Nature Notes

Just picked a handful of large, juicy red strawberries, the first of the year. I have been working indoors and the weeds have nearly taken over the garden, which actually looked pretty good last year. On the plus side, I finished the bookcases two weeks ago. I tried staining the mantlepiece, but it was just too much dark wood, plus the (lovely) grain detracted from the beauty of Aaron's design. So I've just finished painting it Medici Ivory. I think this will work. Tried Roman Column yesterday, but way too white. I'd almost give another 1/64th shot of pink and yellow to the Medici -- but I do want it to read White, not Ivory.

I am all ready to measure for curtains, having spotted fabrics I love last autumn. But I have mail-order tomato plants and roses, and a few herbs from Hy-Vee, waiting (some for weeks) to be put out.

About 10 days ago, I finally identified 3 major things that really were getting me down -- laundry, curtains, and paper. So I called a repairman who said I would probably be better off just getting new appliances, so I bit the bullet and went to Slager's. I got their lowest-level GE washer, and would have done the same with the dryer, but most people get the second-level washer and the basic dryer model -- leaving the company with too many basic washers and too few basic dryers. So I got the second-level dryer for the price of the basic, plus got a large discount on delivery, and they hauled the old ones! I did 5 loads of laundry Tuesday night (the day they were delivered), and at least one load per day since. I have too many clothes, but now I think I can begin to let some go.

The curtains are next, and I had planned to go shopping today, but I really need to get these plants out. Okay, any excuse not to have to drive on a weekend....

I watched Gina chase a deer this morning. They faced off yesterday, with neutral results. Today I thought Gina was trying to befriend it -- she loves to rub up against other people -- and the deer seemed more interested than offended, compared to yesterday. But a second deer came up, and Gina charged it. I think she won that one. I would love to see her befrind one, though!

Anyway, yesterday I finally took the plastic off the sofa, put floor guards under the piano legs, and moved them both to where I think I want them. Not a lot of choices, in such a small room.

There's not much wind, so I should go spray weeds.

Light in the sky when I awoke! Wonderful to see. A long, bright horizon. The actual sunrise took a while, but boy is that nice. And a fattish sliver of moon in the dark SSE sky.

The sun comes up over the Sutliff bridge these days.

I walked 2/ran 1 the weekend of the 7th & 8th, as it was so warm -- 40s. Then I ran 1 after work Tues and Thurs the next week. Just had a 3-day weekend (Presidents Day), and walked 2/ran 1 each of those days, even though it was much colder -- 20s. This week, due to work and weather, no running after work, and the coming weekend is going to be even colder. I hope I will have the discipline to go to the gym. Next week looks to be warmer, but also precipitous. But hopefully it will become a daily thing again soon. I am SO unbelieveably out of shape and overweight.

Sunrise at Arrowwood

This morning, through my wonderful kitchen window, I watched the sun peek over the eastern hills a few minutes after 7 am. The sky was clear, the temps in the single digits, and the air and ground were frosty with remnants of Friday night's 4-inch snowfall. I had on GMA, as today is a company holiday (Presidents Day). The sun just showed a gleam as the opening music was ending, and visibly leapt up as Diane Sawyer began the first story. It rises so quickly!

Harvest, home

Ate a strawberry today! They are predicting a hard freeze if the clouds clear, or frost if they stick around. So I picked ripening tomatoes, ripe cherry tomatoes, and volunteer lettuce -- I knew it was a good idea to let them go to seed. And there was one lovely, almost fully ripe strawberry. Yum.

Meanwhile, the house proceeds apace. Yesterday the vents went in for AIR CONDITIONING. Also the siding was delivered, to be installed Monday. Insulation Tues or Wed, fireplace by the end of the week, I believe, and drywall soon -- maybe next week? I showed Eric the color I was thinking of for the front door, and he suggested that I upgrade from steel to wood-grain fiberglass, which won't show dents so readily, at an extra $100. I said okay.

I took a vacation day; Lori Winder came out and inspected the place, then we went to Sutliff for lunch. She is really nice. She got to meet Eric in person, as he had come out to clean. She liked him, and said later that I looked really happy. She also mentioned, in this context, that she is often asked for recommendations. I can't praise him enough, and do so even when talking to people who can't send him much work!

Eric is very proud/pleased, both for me and for himself, I think. He said today, admiringly, that the siding would last for 30 years, the roof that long, the geo of course -- everything is no-maintenance. He sat on the ledge before the fireplace and said that he was going to borrow my idea (for the ledge) for his own future house. He really is fun. I can't wait to meet his wife and kids, and his parents -- I hope they will all come to the open house, if not sooner. Since I can't really imagine yet when the open house will be, if I am to paint and furnish.

The electricians worked Monday through Wednesday. I haven't been keeping up on this as I had intended, because I am exhausted. It is very difficult to sleep on that ancient saggy mattress, in a room with the wrong solar orientation (which I need to get used to), and with the alarm clock in another room down the hall. But there are no outlets in this room, and using the outlet in the hall would expose the alarm clock cord to rainfall. Only about 6 more weeks...

More House

Conversation with Linda at Ellison Insurance, last Thursday:

Since you're not actively involved in farming, we'll cancel the farm policy and just give you a homeowner's policy; we can add an endorsement for the rented farmland.

We'll start with builder's risk coverage, for materials theft, etc., and $128K [the loan amount] to start. As the house is completed, we'll increase the coverage to the final amount. The policy will be $300K liability, for $306.87/year with $1000 deductible. [That's SO much less than I've been paying heretofore!]

Let us know as soon as possible when the coverage should start.

A Brief History of the House

I want to centralize one place for various notes, so I can keep the kitchen table -- and my computer desk -- clean.

Notes from conversation with Lori Winder, my loan officer, when she heard back from the assessor (appraiser). "Everything looks good -- there's quite a bit of land with that. [Assessor] came in with $325,000, but that's inclusive. The value of the house itself is about $168K-$170K; the rest is the land. I've sent the abstract out to be updated; that should happen within a week or two. You could open a separate checking account for the construction loan. You can sign for the loan once we have everything set on our end, even if your builder isn't ready to start. The loan could just sit out there; no interest accrues until an advance is made."

My loan is for $128K (and if the stock market continues to tumble, I have to wonder if that will be enough). The house should ideally assess at the same level or higher than the bid amount, from the bank's point of view. So that they're not lending money for something that's not even going to be worth that amount. But we're good -- the house value is sligthly above Eric's bid -- and the property as a whole is about twice that. So the bank is happy to take my signature on a note.

The above was about a 7-10 days ago. At that point she sent out the abstract to be updated; when that came back, she had Doug Wuff (sp), the appraiser, give her a preliminary title opinion. Everything takes a few days to a couple of weeks...

Then Friday, Aug. 22:

Eric, I just spoke with Lori Winder, and also talked to my insurance company this morning.
The bank says that everything is in place to go ahead with my construction loan. I will meet with Lori on Thursday, Aug. 28, to sign the loan and open a construction checking account (that will help me keep things straight). She said to tell you that funds will be available beginning Thursday.
My insurance company (Ellison, in Solon) will have builder's risk coverage in place on that date as well. So from my point of view, things could get started as early as Thursday afternoon! (Of course, you may have holiday plans and other commitments.)
If there are other things that I need to take care of but don't know about, like permits and inspections and things, we can talk about them. I haven't notified Brian Ulch that I am building, but I think I need to clarify first with Rob Brown if and when he will want to prep the land for the septic field. Same thing with geothermal -- does that go out in the field where there is currently corn, and how much land is needed, etc.? Also I'll have a surveyor come out, once I know roughly what's going to be taken out of production.
Well, I'll stop fussing for a minute and just enjoy this little victory. We have an official go-live date! Woo-hoo!

Eric replied that he would get all permits, and would apply on Monday, but it would take a week or two to get approval. However, in the meantime, he could talk to Rob Brown and get started on tearing down the machine shed and clearing the land. Eric asked if I could meet with the two of them some evening early next week. I replied that I could be home by 5:30 any night. Haven't heard back yet.

Sweet no more

Had the last of my sweet corn yesterday, August 18, which was less than 2 weeks' worth of harvest. Not too disappointed, since I didn't really know what to expect, and I planted quite late, and only 2 boxes, and only a week apart, and their maturity dates were only about a week apart. What with the rain, and the Japanese beetles -- I actually did rather well.

And since I had to eat 2-3 ears every day, which isn't quite the treat it sounds, that was enough.