I know I have been remiss in posting on this blog, but we've been REALLY busy moving!! YAY!! We were finally able to move into the new house on September 5th. We moved that Wednesday and closed on the old house on Friday. Quite a hectic week!! We got everything moved in - that was not in the pod (which I will go on to say was the best decision we ever made!) - and were able to breathe a sigh of relief. Admittedly, there was still several things left to do on the house. For instance, the A/C was knocking up a storm, so our builder went up in the attic, figured out it was the dehumidifier and turned it off. Early the next week, the A/C guys came in and fixed it and showed us how to maintain it. Seems we have one of the most efficient air conditioners on the market - whoohoo! There was also a weird knocking noise when the water in the master bath, guest bath and laundry room ran. So, the plumber came out and tried in vain to figure it out. He put big ole holes in my master bath - which will hopefully soon be patched and painted. He went into the attic, added an overflow tank and strapped down some pipes up there....still knocking. While in the garage he stepped on one of those plastic things filled with air that come with your Amazon purchases and the resulting POP sent him over the edge. He said he needed to come back the following week and bring someone with him to help. Seems I broke the plumber! Well, he came back, messed around a bit, found out our water pressure was set sky high, turned it down and the knocking miraculously went away!! So, holes in the master bath for no reason, but it's fixed. Shoot, I was beginning to think the place was haunted with all the knocking. But, it was new construction, so Chuck was thinking that was highly unlikely - plus the fact that "Lori, ghosts aren't real!" Besides that, the house is too tight for any ghosts to get in. We had the house measured for an Energy Star rating and the house scored so well that the inspector's boss called our builder in near disbelief. He said that the inspector was amazed at the results; he had never seen a house score so well in his 15 years of doing the tests. Our house is so tight that we have to run the bathroom fan for fresh air every time the dog passes gas (yes, it's always the dog).
The pool is done at this writing also. We spent about 30 hours filling that sucker up. Nothing like building an eco-friendly home that will (in the very near future) have a 10,000 gallon water capture tank using up all of the Argyle water supply to fill their pool (and water the crap outta the dirt yard where we have put grass seed - but, that's another story all together)! It looks fabulous and I can't wait to swim laps in it next year. Seems the weather has decided to go in the direction of fall and it is not likely going to be warm enough to swim in this year....bummer! The concrete patio has been poured and now we are planning on putting some winter grass seed in the back inside the fenced area. Yes, we put up a wrought-iron fence around the pool and a small grassy area for the dog to do her business. Right now it is raining....nope, couldn't rain while we were filling up the pool. Therefore, the backyard - and the front for that matter - are a muddy mess. At least we are not having to water it so the seed with grow. We are working with a landscaper who will be putting in the irrigation system - Chuck will not miss going out to move the sprinklers every 10 minutes - and the drought tolerant plants we have chosesn. The mulch we will be using is from all the wood waste from the house that was ground up. We certainly have a large pile of it, so should have enough for the landscaping. We hope to get that moving along next week.
The water capture tank should be arriving in a few weeks. Who knew it would take so long to get a 10,000 gallon water tank. We are hoping it will be large enough to help us with the landscaping and keeping the pool full. The trenches have been dug, the pipe laid and the gutters diverted, so all we need at this point is the tank. It sure would have been nice to have it during this nice steady rain we have had for the last 24 hours, but hopefully it will be a rainy fall and winter so we can get that baby filled up! We will continue to keep you posted on the unfolding of the water capture saga!
So far there have been few surprises. We love the house and felt instantly comfortable and at home. I guess it has something to do with being part of the design process and spending oodles of time out here while the house went up. We are slowly, but surely, settling in. Most all boxes are unpacked and some decorating has taken place. Artwork will be the last thing to go up and I have asked an artistic friend to help with placement. I look forward to having it all up although there is some merit to having nothing on the shelves or wall....less dusting! We got somewhat used to the "clean" look, but I found it too neutral and couldn't help but start to put stuff out. We are still fighting a little construction dust, but we will keep plugging away at it to get rid of it!
We are absolutely loving the polished aggregate floors! They may be extremely hard - and cold in the winter - but they look great. They are easy to clean - just a dust mop or a wet mop and special cleaner - and hide a multitude of sins! Can't really see the dog hair - or my dark hair that appears to be falling out of my head in my old age - unless there are what I affectionately call "doggy tumbleweeds". The floor has so many colors in it it's hard to tell when it's dirty!
Doppler is finally settling in. She had a rough go of it for awhile there. She was confused and cranky (I can totally relate to that!) and would not leave our sides. She paced and whined when either of us left, so we had to tag team her for a few days before leaving her alone. She has finally calmed down and realized this is home. She is back to barking at the workers (for awhile she would sniff them and walk away, which was soooo unlike her) and the doorbell (took her about a week to figure out that noise was the doorbell as it did not sound like the old one). We are finally able to leave her alone and now worry she's freaking out. Funny, the move never seemed to affect her appetite.....
We have met some of the neighbors and they all seem very nice! They tell us Argyle is a very community oriented town and neighbors help neighbors! Lovely to hear! I have been taking walks out on the country roads and have been eyeballed by horses, cows and quite a few dogs. I almost stepped on a small snake the other day, which kind of unnerved me for a moment. As they say, "he's probably more scared of you than you are of him"....doubtful! One of the neighbors warned us about the brown recluse spiders around here. She said to make sure to keep your baseboards clear of dead bugs because that's what the spiders like. Well, I honestly have no intention of there ever being ANY dead bugs in this house - those of you who know me and my cleaning compulsion know this would be very disconcerting for me! We have road runners ambling thru the backyard, had a huge beautiful barn owl land on our temporary electric pole (which has sadly been removed) and watched the crows gather in packs on the electrical lines in the backyard. It's quiet and peaceful here except for the occasional train crossing the tracks (which is much more preferable than being in the flight path for DFW airport!).
One last little tidbit before I sign off today. It appears we have, in addition to the peach trees in the backyard, a pecan tree!!! Yessireeeeeee! Looks like I'll be making pecan pie for Thanksgiving! Anyone have a great pie recipe??? Please share it!
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