Settling In

It's been 25 days now and we're getting settled in comfortably.

The new house's front yard has really taken off and is lush and green. NOT like the back yard that faces south where there is either corn or quack grass. They sort of look the same. I pray it's corn but I fear it's quack grass.

O'Well, pick your battles. The plan was to see WHAT came in and then go from there. We have seeded twice and both times 90% of the seed has washed away from huge thunderstorms that very night.

The downspouts are evil when it comes to newly sewn grass seed.

Before I get to the INSIDE of the house let me talk about the landscaping that we are planning and have ordered.

The back left of the house on the golf course are three Basswood trees and our neighbors have a couple ash trees. The Basswoods are flowering and have a wonderful aroma and millions of red admiral butterflies.

What we plan to do is put in a clump of River Birch. This will give us a little shade but not totally block the view like a Maple would do.

On the right side of the backyard where the sun will really heat up the house in summer we're putting in an Autumn Blaze maple.

This will give us a ton of shade in a few years (grow 3 feet a year) and spectacular color in the fall.

In the winter it will have no leaves and let the warming light through.

In the front yard we are planning on having an Donald Wyman Crabapple tree. It will not be smak dab in the middle but off to the left side a little so we can still see out of the "quite rooms" window.

The next project is planting Palace Purple Coralbells and So Sweet Hosta's between the sidewalk and garage. It's in shade most of the time and will add a little "something.

OK - we're skipping in front of the front porch until fall (also called regrouping our financial solvency).

However beside the garage where the air conditioner, air outtakes and outdoor faucet is all bunched together we have a plan.

First of all there will be a Burning Bush (Euonymus Tures) in the front. Then three Carefree Wonder Rose Shrubs. Then on the end to give a darker background a Summer Ninebark (no photo available).

Thats the outside - pray for us!

But - what of the inside. Well, we're a little more eclectic and have to work with what we already had. No going out and buying new stuff and starting new like the landscaping.

The living room (also called the Great Room because it is attached to the kitchen I guess) turned out great. It's a little smaller then the previous house but with 17 foot ceilings it seems bigger. I know my sub woofer is not quite so awesome in THIS room.

The kitchen is right off the living room and while we were a littel worried about the two being so close (fear of the unknown) it has worked out great!

Standing in the kitchen if you turn south you will see the sun room/breakfast nook that walked out to the porch. This had a surprise moment the third night in the house when a previously unknown sprinkler from the golf course went off and started blasting the house at 2:00 in the morning. We had water on the floor up to the close chairs you see in the photo.

We have not informed the golf course just yet because we can a free watering every few nights and all we have to to is close the window. When the grass comes in totally we will speak to the golf course.

The Master bedroom is nothing to get real excited about. It's the only room with blue carpeting. The rest of the house all blends together but we wanted something different in one room - BINGO! The room has a vaulted ceiling. Most of the house as 9 foot ceilings as the default with the kitchen, sunroom and living room having reaching to 17 feet at times.

The Master bedroom is 9 foot but goes up another foot for the ceiling fan.

There are two other rooms. The Quite room in the front of the house. It's just a peaceful little room where the animals go when things get to hectic and for some reason it's just a nice calming room. They my study which I will not show. It's also called the clutter room or the computer room.

It's very secret with secret things in it that the government will not allow me to show the public because of National Security considerations.

SO!

That is where we stand at the moment.

All is well. I'll have more when plants and trees arrive.

Rod and DJ - cheers!

27 Signatures and 25 Initials Later

I'm sitting here in my "study" (also called the second bedroom in the plans), looking out a rain dotted window at the land between fairway and tee box on the 16th hole of Kestrel Ridge. I have Sirius Satellite radio playing Aaron Copland's Rodeo: Four Dances Episode and thinking . . .WOW. We did it.

Going back in time seven days ago DJ and I loaded the car with a few plants and other comfort things and drove the twenty minutes to Columbus WI to meet with the lawyers and other parties to seal the deal on our little 1700 sq foot house.

One hour and 27 Signatures plus 25 Initials later we were the proud owners of ### Vista Circle.

We unloaded the two cars with a few things and once the guests and left we sort of ran around from room to room with little squeaking noises of glee.

After we got tired we headed back to Madison for more packing and that sort of thing, plus I had golf league to take care of.

Friday we woke up and saw that not only was our internet connection disconnected(making it an internet DISconnection) but our DISH Network had also lost many stations. All we could watch were religious channels and porno plus one Japanese News station that was broadcasting in French. hmmmm, I'd like to see the meeting where they decide what channels to give canceled subscribers.

SO, with no other option we packed both cars and started moving boxes in earnest. When we got to the house there was a new four inch layer of top soil with grass seed and hay on top of that. Things were a little . . . .dusty. No problem as we set to work cleaning and unpacking.

Side note - we tried McDonald's coffee for the first time - pretty freaking good I'd say!!

I hooked up a hose and sprinkler system and started watering our new lawn like a proud father until the clouds darkened and it started to rain. Perfect - we would not have to use OUR water and we both loved hearing thunder. Blake, our Corgi was not too keen on the thunder thing and found the bathtub, jumped in and proceeded to hyperventilate. AHHH - just like home.

The storm passed and the sun came out and standing on our deck we smiled as we looked out over the fields at a full double rainbow. DANG - no camera, grrrrrrr!!!

After a few hours we once again had done all we had to do and we needed to get back for more packing. The movers were coming at 8:00 in the morning.

After a sort of restless night which was sad because a thunderstorm with rain moved in in the early mourning, perfect sleeping weather but . . . . . . we got up and the movers moved in as the storm subsided. Three hip hop dudes worked their tail off and we could not be happier with Mayflower Moving. It took six and a half hours and we were all moved in . . .. well, 98% of our stuff was now moved 20 miles north but so you could CALL it moved in but not really livable.

So there we were, a whole house of stuff and everything to put away.

DJ, me, Milo, Sierra and Blake all went our separate directions looking or each comfort zone. Well, Blake sort of followed one human or the other . . . . actually he did that for the next two days. Sierra headed to the under the bottom of the basement stairs and hid, Milo roamed around aimlessly, DJ went into the bathrooms and started unpacking bathroom stuff and I started to put together the Home Theater.

We all had our priorities. And it rained.

By this time our lawn was soaked and it was not normal mud! It was normal DEEP mud. Step on it and you sink and the mud flows over the top of your shoes, literally. And there was one small problem. The down spouts were making little Grand Canyons in the yard and our top soil was washing away.

By Sunday much of the clutter was put away and Sierra was now upstairs and both cats were LOVING the house. Low windows on all four sides. In fact with the move both cats are much more like friends. Or maybe it is the fact that Milo is on Prozac and not irritating Sierra with his howling.

Yes yes yes - Milo is part of the Prozac nation - long story, don't ask, it was the last resort.

Still no internet or TV Sunday and we had a cook out with DJ's daughter (Little J - 25 yr old) and husband (Big J) and just basked in the new house glory.

Later in the day DJ went over to Little Js house and I was still putting electronic things together when I hear a low rumble. I go to the deck and see this charming image.


SWEET - you can see one canyon on the bottom of the screen. We only get a little rain but other areas got 3-6 inches. WHEW.

Monday - The DIRECT TV guy comes to hook up the system and he bypasses the mud by going over the house and installing the dish on top. Then the Charter Cable guy comes for the internet (has anybody heard of something called WildFire or something like that??). Well the cable guy sees the DIRECT guy and before you know it they are in the mud fighting and punching and so forth . . . . . . . what? ok ok, they never did that, but it would have been cool!

SO - now we have TV, I have internet and I spent a little MORE time hooking up the wireless router (maybe our neighbor should try to see if they can get it).

Tuesday we had a landscaper stop by and we talked about stage one of landscaping and he will be coming again Saturday when he can measure without sinking up to his knees.

We plan on one Autumn Blaze Maple and a clump of River Birch in the back yard (oddly, there was a river there Sunday morning) and a White Crab tree in front.

I planted a lot of Day Lillies (one word??) next to the house which were planted by DJ's mom in the old house many many years ago. Once then grow I'll dig them up in the fall and separate them from the clumps of 15-20 . . pod thingys.

SO - I leave the cell phone in the car for a few hours and when I retrieve it I see there is a message. HEY - we have a showing in an hour a voice mail says - but it was actually two hours ago and the house IS A TOTAL DISASTER!!

We just moved out and there has been no time to clean and pick up!! AAAAAAGHHHH! Toss that one away I guess. Another showing Thursday.

We seem to be in a crack with the price. The house is assessed at 204K. First time buyers are in the 180K range in Madison and the larger money are buying in the 250K range. Our agent is saying our price is in the retirement range.

Well - I hope a lot of people are retiring soon LOL

ANYWAY - it's now night and I'm dry on words.

I leave you with a nighttime photo of the outside and one of the living room - don't get excited about the content on TV - I was watching Las Vegas!


This is an early Saturday shot = probably looks better larger so click on it. Just a quite beginning of the day!

Until next time

Rod and DJ - g'nite

Excited I suppose is one word!

Quick update.

Saturday I was golfing and DJ had some extra time. So she cruised north to visit the Jenny in Columbus. They decided to go to the house an look around to see how he deck was coming.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 70 degrees and a little breezy.

I arrived home and the first thing out of DJ's mouth was "YOU MUST go to the house and look at the deck, YOU MUST!!!" It is the perfect day to see the deck for the first time.

I picked up my buddy and we drove north. I opened the door, walked through the house and onto the deck and . . . .WOW!!! I stood there, looking out over the 16th fairway on a perfect day on a perfect sized deck.


We were planning only to spend a little time there but we both stood on the deck for an hour basking in the glory. Watching golfers go by, watching where the balls were landing and just enjoying the moment.

It was at that moment when the house felt complete. For the first time it hit me that THIS was a dream come true. The house had always been wonderful but it was just a house, a very nice house but just a house. Standing on the deck it hit me that this is more wonderful then I had imagined.

Our Corgi had always liked being up high. Having very short legs I suppose being high was either going to be terrifying or something to look forward to. Blake seemed to love being above things.

So when we introduced him to the deck he walked out and circumnavigated the basically two decks (360 sq feet). Once all corners were sniffed he looked up and all of a sudden had a HUGE grin which never stopped while we were there.

We close in 10 days and move in June 2. Final cleanup is next week and appliances are being installed and minor landscaping is being finished (filling in and removing the dirt mountain) . The rest of the deck should be complete at this writing.


Our "old" house has not been sold but it's sort of on hold at the moment and it is not a problem.

Excited I suppose is one word!

Rod and DJ

The Perfect Build

Two weeks to go before closing and eighteen days before we move in and all is well.

The perfect build? Well 99% at least and nothing to get worried about.

We did have one glitch with the garage floor getting a crack but it was fixed at no extra charge (of course) with a new floor.

Our builder Kevin Kleckner of Ambiance Homes has been a dream and has passed inspection with the most important people. My brother the architect and his son the engineer. Both are builders. My brother Ralls runs his own firm and has been featured in House Beautiful and his son builds buildings in Chicago for some mammoth company.

When I invited them up to see the house my secret goal was to hear what they thought of the build and I followed them around like a puppy dog listening and trying to read between the lines.

It passed with flying colors and they even said many things were done that many builders either skip, are too lazy to fix or just do not know about. The ONLY thing mentioned was to get the water heater off the floor. With the high water table in the area there was bound to be a lot of humidity and you do not want the water heater to be right on the floor.

I mention it to Kevin and it was fixed the next day.

The TyVek was put in the windows correctly (a common problem), the I-Joists were good to go and other "excellent ideas" were discovered. Even their ideas on how they would do this and that were done automatically

Are we happy? YOU BET!!

We are going to have somebody come by and talk to us about landscaping. We have ideas but having a pro give suggestions can not hurt.


The countertops are in place and we're happy. Certainly not Corian which would have been perfect but you have to draw the line somewhere in price and from our view is a not needed luxury. This is a house to live in and not a show place.

The fire place is basically finished except for the final touches and we actually paid for home insurance last night (only a little over $300 a year).

As I said - carpeting is 70% in and the color is working out very nice and is really making the place less echoie (if that is a word LOL).

The 360 sq foot deck is going up as I type and it's all good!

My friends at NASA would be proud.

Until next time!
Rod and DJ!

Getting close!!

Time is growing short for this blog. You see, we close on May 31st and move in on June 2nd. GULP!!


The house is looking wonderful and we're pretty excited. The OLD house is still on the market but that is not a worry. No bridge loan is needed and maybe it will sell faster empty. I'll just have to keep mowing the yard and we will just have to keep the conditions inside the house up for a little longer then anticipated.

Anyway - the New house will have 360 sq feet of deck put in sometime the week of the 14th. We were thinking of composite (also called plastic) but after a lot of research we're going with wood.


Why? A couple of schools of thought. Composite is great because it never needs to be stained. However, it DOES need to be cleaned every couple years. Also a five year old composite deck will look like a five year old composite deck. A wood deck will look brand new every couple years.

Composite decks get much hotter in the summer and are more prone to warping as they get soft in the heat. Composites will sit in a landfill for a thousand years so wood is better for the environment. Wood is cheaper and we feel, bang for the buck, wood is the winner.

Inside the house, carpeting still needs to be going in and counter tops are due up! The counters are in and look great! The fireplace is taking shape and even though we were told to get six inch tile three inch tile is being install with we feel is better.


Our builder has done a 100% perfect job so far and we could not be happier with the build.

The garage doors must be one of the last and that will be nice as they are not the standard doors (almost but they have windows which adds something).

What we like is that while it is a modest ONE QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLAR home it has some pop to it. Actually that does sound like a lot but our current home is not that much less.

We're dumping DISH and going with DIRECT TV. No Charter because their digital is not really digital but compressed analog and there is a big difference between the two. DISH is just a messed up company and since Mr. Evil Rupert Murdock no longer owns DIRECT, we can now buy into the service.

We're also dumping ATT because they do not offer DSL and we're going to use Charter for their broadband.

Hmmmm - what else - can’t think of anything at the moment.

Cheers

Starting to Look Like a Real Home

Nothing more exciting then watching plumbing and electric going in - thus - the lack of house blog.

However all of a sudden stuff is happening again and every time we make the trip we hold our breath hoping we had a clue on what we decided on four months ago.

Was the color of the siding ok?? Does it match the brick? Do they match the shingles? Does anybody care about the shingles? We were given a choice of ten different shades, all the samples were about one by two inchs. Yea - sort of hard to make a real decision on something nobody looks at anyway!

Then there was the paint problem AND A PROBLEM IT WAS! We were given 1000 different shades of white and what we picked we THOUGHT was an off white, sort of a light tan.

So we step into the house a few hours after it was painted and IT'S YELLOW!!! DJ was visibly shaken and HATED it! Our first mess-up? Two days later we go back and it has dried to a MUCH calmer color that we can live with. The interesting thing is that the house as so many textures of light streaming in that every room is a different shade of the same color AND the time of day changes it also.

The hard wood floors are great and the trim is really helping the color of the paint.

NOTE - do not make judgments on anything until it is all put together. The tile around the fireplace is not 6 inch tiles like we expected but 3inch - however - we like it better actually AND they match the laminate floor in the entrance way.

All in All we very very happy.

Cabinets are going in a day or two and we looking to move in in 4 or 5 weeks!! Maybe!

Here are the newest photos.

I hope they keep the landscaping, it has sort of an . . . .Afghanistan foreign look don't you think?

DJ is so happy she is doing a little jig!

What you do not see is that Blake's leash is caught and he is stuck! This is from the living room looking south towards the breakfast nook.

Middle of the breakfast nook looking into the future kitchen and living room where I took the last photo. No photos of the bedrooms as they are square box's. The Master beroom has some nice features (vaulted ceiling, sliding door to the huge deck) I'll have something next time.

Drywall up and the house takes shape

Has it really been twelve days since the last post? Time flies when it looks like nothing is happening. But actually, all of the stuff we need to LIVE in the house has been happening.

Electricity and plumbing were installed.

All of the insulation is in and the drywall is up and WOW - what a change. Let me walk you around the house.

The first photo is of our siding. The one thing we were worried about are all the decisions we made so so long ago. I told DJ we just have to trust that we had a clue back then.

Just like computer programming. When you write a program and then look at it a year later you just have to have faith that back THEN you knew what you were doing. Same with this.



This is the sun room/breakfast nook. Blake (dog) loved this and it was the first time he realized he could look outside from inside of the house. He has never had this option before.


We tried to explain to him about the deck going on the other side of the window but we're not sure he understood. He LOVES decks. It's not often he can be ABOVE anything.

This looks from the fire place (which is absent in all my photos . .hmmm) back to the kitchen.

Blake is uncertain about the wooden stairs. They will be carpeted at some point. He'll have to wait.

Looking from the back left side of the "great" room. Fireplace is back left, kitchen behind the small wall and breakfast nook in the middle background. That is more drywall against the windows. Notice the high ceilings.



I'm now standing on the very spot I wreaked my knee looking back at the house from the golf course.
And there is DJ further down the fairway looking back.


In other news we window shopped for $1000 in lighting and found we were under budget IF we did not go to Madison Lighting where we could buy two lights for the entire budget.

What we have to do is measure the actual placement of the Great Room ceiling fan to see how big of a drop down bar we need. Then withen the next 12 days we'll have to actually purchase the lights. This will come off the mortgage and is easier.

As for our current home. We're having another open house this Sunday. so far 100% of the comments have been positive with a few people very interested but no real takers YET!

We're still upbeat.

That's it for now!

talk to you later

Rod and DJ

44 Days and We're Getting Electricty

We had our meeting with Joe Electricity Wednesday and I have to wonder if all of the contractors that Kevin Builder Guy hired came from Best Buy. They are all so young. The GOOD news is that they all know what they are doing. Is it me? Am I the one getting old and all of a sudden people under 30 seem young. NO NO!! that can not be it.

One small thing that changed is that with adubya's comment about the two tiles looking like fallopian tube we will not be putting them in. It's not that HIS comment means that much but now every time we look at them all we see are fallopian tubes.

Speaking of fireplaces we had our first peek at the installed box.

Pretty exciting!

The house is coming along with plumbing installed and now electric. Our meeting was to go over where the sockets and switches would be. WOW - so many!!! In 40 year old homes you have one switch for the over head light and that is about it.

This house it seems there are switch's EVERYWHERE!! Not that it is a bad thing but it seems like a lot. Plus fire place switch's, sconce switch's pendent light switch's and so forth. Here is a list of the lights that are NOT ceiling pocket lights (of which there are 10??). We need to pick out each of these.

Master bath - Wall mount above sink - 42" wide mirror below
Master bedroom ceiling light or fan or fan/light combo
Master bedroom closet - ceiling mount fluorescent
Laundry room ceiling mount
Kitchen pendants - 2 sloped ceiling mount - minimum total chain and fixture length of 54"
Dining room - minimum total chain and fixture length of 60"
Foyer light - sloped ceiling - maximum total chain and fixture length of 27"
Main bathroom - Wall mount above sink - 36" wide mirror below
Bedroom #2 ceiling mount light
Bedroom #3 ceiling mount light
Stairwell wall mount sconce
Front of garage - 3 exterior wall mount fixtures
Garage service door - exterior wall mount fixture
Deck - 2 exterior wall mount fixtures
Basement door - exterior wall mount fixture
Optional family room ceiling fan
Optional basement bathroom above sink

YIKES! can we do it for $1000 or less????

It's now been 44 days since they dug the hole and things are really moving along. This is a shot of the front of the house.

3200 feet of usable space (includes the non-finished basement).

In inside upstairs is looking great. This is from the front doorway looking towards the kitchen and breakfast nook.


On thing we are so thankful for is having a competent builder. Kevin from Ambiance Homes 608.225.4594 is one of the good guys. I don't complement unless they really deserve it and I would not complain unless it is really justified (Drexel Interiors of Madison - NEVER go there, worst customer service I have ever seen and I'm NOT talking about ONE instance . . . .DO NOT get me started, freaking losers . . . grrrrr).

SO! So far so good!! DJ and I read forums and hear so many horror stories that can be so avoidable. For instance. Having the applianceses arrive three months early and being stored in a doorless garage.

Or having the framers tell you that if they break a tool during the framing process they will buy another tool and charge YOU. Windows being put in the wrong places. Sites that are just a mass of clutter and litter. Not mud but bottles, junk and crap everywhere.

I think this is a sign of workers that just do not take any pride in their work. I know our framers would sweep the house every night before leaving and pick up the area around the house. Now I'm, not a stickler for this sort of thing but it shows me they care.

Yea- building is messy but having litter all over is just sloppy workmanship.

Another thing I read about is General Contractors (GC's) that are not really "into" communicating with the customer. Try to get a hold of them and and MAYBE they will get back to you a week later.

We feel lucky! The nice thing is that although there are three of four builders in our area, most homes that are being occupied are the ones Kevin is building. The other spec homes all have design flaws with odd layouts and needless extras. Our neighbors home is one that is "non-standard" that was built by somebody else and it is a beauty!! AND as luck would have it, they are great people!!

The schedule is now to have insulation put in next week and I think they said brink also starting next week. The siding will be put in sometime in the next two weeks also. GULP!! All of these choices are now about to show up for real.

We're worried about the brick choice. It is hard to get a handle on what it will look like.

Then of course there is our CURRENT house.

We had a successful Open House and one second showing but the woman who LOVED the house had a husband that was NOT in love. O'Well. No stress YET. MANY MANY great comments about the house with two more couples interested but not biting yet!

We're still the best priced home in the area. Every other house is more expensive and not as nice while the houses in our price range are not as nice with poor locations.

Still it sure would be nice to get THIS side of the deal done.

Interest rates.

I have been charting mortgage interest rates sine we were approved. The 30,45 and 60 day lock rates and noticed something.

While the 30 and 45 day rates are ALWAYS the same. The 60 day seems to be like a teaser. It seems to bounce UP for a day or two and then comes back in line. Almost like they are trying to coerce you into a panic so you will lock in. Then they lower it.

Here is my graph.
So even though we can lock in in six days I'm waiting. The move still looks like it might fall but I think we're in a pretty steady range from 6.125 to 6.25.

That's it for now, see you next time.

Rod and DJ

Timeline So Far

So - where are we in this adventure.

The current house is getting regular drive buys with people stopping in front and taking numbers but only one showing so far and we have heard no results. No worries and not much more to tell.

The New house is finished framing and had the basement cement poured a day ago. For the first time we could see the size of the rooms and it was all good. The fire place was all framed out and it is actually starting to look like a home. Windows and sliding doors are now in and the insides are now protected from the elements.

In the meantime I fractured my left patella (broke my knee cap) when I slipped on a bunker taking a photo and I have a huge brace for a while on my leg. You can see my impact spot and hopeful I can get a photo of it this weekend. Here is the x-ray of my knee. The fracture is on the left side of the knee cap.


The GOOD news is my knee cap worked perfectly as a bumper as it is designed to do.

We received two tiles yesterday that will decorate our fireplace and soon we will have to look into the actual tile.


I guess plumbing starts soon and am not sure WHAT happens next. No real good photos of late as the weather has been off and I could not see anything mammoth to show.

So - here is a time line (sort of) of the progress so far.

Click on the photo to enlarge. I think I will put these on a separate page with dates (once I find the date).






talk to you later Rpd and DJ