Well it has been a while since my last post. To tell the truth, not much has been going on here in Texas. It has been really hot this summer. We have had over 70 days where the temps have reached over 100 degrees. Last year (2021) we only had two days where the temps reached the triple digit mark. But I digress…. Most of you know that back in 2017 Trace and I booked a trip to Ireland, but had to cancel it when Trace had a health issue. Then we got busy moving from Colorado and building our house in Texas. Then there was COVID. Well, Trace and…

As I was drafting my annual Christmas newsletter to slip into my Christmas cards, I realized that I have been neglecting my website. Actually the whole reason for setting up this website was to share pictures of our house as it was being built. But I guess I will keep it active for a bit longer to share some more pictures. In September Trace and I took a little vacation to Wisconsin, mainly around the Milwaukee area. Now I know you are saying, “Why Milwaukee?” Well, obviously it is the beer capital of the US, so I knew it would appeal to Trace. But for me, two words said it…

So I was just looking at my last post and realized it has been four months since I posted anything to this website of mine. Well, you may find this hard to believe but I think I am more busy now than when I was working! What is up with that?? So let’s see if I can get y’all caught up with our crazy lives down here in Texas. You remember from my last post that I mentioned we had a “punch book” instead of a “punch list”? Well, there were a lot of minor items on this list which they eventually worked off. It took them several months to…

So I know it has been an eternity since my last post. Well, it feels like an eternity since so much has gone on in that little span of time. As you may have guessed from the title of this post, we are FINALLY here in our house. But all did not go as smoothly as we had expected. You may recall from past posts that our original “closing” date was supposed to be in November of 2020. Well, then that got pushed to December 2020. Then it was middle of January 2021. That came and went by, and the date moved to first week in February, which once again…

So, before I start posting the latest pics of the house, I have to show you these pics that I took about an hour ago from the balcony of our apartment. We are supposed to get 2 – 4 inches of snow today, but if this continues we may get a bit more. It’s so funny to see native Texans out playing in the snow. It is a rare occasion down here (thank God!!) As for me I will wait until tomorrow to go outdoors, when all of this white crap will most likely disappear and only be a memory! So, as for the house, there is a lot of…

Well, less than two weeks until Christmas! This Christmas will be way different than Christmases past for obvious reasons. For us, it will be the first Christmas that we don’t spend together with our son. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but we do plan on opening presents together a la FaceTime. My guess is that a lot of people will be doing the same type of thing to connect with their loved ones this Christmas. What a crazy year 2020 has been!!! With regards to the house, as my last post told you, we will not be in the house by Christmas. COVID has finally hit the construction business…

Well, we just found out yesterday that our closing date will now be NO EARLIER THAN 18 Dec 2020. This is a real bummer as Trace and I were both hoping to be settled in the house by Christmas. But it looks like we will be spending yet another Christmas in this @#%& apartment. The problem seems to be that there just aren’t enough craftspeople available for all of the construction going on in the area. It would seem that even COVID has not slowed the construction business. And with all this COVID crap, we will not be traveling anywhere and Will won’t be coming down from NYC either. Lousy…

Well, a lot has happened on the house since my last post. They have completed the outside brick and stonework. Leftover brick and stone will be used for the mailbox enclosure and the barbecue pony-wall or island (haven’t decided yet). But that work will be done further down the road. All of the insulation was installed and all of the drywall has been installed. They have also done the mudding and sanding of the drywall seams. Need to do some touch-up work on that yet, but for the most part that is done as well. Cabinets go in this Friday. Then wall texture and paint, followed by all of the…

So, it’s really starting to get exciting around here as they have been installing the brick and stone on the outside of our house. On the inside, they have installed the fireplace box in our Family Room and all of the electrical, data, and coax cabling throughout the house. Weekend before last, I took 120 pictures of the “bones” of the house as they were supposed to put in the foam insulation last week. Well, that didn’t happen but should be happening soon, so I’m glad I got the pictures taken. It helps to have these if we ever want to do any changes in the house. We will know…

So, it’s official. We have now been living in Texas for one year. While I would love to say that this time has just flown by, I don’t like to lie. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do love it here in Texas. It’s just that I really do not enjoy apartment living and cannot wait until we are in our house and we can get our stuff out of storage in Colorado. As I think back a year or so ago, we thought that by now we would have been long settled into our new home. But our problem with the original lot we selected in that new development…