The Night Visitor, and Changes Inside.

We have had some interesting action around the house the past week or so.  It rained and the ground is soft, so we found evidence of some visitors.

The tracks went around the house, and there was, in places, evidence of some running and evidence of at least another critter's tracks mixed in.

 You can get a sense of the size of the tracks from these photos. It may be that there were a couple of these large canines.  The other tracks we believe are from a raccoon.  And, while we can't say for sure, this image (below from the internet) probably closely depicts what the tracks were telling us.  A chase between coyote(s) and a raccoon, but in our case, on sand, not snow.

On the inside, the notable changes are the ballisters are being installed on the stairway and the tile backsplash which is almost finished.  It goes all the way to the ceiling behind the stove and to the bottom of the shelf over the granite counters.

And, you've not yet seen the granite counters.  They are definitely not blue as they appear in the photo.  The are currently protected with a nice blue plastic film.

LIGHTS!

We were meeting with Nick last evening and Nate, the electrical contractor ran in and turned on some lights to show us.

There are LED lights to mark the path on the stairs;  LEDs  lighting the top of the shelves and under the bottom kitchen shelf.  Love them!

A/C, Light Fixtures, Power, and Counter-Tops

Who-ho!  The A/C units have been installed.  The unit in the Bunkhouse (below)  is called a mini-split and is mounted on the wall above the kitchenette. (Sink, counter-top microwave, and full refrigerator.)

Third floor unit

Bunk House

Exterior light

Master bedroom

3rd floor "big ass" fans

Talavera sink in 3rd floor half bath

 If you're not familiar with Talavera pottery, you'll find the sink a bit different. We picked it up in Lorado, TX on the border.  It isn't like the sinks we have in our bathroom, or any of the others.

The "big ass" fans are not actually from the Big Ass Fan company, but are 68 inches in diameter for the Living and Dining room and 60 inches for the others.

The granite counters below, are not really blue, that's protective plastic on them, but there's an uncovered piece of granite to Alese's left across where the stove will be.  We still don't have a move-in date, but things are moving along.  Floors are on the list of soon-to-be completed items.

Kitchen with granite counters

Progress... Paint and Electrical fixtures

 Our garage doors are reinforced.  You can see all the braces, at least twice the number of doors in other locations, even those subject to tornado.

Rooms are mostly painted.  Here's the Bunkhouse bunks and looking closely you can see electrical switches, and outlets in place and even one of the ceiling cans.

 Most of the walls are a warm gold.  Ray's office is the exception, being a very slightly green off-white called "horseradish".  Very hard to tell from the photo below.

 The 3rd floor walls are all washed in gold, but the ceiling is washed white.

We're Back.....

No, we weren't gone, but were waiting.  Waiting, waiting.  There was carpentry work that needed to happen inside, so the drywall could be finished before other things could happen.   So, for about 3 weeks the only action in the house was the tile installation, but that's still not complete.

But we did put up a mailbox because we're giving the address to some groups.


Last week, we finally got the carpenters in, then the rest of the sheet rock done and textured, and we were ready for more action.

15 loads of sand were delivered to begin sculpting the lot.  It sounds like a lot of sand, but we're pretty sure now we need at least another 15 or 20 to get the contours we want.

We now have garage doors.  That means the house can be locked up.  Now we can start to see more equipment installed!



Last Saturday we had a real downpour.  We have a rain gauge so we can keep track of rainfall.  Mustang Island and downtown Corpus Christi get very different amounts of rain.  Our little gauge was full.  So at least 5 inches of rain fell on our lot.  Our new sand showed it.  We had some interesting canyons with the water running off the roof -- remember, no gutters.  Gutters aren't recommended for potential hurricane targets.  The sand had to be re-sculpted this week.

We had water in the swale on Sunday, but by Monday the swale was empty, but certainly not dry.  You can see that the ponds did fill.

Photo update

Alese is out of town a few days for a family funeral, so this update is to help her see what she's missed, and to provide an update for the rest of the readers.

Our Nook (aka mud room) in the first floor hallway.

Progress on the Master Bath Shower.

This is a more focused look at the trim strip that will go around the shower

My apron-front kitchen sink in the cabinet.  

Concrete floor has been sanded.

There are two roofers on the master, finishing up.

And a closeup of them working.

Visit the 3rd Floor

This is a panorama of the third floor from taken from the pop-out window seat.  But, I'm not sure it gives you the best view.

I thought it might be fun to  put you in the middle of the room and let you look around.  Click and drag to scan the room.  There's an indicator of direction you're looking at the top left and zoom buttons.


Here's an option that gives you a larger window to view the entire third floor.  Just click on this LINK  to open a larger window to view the floor.

Of course the walls haven't been washed, the floor not sanded and stained, and there are no counters on the cabinets, but I can do another of these as things progress if you like it.

Progress Photos

the laser measure for the countertops

Window delivered and installed!

Window bench in the dinning area.

shelves in the 1/2 bath

Alese's office,  Note the shelf 

Laundry

Ray's office closet

Master closet annex

Textured, Sill-ed, and Cabinet-ed.

 There's the texture, but can't tell much about it from a photo.  Need that 3D viewer or a 3D printer.










Window sills are in place.




The transition from the top floor to the second is taking shape.

Interior doors have been delivered.

The bunk beds are starting to take shape.  We need to meet next week to talk about the ladder/steps to the upper bunks.

And the kitchen is taking shape.  Counter folks will be in next week to measure for the counters