I'm taking a break from packing, moving, and spending inordinate amounts of time in various home design/improvement establishments, armed with notepads, house plans, color swatches and an expression of overwhelmed befuddlement, to share some groundbreaking news ~ literally, as our builder broke ground on the lot yesterday!
Here is the lot (facing east) as it looked in early February, before we signed the contract...
And here it was yesterday as they were excavating for the water and sewer lines...
This is the house we're having him build, with a few small changes inside and out (like adding a third post to that oddly empty stone pillar!)...
The windows will be white and there will be various siding textures, including stone (on the porch's post pillars and low stone wall as well as on the front of the garage) and weathered grey shingles in the gables. But the predominant fiber cement siding (a mix of narrow lap and board and batten) will be painted Sherwin Williams Svelte Sage with trim in Ancient Marble and the front door painted Eclipse. So at least all of those decisions have been made - just 78,429,513 decisions to go! :-)
You can see more pictures and the floor plan here (we're building the reverse plan).
Going through this new construction process is interesting but living there will be too, as it occurred to me this morning that this will be the third home I've owned but the first home I've ever owned in town. And except for the temporary rental we're about to move into, it will be the first time I've lived in a regular "suburban" type neighborhood house since I was 15! Since then, it's all been apartment complexes, owned or rented houses on acreage in the country, or - here at Dragonfly Cottage - beside a creek and between two large parks right in the heart of downtown. Oh well, it's good to shake things up and try something different from time to time. We'll have had a taste of a variety of housing experiences before BW retires and we decide what we want to do next.
Going through this new construction process is interesting but living there will be too, as it occurred to me this morning that this will be the third home I've owned but the first home I've ever owned in town. And except for the temporary rental we're about to move into, it will be the first time I've lived in a regular "suburban" type neighborhood house since I was 15! Since then, it's all been apartment complexes, owned or rented houses on acreage in the country, or - here at Dragonfly Cottage - beside a creek and between two large parks right in the heart of downtown. Oh well, it's good to shake things up and try something different from time to time. We'll have had a taste of a variety of housing experiences before BW retires and we decide what we want to do next.
In other news (of the ground-pounding rather than groundbreaking variety), I finally had to bid a fond farewell on Monday to my trusty old LL Bean hiking boots. I'd had them since early 1998 (my pre-vegan days), and I only wish I knew how many miles I'd put on them. They certainly hiked all over the Big Horns, but also logged trekking miles in other states as far away as California and Alabama, as well as in England and Scotland. After pounding all that soil, they finally bit the proverbial dust. Happy trails, old friends!
Before ditching them, I took this photo of them beside my new vegan "Veggie Trekker MKIV Hikers" by Vegetarian Shoes (got mine from Vegan Essentials during one of their monthly discount specials). BW has worn Veggie Trekkers for years and is on his third pair. He wears them for hikes, walks and work as a UPS man. They do require breaking in, and my first few walks in them made me dubious about his ardent promises that they would become extremely comfortable. But although they have a bit of breaking in still to do, they have become quite comfy and provide great ankle support, and I look forward to covering lots of ground in them. I wonder where we'll end up going together and what adventures we'll share? Wherever and whatever they are, I promise to bring my camera along. :-)
