Let's hope they don't seek greener pastures...in our front yard

I would like to take this moment to apologize to my granny's cattle who must now stare into our green pastures from their side of the fence, because THE FENCE IS FINISHED!! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my parents for utilizing their brains and brawn this weekend (and throughout this fencing project) to help me (Noel was pulling in the big bucks this weekend) get this fence finished. (Granny, you're getting a 'thanks' too but just hold your horses (or your cows, ha!) for a minute.) So now Noel and I have a half barb wire and half solar electric fence. Luckily, Dad had an old solar electric fence charger that still worked! Well, at least it sounds like its working anyway. And, after a short debate among Noel and the parents about peeing on the fence to see if was actually carrying electricity, they settled on the fact that it was likely working based on the clicking sound and the blinking light. Good thing they didn't actually attempt to test their hypothesis. 

It was kind of funny. When we started fencing on Sunday, two male calves were spying on us during the whole process. They'd creep toward us, watch, and bawl. Bovine espionage in the works people! Watch it, the Chik-Fil-A cows are evidently influential!

Now, although Noel wasn't able to partake in the fencing fun on Sunday, he got some fencing done earlier in the week. We headed down to the land on Wednesday to finish off a 6-ft stretch at the end of the barb wire fence. Unbeknownst to Granny, she was about to become our fencing mentor. With Granny in tow, we headed down to the fence with our tools. It really could have been an episode of The Three Stooges. Consequently, Noel is a master with a fencing wench. (Take that however you will.) So, now I would like to take this opportunity to thank Granny for bestowing upon us her infinite fencing wisdom...and for cooking lunch on Sunday. Our tummies are eternally grateful.

Prior to fencing on Wednesday, Lou, the banker, and Troy, the bank's CEO, took us out to lunch to thank us for our business and to talk construction with us. We are so thankful to be doing business with such a wonderful bank. We truly appreciate all of their help and all they have done for us...and the delicious lunch. Thanks guys!

Plan for this week...log the land (hopefully).

Plan for next week...close on the construction loan at the bank and sign a contract with Indy. 

Drum roll please...and the winner is...

INDY!!!


Yes, we made a decision! After months of interviews, calling references, touring their houses, and weighing pros and cons, we went with our gut and chose Indy. When notified of his prestigious prize, Indy exclaimed, "I'm going on vacation for a week!" Yes, he did. Alas, we await his return to sign a contract. We are still waiting on the loggers anyway so this vacation works out for everyone involved.


I guess it's only appropriate now that I reveal what the nicknames are all about. Indy, Pickle, and Fishy are all spins on the contractors' last names. I felt it would be inappropriate to slander true names, for all of these contractor's meant well. I'll introduce you to the one we chose rather than the two we didn't choose. Indy is the owner of Eric Jones Construction in Tullahoma, hence Indiana Jones or Indy if you will. He is a painter by trade who has a business degree from MTSU and has been building homes in the Tullahoma/Lynchburg area for about 13 years. As Noel says, he's a good ole boy. We feel that we will get the most bang for our buck with him, but the budget will be up to us and the bank. Again, thank God for Lou!


Speaking of Lou, Noel paid him a visit this past Wednesday, for he was getting frazzled about numbers. Noel walked away from the meeting reassured and confident that the bank was on our side, and they are going to take care of us. Lou told Noel the bank feels like we are their adopted children. So nice to be loved!


This past week was also birthday week for Noel. He turned the big 31 on Thursday, so, of course, we celebrated. Then, it was back to house business on Friday. I took Noel to two companies in the Nashville area that I spoke with at the home show: the geothermal place and a pseudo-granite/recycled glass countertop place. First, we stopped at C.E.S. (or Comfort Engineered Systems) in Nolensville to discuss geothermal units. Noel received a clear explanation (as compared to a Hannah-style explanation...oh, dear, that's enough to drive someone to drinkin'). C.E.S. supplied us with a list of references of families who installed geothermal units. Then, we headed to Granite Transformations near the airport to ooooo and ahhhh over countertops. We are going to get a bid to see how it compares to our bid for Corian countertops. I have added website links for each of these companies to 'Links we have used.'

Almost there...

Goal: Make a contractor decision by the end of the week. 


Indy made it to the bank to pow-wow with Lou to get his s**t together for us. Pickle got back to us with a final number...well, sort of...he told Noel a round-about number but said he didn't have his papers with him so he wasn't absolutely sure. Boo hiss! Regardless, the number he told us was significantly lower than we had anticipated. We do feel that his bid is the most accurate because he was so detailed during the process.


This past weekend the Nashville Convention Center hosted the Nashville Home Show. Best thing in the world to go to if you're building a house. There were all sorts of retailers with displays from roofing and flooring to pest control and rain chains. Since Noel had to work, I dragged my mommy dearest with me to this thing. Mom can hone in on booths that are holding drawings for freebies. Man, she loves freebies. Here I am looking at these neat cabinets with my bag over my shoulder only to realize she's shoving a handful of free pens in my bag. I was admiring bamboo flooring and looked up to realize Mom has bee-lined it to the hot-tub dealer. No, she's not admiring the hot tubs, she's looking for a box to register for a free hot tub. That's my mom! The most informative company we talked to was a company out of Nolensville who installs geothermal heat pumps. Never even consider using geothermal, but it's green and can reduce your energy bills by (on average) 50% (can cut them up to 80%)! We are seriously considering it now. The unit is a bit more pricey on the front end but typically pays for itself within 5 years. Much better option than pricey solar panels that typically don't pay for themselves in a lifetime. (Nevertheless, I did register for free solar panels for the house. What?! Somebody's got to win. Might as well be me.) After all the walking and talking, we only did what two worn out puppies would do...we went to a bar and had a beer.


Building a house has caused us to acquire lots of magazines, brochures, samples, etc. We've had various piles of info material strewn all over our living room. I got really tired of shoving stuff under the coffee table just to get it out of the way...so I got inventive and resourceful. I climbed up into our attic, found an old moving box, and gave it life! Check out my imagination! I even made tabs out of the box flaps. Now everything is in one place and organized.

We've also been pondering bamboo flooring. We had Simple Floors (in Georgia) send us four samples. Even Soxy likes to give us his input since he's going to be spending more time on it than either of us. 

Check out the tongue!

Eatin' my feet...left and right

Open mouth insert foot...the story of my life. Only minutes after posting the previous blog post. Indy returned my call from earlier that morning...(wait for it)...and he actually talked. Not only did he talk, he was selling himself! Now that's what we needed, Indy. Thank you. He told me he would have an itemized price breakdown to the bank the next week (which happens to be the previous week at the time of this blog post); however, no list yet. Remember we do have a final price quote from him, though.


Remember Pickle said that he would have a total price quote for us at the beginning of this previous week as well. Monday passes. Tuesday passes. Thursday passes. On Friday around 5pm, I send Pickle a text message (since that is his preferred form of communication) and I quote, 'Just wondering if you have the total bid price for us.' I'm warning you, this is another case of sticking my foot in my mouth, sort of. He responds back telling me that his son has been in the hospital since Monday. Who feels like the horse's ass now? Me, of course. But, how was I to know?! Needless to say, no total price from Pickle yet.


As for Fishy, we gave him the toilet salute. You know, your fish dies and your last stitch effort at showing him respect occurs by saluting as you dangle your lifeless, slimy pet over the toilet only to let him drop into the torrent of swirling water never to be seen again. We knew that Fishy wasn't for us with his turn-key house, even though he proved to be the most prompt in getting his bid together.  Sorry Fishy, we wish you the very best and thanks for your bid. We broke up with him in an email (his preferred form of communication).


Yesterday, Noel and I (armed with Deep Woods Off!) cleared branches, saplings, and rotting logs to make a path for an electric fence. Would you believe that we didn't have to pick a single tick off us?!