It’s now officially Summer in USA. The solstice on 21st June was not marked by young maidens with garlands of wild flowers in their hair, but there was a barbeque hosted by our neighbor Tom Vincent. Several other neighbours turned up, and there was much talk about the wilder times “back in the days” in Dahlonega when the idea of an evening’s fun was to empty a 44 gallon drum of waste oil around the town square and watch the cars sliding. It was probably far more entertaining than TV! There was also some concerned talk about the ageing infrastructure in the city – it appears that some of the water mains in Dahlonega are still made of wood. Lucky we have our own well out in the mountains.
We also went out for drinks with a friend Lisa met at her Master Gardener course. Sandra and Jeff live in a house in the woods (with a road as challenging as the track to our property) only a mile or two from the build site. They apparently had a very bad time with the builder from Hell when their house was constructed, so we are extremely glad how well we get on with Builder Bill. We are looking forward to seeing a lot more of them in future.
Another sign of the seasons is the display of memorial crosses around Dahlonega. This is a twice-yearly celebration of residents who have served in the armed forces. All the major road around the town are lined with white markers bearing the names of men (and a few women) with the campaigns where they served (with a scattering of Iraq and Afghanistan now), each topped with a large American flag. Some of the markers carry a sad little inscription “KIA”, some offer a nickname like “Junebug”, “Tarzan”, “Byrd” and “Dude”. The markers are all erected and maintained by volunteers, in no apparent order. I guess it makes for an interesting hunt around the town for families to find their relative’s markers. The current display started on Memorial Day at the end of May and will continue until July 4th, and then there will be a repeat in November. I think it is a very good example of the sort of community spirit which thrives here.
You may remember our visit to Wolf Mountain winery a few weeks back. Wolf Mountain has had a local monopoly on sparkling wine production, but that is about to change. Three Sisters Vineyard has installed necessary finishing equipment, and have been experimenting with both single varietals and blends of their Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Vidal Blanc still wines. The first trials of finishing were completed two weeks ago. Eager to try the result at a family celebration, they tried to open two bottles a couple of days after bottling. Unfortunately, the corks were well-night impossible to extract. Finally, opening was achieved using a mole grip. This could present a problem for future sales (unless every bottle comes with a tutorial in sabrage), so they need to solve the mystery of the stuck cork. I circulated the problem to a couple of friends in UK, and the consensus seems to be that a month or more of settling (and cork compressing) time should solve the problem.
On the Build site
Out at the build, things continue to move ahead on various fronts. The tiling crew has nearly finished tiling the bathrooms and the shower room downstairs – the results look very good and the (all things are relative!) inexpensive tiles from Home Depot suit the style of the house. Tom is continuing trimming the house, and the ceiling cove is starting to go up. Jonathan has been back to install the external connection boxes for the power supply – there is a prospect of proper mains power into the house in the not very distant future. Over the weekend, Moore Cabinets commenced installing the kitchen and other cabinets on the upper floor – I await the arrival of my library with some impatience.
Alfonso has finished the two fireplaces in the house and covering the chimney in (artificial but realistic) fake rock. He and his brother Juan are now covering one of the massive retaining walls with a skim of bricks, and they have built the pillars that will support railings at the back of the house to make a massive drop of 15 feet onto concrete safe. He is eager to complete as he will be off to Mexico for a month of holiday at the start of July.
We have continued our own involvement with sourcing and supply. We went on a trip into Atlanta to visit the recommended (by Bill) suppliers of the granite counter tops for the kitchen and other units upstairs. Being of a decisive frame of mind, we had everything picked out and ordered within an hour or so. Unlike another of Bill’s clients, who have apparently been down six times in an attempt to make up their minds. We also did a tour of three pool construction companies to get an idea of how much that little feature is going to cost and what options we have for cutting corners.
Next week there is lots of activity planned. Brock is scheduled to install the septic system, and once he has got that set into the ground, the ditches and conduits to bring mains electricity and broadband into the house can be dug. Cabinet installation and trimming continues, and the lift installers are due on site to do the next stage in installation. Once the mains cables can be pulled to the house, we will have water (the well pump is wired up and ready to rum) and more infrastructure like heating, air conditioning, lighting and power can comissioned. The bottleneck of work to be done is starting to crumble!