We are still keeping costs as low as we can, but of course unexpected costs showed up. Things that the builder didn’t mention – I wish I could say they were small – and a couple smaller things that we really wanted added. The home arrived without wastewater plumbing, so we added that, we have an aeration tank for the septic, so that will have a yearly maintenance fee (but it’s a lot cleaner for the environment if maintained), we added lights under the house (a really nice extra), and are adding an outlet in the attic space (also a great addition)… Running the gas lines wasn’t included either, and that was more than we thought… I think we are on track with the rest.
The house is behind schedule and seems to have received the wrong siding – I’m not sure how that happened, but looking through it seems fairly well built. There are a few places cabinet trim pulled away, one cracked tile, and cracks in the drywall, besides some jammed doors and space open above doors – but none are major things. I expect they will have everything fixed quickly now that they are working on site. The house even has a floor already laid in the attic, so we can start storing things there without having to take time to lay a floor first.
Our new home was to be ready for the fourth of July, but plans went off somewhere and we ended up four to six weeks behind. After everyone was invited to our house, it was easier to move the party to the pond behind my mothers. To get ready, canopies, a grill, cooler, and some chairs were all set out. I can’t say it was quite the same as the parties we had as kids, but it definitely was a family gathering with lots of family and friends!
Dad always enjoyed fourth of July, so the canon was shot off in his memory as well as a cake decorated to look like a hamburger. With the dementia and strokes that dad had faced at the end, he had reached the point by my parents 50th anniversary that dad couldn’t eat solid foods – even liquids had to be thickened to keep him from choking. His favorite thing had been hamburgers and Pepsi. We hadn’t yet been told his diet had been swapped at the time, so for his anniversary we brought in a hamburger and Pepsi for dad. I think it was his last hamburger and Pepsi (that was thickened liquid). It was also a day shared with a large gathering of family.
Rob and I are still learning how to load and light the canon, so it took three tries for it to go off. (This time Rob did all the work with the help of friends!) The canon has really been around, shot off everywhere from my cousin’s house, our house, and even The Little Nugget in Danville! After the canon was stolen last year, at one point we thought it would never happen that we would get a chance to shoot it off again.
