NEW DUNBURY

True enough, not that it hasn’t been busy around here, but with the daily progress of crews onsite and scrambling a thing of the past, updates seem — how shall I put it — less easy to come by. And to make time for.

We got the phone thing straightened out. I’m not exactly sure how, but I’ll not argue with success. Now we’ve gotten our DirecTV installed over here and lost the closed captioning capability somehow. Attempting to restore it, I managed to divorce the DTV remote from the TV set. Gotta love electronics.

Today, the driveway got delivered. I’m not convinced it’s all here yet, but we’ll see.

Yesterday, the electrician connected the backup generator and the last of the lights and plugs in the garage. Fortunately I had spent the morning sweeping the walls and ceiling out there (yes, walls and ceilings. Drywall dust gets everywhere.) The floors still need a wet mop to get the persistent dust off, but I’ve got shelves assembled and and the loading of the storage area can begin.

With Liz out of town again (can’t you just tell we’re in a move-in/out situation?) I can access her office to touch up the paint without disturbing her. Of course, she’s not here to meet with the landscape guy, so it’s a mixed blessing.

Ah, well, more work calls.

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It started innocently enough with a heavy work load and little energy to do anything at the end of the day. Then, plans were made to shift the telephone and internet service to the the new house. Accordingly, the service cut off the connection to the rental. Alas, the wiring at the new house was not ready. Then, once it was, it was cranky. Now, it seems, things are in order.

Much has happened, and I am surely forgetting to relate some of it.

On the weekend following the last post, we moved much of the stuff at the rental over to the house. The sterling aid of Jay and Eric (and a “supersized” rental truck) made this possible. The less said about the renting agent for the truck the better. Of course, after the muscular gentlemen left, I moved every box in the basement again, trying to get the space ready for the following Wednesday.

We had crew on site Monday through Wednesday, finishing stuff up (that which could be finished up) and painting (mostly garage). On Tuesday the lock on the basement door was swapped out, leaving us the only ones with keys.

On Wednesday (along with electricians, painters, and sundry others) a caravan of three (yes, three) trucks arrived to deliver our stuff so long held in the vile duress of “storage.” A crew of three men and a babe unloaded. Including the obligatory hunt for unchecked-off boxes, they were on site for about six hours and left us with even more boxes all over the place.

Saturday saw another aid crew (this time Cindy and Gary and Sheryl) help pack stuff at the rental and shift a couple of loads over to the house. Gary also helped sort out the phone wiring situation. I followed that up on Sunday by using his “left behind” tool kit to finish setting up all the cat5e cables (our phone and computer LAN wiring) properly and getting Liz set up on phone and internet and starting the set up for the LAN. (Sidebar: said arrangement failed this AM with regard to the phones, but I was able to get it working again before noon.)

Late last week there was a side distraction. During assembly of the fireplace components, I discovered a chunk of insulation. Naturally I wanted to know where to install it. It seems it should have already been installed, covering the first two feet of the flue, which by then lay behind the framing and cement board. I confirmed that there was no insulation in place by removing the cement board. It was a Good Thing that we didn’t already have the tile installed on that cement board. Our friendly countertop guy came by the re-caulk the bathroom countertop just as I was discovering this issue. He offered some high-temperature batting, much more efficient that the supplied fiberglass and on Sunday, with a bit of travail, I installed that.

Today was the previously mentioned getting the phones working again, three van loads from the rental, installing OSB in the garage, and seeing the back-up generator get delivered. Another tiring day. Tomorrow, more loads from the rental.

Liz is on the road, but should be back in time to meet with the landscaper on Friday. We should have TV again by then, too, and an installed generator, and maybe even a ramp into the garage.

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