We began moving boxes on Thanksgiving morning, but our big thrust was on Friday, 11-23-2001. We used four pickup trucks and made a bunch of trips between our storage unit (Read that as Parent's Garage) and the house, about 150 feet as the crow flies, 1/8 mile as the pickup drives.
Right now we have a sea of boxes and junk laid out in the garage and basement floor, all stacked one box deep. It's complete chaos! I can't find a thing. After Mena spent two hours cleaning an extremely unpleasant looking refrigerator, we plugged it in and it began to make an awful squeaking noise. I guess two years of storage was more than it could handle.
It was kind of pleasant yet frustrating, to find all sorts of stuff that I had looked for in our storage of stuff but could not find. Now we have duplicated items of the inexpensive stuff.
First Night in the House
A major storm was brewing all Holiday weekend, and it hit about 2:45am Saturday morning. We have no drapes or blinds on the windows. As we went to sleep the first night, it was nice to look out upon all of the trees--so tranquil... At 2:45am, I was awakened by the howling wind. I looked out the window and noticed all those tall pine trees were now swaying violently in the wind. Mind you, I've watched pine trees sway in the wind all my life, but never so close to my new home! All I could focus on was the trees, and how much they seemed to be bending and swaying. None broke, or fell over.
Morning After Jitters
The next morning however, as I passed by and brushed a wall, the lights flickered. My heart sank, I thought, "No way, how could I have made an electrical wiring mistake?!" So I bumped the wall, just to see, the lights appeared to flicker again! I bumped it again, nothing... I bumped it a 4th time, nothing, I thought that I must have fixed it. As I was showering, and got the bathroom all steamed up, the lights again began to flicker. I panicked, thinking again, "I must have screwed up the electrical". A few hours later I was talking to my mother and she asked, "Are your lights flickering?" My answer was, "Yes! Yes they are, isn't that great!" No longer was I worried that I screwed something up.
Latest Picture of Current Condition (02/02/2002) - More pictures here
Go to pictographic progression of the house
| Task | Status |
| Purchased Canned House Plans | February 2000 |
| Home Designer Modifications | February - March 2000 |
| Submit plans to contractors and wait for bids | March - August 2000 |
| House Plans Finalized | October 2000 |
| House Plans Submitted to Placer County for "Plan Check" | November 7, 2000 |
| Plans Approved by Placer County | December 5, 2000 |
| Rebid, revise, rework, find more money | December 2000-February 2001 |
| Sign Contract with General Contractor | February 27, 2001 |
| Finalize financing | March 9, 2001 |
| Sign papers at title company | March 16, 2001 |
| Break Ground | March 21, 2001 |
| Cut road, Brush Cleared | March 28, 2001 |
| Trench, bury conduit for Electricity, Cable, Telephone | April 4, 2001 |
| Dig Footings | April 4, 2001 |
| Build Foundation Forms | April 5-18, 2001 |
| Pour Foundation Footings | April 19, 2001 |
| Address Assigned - 720 Dogwood Bend | April 25, 2001 |
| Pour Garage and Basement Slabs | April 27, 2001 |
| Wood delivered to site | April 30, May 1-3, 2001 |
| Port-a-Potty emptied | May 8, 2001 |
| Wait for Framing Contractor to finish another job | April 29, 2001 - May 15, 2001 |
| Begin Framing - End Framing | May 16, 2001 - June 23, 2001 |
| Electrical (Rough) & low voltage (Hole Drilling) | June 4, 2001 - August 10, 2001 |
| Windows Installed | June 14, 2001 - June 18, 2001 |
| Roofing | June 19, 2001 - July 11, 2001 |
| Rough Electrical & low voltage (actually pulling wires) | June 30, 2001 - August 10, 2001 |
| Plumbing (Rough) | July 2, 2001 - August 1, 2001 |
| Heating & Air | July 3, 2001 - August 1, 2001 |
| Port-a-Potty emptied | July 4, 2001 |
| Port-a-Potty emptied | July 11, 2001 |
| Exterior Lathing | July 6, 2001 - July 31, 2001 |
| Stucco | August 31, 2001 - October 12, 2001 |
| Trench, bury pipe and connect to MV water | August 6, 2001 - |
| Install Septic System | November 5, 2001 - November 10, 2001 |
| Insulation | August 14, 2001 - August 22, 2001 |
| Drywall | August 16, 2001 - August 27, 2001 |
| Drywall Taping | August 28, 2001 - September 5, 2001 |
| Texturing | September 7, 2001 |
| PG&E install electrical cable and Meter | September 6, 2001 - September 7, 2001 |
| Closet buildouts, window sills & baseboard installation | September 10, 2001 - October 10, 2001 |
| Cabinetry delivered | September 20, 2001 |
| Stair wood, treads and spindles delivered | September 27, 2001 |
| Interior Painting | September 28, 2001 - October 15, 2001 |
| Cabinets installed | October 3-5 |
| Brick hearth installed | October 5 |
| Richard tempts death, installs outside exterior lighting | October 4-6 |
| Tile work begins | October 12, 2001 |
| Concrete drive poured | October 23, 2001 |
| Heating & Cooling units installed | October 24, 2001 |
Chronological progression of project
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Last Updated 03-February-2002 |