Oh Drywall, Get Done Already

The big weeks continue out of necessity because, as A. reminded me yesterday, we have about 7 weeks until we have to move in. That’s soon and will be here before we know it. The biggest hangup has been drywall mudding and taping. They are two weeks behind on finishing this part of the build and, although the builder has pushed the contractor to finish, he retorts with the fact that he (the owner) is sanding walls on another job because he can’t find qualified workers to add to his crews. We are stuck with what we have, needing them to push through until its done. Last Monday, they insisted it would be done by the end of the week. The week came and went and we are still not complete but we did see them working on Saturday and are supposed to be there on Monday (a holiday) as well. If they can pull it all together by Wednesday, we have two days of sanding and then we can head into painting. It’s a tough one because we don’t want them to skimp and hurry and mess things up. We need it all to be perfect and I want to take the time to do it right but having to find a place to live in September would be an expensive logistical nightmare.

As they worked towards finishing the summer porch, they hauled out the Festool gear. I know some of you reading will enjoy this content.

The ash for the stair fabrication has arrived. Those should get built next week.

The summer porch was the focus for the main team since they finished the metal cladding on Monday and then it started raining. It looks amazing.

Another minor miracle is the fact that Stowe Cable made good on their promise from last November and hooked up our fiber connection on Wednesday. We now have 100/100 internet and they have upgrades all the way up to 1GB if we need to (we won’t). Since its infinitely better than our current apartment’s internet we may find ourselves working out on the summer porch this summer.

Tile upstairs is almost done but they also made huge headway on the ground floor main bathroom. On Friday they installed the wires for the heated floors in there. I suspect they will finish by mid-week next week.


The summer porch really is shaping up to be a star. It is quiet and cool back on that side of the house and it faces into the darkest part of the woods. The internet works and it feels like you’re in a birdhouse – in other words, perfect. We ordered some nice chairs and a small temporary table for out there (the table we wanted was ordered by won’t arrive until mid- to late-September.)

The tractor retailer called to let me know that our Kubota tractor has arrived seven weeks early. We can’t pick it up until the garage is clear but I want to go check it out this week if time allows. I can’t believe we actually got the tractor! I’m pretty excited about that. I already have jobs planned for it before the snow flies.

Other miscellaneous updates: Our bear-spotting count is up to four after seeing a big ol’ bear in Moscow near the electric company buildings. We went for a nice walk yesterday on the Quiet Path in Stowe and saw a beaver and some cornfields. The July 4th parades were adorable (we went to both local parades). We are planning a night out for dinner in Burlington tonight.

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