7-20 April 2026 Getting moved in!

 It has been non-stop! The company we ordered our mattresses from (The Original Mattress Factory) in Fort Worth call Tuesday morning and asked if they could deliver today instead of the originally scheduled Wednesday. David’s customer called with an emergency task needed before the end of the week as well. The mattress delivery was supposed to have a couple of guys to manhandle the mattresses into the house. But when they showed up, there was only one guy in the truck, so David had to help him bring them in. In, addition to coordinating with the builder and their subcontractors to get things finished up. On Thursday we had the new couch delivered. But they also decided to put in the sod that day. And David was meeting a company (River Wind movers) up in Fort Worth to load up all our “stuff” from the storage unit and move it down to the house.  They were also delivering a hutch and bed frame we had bought at Rivers Wind. Then to top it off, a swarm of 20,000-30,000 honey bees flew in, scattering the guys laying the sod and descending on the roof of the house! The swarm did not sting anyone, but it sure gave everyone a scare. Unfortunately, they found a hole (that David had asked the builder to plug back in August) into the eve and settled in. We called the builder and sent them pictures and all we got was “not our problem”. Then I pointed out that they still had to put the gutters up and those bees were not going to be very happy about that. We suggested they call a bee keeper to come sweep them up, but all we got was silence. On Friday we packed up the Wanderer and backed it into the shop since they were forecasting severe storms over the weekend. Storms rolled through Friday night and we did not even hear them tucked away in the shop. We started trying to unpack stuff from the storage unit and get it organized in the house. Leslie decided she did not like the arrangement of the furniture, so we arranged for the guys from Rivers Wind to come down and spend a half hour moving things around to a better arrangement. Then the real unpacking started as well as moving stuff out of the Wanderer and into the house. A week later the gutter installers showed on Friday morning with two cans of wasp spray thinking that would take care of the bees. They killed a bunch but they just kept on coming out. They finally decided that they needed a bee keeper. One of the guys knew one and the builder called him to come out. David met them outside and showed him the hive location and told them what the builder’s guy had done. He said he could not touch them as the pesticide would contaminate the hive and if he went in, it would contaminate his equipment. He said the hive would probably die out over the weekend from the residual pesticide at the entrance. But if there were still bees on Monday to give him a call. On Saturday, we attended a neighborhood crawfish boil. Sunday, we drove up with Samantha, Rick and Alan to the client appreciation event at our mutual financial advisor. The weekend was cool and rainy, so the bees were not very active. On Monday we had the bee keeper come back out and he brought equipment that he was not worried about getting contaminated. They cut open the eve to get to the hive and pulled out an amazing amout of comb for it only being 10 days. There were even larvae already. He was really surprised and said that was the fastest he had ever seen a hive grow like that. We watched through the window as they were swarmed by thousands of bees. They vacuumed up the bees into a bucket, pulled out the comb, then sealed the eve back up, sealed the original hole they had come in through, and painted it. You can’t even tell they were there. Hundreds of field bees that were out harvesting are still coming in but have no way to get in. Those will die off over the next couple of days. The ones he vacuumed up, hopefully including the queen, will be released out in a very rural area, miles from here. With any kind of luck, they will be able to establish a new hive somewhere else. But it cost us $425 to fix what should have been the builder’s problem after they failed to do what we had asked them to do months ago. At least this way the bees might be saved. Meantime, we continue to unpack. 

Pantry

Kitchen and Dining room

Living Room

Entrance Hall

Study

Kitchen

Primary Bath

Utility Room

Bees entering the new hive

Neighborhood Crawfish Boil

Bee Comb

Bee Comb

Bee Comb

6 April 2026 On the Ranch!

 We pulled up the Wanderer and moved to the Ranch! The poor Wanderer almost had roots in site 43! We got all set up and connected into our own utilities! It’s so quiet! We’re not sure we will be able to sleep without the constant sirens and horns from US377! We have started to prepare the house for our move in. We made arrangements for our new furniture to be delivered this week and our “stuff” from the storage unit moved to the house. We are working with our builder to take care of the remaining punch list. Time to start our next new adventure!

30 March – 5 April 2026 Down to the finish line

 They finally agreed there was a water leak under the shop and had the plumber come back out and pull the PEX out of the conduit under the shop slab and replaced with new PEX. That fixed the problem. The painters got in to do the final touchups and the shop doors. They spent the week finishing some other items on our list. We made arrangements with the water guy to add an air filter system to our installation to take care of the H2S problem We met with Kelby, newly promoted to president of the Kingdom Builders, at the house on Thursday. They did their final inspection before we arrived but did not identify anything we had not already put on our list.  We went through our remaining punch list items and walked around to discuss a few items. The irrigation guys installed the sprinkler system on Friday. David spent Friday morning getting the basic home network up and working. We also had our inspector come out and do the final inspection. He put down a few items in his report, but nothing big and David corrected a couple of items after he left. Only issue outstanding is the IRC guidelines require an expansion joint in brick walls that are longer then 20-25 feet. We have three walls 29-20 feet long that they did not put expansion joints. It will be interesting to see what our builder says on Monday. We spent Saturday and Sunday prepping the house to begin moving in. We put in shelf liner (miles of it), expanded our network to the shop, and connected in the security cameras. We plan to move the Wanderer to the Ranch on Monday.  

Signs of leak under the Shop Foundation

Our water purification and tankless hot water system

Shop doors painted

22-30 March 2026 Almost there!

 Lots completed this week. They got the cabinet hardware installed throughout the house. Also all the towel racks, mirrors, and toilet paper holders. The plumbers finally came back and installed the bathtub, fixed the issues with the plumbing in the shop and finally ran water to the shop. But we now see wet spots in the foundation along stress cracks that may indicate a water leak under the shop slab. David spent two days at the house addressing questions and issues as they arose and worked with the dirt guys to get the yard sculptured the way he wanted. We were told they would be done Friday, but that did not happen. They are still fixing the final finishes. Painter have been busy inside. They got the ceiling beams stained to match the 120 year old fireplace mantle beam. David has started working on the yard to get any high points smoothed out and rocks that are sticking up high enough to cause an issue with a lawn mower. He also got the security cameras installed on the outside of the house. We have started making arrangements for furniture deliveries and to get the contents of our storage unit moved to the house. A cleaning crew went through on Friday and cleaned up the inside really well of all the construction dust and grime. They fixed the shop door that had mysteriously been damaged and installed the openers in the garage. We went through the house and made a detailed punch list over the weekend. While testing the faucets we noticed a strong H2S smell that we will need to have the clean water guy address for us. We’re soooo close!

Cabinet Hardware Installed

Ceiling Beams in the living room

16-22 March 2026 We have toilets!

 Big progress this week! They laid out the forms for the driveway, sidewalks, secondary drive entrance and shop pad under David’s direction. They poured the concrete on Thursday. We will not be able to park the wanderer out there until after the 2^nd of April. But the concrete came out looking great. The amount of concrete required was over the allowance by $7,600 and they also informed us there was a rock charge for the septic system of $2,450. Ouch! The electricians mostly finished up with fixing a light in the shop and putting the cabinet lights in the upper cabinets. There was a short dispute about whether those lights were covered, but it worked out in our favor. The drywall guy, Edgar, came out and did a fantastic job of fixing the drywall. You can’t even see where the holes had been before. Adrian, the tile guy, came out and finished the tile installation and it came out great. We got our fiber optic internet hooked up and running so we have basic WIFI in the house. David finished putting the RJ45 connectors on all his Ethernet cables and got them all to check out. We had one concern with the cable to the back porch camera but that turned out to be a labeling error. Most of the appliances were installed except the stove vent. We have ice cubes in our refrigerator! The plumber came out and installed all the inside faucets and toilets but still did not hook up the water to the shop. They are telling us the interior of the house will be done by Friday of next week. We will see.

9-15 March 2026 Electrical almost done

 The Electrical installers made great progress. Most of the lights and ceiling fans are installed as are most of the outlets. They did not get power out to the shop and did not get the ceiling fans and lights in the living room installed. They found they had a short in one of the outdoor power lines and ended up cutting a bunch of holes in the wall to find the short. Sure enough, a drywall screw had punctured a wire so they had to replace the wire from the box up to the attic. They moved the outlets in the pantry and bathrooms to where we requested. They are supposed to come out next week to finish the electrical install. The tilers were out to install the backsplash in the kitchen and utility room. It came out great. The HVAC system completed their install but failed to add the vent in the attic I have been asking for over the last two months. They will have to come back out to add. The propane tank was installed where we had marked. They went down about 2.5 feet before hitting solid rock. They had to chip through rock for the next 3 feet. But with the smaller tank, it was a much smaller hole so they wrapped up in a day. On Friday the concrete crew was out to begin laying out the driveway. David met up with them to make sure they knew where we wanted the driveway set. The drywall guys were supposed to be out to fix the drywall over the weekend, but never showed up. Same with the driveway guys. David worked on the Ethernet wires we had run early on. He was able to get two of the four we had run to the shop working fully, but the other two have problems, probably where he spliced them in the conduit between the house and the shop. Next is to install the outside cameras. This week they plan to complete the electrical and the plumber is supposed to be in to complete the plumbing. They are also supposed to deliver and install the appliances. It is finally coming together! On Sunday we met up with Wade and Mona at the house and then went to lunch in Granbury.  There was a Founder’s Day Festival in the Square and lots of people were milling about the vendors. The wind was really picking up so we decided to retreat and explore another day. Always good to see Mona and Wade.

Digging for the Propane Tank

250 Gallon Propane Tank before being buried

Forms go in for the driveway

We have lights

Holes cut to find the short

Finally moved the plugs up

Backsplash in the utility room

More holes

New light in the hall

Lights and Backsplash added to kitchen

2-8 March 2026 Progress

 Not much was accomplished Monday or Tuesday on the house. The power company connected the power lines to the exterior house box along with the meter. The house is ready to have power turned on. The painters could not do any outside work since rain was moving into the area for the first time in weeks. We found that they had delivered the barnwood that will go above the fireplace and stove vent had been delivered as well as the wood that will be used to make the beams in the living room and study. The trim carpenters are scheduled to come in Friday to install those. When we were at the house Wednesday, a crew showed up to run the fiber optic lines to the house. They needed water, but the electricians had disconnected power for the well pump from the power tree at the street and connected it to the house wiring. Called Skyler to see if I could turn on the house power and apply power to the water pump. After a lot of back and forth, I figured out that they had not wired the water pump into the circuit breaker panel yet (The bright pink wire hanging out at both ends was the giveaway). So, the fiber crew went to plan B (used long snake cables) and were able to pull the fiber optic from the network box up the street all the way to the house. We discussed the propane tank situation with Kelby. He suggested downsizing to a 250 gallon tank which would mean lower cost and a smaller hole to jack through the rock. The rock charge would balance out the smaller tank costs. Which would allow us to keep the tank in the original planned location. On Friday we stopped at the office and paid the 7^thinstallment for the house. We then went to the house to meet Skyler at 11 am to lay out the propane tank position. He did not show up. We marked out where we thought it should go so it would be 10 feet from the house and shop, clear of the septic system and electrical conduits. The trim carpenters were back out on Friday to install the decorative beams in the study and office. They also installed the Barnwood over the fireplace and vent hood. But on the fireplace, they did not scribe the bottom board to the mantle beam leaving a big crack and they installed it over the pinewood they had mistakenly put there several weeks back making our mantle shallower.