Projects of this size have a lot of "hurry up" and "wait" waves to them. I'm in a "wait" cycle now. Now, I have to just deal with myself... energy and schedule shifts for the work I need to plug away at during the hot season... and the other things I didn't have brain space to deal with.
Beach house buyers have finally given up. They couldn't sell their house. So realtor & I shifted to the next phase, to try to get it sold. Lowered the price, in a market with a lot of inventory (higher priced too) where there just haven't been any buyers lately. I have no other option except to be patient.
Last day or two, the little cabin has been on my mind. I haven't been there since December. I either have to decide to commit to caring for the place - or spiff it up and sell it too. I have some things I have to move out of there and bring here, if I do sell it - Mike's ashes being one important thing. It's only 2 hours from here, to get there -- but lately I have a hard time going anywhere. I just don't feel like it or need to.
The cost for the new doors & windows was a lot less than I expected - despite the warnings from everyone that these were more expensive. I have budget to take care of some of the "pretties" here, too and the longer term functionality. Still trying to figure out how this contractor works but we're getting there and I'm not displeased. The windows in the top of the west wall are all gone now and the wall is closed in, but not insulated or sided yet. It's still dropped the temp in that room 5 degrees on the hottest days, so far. A/C only comes on about 5 pm and runs for a few hours until the nights cool off. And I still get plenty of light. As the sun shifts to it's winter path, I'll get even more.
So, Wed or Thurs last week, the guys finished up. They're waiting on siding to finish closing in the doors and the top of that wall. It'll be August before the windows/doors come in. There are a bunch of "me" projects on the list and I guess I'm wasting the coolest morning of the week getting my head back in the "to-do" game. I needed some stream of consciousness, just being and relaxing time. When others are here working, I feel weird if I'm not doing something too. LOL.
There is talk of a "girls weekend" - Holly, Mike's D Autumn and Debbie all need some sleepover time. Sometime in the next few weeks. It will be a mess trying to coordinate that schedule, but it should be worth it.
Foundation for the metal garden barn should get started this week. Ronnie and I are trying to get connected on wood/tree clean up, digging shale and driveway work. I'll need to run and get permits once I order the shed & barn. Still recycling lots of cardboard - at least it's fairly close and they DO recycle it. County is talking about taking glass & aluminum cans too. I need an arborist or someone who's licensed to drop trees, remove some dead ones that could fall into the pond or on the driveway and a couple more that are way too close to the house, for a forest fire zone. The ground here is so rocky and a lot of it is bedrock, that the trees don't develop good root systems in a lot of places.
Taking time out from thinking up new projects (and they're pretty obvious) - I'm remembering some things I'm not sure I've taken care of. LOL. We were going to begin talking about how to structure the company for the future, but The Bro has given me reason to believe he's going to finally file for divorce. We communicate a lot better now, than we have in the past. So, he's been asking for a normal type of support and advice. I offered to put the business plans on the back burner while he sorts out the personal mess. I did some quick research and I believe some of his worries can be put to rest. But, she's clearly got "issues" and it could get a tad messy. He doesn't have the fortitude for dealing with drama... and she's a drama queen. I could even get pulled into that mess, though I haven't had any contact with her for years now. He's been miserable for a very long time and I know that's contributed to his workaholic habits that have impacted his health.
We talked about being alone too. So, it will be interesting to see what happens in the near future and how this plays out. He avoids change whenever possible. For him to initiate this, finally, means he doesn't see any other option for having a life of his own going into the future, with her. His oldest starts college in the fall and the younger has two more years of HS. So that simplifies things somewhat.
