Yesterday the rest of the driveway was poured.   We now have a clear entrance to the house and garage.

The railing were getting put up yesterday finished up today.  It does change the look of the house.  You'll note that they are a bit taller than you might see elsewhere. Alese wanted to be very comfortable with them.

The two photos below present views of the porch railings as seen from Port Royal and from the Island Road heading South from Port Aransas.

It is now easy to get all the way up to the observatory.  The kitchen porch is more obvious . (3rd floor, right side in the photo below and at the corner in the bottom photo.

And the balcony,which Alese calls the Sunset Porch, is now enclosed (with railings).  Alese named it the Sunset Porch because that faces West and gives us great views of the sunsets.  Of course we also have a West view from the Kitchen porch.

Things Are Happening.

We have an electric meter.  Now the a/c can be finished, electrical can be checked, and the rest of the fixtures put in place.

Here's a tip, don't live at an address that requires 34 characters.
134 Mustang Island Estates Drive is too long for some address fields.  They can't fit it in the available space and, don't know the appropriate abbreviations for Estates and Island.  Do you know what the official post office abbreviations?




Windows were cleaned inside and out -- things look so different through glass that isn't dirty.

More railing is in -- though not all of it.  The railing folks have had to wait for the porches to be finished.




More sand for the front, we need to get the swale shaped and the low spot in the front yard built up.

Miscellaneous Updates

The Leak:
After a second day of rain last week there was a little moisture, so a new "pan" was added to the base of the door frame to ensure that any water will be directed back outside.

Appliances:

What you can't see -- not in the frame -- is a dent on the other refrigerator door caused by the installers.  Replacement is on order.  There's also another microwave -- we have his and her microwaves -- that was returned and reordered after a major dent was identified across the back of the unit.






Google Imagery:
We were excited to discover last evening that Google had updated the imagery for Earth and Maps to November 2014, so our house is now there!  Now you can explore the map and get a good sense of our neighborhood.

New Neighbors:
We received notice of a Planning Board meeting for potential rezoning of the tracs of land to our South, In the Google photo, the area to the lower right from our development.   That meeting happens in a couple of weeks.  We'll find out more then.

Snakes:
We meet a couple of folks who photograph snakes.  They were in the area capturing, taking portraits of the snakes, and then releasing them.  Alese enjoyed holding them and it's nice to know we have some very beautiful snakes in our neighborhood.  That's a Mexican Milk Snake in her hand, but I don't remember what the one on the ground is.



















View from the top:
I promised a view from the Observatory deck last post.  Well, here it is.  Our pond is at the lower left; Port Royal on the left side, and the Gulf across the back.  Hard to see given the size of the image are the oil and gas platforms off the coast.  There are 7 in this photo.

Leak No More... Appliances Raised. Where is Alese?

After what seems like (and was) months.  And after 3.5 inches of rain this weekend, we can say that the door doesn't leak.  Finally!  It took the work of 3 people to get it all water tight, but after this weekend's rain, some wind-driven we feel pretty confident with the door.

 There have been details worked on while there's also been the struggle with the door.  Baseboards are in on the first and second floors.  But I don't have a photo of the baseboard on the rounded corners. (You'll have to visit to see that.) The outside corners on the sheet rock walls are rounded not square.

In the photo at right, Alese is examining an extension to the stair railing on the second floor.  Because the stairway down started a bit into the landing we need to have the space protected.  The flat area will probably become a holding space for keys, coffee cups, and other things needing a rest on the way up or down. (The blue lines are tape holding down paper to protect the floors.)

Today we had a lift move the appliances up to the correct floors.  It was easier and safer on the walls to do it this way.  In the photo you can see the washer and dryer on the balcony.  Laundry area is just inside that door to the left.  And the refrigerator is arriving on the 3rd floor.

(FYI our builder refers to the balcony as the Romeo and Juliet porch.)


The big news, and you can't see much in the photo at left, is the installation of some of the railing.  They took out the front part of the balcony railing to receive the washer and dryer.  But, more importantly, the railing for the stairs up to the Observatory is in place.  You'll notice, that the 3rd floor landing hasn't been railed yet -- one more thing that was waiting on the leak.

I held the door open and it made a barrier that allowed Alese to comfortably step up the stairs, and finally make her first visit to the Observatory. She was very brave in that the railing isn't yet up around the porch, so she stayed against the house.  Being up one more level changes the view of the Gulf and the land and she found the view amazing!