If you build it, they will come

Picnicing in Tobin Hills - Wednesday
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Cousins from Denver and Houston

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Sisters-in-Law


HIGHLIGHTS:
1. The headline is just a tease. We didn't build it. We are just renovating it. But, they did come. ("If you renovate it, they will come" just doesn't have the same Hollywood history.) We had FIFTEEN visitors this week and loved it! In order of appearance -
. Back in September, Pat offered to host the monthly lunch for friends from her Bible study group. She was anticipating a cozy luncheon in the restored dining room. Instead of that, she and her friends dined on self provided sandwiches and picnic foods in one of the "upper rooms." The group toured the house after lunch and offered many kind words of encouragement about the work in progress.
. On Wednesday night, Monte and Mona flew in from Denver, CO and spent the night with us at the apartment. Monte's sister, Sharon and her daughter, Layne, met us all at the house on Thursday. They were en route to their Mom's 80th birthday celebration in Del Rio. We loved showing off what we are doing. I think that they all have enough imagination to see where we're going with this renovation. At least they were kind enough to not tell me I was still crazy after all these years.
. Friday brought the final visitors of the week. Dad, his wife, Virginia, and my sister, Shanna, arrived from College Station. They got the guided tour. (I did give them the family discount.) Dad and I stayed at the house a little longer than the rest and worked on domestication of the cats.
. After a stay in San Antonio on Friday night, we all traveled to Del Rio for the birthday party. Monte, Mona, Sharon, and Layne did a stellar job honoring Aunt Gene at her party. Relatives and friends from Dallas, Houston, San Angelo, Ft. Stockton, Del Rio, Sabinal, and San Antonio thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and visiting. We even broke out dominos for the traditional "42" games. What a blessing it is to have good family and friends!
2. Oh yeah - we did do some work on the house last week. Interior painting continued. The upper room aforementioned got its 2nd coat of paint. OSHA Babe womanned the orbital sander in the landing area. The guest bedroom and the Mary E. room got its last coat of trim paint and was taped in preparation for wall paint.
. Work began on the exterior painting. A 2 man crew began scrapping on the back of the house. I made arrangements to have them scrape, prime, and paint the north and west side of the house. We'll see how that goes.
3. On Friday, the shower door was installed. We got nickel metal trim and a neat looking tapered glass in the door. The guys who did the work walked through the house and really liked the backsplash in the kitchen. One of them even asked if I was a tile man. I do pretty good work but could not make it professionally. If you hired me by the hour to do a tile job, you couldn't afford me. If you hired me by the job, I'd starve by the time I finished. (Some folks used to tell me to keep my day job. But since this is my day job, I don't know what words of wisdom my friends might have.)
4. Frank the Floor Man told me that he would begin after the first of May. That's OK because we still have some painting to complete upstairs.
5. I have both sadness and moral disgust to report on the cat news. On a sad note, Bad Girl does not seem to be nursing a kitten any longer. I crawled under the house looking for the newborn but was unable to find kitty. Bad Girl has just been hanging around the neighborhood like nothing ever happened.
. Do you know the origin of the phrase "...the morals of an alley cat"? After watching both Bad Girl and Grey Girl and three tomcats from the neighborhood act like alley cats, I think they have read the manual. (If you watch much TV, you probably think that some people have read that same manual.) We are formulating plans with a helper from the SPCA to have a neutering party. We'll see how interested the tom cats are after the party.

NEXT STEPS:
1. We need to keep painting. Upstairs we lack the guest bedroom, the Mary E. room, the landing at the top of the stairs. With all the paint that we have bought, Sherwin Williams may be considering a name change in our honor. Perhaps, they are just going to name the 2007 Customer Appreciation Sale after us.
2. In the upstairs bathroom, I need to finish the floor, set the lavatory and toilet, and put up molding. Once the fixtures are set, I'll be a big step closer to getting the plumbing inspection that is holding up the gas company from moving the meter from the driveway side of the house to the east side of the house.
3. There is still work to be completed in the kitchen. I need to finish tiling the wall where the microwave and stove will be. And then, I need to grout it all. There is still one door frame that needs to be sanded and painted.