Progress - had to do it myself

It was lovely in Houston last week, but apparently the permits for building our new home are still in process, so nothing happened at our lot. Hubby worked on Saturday (it's tax season, after all), so after running some errands, I set out to our lot to remove some of that blasted ground cover he hates. Pictured above is the spot I worked on - maybe 6 square feet of this ivy that everyone has. From the apartment storage closet, I took my kneeling pad and the bio-degradable bags. Grabbed a diet coke and headed over. Oops - forgot my garden gloves. I'm used to those being handy in the garage. Well, I thought, I'll just tear up one little patch, how bad could it be? I didn't take a hoe, or a shovel, or a garden rake, or a machete. Any would have been a great help. So, I started tearing away at it with my bare hands. How many of us do any real physical labor these days? We work at computers all day, maybe we go to the gym, but when is the last time you wore yourself out? Well, this little patch of ground cover took me two hours of pulling, digging, twisting, cursing, and kicking. Sure, kicking! Once I got it started, kicking at the base of the stuff helped pull it up. Take a look at my hand, after I was done. Now, that's a filthy hand you can be proud of! And here's a shout-out to the Irish cousins, fellow Daughters of the Potato Famine. Here's the "after" picture, that little patch of ground cover is gone. There is still a LOT of it left, all around the base of the oak tree. I'll get to it - plenty of time!

Everything I pulled up, two hours worth of effort, fit it ONE yard bag. Crazy!

We're looking forward to the day when that permit-on-a-stick shows up at the lot, and they'll start building.

Cool ride of the week.3

This week, for our friends across the pond, we have a cool blue MG Midget, maybe 1972? My sister had one of these in the 70's. It has been hanging out near our apartments. Thanks, Bonnie, for blurring out the license plate number.

Random musings, since there's no progress

Another beautiful day not utilized by the builder. I think I remember something about them obtaining more permits after the demolition took place. Rats - Why didn't I take better notes during that last meeting with the construction foreman? We were too focused on drawer pulls and cabinet finishes. All in

good time - patience!

The rodeo has come & gone in Houston, three solid weeks of barbeque, animals, concerts, and deep fried anything you want (I had fried green tomatoes & fried cheesecake, both highly recommended).

After my last volunteer shift, I took a spin on Le Grande Wheel, which is said to be the largest portable ferris wheel in the country. It's a whopper. See how it dwarfs the Astrodome.

Nothing new!

Beautiful, dry weather day - and nothing happened on the jobsite. Bummer. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Cool ride of the week.2

This week's cool ride is a 1964 Shelby Cobra. Sweet! We took this pic outside one of our favorite Tex-Mex restaurants. One of the valets said, "it goes a mile a minute." Come on, what car doesn't? That's just 60 mph.

Our pad is ready

Checked on the lot today during lunch, it looks like the pad is all ready (no basements in Houston, folks). The front sidewalk has been torn out, along with the rest of the driveway. Only the oak tree and that blasted groundcover that hubby hates remain.

Tree guy has strung yellow caution tape around it so the workers don't drive all over the tree roots.

Next week? Probably laying the groundwork, literally, before they pour the foundation. We'll need new water & sewer lines, all those pipes.

If you're lucky enough to be Irish . . .

You're lucky enough! St. Patrick's Day -
drove over at lunch time to see what's going on. The dirt mover is pushing "new" dirt around where the house will be. When I pull up, the guy comes over, holding some crusty old horse shoes. No kidding - they were dug up when the tree guys were doing their work. How lucky is that? Brought them home in the back of the Smart - we'll find a place for them in the new house. Our neighborhood, just 5 miles west of downtown Houston, used to be farmland in the late 1800's. For a short time during WWI, a basic training facility, Camp Logan, was established. Maybe the shoes came from there!

The new dirt is a lovely rich brown color.

Old dirt has been pushed to the back of the lot. A dump truck showed up to haul away the old dirt. It's that ugly gray stuff.

Spring has arrived and the redbud trees are showing off. Here's one from the esplanade nearby.

Cracked the slab & trimmed the tree

After breakfast on Saturday, we went to check progress on the demolition. The foundation has been broken up and is sitting around in sad piles trimmed with twisted rebar. That should be hauled away in the next few days.





Grrr!

Then the tree trimmers arrived. The big water oak in front had a large limb that extended over the roof of the old house. We knew we would need to cut that limb off to make room for the new house, but we didn't want to wreck the look of the tree. This picture, taken near sunset, shows the limb on the left side of the tree. A whole crew showed up and trimmed everything, plus they fed the roots. As they worked, neighbors kept stopping & asking, "are you taking that tree down?"

No way! As we look up & down the street, we think our water oak is the best looking tree. It's just beginning to leaf out and looks very handsome. Here's a photo of it, post-haircut.

Cool ride of the week

Who wants to talk about a patch of dirt with debris on it, day after day? Most of you know that half of this married couple is nuts for cars (Motown girl), so today we introduce a new feature of the blog: Cool ride of the week! Check out this late 50's Ford Fairlane Skyliner. See how my Smart almost fits in its trunk?

If it's a nice day where you are, get out and wash your car!

Lots of lot

All of the house & garage debris has been removed. The foundation (slab) still needs to be broken up and hauled off. It's amazing how big the lot looks without a house on it. I went by today to take a few pictures, and the knockout rose was blooming.

Get that debris out of here!

Sorry fans, no pictures today. The demo man removed tons of debris that used to be our house. He also removed the troublesome pecan tree from the back yard. We loved the pecans, but hated the mess, and besides, storms had blown away our pecan crop the past few years. Storms had also blown some large limbs from the pecan tree dangerously close to our roof, so take it away! Demo man said he was going to use it for barbeque. Good for him. See? We're recycling!

For those who have been wondering, we are keeping the magnificent water oak in the front yard.

The Demo Man cometh!

March 8th - demolition begins - and ends! Hubby went to the house around 10am, and the backhoe was there. The workers fiddled around a little, then one of them climbed aboard and fired it up. An ominous puff of smoke belched from its stack. Buckle up, buttercup, here we go! The claw came to life and moved into position.

Going. . . .

Going. . .

Gone!

The whole thing took less than 2 hours. Our home for the past 17 years is history! Except for the garage.

Time to get started

We're going to build a new house! First, we had to get a new MORTGAGE loan. Here we are, trying to do our bit to stimulate the American economy, and they rake us over the coals! Two CPAs, stellar credit, no debt - it took 3 months. Finally, after signing a stack of papers 3/4" thick (I measured), we are the proud owners of a home loan. Let the building begin!

But wait, first we have to tear down the existing house, because we're building it on the lot we already own. We moved to a lovely 3 bedroom apartment nearby. It's nice, but not "home." We jammed all our non-essentials in the 3rd bedroom, check out that pic!

Demolition takes place soon, and we are excited to get started! Follow along with us as we post stories and pictures of "Rose Raising."