We got Windows!

Finally the windows for the living room came in and were installed. Here is a picture B.A. (Friend/Realtor) took yesterday with the windows. Thank you also Alana for letting us know they were installed, we should be a neighbor soon!

Picture from backyard after cleaning up trees and a partial view of deck and stairs. Hard to believe it looks so much better back there!

Since you Must be Bored...

That is why you are looking our our blog again...

Yes another week and more pictures!
Concrete steps in front yard... minus the concrete

The actual example of a really bad bathroom light. Now these are NOT the lights we were shown but this is what appeared in the bathrooms. I had to blink and think real hard, when is the last time I saw something like this, hmmm. 1959, oh wait I was not born then. The good thing is Nelson agreed he wouldn't put these in a trailer, and they were not great. He is working on this and our outside lights which are not Dark Sky Friendly! We only want Dark Sky Friendly Lights in the neighborhood. He is a great builder!

Room with a view.. and a light.

Now... will our house be ready by October 17th?

Enter our Estate

Retaining wall is in and a few other touches. Here as usual are a few more pictures, like there are not enough pictures of this house.

Hm, I wonder whose address that is. I am not sure I like our lights, they are not as cool as the neighbors because the light vendor has been changed. Thus we suffer from the lack of "light" coolness our neighbors have. I will not even show the lights in the bathroom, Nelson is getting a nastygram from me!

Here is the deck being built in the back, a person can stand under that, even though it does not look like it. This could be a rainwater collection area... ha. Maybe we can create a playroom for the cats under that, not sure.

Cool picture of the colors of the house, I just like this view.

Wallah!!! Stairs leading down to the yard in the front. This I must say was interesting, like please enter our estate. It will be interesting to see the landscaping.

A Little Happening...

Here are a few pictures, a few things are happening again. The retaining wall is starting to go in the front yard but there are no pictures of that. They say now it may be finished by middle of October but I have a feeling it may be longer. There is still a great deal to do. That's okay with me in the end it all works out and we are so busy with work right now we barely have time to check on house happenings anyway.

Jetta tub in downstairs bathroom with tile to the ceiling and a cool shelf!

Fan (in case you didn't know what that was). You can see the plywood which is covering the windows in the living room. They were stolen some time ago and have delayed the house. They have been re-ordered but we are still waiting.

Kitchen sink. Luckily there will be a dishwasher so that this item will only be used to wash hands! Ha!

Nice view above the kitchen sink... all windows :)

Bathroom door, now that is some wood.

It's hard to take pictures here but the master bedroom with bamboo floors looks better than the plywood that was there before.

Master bedroom leading into master bathroom, the trim will be painted.

Nothing Happening Here... no Siree!!

I hate to move the blog below this down but I had to say a few words. Nothing happening. Can you install living room windows, replace downstairs bedroom windows with "Cranky Windows", do a retaining wall, landscape, install wood floors, install rest of the lighting, additional cabinets, countertops, steps on stairs, deck, fence, air conditioning, water heater, electric meter, appliances, sinks, door hardware, sidewalk, touch up paint on exterior, interior, paint exterior doors correct color and then clean it all up and make it pretty to move in... in a period of 4 weeks. Oh yeah we gotta do the punch list and say a-okay after all that is done.

Since our lease is up in 4 weeks we may be living on a street waiting to move into Agave. Two weeks of nothing happening is well.. not fun. But.. Nelson has worked miracles.

The Coolest Neighborhood in the USA

Apparently the wacky neighbors are at it again. They got the ‘hood on local TV with a special guest star (Choo choo!) and great political commentary.

Here is the Article:

"AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- An East Austin neighborhood is the grand prize winner in a Dreyer's Ice Cream contest to choose the "Coolest neighborhood in America."

An essay from a neighborhood resident did the trick.

Saturday night, the Nine Sixty Nine neighborhood will receive an ice cream party for all 1000 residents. The neighborhood consists of several different sections, each with different and diverse homes and populations."

Click here for the video.

Ancient Modern Home

There is now slate on the upstairs bathroom floor and travertine tile in the shower upstairs and tub downstairs. There is lots of rock going on in this house! Not much else has happened so I thought I would investigate travertine and slate. You may want to skip the rest of this but some may find it interesting. It made me think about where materials come from and how a modern home can have some very ancient items! On another front we were supposed to close on this house in about one month. I somehow think it will be longer than that!

Now for your rock education:
Travertine is a sedimentary rock that began as limestone (calcium carbonate), which over time was heated by the Earth's core, releasing pressurized water and steam to form hot springs. The rising hot water would dissolve the limestone and bring with it granules of stone from below the surface that collected into mud baths. When this mud cooled, it would crystallize into solid stone, now called travertine. The stone is often light in color and beautifully banded as a result of the presence of iron compounds or other organic impurities.

The rock derives its name from Tivoli, Italy, which in ancient Roman times was known as Tibur. The ancient name for the stone — which was used extensively as a building material — was lapis tiburtinus meaning tibur stone, which has evolved today to travertine. Perhaps the most well-known symbol of that civilization — Ancient Rome — and the largest known building constructed with travertine is the Coliseum in Rome.

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering. Slate is frequently grey in color especially when seen covering roofs. However, slate occurs in a variety of colors even from a single locality. For example slate from North Wales can be found in many shades of grey from pale to dark and may also be purple, green or cyan.