Homer's Roost Has a Roof

As you can see, the RV port has a slab and a roof. The forms are set for the RV driveway, but the weather has been too cold to pour more concrete. While the exterior seems to have slowed down, lots of things are going on inside. The plumber and A/C subs have completed their rough-in, and the audio/TV/phone guy has run his wires. The electrician is just starting his rough-in, but we've slowed him down because we're kinda fanatical about lighting, and we are going to make sure we have enough. We've found that the wattage needed increases exponentially with the age of the eyes.

The brick arrived today, and I gave the bricklayers a few grand for their first draw. Today was a tough day for the checkbook; besides the bricklayer, I had to give money for draws from the A/C guy and the electrician. Seems like everyone had his hand out.

One of the unfortunate things about living in an urban area is that city dwellers are more susceptible to crime. I had been worried that the empty house, containing an increasing amount of valuable construction materials, was going to be a tempting target for thieves. As a countermeasure, I purchased a couple of battery-powered motion-sensing alarms. Thurman (the next door neighbor) and I set the alarms after sundown Saturday evening and left them attached to the studs in the living room and family room of the house. Sure enough, around 11:00 p.m., Thurman heard the front alarm sounding and called the police, who sent two squad cars fairly quickly. However, the intruders were long gone, probably frightened out of their wits by the shrieking alarm. They still managed to take four bundles of roof shingles, however. I tell you, the sorry state of our nation's moral compass really depresses me! It sickens me to think that I am not at all surprised at the thievery--that I even anticipated it, as was amply evident by the fact that I bought the alarms. It's very sad, what we've come to. Sometimes I think we should use some proven methods of dealing with thieves: Maybe we should adopt the middle eastern practice of cutting off their hands or Singapore's public floggings. Either would get my vote!

Homer's New Home

Here's another view of Homer's side of the house. As you can see, they're getting ready to pour the 40-foot RV slab and the driveway that connects it to the street. You can also see the RV sewer drain sticking up as an extension of the PVC pipe that will be cut off at slab level after the concrete is poured.

People continue to assume this is a two-story house, but it definitely isn't! Lots of tall ceilings inside, though, will make the small house seem spacious.

Shaping Up!

Well, it's looking more like a house. Once the carpenters began, it only took three days to have the whole house framed. Amazing! Sandy had her usual misconceptions about the house size when she saw it in the pre-foundation phase. When only the foundation forms were visible outlining the area of the house, she was convinced there had been a terrible mistake, because the house couldn't possibly be as large as the plans indicated. However, once the framing was up and the layout of the rooms was discernible, she could tell that it was okay. Stubbornly refusing to concede her misperception, she told me that it was lucky for Richard that he decided to expand the forms to the correct dimensions before pouring the slab! I nodded, having learned long ago that a husband's head should move only in two directions--up and down.

This Saturday was busy, because I had to meet Richard in Kennedale to buy roofing shingles, then afterward, I drove Sandy to a Christmas decorations warehouse, where she had to keep reminding herself that we cannot decorate the new house until it is finished--and that will be after Christmas! God smiled on me, as she somehow failed to buy anything.

After this close call, we made our yearly pilgrimage to the Cacharel Restaurant in Arlington, where we met our beloved friends, John and Myrna Fields. We always gather here around Thanksgiving to swap stories and enjoy the pumpkin souffle', a magnificent masterpiece of the art of dessertmaking that is available here only at this time of year. The rest of the food is also wonderful, but the pumpkin souffle' is almost too good to believe.

Sandy, John and Myrna Outside Cacharel