Cory will still have to finish some wiring, but he did pretty well in getting a big chunk knocked out.

Mark the builder will be back tomorrow to do siding on the part of the house where the electrical meter needs to go on the house, then we will have electricity in the house!

Webb's crew is set to pour the concrete slab on the porch, but not sure with the snow forecast if/when that will get done. Not a major thing to get done.

Syd and Em doing a little clean up in the basement after hours.

Our spa/shower and the girls.

The gas line was installed on Dec. 4...Dave had to get the backhoe out because the ground was already frozen. In the meantime, the dogs got out of their area, so Dave was trying to chase them with the backhoe. Crazy dogs! They didn't go too far. It is time for the electric fence to keep them inside! Mark is going to paint this! We need gas for our stovetop. Everything else is electric.

Window wells in, so our windows are finally in before the snow. Thanks, Steve and Dave for your help!

Let's keep out the snow! I think we will keep a lot of things away with this decor job! We don't need a garage door when we have a bunch of boards nailed up. We are so ghetto.

Unloading our windows, siding, doors, insulation, studs, and you name it!

This was at 2pm after the truck dropped the load off at 10am! A few windows and our sliding door installed! Can you hear the excitement coming through the computer? Syd's room is the window closest to the left, then the living dining room, then the guys are by our master.

Just a quick picture of the guys putting in windows. Mark the builder told me today that we are in the 5% of people who have a dry floor in the main part of our house. He said they are usually moping and squeegeeing water off the floor! Again, so lucky! This was a big load of studs for the basement, Pacific Blue siding, windows, insulation, etc. Mark (our Mark) is going to blow in the insulation so we can make sure to get an abundant amount of it since we lost our windbreak AND since we are at one of the highest points in Black Hawk County!

Plumbers come next week, then the electrician! I feel like I am repeating myself!

Finishing up the shingles in about a day and a half!

Wrapped JUST in time for the light rain we had! NO rain on the inside, luckily!

Syd and Em in Em's room! Em has a great view!

I thought I would try uploading pictures first since this site is a bit difficult when it comes to moving the pictures around. The windows are being delivered today! Things should be fully sealed up by the weekend! We feel so fortunate that the rain missed us early in the week so they could get the roof on and the house wrapped. Thanks to our SE Iowa friends for taking the rain for us on Monday and Tuesday.

Hopefully the plumbers and electricians can get in early next week. Things are coming along. We are very pleased! It is exciting to walk around the layout that we designed. We wouldn't change a thing. Good thing, huh?

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

Front view of the house...on Friday.

Things are really moving along this week and it is only Tuesday! They got most of the roof covered with plywood last week and yesterday, then the "shinglers" came yesterday to shingle the roof. They were afraid that they would get the paper on, then it would blow away because the wind is about 15 mph. faster up on our hill! So, they are making great strides.

Putting plywood on the front.

Trusses up and starting to put plywood on the roof.

Back view of the house being shingled.

WOW! A dream is becoming a reality.

WOW! is the word for yesterday. So much progress. Finally.

Mark had a crew of 2 guys and they worked their (still kind of sick) tails off!

The geothermal crew was there and got the lines hooked up for the system!

The Hendryx crew got the water hooked up to the house and finished the septic system. Here are some pictures. It was a late night with Emily last night. 103 temperature! Beautiful weather is forcasted for the week...great for people who are building a house and for farming! Keep it coming, Mother Nature.

Digging out for the septic system.

Great progress! The erecting you see happened in a day!

View of the master bedroom. We asked for big windows and got big windows!

Front view of the house.

Here we go again!

Okay, now major work is taking place. I drove by at 10 this morning and there was not a lot done (as seen from the road), but when I drove by again at 12:30 they had a wall or two up in Emmy's room! Very exciting. Last week, the constuction crew had the flu. The main boss, Mark, did come out and put on the plywood floor by himself, but he couldn't do the big stuff alone. Last week was a wasted week.

Hendryx did come last week and they dug a big hole for the septic tank. They are there today also.

Also, as I drove by the second time today the geothermal guys were pulling in. They are going to hook up the system.

Sydney has ear infection, so I am not firing on all cylinders today. I think I will just stop now. I hope to get out there later today to take pictures of the day's progress.

And now it starts to look like a real house...

So much has happened in the last couple of days! They delivered the trusses, building materials, and the builder and crew are here! Also, the geothermal guys are still working away at drilling down.

With our limestone issue we decided to drill vertically instead of horizontally. Not sure if we decided it or if it was decided for us actually! The guys started on the geo holes last Thursday when it was a downpouring of rain ALL day. They stood out in it and got some work done. They needed water to get through the limestone, so Grandpa Dave came to the rescue with a 1,000 gallon water tank. Luckily it was raining and Dave was not harvesting. Not sure what people do who don't have access to water tanks, tractors, etc. So, as of today, they are starting on their 4th (125 ft.) hole. They will do 5 holes at 125 ft. They usually do 160 ft. when they drill vertically, but you know us, we have to be different! HAHA! What a long process!

The trusses were sent down on Monday from MN--west of Minneapolis. We delayed the lumber truck, but didn't get to the truss driver in time. With all of the rain on Thursday, Friday, and some on Sat. and Sunday too the building site was a bit "greasy." Lucky for us that it is on a big hill and it dried up pretty well. Actually, the truss truck driver was hauled in and out of our lot by Mark in a big JD 4WD tractor. It was pretty cool to see the trusses dumped off the truck. There were rollers on it and when he pulled ahead the trusses dumped off the back. The geo guys suggested we move the trusses to a spot that is not in line with their operation because they are going through a lot of water to get through the hard rock, then at 115 ft. they hit a well and water was all over and rolling down the hill. Thankfully, we have run into people who have been pretty considerate.

Tuesday we saw our 1st Nordaas truck with our framing materials. Mark the builder and his crew unloaded it and went to work this morning. He hopes to have a roof on it in about 3 weeks...weather permitting of course! Seems like a nice guy to deal with. They have a cooking facility in their trailer, so when they get to the site they will stay around. They will stay in Waterloo. The guys are from Ft. Dodge. He told me that he built a house years ago in Parkersburg and talked the couple into a storm shelter. They are the only house (brown house by the golf course) that was left standing where the main devastation was. Yes, that is the guy I want to build our house! The couple was thrilled at his storm shelter suggestion too. They had a sudden death of a son of one of his guys, so not sure what the rest of the week holds. A lot to look forward to in the next few weeks.

Barn kitties... So, I knew that we were going to get some kitties, but this is ridiculous! We could possibly have 11 kitties/cats around the place. I think a few ran away. 11! That is crazy! Mark could not say no to the lady he got them from. Don't tell anyone, but I am kind of enjoying them too. I have never been a cat person because I have been allergic all my life. I am stuffy at times, but nothing like I used to be! Maybe the years of allergy shots did work! Unfortunately, Sydney is allergic too! She does get stuffy, but the reward is worth the pain! Maybe we will get to avoid allergy shots by immersing her in cat dander!

Also, while talking about animals...we got a call that our neighbor called Mark's parents on Friday night. The dogs were at his house. Biscuit (black lab) the Great (or Not-So-Great in my opinion) had ripped them out of their living quarters. That crazy dog. A serious contender for Marley's spot! Anyway, so Mark and the girls went looking for them because I was out of town, but they never found them. Mark went to search for them early the next morning and they were in their kenne. He said it looked like they had a LOOONNNG night. They didn't jump or bark and they were very famished. Trixie is the pleaser, so he said her face said "I'm so sorry." She is a follower, not a leader. Anyway, they are back! We need to put dog cams on them to see what they saw!

Mark is moving some dirt to prepare for the builders.

The garage floor was poured amongst the rain.

Geothermal rig...drilling the first hole.

What a mess!

The trusses arrived.

Dumping off the trusses.

Hauling the truss truck through the wet ground with a JD!
Ron the truck driver and the 1st Nordaas truck with shingles, building materials, etc.






Syd & Hannah Montana Em & Hannah Montana

Water and backfill

Another productive day yesterday! The Schmitz guys got the house backfilled and the water guys got the pipe in the ground. I actually saw water coming out of the hook up too! Very exciting. The basic necessities are so exciting. They were trying to get the garage filled with sand, but the water guys had the drive blocked by the entry because they hit into some tile when they were trenching (don't worry, Dave and Larry...they fixed it!).

Here is a shot of the foundation with it backfilled...it is actually all starting to look so REAL.

Mark the builder, not to be confused with Mark the husband, said he could possibly be here next week if the weather cooperated. It is raining today...we will see! I am not going to get too excited until I see the whites of his eyes and a hammer in his hand.

Here are a couple of shots of the inside from the ground right next to the house.

The tubing is for the geothermal system...

From the storm shelter to the main area in the basement...

Slowly making progress!

Our basement floor!

Things are starting to calm down now. We are thankful to make it through September! We moved out of our Raymond house a couple of weeks ago with the help of a couple of good friends and family members! The Saturday night that we moved we left the two outside dogs in Raymond for the night. The next day we got a phone call from our neighbor that the Sheriff stopped by our house. Our neighbors behind us got tired of the dogs barking, so they called the Sheriff's Office. A bittersweet good-bye! Our neighbors on either side said they were not that bad. I am still a little bitter about it.

The rental house is fine. It will do for the next few months. My mom told me the other day that we may not find a place for everything here and that the place might just have to be messy since we are used to more room to spread out. That settled well with me and will help me get through the next few months.



A few positive things have happened since I wrote. The floor is finally poured in the basement--there was a little delay there with the weather. Mark and Steve worked one night in the dark and put insulation around the foundation. The cement guy was afraid that the limestone would wear through the waterproofing. We have electricity! We had to take it about 2,000 ft. down the road, then 1,200 ft. up the lane. MidAmerican actually started earlier than they thought they would and it was done in a very timely fashion. This is great for us because now we don't have to rent generators for the guys to build the house! $$ was saved here! The water guys started yesterday in the rain. I would expect they would be done on Monday. It is all coming together very well. We are waiting for an ETA from the builder...




Preschool is going well too! Sydney just celebrated her 4th birthday this past Wednesday, mermaid style. Emily is chatting up a storm and has such a cute personality. She is trying her hardest to keep up with her big sister.

Getting pictures on this is a pain...sorry for the messy look. I will try to figure it out better next time!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Trenching down the lane for the underground electricity.


The finished product! We tested it out and it works!

Our nicely wrapped house! Thanks again Steve!

Progress is good! When I went to the building site after dropping Sydney off at preschool (she didn't cry today!), there was not a lot done, but tonight is a different story! WOW! They will hopefully pour the cement at noon tomorrow. I am tired or else I would write more. We have a rummage sale, Sydney's birthday party, my parents are working at the Washington Craft Fair for me, and all of this other stuff going on. I am going to relieved when we make it through September. I remember a September about 4 years ago that I was relieved to get through too! Have a good week!

A couple of shots from this morning...

And now tonight and the great progress they have made...

Our front porch...someday soon!

An overview

Mark is standing in our garage.

Concrete footings are in...

Another productive day! YEAH! Webb Concrete set the molds for the footings this morning, they were inspected, and poured today. Again, I need to borrow some boys because these 2 chicks were NOT impressed!

We had a fun surprise this afternoon. Betty Hummel and her family stopped by. Betty was an Anton and was raised in the house that was on the farm. I believe the house was torn down in the '70s and the electrical posts were ripped out in the '80s. She was thrilled to pieces that we were building up there and told me some of the things she would do as a child. It was so neat to see her and to know the history. Her dad was Clyde...everyone still calls the land "Clyde's," so she was excited to know that. She has some pictures of the old home that we are excited to get our hands on. Her sister, Nona, is 90 years old and Betty was excited to go back and share pictures with her. Her nephew will be in town in a couple of weeks from California, so she was planning to bring him back to see our progress.

It is so interesting to me to know the history and to meet people who lived there. Very interesting day! Here are some more pictures of today's happenings.

Let the Digging Begin...

Now it is all becoming a reality! They skimmed off the black dirt on Monday to level things out, then the digging began yesterday afternoon. We wanted to run tile out of the front of the house to make sure things stay good and dry, but they ran into rock, so we went with Plan B. Plan B is just to do without and rely on a sump pump. Then after digging for a couple of hours, the guys pointed out that the dirt/clay/rock they were pulling back was VERY dry so we should not worry about water in the basement. Our worries were calmed then.

My dad I and watched them dig for about 3 hours! Dave and Theresa stuck around and the Anton cousins, Carson, Megan, and Ellie showed up with Lisa. Carson wants to be an excavator when he grows up...me too! Since there was incident with the rock in the tile line I was pretty nervous every time one of them would get out of their equipment. I think they got a little irritated with me asking if everything was okay. If they did hit rock, then it would just be an added expense. We are not ready for added expenses at this point...we still have a long way to go!

I got the keys to the rental. It is a little bigger than I remembered, but that is not saying much. We are taking clothes, toys, and beds. That is it! No frills for a few months. Maybe a small Christmas tree...for the girls. Sydney stayed with my parents in the motorhome the past 2 nights and Emily stayed there last night. It is grandparent overload for both of them since my parents are parked at Mark's parents' house. Here are some more digging pictures...