Christmas Greetings

See the help wanted sign? Yes, we need help with the house and lots of it. In the mean time , with a burst of corny creativity, we present this years version of our Christmas greeting.
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‘Twas the night before Christmas

We are not in our house

Not a creature is working

Except for my spouse

Gunnar & Karl are all snug in their shed.
Who knows what really goes on in their heads?
Michelle went to Portland to visit with friends,

And I prepared to drive for another chucklehead

The limo is shinny,

The minibar stocked

The Limo Man is ready

For a night to be rocked.

I picked up my client at the Rogue Valley Mall

I was told he’d been shopping and was not very tall.

He had lots of packages but he looked kind of hard put.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot.

I sprang from the limo to open his door

He hopped in the back and dropped parcels on the floor.
He cranked up the music and told me his plan

Then the window went up between me and the man.

I drove through the streets as my route didn’t matter.
The man rocked to the music and made little chatter.

When all of a sudden there arose such a clatter, I

sprang into action to see what was the matter.

Back to the window I flew like a flash

I tore open the screen and opened the glass.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a man in a red suit and eight tiny reindeer.

Now the limo is large but you can imagine my fear

to see all these fauna rocking out in the rear.

My other big worry was that of my boss when one person pays and nine come across.

What would he say when he found that the mess

was from eight reindeer rocking a man in red dress.

Then he looked over and saw me, my face all aflame.

And he whistled, and shouted and called them by name; Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the back of the limo and right out the door,

they dashed away quickly but left something on the floor.

And a wink if his eye and a twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

For right on floor in a pile to the roof

was the biggest tip ever and that is no spoof!

And I heard him exclaim, ere he drove from my sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Merry Christmas

Gary & Michelle

Gunnar & Karl

This is the time in the house building process when you feel like throwing in the towel

So here is a nice photo of the view. Sometimes it helps to focus on the view and try to forget all the mess and stress.

















The turkeys are still around and getting bigger by the day. We had a couple of them get into a fight on the back patio yesterday. No photos to share but it was quite a sight.

Warning: If you don't like to read about these homeowners whining about the building process, skip the next section. At least it is therapeutic for us to vent.

Most of the work going on with the house is on the inside and we have been too busy to take any photos. We didn't have to sand as much this week because we ran into a problem. The stain on the wood trim went blotchy. Our wonderful and favorite contractor of all time said he thought it was rustic and matched our knotty alder doors. Let me say this. It is NOT a rustic house and even if it was, blotchy stain looks terrible. So some of the trim had to be sanded down and the wood sealed so that the stain would be take evenly. Two steps forward....

The next wonderful event was the bathtub. We did not buy a fancy jacuzzi tub. We ordered a soaking tub that is cast iron with an enamel finish. The tub has been sitting in our bedroom since May all wrapped up and ready to go. The plumbers arrived in November, a month later than promised, and unwrapped the tub to discover a crack in the enamel, which cannot be repaired. A new tub was ordered. Hopefully it will be here in two weeks. Who knows when the plumber will come back?

The next thing that happened was in the wine closet. We purchased a 'whisper quiet' wine cooler unit that helps regulate the temperature in the closet. We happened to be there when the installer turned it on. It sounded like a jet engine warming up. He then advised us that it had to run 24/7. It is so loud you can here it through the closed door and is not something anyone would want to listen to. Back to the drawing board...

Then there is the reverse osmosis water filter. A spiffy item that filters your water for drinking. Our well water is softened through a filtering system that runs your water through rock salt (a common practice). This takes out all the hard minerals that can screw up your plumbing and that can also make the water taste 'hard'. The filtered water is not salty but it was recommended that we use a reverse osmosis to refilter a small portion the softened water for drinking and cooking. Sounds good to us, even though it required buying an extra fixture. So the guy comes out and hooks it up. Problem is it drains into the kitchen sink drain pipe and makes an annoying gurgling noise, 4 hours at a time! The installer informs us that the plumber should have put a drain in so it would go directly outside which would have solved the problem. This was not something we knew about and no one advised us that we should do it so it didn't get done. Seems a contractor would know this... Of course now there is an extra cost to have the plumber install the drain and we have a plumber who loves to charge exorbitant prices as is common in the trade. Of course, we will have to wait until he decides to show up. One more thing since the plumber installed copper from the filtering system to the reverse osmosis so we may have green ice cubes down the road. It should have been plastic. Oh well.

Lastly. OK, probably not lastly, I started to vacuum the house one night and noticed the the lights dimmed significantly when I plugged in the vacuum cleaner. This happened in several places in the house. The electrician tells us its not his problem and to call the power company because it's their fault. We bring this to the attention of Mr. Fabulous (a.k.a. our -------contractor) who says it's not his job to do that. Excuse me, isn't he the one building the house? Knowing that the contractor will probably not do his job, Gary calls the power company. They come out and check the transformer and the wire to the house. Everything is done right from their end. Gary did some research and found out that the lights and the plugs might be wired on the same circuit which could cause the problem. So, after telling EVERYONE who should be doing their job that it is not the power company, the electrician comes out and tells us that the lights and the plugs ARE on the same circuit and that they will need to separate them. We are still in disagreement over how many rooms need to be fixed. Hope they choke on the insulation upstairs. The good thing is it is not an extra cause because they should have done that way in the first place. The amount and time and effort getting to the end result is an example of what we have been going through these days.

Maybe things will be a bit more positive...Someday. For those of you who plowed through this rant - thanks for listening.