Milestones. Called in our first inspection. It started raining as I muse!

Bob and his wife Pam, the plumbers, confidently committed to an "under slab" inspection on Monday. Basically anything that will be buried and covered up.

Which is good because the flat work (concrete) guys start in at 06 o'clock dark 00 on Monday. They'll work landscape wall footings until the inspection finishes. Then they'll back fill all the stuff in the vicinity of the garage and foot that too.

The South garage wall footing, towards Dan and Tony's (henceforth known as DnT, I'm tired of writing Dan and Tony), will be interesting. The whole South end of the lot is fill. The South end of the lot is sloping pretty sharply down.

  1. Interesting to see where the grade of the garage floor ends-up.
    • This will dictate the grade of the driveway and any grade shenanigans we need to pull for the garage door going out the back of the garage.
    • The grade of the driveway will dictate the steps and shenanigans we need to pull for the main entrance to the house through the courtyard.
  2. I'm guessing there will be a stem/retaining wall to hold up all the fill. And they need to dig through the fill to get to something solid.

Lot of interesting things.

We're going to save any left-over dirt in the back yard. DnT need to add some cover to their septic tank. And, Ann and Dan (henceforth known as "The Brain Trust", TBT when I get lazy) want to build some terraces as the lot falls away in back. Catch rain water. Add some elevation interest. Brain Trust stuff.


If continues or gets heavy, may have to go see what the run-off does... Also wonder what it does to my plumbing trenches and any digging that is supposed to happen at 06 o'clock dark 00 tomorrow.

New worry. It just got muggy as hell. Very bad unless it cools off...and will have to figure how to play swamp cooler tomorrow in the rain aftermath.

So, back to Bob and Pam the plumbers. CtC called in the inspection early, as you have to do to get on the inspectors schedule. As all things, the plumbing took longer than expected. They were here pretty late but were motivated and did a great job. Bob quit 8 or 10 times. Pam informs me this is fewer than usual.

Also, Jake (the architect) submitted the frame and stucco version of the plans on Friday morning. I now understand that approval could take the same 2 or 3 weeks that the original plans took. That might become a problem. And, in theory anyway, inspections usually get stopped while the revision gets reviewed. We'll see what happens. May have to dispatch Jake (the architect) and CtC to go throw themselves on the mercy of the permitters... Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Bob assigned me homework to go pick all the finishes, which I did. So now I can get a Bob approval. He's particular. If you look in the Pictures and then Working, you'll see my choices. Put that up there so I can also work on an Ann approval.

Bob also lobbied hard for water treatment. The water down here is liquid rock. It spots anything it touches. The spots etch. Then plumbing goes to hell. We were planning to put a water filter at the kitchen sink, but this is a bigger deal. We hate water softners. The water is slimy and you have to take maintain them. Bob recommends Pelican Water Conditioning. The plumbing fixture folks loved them too. Best I can tell, choosing a water system is like picking a mattress. You can find any opinion you want. Anyway, something else to ponder.

Rain is letting up. This rock and dust soil looks like it'll absorb a whole bunch of water. Street was running pretty full, but most everything that hit dirt soaked in. Interesting. And it cooled off a bunch. The cynic in me wonders how long THAT will last.

Lots of pictures today. I got behind but caught-up today. So go have a look.

Yesterday was a big day for your Muse'er. Did the plumbing thing. Went to an old school lumber yard to get a scrap of rough hewn lumber to test treatments. Got my first Tucson haircut. Got an ink jet printer. I've always hated ink jet printers, but they do a lot for not much money and I needed a printer/copier. And, I bought DnT a grill.

The Wee Weber. Note the ash tray is upside down so it does not hold water when I'm not using it.


DnT had no grill. How am I supposed to live in their house with no grill. Exactly. I shopped at Home Depot and then at Lowe's. Same stuff. Same prices. Coincidence? The premium for a Weber over Brand X was about 10%, which for a small grill is no big deal. So I got the smallest Weber that you don't have to kneel on the ground to use. I call it Wee Weber. 

Did steaks and chicken thighs since it was fired up. Was jones'n for a baked potato. No way in hell was I firing up the toaster oven inside. Did the bakers on the Wee Weber too. Came out pretty darn good. 

Do have some work to do to get used to the timing difference between Gas and Charcoal. Being as manly as I am, that should sort PDQ.

We've been worrying finish for the wood trim and pergola. FtF and CtC suggested a blend of 1 part Linseed Oil, 1 part Spar Varnish, and 2 parts Mineral Spirits. Bought the stuff and a wood sample on Saturday. Created a "part measurer", used the new printer box as a work bench and floor tarp, and went to testing.

My work bench and results.

My work bench and results.

From left to right there is bare word, one coat, and two coats with about 30 minutes or so between them. I'm partial to the two coat flavor. We'll see what Ann and people think. Plan is to get ahead of the framers. I'll "paint" before they assemble so it goes up "painted". Then depending on who you talk to and I suppose weather, we'll have to use a yard sprayer to reapply every two to four years. Do like the color and look. The timbers we are using are pretty massive, so the piece is a good approximation.

I am hoping FtF has better work benches!

Rain report. Stopped. Now starting again. Just got a sever thunderstorm warning. Thunder banging away out there. Could get interesting! Storms here seem to move South East to North West. Backwards to what we're used to from Denver. But, to the South East is our good view line. Might be interesting to watch these things come in...