Lots of progress on Hillcrest House.

It has been nearly a week since I posted. There has been a lot of activity at the house, but nothing that will show up in photos well enough to make it practical to post photos.

The roof is complete. The windows are installed. The wiring is nearing completion. The garage floor was poured today. The siding is beginning to be applied. The furnace is installed. And the most exciting part for me is that the huge pile of dirt that was in the backyard has been used to fill in around the foundation.

The reason that last item is so significant is that now I can start building a fence. We definitely want to have a fence when we move in, so that Pogo can go out by herself and not have to be escorted on a leash. Today, we bought the fencing materials. They will be delivered toward the end of next week. Then I will have a project!! In the meantime, I am working on landscape plans.

In addition to all of those things, the cabinet maker came out a couple of days ago and planned the cabinets for the kitchen. He will make a CAD drawing with a 3-D mock up of the kitchen so we can see exactly how it will look!

Today we drove to Salem and visited vendors. We stopped at the flooring vendor's shop, the name of which escapes me at the moment (Isn't being over 60 wonderful?). Steve (I remembered his name!) went over the flooring allowance figures with us. It looks like the allowance will come within a few dollars of covering our cost for hardwood floors in the entry, kitchen and dining room, as well as carpet throughout the house and ceramic tile in the bathrooms and laundry.

Next we visited Bill at Custom Countertops. We wanted to get an idea of the cost differential for placing acrylic (like Corian) countertops in the bathrooms instead of using laminate. The numbers don't crunch so well there, but we are considering doing that upgrade anyway.

Our next stop was at Elite Cabinets to view the computer mock up of our kitchen. Unfortunately, Rick was not in, so we will need to return another day and check that out.

Ever onward!! We next visited Lowe's to look at fence materials. The prices were very much higher than similar fencing at Home Depot, so we decided to look for bathroom light fixtures and faucets. The offerings were a bit disappointing in the sense that we didn't see anything that "grabbed" us. We decided that, since we were going on to Home Depot to see about fencing materials, we would look for fixtures there as well.

By now, our eggs and toast had worn off, and we found ourselves ravenous, with the Versa pointed squarely at Panda Express. We had a fine lunch of Asian fare, served by those two famous Asians, Carlos and Cesar.

Our tummies full, we headed for Home Depot. Before we knew it, we had ordered fencing materials to be delivered toward the end of next week, but I repeat myself. And so, dear reader, having come full circle, I shall end this little epistle.

Stay tuned.