At the beginning of this week, we were threatened with predictions of dire storms (and just a small chance of a passing tornado). Not much you can do about that, but the building crews took it to heart and cancelled plans for much work for the first half of the week. We were expected to receive 4 or 5 inches of rain starting late on Monday and running through to Wednesday morning. The problem would be more than just the rain. We still have lots of sticky red clay left behind after such a storm. In reality, the meteorologists got it really wrong.
Heavy storms on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico down in Alabama and Florida blocked the flow of wet air and storm clouds. We had messages from contacts of Lisa in Mobile reporting 17 inches of rain in 24 hours, and pictures of roads washing away were televised around the world. But up here, there was just half an inch of rain on Tuesday night. But that did not bring the work crews back to the build site, so we did not feel that there was much progress this week. And the brick delivery expected on Wednesday was postponed due to the weather until next week.
On Friday we went to an open house tour at the Big Canoe estate. It was the annual event when a few houses in this 8,000 acre gated estate were open for visitors, and we went there to pick up a few interior design ideas for our own new build. We had a great day out with a friend who lives on the estate, ending up with a very late lunch in the clubhouse at the golf course overlooking a small and fairly ornamental lake. As well as the open houses, we drove down one street to see (from the outside) the house that was the trigger for our move to Dahlonega. We saw pictures of it in Designer Dream Homes magazine back in 2007, and that led us to contact the architect, and the rest is history.
The weather this weekend was warm and sunny – just great for sitting out on the back deck. You may remember that we had a visiting bear named BooBoo on the deck a month ago (see the blog for March 16). I took down the bird feeders then, but have been putting out small portions of birdseed for rapid consumption by the chickadees and cardinals. Perhaps I was getting overconfident, so the birdfeeder came back out under close supervision. On Monday, the error of our ways became apparent when a second bear climbed up to attempt a seed raid. This was, I guess, BooBoo’s little sister, only two thirds his size, but still not something you would want to attract. The bird feeders are now definite shut away until the autumn. As a result we can enjoy (without risk of large clawed furry visitors) the sun setting through the pines.
On Saturday, we went to visit a winery we have not checked out, Catercay Vineyard. It was a forty minute drive to near Elijay (better known for apple orchards than wines). We sat outside and tried several samples of their wines whilst a solo guitarist sang classic country songs. The winery is fairly new, and the vines are a bit young to be producing quality grapes, so like other fledgling operations in the area they have been buying in grapes from local vineyards and have subcontracted winemaking facilities from one of the bigger operations. They had a light red wine which was claimed to be made in the Beaujolais method, but when I asked if that included carbonic maceration I got a very hesitant response. As we were departing we saw a sign to a farm shop. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, off we went to check it out. Mountain Valley Farm was a real revelation – grass fed and reared cattle, free range pigs, dry aged beef, unpasteurised milk (“for pets” to get round food regulations). I can see that we will be coming back regularly for great meat supplies.
On the Build site
As previously commented, there did not seem to be a lot of progress this week, but that is possibly me being unfair. All the sheetrock has been put up (including using some spare supplies for the “unfinished” basement storage rooms), and tape and mud applied to the joints. I was perhaps a little naive about what all the mudding would involve – I had assumed that this would involve a thin skim coat of plaster over all the walls. Apparently not – American plasterboard is regarded as being so superior to anything a human could achieve in smooth surfaces, it is only the joints that are treated.
Outside, the Great Wall of Dahlonega is now complete, though it still needs some earth backfilled between the wall and the ridge it keeps at bay. Tom, WC and Taylor have been installing tongue and groove pine planking as ceilings to the decks outside. Alfonso has made a decent dent in the stock of bricks working round the walls on the ground floor, and we will soon require the remaining 16,000 reclaimed bricks from Lisa’s cousin.
After the slower progress this week, hopes were high for the build in the coming week. The big job we needed to get done is the inside plastering, but Bill is confident that things are moving ahead OK – fingers crossed that it goes well. Outside, Alfonso will soon need a further delivery of bricks, and today (Monday) we have hit a big bump in the road. The trucking company who are supposed to be moving the bricks from Lisa’s cousin’s factory to the build site is having problems sourcing drivers who are prepared to come up to the mountains, and Monday’s delivery never happened. They are reluctant to commit to when (if?) they will be able to find drivers. And we can’t use the cousin to put pressure on them as there is a major domestic disaster which is fully occupying their time at present. Fingers crossed that a solution can be found before the bricks run out. The second worry is the number of tasks which need to be scheduled over the next moth of two and ensuring that the various teams are not tripping over each other.
This weekend, we will be off to Atlanta for a wedding on Saturday, and then the rest of the weekend with Dieter and Karen. And after that ensuring things are orderly in time for our first visitor from England the following week.