February 4-9
This week Scotty told us we don't need a C.O. to move in (especially as we have NO furniture!), so we planned
to move out of our RV this coming weekend, and into the house. We have a buyer for the RV and need to have it
serviced next week, so this is urgent.
We started on Monday laying the "reclaimed" (150 year old) heart
pine floor and by Friday we still had plenty to do. The wood is old, full of interesting features, including
knots, empty knots, nail holes, etc. It's tough to work with, even though we don't need to be too picky - it's
meant to be "rustic" after all!
We also set the porch steps posts in place, and the stone mason finished them
off with stone on the sides.
In contrast to recent weeks, the house was relatively quiet: Sergio and Manuel
finished up the log stairs and set the garage truss support columns on the concrete supports. Unfortunately,
the stone mason had set stone on these supports the day before, and "sledging" the posts into place
caused some (a lot) of the stone to fall off! Oh well. Jack Anderson, ever present, continued staining
logs, doors and windows.
On Wednesday Tracy, an interior designer from Roaring Fork Furniture in
Glenwood Springs came to help us decide on furniture - she is wonderful!
Thursday the Accents on Tops guys arrived to install the countertops - Silestone.
They look fantastic.
On Friday the tilers came to finish the kitchen - they just need to return on
Monday to grout the kitchen tiles and they are done.
Also on Friday the plumber started finish work, but had to leave early because
the tilers were in his way, and because we still did not have an electrician. That morning Mark Briels (because
his guys were busy elsewhere) arranged specially for another electrician, Kim, to come over to help the plumber
install the sewage pump (without it we would have no plumbing that weekend when we planned to move in). By the
time Kim arrived, the plumber had left - we thought for lunch - and despite attempts to contact him, he did not
reappear. Kim did all she could, but without the plumber, we still have no plumbing, so our move is delayed
again.
 We still had to move all our "stuff" out of the RV and into the house,
cleaning the RV as we went. By Sunday night there was very little left there, although plenty of cleaning still
needed to be done, and the carpets will be cleaned on Tuesday. Only one more night in the RV?
On Sunday, while we were loading up the vehicles for the final time, Ben
called from Aspen airport. He had flown from Eagle with a friend in a small Cessna and would shortly be flying
over the campground and our house on their way back. Sure enough, a few minutes later they flew overhead!
February 10-17
This is the week! Roaring Fork Furniture delivered our bed on Monday, with bar stools for the kitchen,
two rugs and two chairs (on loan - this store is great!).
Monday was our last night in the RV, and on Tuesday we spent our first night
in the house, enjoying the hot tub for the first time - it was wonderful! We still could not use the plumbing,
but it felt so good just to be "in" ...! It's special for me being able to "go to
work" without driving for 20 minutes (in a freezing truck!), to have lunch provided (thanks Jen!), and at
the end of the (long) day to have no homeward commute.
The tilers finished up on Monday and the plumbers finished most of their work
on Monday and Tuesday, including replacing wrong taps that had been delivered in error.
Mark Briels' electricians could not come until Thursday because he and his men
were committed elsewhere - scheduling is a constant headache for our builder and his subs. However Mark himself
turned up on Wednesday to help get the sewage pump working - thank you Mark! As a result we could use all the
plumbing from Thursday on. On Thursday Mark's guys (Dusty and Paul) came to finish their electrical work and on
Friday the inspector passed us. Now they have finished, we can thoroughly recommend our electrical
sub-contractor, Mark Briels Electrical: his men are excellent, and Mark himself has a professionalism
and attention to detail that we have found rare during this project.
Also on Thursday, Tracy came again to help us with our furniture plans, using
cardboard templates to represent sofa, chairs and the baby grand piano ("virtual furniture") and we
ordered several pieces as a result.
Jack Anderson, painter, continued staining. He has about one week left.
We almost finished laying the pine floor this week - it already looks superb.
We called in Chuck Smyth to give us a quote and next week his men will finish our floor - sand and seal - a job
worth paying the professionals to do.
On Wednesday Kevin helped us hitch up and move the RV from the Aspen Basalt
Campground (our "home" for 9 months), to a truck wash where we cleaned it (for the first time in 9
months!) and then to the RV service store for some maintenance and repairs before saying a final
"farewell".
On Thursday we finished installing the kitchen appliances - this and the
plumbing were my Valentine's "gift" to Jenny: so romantic!
This weekend I have concentrated on setting up the satellite dish (for
Internet and TV), and doing some much-needed cleanup. Our bedroom is doubling as our office - and will for
several months. Thank God Jenny is flexible and understanding!
We ARE IN - we don't have much, and there's lots more work to do, but we are
IN - unofficially! Now we just have a few jobs left before we can request our Certificate of Occupancy and
close on our mortgage - hopefully by the end of next week. We should also be saying "goodbye" to our
RV (our home for 4 years) next Wednesday as we hand it over to its new owners who will be taking it back to
Texas. So by the end of next week we will be officially owner/occupiers of the Daly Homestead! Thank you
Lord!
February 18-24
This was a frenetic week, getting everything ready for our final inspection on Friday (which was subsequently
moved back to Monday).
While Jack continued painting and the bank appraiser visited to check that we
are good risks before we close on our mortgage (next Monday), we (the Daly boys) worked to finish all the small
jobs necessary to pass our inspection, and to finish the floor ready for Chuck Smyth to finish it, also next
week.
We were so careful and frugal while laying the floor that we had just enough
left over to finish the landing. This involved several tricky "bull noses", which required sawing
(from the same wood) and gluing (with Elmer's wood glue) thin strips onto pieces of flooring, then (when dry)
routering the front edges to create a "bull nose" effect. These pieces finish the edges of the
landing (like the steps down into the mudroom) and the vertical fascia around the stairwell. They look really
good!
We've set Monday for the inspection and for closing our mortgage - we drive to
Denver (to fly off to England) on Tuesday!
This was also the week we completed the sale and hand-over (with a lump in the
throat) of our 5th wheel to it's lucky new owners - Larry & Judy Winnie. They drove here from Las Vegas (en
route back to their home in Austin Texas). They proved to be super people, and we look forward to hearing about
their wonderful travels, continuing the Daly tradition!
February 25-26
Talk about "last minute"! On Monday morning the stone mason returned to finish the hearth, just in
time for us to successfully complete our inspection on Monday afternoon, receiving the call from both Scotty
and Ben (separately) while in the Title Company office, (also successfully) closing on our mortgage. The boys
followed Scotty and the inspector around (while we were absent), fixing a few small problems identified during
the inspection, so that we could get our C.O. (Certificate of Occupancy), which we picked up on Tuesday on our
way through Glenwood on our way to Denver.
So Monday night we celebrated with champagne in the hot tub, with Ben and
Kevin. It was so cold, we found ice in our hair, so we waited to open the champagne in front of a roaring fire.
On Tuesday, while we packed for England and Ben & Kevin started work on
the deck railings (replacing the temporary 2x4s and chicken wire with the real thing), the finishers were
sanding the floor. When we walked out just after lunch everything was covered in a thick layer of dust - just
as well we were leaving!
As I "compose" this update I am sitting in Jenny's sister
(Barbara's) house in Staplehurst, Kent, enjoying the sunny afternoon view (through the window - it is still
winter, after all!)
We hear, from Kevin, that the finished floors look great, but we'll have to
wait until March 12th to see for ourselves! Now to enjoy Barbara and Ann's (Jenny's sisters - twins) 60th
birthday celebration and the rest of our UK vacation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come back soon to check on our continuing progress.
God bless and Happy New Year,
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