Archives for December 2016

The neighbors’ free-range goats love when we pick our persimmons for them.

The drought in California should be officially over now, courtesy us… remodeling a house. Rain, rain, and more rain. Our shingles were delivered this week. The exterior is sheeted and they were able to roll out the paper on the roof, but that’s where the weather-proofing ended until the weather lets up. The progress seems slow, but I know that’s due to living in a small trailer when it’s dark, cold and wet outside.

Last week we also ordered the windows, which meant making some final decisions on shapes, grids, and sizes. Soon there will be a lot more choices to make. I can’t wait to start the big-time shopping in January. Right now, we’re just trying to find room in the trailer to stash Christmas gifts, and keep everything under the carport dry. The crew disconnected our carport, which is nice because we can keep it for storage for a bit longer. They added some extra bracing, but we’ll see how it fares through this storm, which is supposed to have huge wind.

Here are a few photos of the progress- I know it looks rough, but it’s starting to take shape!

’tis the season for shivering. ’tis the season for merriment (aka stress). ’tis the season for decking the halls (unless you live in a trailer and have no halls). Something’s definitely different this year. I think it might be the decorating. Hauling out the boxes of Christmas decor and inhaling the fresh pine scent… that’s my favorite day of the YEAR! But this year there is no room for even one small tree, and that’s ok, because it will help free up a lot of my time.

What I did instead of decorating my own house, was to volunteer on the DeLights of December committee. I still got to decorate a TON but it was all for this wonderful, magical event, which takes place before and after the light parade at the fairgrounds. It’s in it’s second year, so word is just getting out, but this team of volunteers was fun to be a part of! After a couple of the peppermint hot chocolate adult drinks, I was starting to get into the Christmas spirit.

On to the house progress. It’s coming along. The roof is almost complete and they plan to put on shingles next week (after the two large upcoming storms). The exterior walls are almost all framed. We ordered the windows, so we had to decide how all the grids will look. I couldn’t decide between white or black window frames. I preferred the black, but my contractor talked me out of them, probably for good reason. He said they tend to scratch because it’s black paint over white vinyl. Plus, they cost a lot more, so you know, that helped make my decision. The exterior colors will be white siding, black trim, with white windows.

People keep asking what our move in date is. The deadline for construction is six months from closing, which will put us at the end of March. As far as I know, we are still mostly on schedule, but I don’t think you really know until much closer till the end. It will depend on how fast the subs are scheduled and the finishes are installed. I cross my fingers that we do not have to extend our deadline. Trailer living is a little cramped.