Odds 'n' Ends

I haven't updated this for a little while, but we continue to take many tiny steps toward getting this project started.

Last week Christina and I finally got out and visited a couple of the building supply warehouses. Service was hit-and-miss but we were able to get a lot of brochures (too many) and some helpful information.

Shingles should be fairly straightforward. Have a couple brands to choose from, we'll just need to pick a color to match our other choices. For siding we still need to check out the color and texture options for seamless steel. We should get more samples for that this week. We saw some really nice cedar-colored vinyl shakes that we will probably go with.

We finally got a live look at our window choice (Marvin Integrity) and were able to make some minor decisions regarding those. We decided for the windows with grills, we will change our style choice. Instead of  the grills that go between the glass, we will go with a style with grills on either side of the glass. This way the interior grills can be stained to match the rest of the window. Otherwise they would be white on the interior. We also concluded that we want to go with double french doors upstairs and downstairs on the deck side of the house. originally we had planed to go with a single door paired with a fixed door.

We visited the place that supplies stone for the exterior stonework. Wow there are just way too many choices.

Our expert color coordinator (Christina's sister Randina) sent us some pictures of some exteriors she liked. We are tentatively using this one as the look we are going for:

On the paperwork front, we are meeting with an insurance agent tomorrow morning to get a policy in place for the construction period. Then, next Thursday (the 29th) we actually close on our loan. That will feel like an important milestone! probably because we have to cut the bank a huge check..yippee!

Our contact on the builder front, Mark Sams, stopped by yesterday to have me sign the paperwork for MN power to fun electric back to the property. We chatted about a bunch of stuff, but the best news is that he expects the road restrictions to come off sometime around mother's day (May 9th)! If that happens, we would expect work to begin on our house sometime that week or the week after. It's getting closer!!!

This past weekend we were able to drive out to the land with the boys and spend a little time there. No sooner had we opened the doors to the truck, our resident daredevil Tommy took off across the dirt covered field in search of adventure. What do you do when you see a big pile of dirt? Well, climb up it and jump off of course! Then don't forget to take your sunglasses off and use them to dig at the ground creating your own little dust cloud!

A couple pictures from our stop:

Here is a side shot of what hopefully will be a good sliding hill on the corner of our backyard. I think the first thing we will need to install is a good old fashioned fire pit:

This is a shot from what is probably the top of the sliding hill back toward the house. Some of the trees on the left will probably get cleared out as we need to clear more trees to make a reasonable backyard:

This is a view from the SE corner of the backyard back toward the driveway entrance. The dirt pile is the remnants of a burn pile from when the land was initially cleared.

What do you do with a dirt pile? Climb it of course:

Jedi Master:

And on a final note for today, I must announce that Christina became the first person in the family to "catch" a wood tick at our land. I was very jealous when she told me she found the little guy making himself cozy buried in her thick hair. Maybe when Andy and I go camp out at the land I can acquire one or two if I am lucky!

Spring is here

It's been an unseasonably warm early spring, which has contributed to me being lax in updating this blog. Well, that and having a toddler around, having Christina gone for board exams, beginning to fret about exterior colors, attending to other important things (such as hobbies) and just general laziness.

So what has been going on since the last update?

The ball continues to roll with the bank. The appraisal came back a little lower due to the square footage dropping, but nothing that will stop our progress. Seems like every 2-3 days something new comes from the bank that we need to sign. But so far, so good!

Jamie has provided us with a selection sheet, and some sample materials and catalogs. Top priority right now is exterior stuff (siding color, stone, gutters, fascia, shingles, windows, etc). We've done a little bit of reading, and Christina stopped by the stone contractors store too. But most of this selection stuff will begin in earnest after we get back form our spring break mini-vacation next week.

The boys and I picked up Subways and drove out to the land yesterday for a little picnic. We walked around a little bit and I think we are going to have a decent sliding hill just off the back of our backyard. Mark says we might have to clear some more trees from the south of the lot (the backyard) to get the grade to where he wants it for a walkout basement. If so, we'll end up with a bigger backyard (good) that should border up against the top of the sliding hill! First priority will be to build a fit pit right at the top of that hill for sure!

The time is nearing that we will be closing on the construction loan and officially beginning work. Can't wait!

Here's some pictures form the picnic day:

Picnic in the truck (ground still a little muddy):


Looking SE from approximately the location of the garage apron. Cleared area is the side yard to the east of the house:


A couple shots looking east from approximate garage apron location, showing the final driveway approach after it turns onto the land:



Dad! The sun is too bright!