On Sunday we went out for drinks Three Sisters with our new best friends, Jeff and Sandra. Nothing special, just trying the wines, having a chat with them and with Doug and Sharon, the owners of the vineyard. The vines are now at the véraison stage, when the small grapes start to swell and change colour as they ripen. The unreliable weather this year leads to a slow shaking of heads when discussing prospects for the harvest, but time will tell.
Not content with the rental house being full of boxes of plumbing components, ceiling fans and the like, we have compounded the problem by buying some new furniture. This will be needed for the new house, but we decided not to wait for moving in to be completed. The two sofas that we brought from Ealing were always destined to be put on the basement floor, and are really starting to show their age. Since there was a great offer (yes, there is ALWAYS a great offer on almost everything), we decided to purchase a big sofa set. When it arrived at the rental house on Friday, there was considerable difficulty in finding space to put it! I suppose we are starting to feel that the end is coming into sight for the house build, and are getting more and more quietly hopeful and excited (with fingers very crossed). Lisa is even contacting removals companies, and we are targeting the beginning of September for Move 1 (all the boxes and the like that have been resting in the basement largely unopened since our arrival in the rental house) and the final Move 2 one week later.
On Saturday, we went to a Farmers Market in the nearby town of Clermont. As well as the usual vegetable and flowers (including a stall manned by Mennonite ladies in long dresses and bonnets), there was a farm stall selling lamb (rather expensive, alas) and pork. And several stalls of local crafts, handmade soap and the like. There is a definite backlash from the dominant position of the retail chains like Walmart.
On the Build Site
This week, it was a very good week not to be on the build site. The painters have finished the first round of preparation and covering all the fixtures that are not to be painted. So onto real painting at last (a lot of which is being done with roller brushes on extremely long handles connected to pumps so there is no need for refilling the rollers. The smell of the various paints and varnishes in use is really not pleasant at all. The painters wear masks and respirators to protect themselves from the fumes. There are several coats to be applied, and current projects are completion of the interior painting by the end of next week (1st August). Once that’s done, on with the outside painting. Meanwhile, the poor painters suffer from the air quality problem.
In spite of the fumes, Bob has been working in the lower floor, coupling up the air conditioning. The big compressors finally arrived, and they have been commissioned. We also took the first big step forward in clearing stuff out of the rental house when we moved the compressor for the wine cellar to the house, and that has been coupled up too. However, we are not actually switching on the air conditioning at this stage – we certainly don’t want to be blowing construction dust around onto fresh wet paint surfaces. Which in turn means that the downstairs damp problem can only be resolved with a dehumidifier at present. The cabinet maker is very happy with this solution – he was worried that switching on the air conditioning as a means of clearing out the damp from the walls would have dropped the moisture levels so fast that the cabinets could start to split and warp!
So, if next week goes well, we should see the first week in August as the start of the home stretch in interior finishing. Lisa is starting to line up all the various craftsmen in a fairly logical sequence –
> fit the proper lockable front door to ensure security
> install the remaining built-in cabinets
> installing the various counter tops in the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry
> completing the lift installation
> properly finishing the staircase to the lower floor
The list goes on and on, and there are lots of other things to be done (like the electrics and appliances) – but we are starting to sense that there is light at the end of this tunnel!