Update from the road...

As of 10am this morning the truck had just entered Indiana. Not sure if they'll try to make it to CT tonight. We'll have to see how it goes. By my calculations they are about 800 miles from Litchfield.

Update on the Cabinet Move...

On Wednesday Bernadette left Jackson Hole around 1pm en route to Denver to pick up her brother at the airport. According to Eric, Ben almost didn't make it to Denver because his original flight was cancelled. Ben ended up flying standby and making it to Denver. Bernadette piloted the truck through a hairy Hoback Canyon in Wyoming, but made it to Denver, picked up Ben and then the two of them drove to Sterling, CO, where they spent the night. Day one completed. I got a picture from Bernadette on Thursday morning fueling up in Sterling. I'm not sure where they all got to last night, but as of 9pm eastern time they were in Iowa City, Iowa, and still moving.

Back at the house things have been going on as usual. Jess finished the hardwood floors yesterday. They look great. I've had the week off from work and have been able to help Jess. Miranda has been spending a lot of time at Nammie and Papa's this week. Grandparents right down the driveway are pretty wonderful. The interior doors have been painted and Jess was starting to hang them yesterday. I got all the outlet and switch covers on yesterday. Pretty much Jess is going to push ahead with doors and interior trim. We still have to put tile in the upstairs bathroom, and finish off the plumbing and final electrical, but we sure are getting closer to moving in. We are planning on picking up the cabinet truck in Litchfield, CT on Sunday and Jess will drive them up to Shelburne. The appliances are scheduled to be delivered on January 8th. I ordered the vanity counter tops yesterday and they should arrive in a couple of weeks. It's all coming together. Here are some photos of the floors, and of Ben fueling up in Sterling, CO.

Ben in Sterling, CO
living room
kitchen
beautiful view off the balcony

The Truck is on its way!

Today is the day Bernadette leaves Jackson, WY headed to Denver. Her plan is to pick up her brother Ben in Denver today. He is flying from Boston and they will co-pilot the truck together from there. Word from Jackson was that the cabinets rolled out of there around 1pm their time. Here are a couple of photos of Bernadette with her new friend, a 20+ foot moving truck. Yee Haw!

Ready to go!
Our Hero!

Some holiday magic...

The story of our cabinets just got a new cast member. The cabinets for the house already involved family. My brother is a cabinet maker, which is a handy thing if you're building a house. Although some of that handiness kind of goes away when your cabinet maker brother lives in Wyoming and your new house is being built in Vermont. Of course there are ways to get things from point A to point B in America. There is a price to pay though, and some of those prices were pretty expensive. We were prepared to pay these prices until our latest hero entered the scene. It seems that it is rather cheap to rent a 24' truck for a one way trip from Jackson, WY to Burlington, VT. So the driver recruitment was the only problem. Enter Bernadette Buck. By day she works at an investment company in downtown Boston, but starting next Wednesday she'll take on the role of a long-haul trucker. My brother, Eric, convinced Bernadette (who was visiting Jackson for the holidays) that instead of enduring a grueling six hour flight back to Boston wouldn't she rather drive a 24' truck across the country in the deep of winter. The truck would be containing our cabinets and some cabinets for Bernadette's brother, Ben (who is my brother's brother in-law). It seems that Bernadette was up for a bit of an adventure. And so the story begins. One truck, one woman, one country to drive across. Check back, we'll be blogging the progress starting 12/26/07.

Winter is here....

It's beginning to seem like a Wyoming winter here in Vermont. Tons of snow, cold temps, not quite the best house building weather. Luckily most of the work is indoors these days. What isn't finished on the outside is just going to have to wait until spring. Really there isn't that much, mostly just a bit of siding here and there and a few other things that surely can wait until the snow melts. The house looks pretty cool these days surrounded by a blanket of white. We're in the middle of a big storm right now, and there must be at least two feet of snow on the ground. We took our holiday photo today in the middle of this snow storm. At this time last year we took our photo on the grass in the middle of the field where the house sits now. There was no snow then, and definitely no house. How things change. The latest from 199 Coyote Run is that the interior trim is going up, the slate is finished on the first floor, and the install on the hardwood floors starts tomorrow. Here are some photos of our snowy, soon to be home.

Jess and Miranda plowing the new snow over at Helen and Paul's.

Jess took a break from shoveling to pose for a photo.
snowy
The downstairs bathroom, with a working toilet.
The mudroom, this slate is down in the powder room, mudroom, master bath, and the front entry.
Ow, my paws are cold.