It's a Construction Site Again

The septic system is going in this week and it rained (actually POURED) last night, so what a mess with all the mud. However, it doesn't stop these guys. We hope to have it finished this week so we can put the driveway in soon (next week??). That way we can minimize the mud and dirt that is tracked into the house, which now has hardwood floors. They are covered, so I can't show them to you yet.

I See the Light!

Did you know there are at least three sizes and numerous other things to consider when purchasing fluorescent lights? Neither did I. We need fluorescent lights in several locations, such as the garage, storage room, various closets and pantry. In all, I was looking for about 12 different fixtures. I though this would be about a 10 minute trip to Home Depot. HA! Once again - fooled by the remodeling gods!

Once I realized there were different sizes of tubes, I called our superintendent, John, who is also an electrician. Which size should I get, I ask. He replied that it depended upon which fixture I chose. Hummm. I'm thinking that I will be purchasing replacement bulbs for years to come, so I think the tubes will be the ultimate deciding factor. So, I start looking at boxes of tubes and discover that there are about five other factors that play into the decision, such as lumens, warm or cool light (not literally, just the output) and brightness of that light. Before I knew it, I had created a comparison table on my trusty note pad just so I could keep up with the differences. Where is a iPad when I really need it??? In addition, I was getting grumpy. This was supposed to be easy, damn it!

Once I had that chart, I started looking at fixtures. There were several dozen to choose from. Oy! So much for the "three hour tour". This was much more effort than it needed to be! Who knew? Not me!

Appliances, Appliances - Direct, no less

We did manage to bring all of our appliances with us from Texas, but there are a couple of snags which have required us to purchase some new stuff. First of all, one of my favorite things in our Dallas kitchen was the ice machine. It is a separate appliance that made little 3/4 inch squares of ice. Silly, but I loved it, so it came with us. The Dallas one is 18 inches wide and all of the ones manufactured now are 15 inches. Turns out when we were trying to piece together the various components of the kitchen into a totally different configuration, we did not have an 18 inch space for the ice machine - only 15 inches. Since our existing one is now 13 years old and hasn't been used in 5 years, we decided to purchase a new one - no problem. GE makes one with the same little squares, so that's great.

Wait a minute - they cost WHAT???? That's right - $2,000. Holy %&%@)%&* batman. That's outrageous. Well, we looked everywhere, thinking that price had to be wrong (maybe we do need reading glasses after all), but no. That's it. Other brands were the same or more (think Sub Zero - HA). Well, an appliance repairman we know also looked around for us and told us that Appliance Direct had one. Appliance Direct??? That's odd. We thought they carried low-to-mid-range items. Those of you from Florida are certainly familiar with the TV commercials (and I have to admit, I turn the volume off when they come on) in which they shout, "if you didn't buy direct, you paid too much!!!" Well, it turns out, that tag line is correct. We purchased the same GE ice maker that retailed for $2,000 for (only) $800.

Turns out they also had the exact same stove we are going to purchase (since I reluctantly decided that it would be nuts to get that beautiful $10,000 Wolf one I really want). We got the stove for half of the retail price. Sweet!

Never in a million years would we have thought that Appliance Direct would carry the items we wanted. It doesn't make me want to shout like the "crazy Korean" (which is what they call him), but almost.

Taste of Texas

We took some time yesterday to work on the pool. It has been sitting dormant for most of the winter and was looking pretty sad. This was our first experience without the pool screen - and I must say, that it really did a great job of keeping the debris from the large live oak out of the pool. I was skimming the tassels from the surface, and when I got to one end and turned around, it looked as though I hadn't done a thing (tassels are still falling)! Ah, visions of our pool in Texas. I had to laugh.

The pool here is about 1/3 the size of our Texas pool (you know - everything is bigger....) and only has one big tree hanging over it (instead of three), so the work to keep it clean is really much easier. I will never forget the time in Dallas when the tassels from the huge Pecan tree all dropped in two days and you couldn't even see the pool cover under them. So....I will just have to keep it all in perspective next spring when the leaves are falling, followed by those damn tassels! I'm sure I will forget...

Discovery Photo

I really can't believe this photo came out at all, but the Discovery Space Shuttle launched this morning at 6:21 a.m. and, of course, I went out to see it. This photo is of the solid rocket boosters dropping off from the shuttle. I am truly amazed that I captured it on film. Enjoy!

Meet Scruffy

This is our baby (yes, it's a baby) Osprey. He (she?) is as large as the adults, but can't fly yet. He sits in the nest and yells when he gets hungry, which is often. The Osprey population is really down this year. Most nests have only one baby. We did see one with two and it is a nest that usually has three. I'm not sure what the problem is, but we are happy to have them. I plan to go out one morning to get more photos, so I will share when I do.

Our New Lap Pool

Yeah, it's pretty muddy, but it could be a lap pool for the ducks. We are putting our utilities underground and this is the trench they dug for them. Hey, we live on a lake and the groundwater is really near the surface - but not THIS close. We have had a bit (okay, a lot) of rain lately, so the entire area in front of the garage was underwater because they had to cut our drainage pipe to pour the footers for the master bedroom addition. Oops - guess we need to get that drain pipe operational again. Anyway, the poor guy digging the trench had to take twice as long as normal because the area kept filling with water and the sides kept caving in. The Guy is on his way to the hardware store to rent a pump so we can get the water out of there. Thankfully, there is no rain in the 7 day forecast, so we should be fine getting this completed. (Good for the spring breakers as well!)