pizza on the porch

A nice Saturday evening to dine on the porch.

It is very different here with fewer trees blocking the view, good for star gazing, satellite watching

A little later ...

It's nice to be here.

We're in !

Today was moving day. The weather forecast had been rainy, but a cold front went through around dawn, the rain stopped by 7am, the movers showed up on time shortly after 8. The four movers were very pleasant and professional, had us out of 309 by 1:15pm, and all carried into 123 by ~4:15.

Now we have a few boxes to deal with, but we are here!

While the movers did the heavy lifting, and easily had their 10,000 steps today, we were tired from all the cleaning and packing as much as we could before, and while, they were on the job. So a libation on the porch was very welcome.  

We made lots of labels to show where things were to go, or not. I adopted this one at ene-of-day.

first guests

Ginnie's brother and sister-in-law Charlie and Linda arrived late last night after a attending wedding in NY. We were happy to have them as first guests. The menu was fresh fruit, Mimosa's (declined), chocolate muffins, eggy muffins, coffee, etc. We had a great time visiting with them.

 

They brought a house-warming present of an Amish crafted quilt. Beautiful!

Thanks very much!

Ours now

It's official, we own a new home. We did our walk-through with Paul B. at 8 a.m., then off to the lawyers' office for a 9 a.m. closing. All went well, the attorney went to make copies of 'the important stuff', and returned with a chilled split of Champagne for us! We were out in 45 minutes.

In late morning, our new dining table and chairs arrived so we had somewhere to sit.

Ginnie went home for a few things, and returned with lunch. I made a trip to the storage unit for new porch Bistro table and chairs (can you say Costco).Then Buzzy showed up with a crew to rake, seed and mulch the future lawn stirring up lots of dust and dirt, so lunch was in the dining room instead.

The only issue today is that the spiffy new refrigerator is D.O.A. The dealer was very responsive, had a repairman there this afternoon, but it needs a new part that has to be overnighted from who knows where, and the best outcome is it gets repaired Monday afternoon. We cranked up the icemaker here as we will be carrying coolers with ice, lunches, etc. on our daily treks & shleps to 123.

The house cleaner is in the house. Peggy was cleaning windows, vacuuming, and will remove all the packing from the appliances tonight. She is another in a long string of very pleasant sub-contractors.

We did our own 'walk-through' tonight as there won't be a lot of time for it tomorrow. In general, things look very good. There will be some minor paint touch-up, a few door-stops need to be added, and one of the ceiling fans has the wobblies, but overall, we could live there!

The appraiser first appraised the house in December before a shovel had been stuck in the ground, based on spec's & plans, and the neighbors' houses that were partially built. Yesterday he showed up again and verified the house had, in fact, been built. I think that's the last hurdle. 

The yard was regraded a bit, large sticks plucked from the topsoil. I think the lawn may be seeded tomorrow.

rounding 3rd, heading for home

The pace continues. I stopped by briefly in the morning, but left quickly to get out of the way. We returned in late afternoon, walked in, saw a sign saying "clean shoes only" as all the cardboard covering the wood and tile floors was removed, and all the rest was brand new carpet. Oh, and it was nice and cool so the a/c is hooked up and working.

We had hot and cold running water, the gas stove lit, but I didn't try the fireplace. I'm not Nixon.

Ian was installing shelving, Jay and Tyler were hanging towel rods, etc.

Three strangers were casing the joint - a realtor and two prospects. They were looking at layouts, floor plans, as they are buying a stand-alone version (non-duplex) in South Village. I mentioned that we began our process by touring a house prior to its closing in South Village. Payback.

An appraiser was scheduled for 4:00. We hope the house got a thumbs-up so we can close Friday.

Just a couple of pictures ... I thought I took more.

Yesterday and today the place was alive with workers.

• Ken from Chittenden County Glass installed mirrors and measured for shower door yesterday. Like everyone else we've dealt with here, a nice guy, doing good work.The shower door should be installed within a week.
• Wiring is complete, both power and tv/phone/internet.
• Plumbing is mostly done, with the the supply connected today, but a few drains await connection.
• The refrigerator was plugged in, but the cooling wasn't turned on (lights on, nobody home?)
• The air conditioner compressor is in the yard, nearly in position.
• Back porch railings installed, pillars covered.
• Landscape plantings are in. We met with Rick, the landscaper, yesterday to talk over choices. We were surprised to see them installed already. Lawn seeding tomorrow?
• Gas meter manifold installed this afternoon. Meters tomorrow.
• Carpet padding in the house, carpet coming tomorrow?
• Closet shelving - tomorrow.
• Tile shower floor epoxy-grouted this morning. 
• Closing is 3 days away, and the appraiser is due at 4pm tomorrow. Keep up the pace.

When we met with Rick, we mentioned it would be good if he did his plantings before the lawn was seeded. It looks like he beat Buzz to the punch.

 

Floors awaiting carpet have all been screwed down. During construction, sub-floors were nailed, but now they are also screwed down recently (this afternoon?) ... impressive attention to detail.