Washinton DC- Day 1

We had a great view out our airplane window on the trip out. We were on the next to last row.

We met a group in the DFW airport from a private school in FtWorth. They were also headed for Student Leadership University (SLU). We stayed with them most of the first day.To bad the Metro line didn't go to the hotel.

There were several SLU groups waiting on the free hotel shuttle. See that little van? See all those people? They called for backup and got us all there pretty quick.
We finally got to the hotel before check in time, so we left our luggage in a meeting room and caught the hotel shuttle to the Pentagon Center Mall for lunch. We got back to the hotel and had to wait around to check in for the conference.
This was the meeting room at the hotel where we had our meals and all our speakers.
The speakers the first night were Bob Record and Admiral Cook.

Here is a close-up of Andy and Admiral Cook.

All the Stuff That Has Happened

Well, the septic may have caused some problems but it is now in and working great. We were suppose to close on the house on July 7th but that didn't happen because they forgot to send our the appraiser. We were suppose to close on July 11th but that didn't happen because they forgot to send out the surveyor. Now we are scheduled (haha) to close on July 24th. We will see.

In the meantime, Will and Jesse went to Mimi and Papa's for a mini vacation while Jeff and Andy went to Washington DC for SLU 201. You will hear more about that from them I am sure.

I scraped the master bathroom floor, the kitchen floor, and with some help from my friends Debbie and Ron we scraped the perimeter of the living room and dining room. This was because Grandpa has a friend who is coming to professionally finish scraping the rest of the floors in the house. I have asked myself many times over the past 24 hours why I didn't think of this sooner. I still don't know. what I do know is that if you get the urge to scrape your own floors, DON'T DO IT!!!!!!! You will hurt in places you never thought possible and swelling of joints in hands and fingers is guaranteed. Save yourself the pain. The floors will look great once they are done. I look forward to that. Other than that the house is clean and the bathrooms are fully derocrated and ready for use. Hopefully we can start moving in soon. I am hoping it will be before school starts.

In case you haven't heard, I get to move to 6th grade this year and I am so looking forward to the new school year starting. Yes, I am excited about school. We have been so blessed this year and I welcome all my friends and family to come out to the new house for a tour, cold drink, and a good visit.

Septic Woes

They started putting in the septic system but one of the tanks broke as they put it into the ground. They had to wait for a replacement. That's GranPa in the window.





They put 2 sprinklers down the hill from the house.










GranPa feed the cows some cubes on his way out the driveway.

4th Family Reunion

We went to Weatherford on the 4th for the annual Pipes reunion. There was a group of about 43 this year.
All the boys played an exciting baseball game.
That night we went into Maypearl for the community fireworks show. They had free hotdogs, drinks, and train rides for the little kids.
It wasn't a high budget event, but the fire dept set off fireworks for about 15 minutes. It was alot of fun.

The Kitchen Update

They changed the sink to a different style (we don't know why) and installed it. You can also see the stove and dishwasher in this picture.
The fridge is in place and running. We put all the shelves in it tonight.
Here is a close up of the tile on the kitchen counter. It's hard to get a good picture of shiny marble.

The cat is boxed up and ready to go.

So much has happened in such a short time. the countertops are finished and gorgeous!!! The appliances are moved into place and awaiting the plumber's touch. We are now onto the hardest task ever. We have to clean and scrape the floors. When the foam was sprayed on the roof area there was no protection on the floors so the foam residue landed there and has now harden and made itself at home. We may be scraping for years to come. We should get a septic system moved in this week and hopefully a gas connection. They are telling us that we could start moving in as early as this weekend. I still need to have words with the painter about things he missed or didn't do before that happens. Jeff will have to post pictures later. Can you believe that we are finally getting our dream after all this time????? God is really good to us.

The House- June 20

The kitchen sink is ready to install. Brantley will install the tile in a day or two then it can be installed.
The faucets and shower controls are in the bathrooms.
The stove was delivered the other day. Lynne was very excited about that.
Lynne's refridge and dish washer are sitting in the garage waiting to be installed.



The lights are up down the hallway.













The black fan in the living room is up. This style is also in the dinning, kitchen, and our bedroom.
This is the style fan that is in the boys bedroom.
And lastly, it would appear that the electric fence is not keeping the cows out.

House on June 16

The posts are under the front porch now and they put the dirt back around the house.Lynne went and picked up the tile for the kitchen counter tops. Brantley will be installing that.

The toilets and mirrors are in. This is the boys bathroom.

The outside A/C unit is in. So are the inside vents and thermostat.

And we have a driveway.

House Update- Getting Close

Lynne was surprised the other day by the garage door being up. If we had electricity (see Lynne's rant below) we could play with it.
Jesse found the magnet used to pick up loose nails around the site. He thought it was great fun until it became work.
The workers are finishind the siding on the back of the house. They worked on the garage next.
The well is in and just needs to be hooked up to electricity so we'll have water.
The painters covered the cabinets and are well on their way to finishing. They will paint the outside once the inside is finished.

Lynne's Rant

On June 7^th, Jack asked if I could possibly call TXU and see if they could update us on the status of our electrical service since we were almost done with the house. I called them at about 1030 in the morning and got my FIRST customer service person. I explained to this person that I had paid my $12000 over 6 weeks ago and still did not have service. He told me that I would have to apply for a permit that would put the work order into action. I explained to him that my builder had already done this three times. He said that I would have to do it again. SO we started the process and about 2 minutes into that I was disconnected from him. I called back asking for the worker by name only to be told that they could not connect me personally to that person. SO I started all over again with the SECOND person. Midway through my explanation they disconnected me AGAIN. I was now into the not so nice mode and highly frustrated. I called for the THIRD time and again connected with a new person. This person finally transferred me to the residential connections dept and I started talking to Lela. Lela finally found every permit we had applied for but said it was done wrong. I told her that I wanted to apply for another permit and forget the temporary service just go straight to permanent service. She told me that she could do this but it would 7-10 days before this could happen. I asked if this could happen sooner and she said that it would cost an additional $89 for service to connect it within 24 hours. I disgustedly sighed and said to do it. By this time it is now well after 1200 noon. About 30 minutes later, Lela called me back to say that they could not do this service in the 24 hour period because we have to an inspection from the city of Maypearl because according to their records our house is in the city limits. I lost it at this point and yelled that our house was 5 miles outside the limits and no inspection was needed. She stopped and said ok but it would still be 7-10 days before service could be connected. I then called the man who started this stuff, Mr. Tim Lowe. He is the guy we paid and trusted to get this job done. He had been on vacation and had been told before he left that this was done job. I informed him it was not. I again told him that we needed permanent service and to just forget the temporary service. The next day they connected the TEMPORARY service.

On June 14^th, I called TXU again at 900am. I was transferred to the residential department quickly because I knew who to ask for. Unfortunately, I got a new person. I had to fill out a NEW form for the umpteeth time. I know that Jack had filled out 3 permits and I had done it twice the week before. Now I had to do it again. I did not yell but I gritted my teeth through the conversation. Now the person says that in order to connect the service they will be charging us $270 for doing this service. I yelled at her at this point. She said that this was a fee that they charged for establishing new customers. I told her I had been a customer for 18 years and she said “not at this address”. I finally made it through the process AGAIN with her and told her no city inspection was needed when she told me they had to have it. She then said “it will be 7-10 days before we can do this service for you”. I finished with her at 1000am and promptly called Mr. Lowe. He told me that this was stupid and that we would not have to pay the $270 because we are established customers with the TXU company. He also said that he was again told that this project was done. I am to call him in the morning if something has not been done by then. The Electrical saga continues.

Our Sunday Drive

Lynne wanted to go for a drive this Sunday so we loaded up the minivan and headed north to Cabela's.We saw lots of stuffed animals, looked at boats, and played in the shooting gallery.
We ate lunch there, bought me a pair of shoes, got Lynne a few things (Elk poo) then headed west.
We ended up in Jacksboro. We visited the state park then headed home. That's the old fort hospital in the picture.

The Long Silence

We had a catastrophic computer failure a few weeks ago. I think I have everything back up and running again. We are running a Linux operating system now instead of Windows. It's different so I hope we figure everything out.

Cabinets

The cabinets were installed. The are Hickory and look great.

The doors will be installed later.

Vitex

The Vitex by the driveway is blooming. Can you take a cutting off these or grow them from seed? Or would it be easier to buy one at a nursery?

Lynne's Front Door

Today they put in my front door. It looks so good!!!! I absolutely love it. The guys came in and textured the walls. According to the schedule they are going to install cabinets, trim, and then paint. We are scheduled to go to Home Depot on Thursday night to pick out lights, fans, appliances, etc. Yippee!!!
We noticed that the trim was in the garage and the interior doors were on the front porch.
Later in the evening, Grandpa came by with the cedar posts for the front porch. Believe me, they were heavy. Jeff and I unloaded all 20 of them. Grandpa videoed the whole event.

Car and Truck

On the way to Lorena for the baseball came we came across this entering the freeway. The stainless steel body was gleaming nicely.

We looked for the flux capacitor but didn't see one. Did anyone else want a DeLorean after seeing "Back to the Future"?

We drove thru downtown Lorena on the way home. We saw this and thought of Uncle Alan.