What Happened Last Week?

Last week the power company put in a utility pole on my side of the street, then ran the wires for power, cable and phone underground to the house. I heard from the builder that, on the day they put that pole and a higher one on the other side of the street with a new transformer, had there been a severe power emergency anywhere else in Milford, those persons would have been out of luck. It took something like 5 to seven "bucket" trucks at my house, each with 2 workers. They started at 0730 and worked their special jobs until after 3PM. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to take pics of that!

To my mind, the worst part of building a house is the drywall. It's a mess. But when that is done, can the end be far away?

On Friday I picked out the flooring, and today I picked out the bathroom sink and sink bases. I've been spending a lot of time looking at lighting fixtures. There are so many types of lights that it is daunting. Luckily, budget has a way of narrowing the possibilities. 

Good News/Bad News

 

It's Official

I'm finally a First Stater. It's kind of nice to be one of 853,476 persons. Check this out for some fast facts about my new home. 

Natural Cedar

It seems someone other than myself is tired of waiting for the doors to arrive. So some of the siding went on today. I must say that it looks very nice with the roof color. When it's all said and done, I believe it will look like a little cottage in the woods, while being about 2 miles from Wal-Mart and Super Fresh Market. Heh heh

A few more feet of heating ducts have gone in and a bunch more wires are connected in their respective boxes.

A side note to Gemma, our two time guess-the-photo winner; Of course Boomer will be there. You're a team! 

Is She Way Smart, or What?!

Congrats to our two-time winner, Gemma of the Pokeenos! Yes, it's a red shouldered hawk and quite frankly, Fifi is impressed! I'm working at getting all my blog followers to become twitchers. Gemma must have been digging through those bird books, because the photo was somewhat obscured by the branches, etc.

A funny (at least to moi) thing was that the original quiz was to be: "what and where is this electrical photo taken"?. Well, it was the one of the cable and phone line in the guest bedroom. When I looked at the photo, I saw that the electricians had marked each box on the 2x4's. Duh.

If you like the quizzes, there will be more to come during the duration of the build and maybe longer. Boy, what a way to bribe guests! LOL  

Gemma and Jim Thorpe

We Have a Winner!

We must be getting senile or something. It took 2 days to say who the critter in the bathtub was. Gemma gets the wine, though I didn't specify the age of the oak barrels it will have come from. I will, however, promise something lip smacking!

Now today, since I was able to charge the camera battery, I took some boring wiring and air duct photos. And because it is boring, here's another difficult quiz. The winner of this one will have wine with a meal cooked at the new hacienda. The answer must be exact - not "close enough". When the correct answer is announced, if no one got it exactly and there is a challenge, then my loyal readers can decide if it is indeed, close enough. But first, the photos. 

Switch box, ceiling fan box and brace,wire to box for TV and phone in guest bedroom, exhaust for bathroom fan







QUIZ - what exactly is that critter up in the tree?

OK - Here Goes

Feast your eyes below for the first official user of my soaking tub. Since there isn't much going on that I could take a photo of, this should liven up your blogging experience. First one to identify the critter by blog name gets a cold glass of wine. I was going to take a few boring photos of ducts and wires, but my camera hadn't charged as I intended. So, lucky for the readers, no boring photos. Wiring is finished and the soffit is done outside. No doors yet, but that didn't keep us from having a little fun over the weekend. 

There and Here

THERE

Today I took a guided driving tour up Route 9. We met at St. Jones Reserve south of Dover and made our first stop at a Delaware fish and wildlife office at Little Creek. Those folks stock the ponds and rivers and test waters from Cape Henlopen and on up the Delaware Bay. All of these towns along the Bay were once thriving ports and/or fishing areas for oysters, crabs, clams and muskrats. In the early part of the century, muskrats were so plentiful and sought after that many along the bay made fortunes. As you drive along Rte. 9 you can see hundreds of muskrat mounds. Our next stop was in Leipsic, a once thriving town and home to many waterman. We talked to two such men outside the local fire house. For me, that was the most interesting part of the trip; to hear their stories of life on the water, then and now. If anyone would like to know more about the life of these historically important, hardworking people, check out the book, Beautiful Swimmers, by William W. Werner. It is about watermen on the Chesapeake Bay and a favorite of mine.
After Leipsic we drove to Port Penn, yet another once lively town along the Bay. In a small museum we saw relics from the early days of settlement there, along with some information from the curator. Another stop was to visit with two farmers who have farmed in Delaware for over 50 years. Due to time constraints we had to miss a couple of other sites. It was agreed that the trip was a success and that another trip to see the sights we missed would be fun. Not to mention that the weather was perfect for viewing occasional wildlife along the way.

HERE

I stopped by the house on the way back from the tour to find the house has windows! I would have taken more photos, but my cell phone and camera batteries quit this afternoon and the car chargers were back in my room. I did manage to get these two. After each one, the camera shut itself off. After the second photo, the camera closed and refused to take another shot. 

Moving Right Along

I stopped by the house around noon today and was pleasantly surprised. The west side stairs to the utility room were finished. This is the only door that will have a view to the only neighbor on this side of the street. There are no windows on the west side, primarily for energy savings, but also because at some time in the future I might want to attach a garage on the west side. The men working today were putting up the stairs from the living room out to the back yard. Those stairs are wooden too, in the event that I decide later to put on a nice deck and change the approach to the back door. The front stairs will be concrete and permanent.

It looks like Monday will be the day for the windows to go in. The two crew members here today told me something else they would be doing Monday, but I was so happy to hear about the windows going in, that I forgot what they said! It might even have been the siding. I'll see on Monday afternoon. 

Little Cottage in the Woods

Delawareans say this much snow rarely occurs, so I had to capture these two photos. 

Delaware - Small Wonder

On Saturday, I drove to PA and NJ, taking the scenic "birding route" up Delaware Route 9. It meanders near to the Delaware Bay, through small villages that are homes to the generations of watermen who fish off the Bay and its rivers. When I got to the first entrance road to Bombay Hook Nat'l Wildlife Refuge, my car just turned. I was glad it did. Fortunately, one can do a driving tour past many pools loaded with wintering birds. It was very cold and windy and grey, but I kept the heat in the car cranked up and was able to drive through the refuge for over 3 hours. Most of the birds I identified at Bombay Hook are listed below. There were a few more that I wasn't able to ID or take a photo of. I guess I'll just have to go back again. . .
You'll have to click on the photos this time for sure, if you want to actually see what I saw. 

northern shoveler
northern pintail duck
american black duck
tundra swan
bufflehead
canada goose
hooded merganser
snow goose
ring billed gull