23 February – 1 March 2026 Things are progressing SLOWLY

 We met with the builder and our relator on Monday morning at the house. About an hour before the meeting, our relator, Laurie, sent the owner an email basically saying she expected better out of them or else. Shortly after we got to the house, Kelby, our first build coordinator stated the island counter top was unacceptable to them and the subcontractor would replace it. They explained it was probably the creation of the rough edge that led to the corners being broken off if they had not been supported properly. We agreed to go with a machined edge this next time around. We provided them a written list with 37 items that needed to be address and walked through the house and shop to show them the issues. Kelby ordered Skyler to get the painters back to finish the painting work (front and back porch ceilings, hallway ceilings and study doors, and the shop doors immediately. They said the pace of work was going to pick up and we would be finished in three to four weeks. Leslie, Laurie and Skyler made plans to meet at the rock shop to select a new slab of granite for the island. David had to use the truck for the next three days to drive into work, so Laurie picked up Leslie and took her to the rock shop to pick out a new slab. Skyler was a no show. They looked over what was available, had them move some slabs around so they could inspect other and settled on the last slab from the same cut as our current one. They installed it Thursday and it looks great! They also installed the backsplash in the pantry. The company that was contracted by the electrical coop came out Thursday with a small back hoe and tried to dig a path even though David had told them they would need to cut rock. They came back Friday with a Rock saw and cut the trench and installed the conduit for both the power cable and the fiber optic line. The Painters showed up Thursday and got to work. The electricians showed up long enough to raise the plugs in the kitchen and utility room to where we had marked them to be. But in the pantry, they raised them just enough to clear the backsplash. The outside lights by the garage were installed and they put in one outlet in the utility room to provide worked power. Friday, we went to Canton Texas with our friends Mona and Wade for the First Monday Flea Market. It's held once a month on the Thursday-Sunday before the first Monday of each month. At over 468 acres, it’s the largest flea market in the US. We had a fun time strolling about 1/3 of the market over 5 hours. We picked up some yard art and Leslie found a dress that reminded her of one she had bought, and worn out, in Venice. We also picked up information from some vendors for possible future buys once we are in the house. We all had a great time! As we were driving over, Skyler informed us the painters had painted a sample of the shop door color for us to approve with no prior coordination. On Saturday we went out to the house and approved the color they had picked out. But once again, there was no one working. The painters had finished clear coating the wood ceilings on the front and back porch, hallway and study doors on Friday and were off on another job. We went to Lowes and picked out the front and back door handles, interior door handles, cabinet and drawer pulls, towel racks, etc. Took picture of what we wanted and put them into a word file which we sent on to Kelby. 

9-15 February 2026 We have counters!

 Not much got done the first three days of the week on the house. Then suddenly on Thursday we arrived at the Ranch and found they had installed the counters in the kitchen, master and Guest baths, pantry and utility room. They did not install the powder room counter. The counter colors work great with the cabinet and wall colors. The leathered island counter looks wonderful. Leslie was very happy with her choices. We did see that they had cut backsplashes for the counters in the pantry but had not caulked them into place yet because the electrical outlets are too low and will need to be raised. They had also been out to install the electrical boxes next to the garage (we had been stuck waiting on the brick guys to come out and fix the brick so they could do the install), installed some breakers in the circuit panel, and temporarily wired the well pump to the house wiring (It has had a long extension cord running over to the electrical tree). They are ready we think to finally bring power from the street into the house. Thursday evening we met our friend Rick for dinner. He is in town for a few days to catch up on shop shopping. Friday afternoon we spent out at the house. We found they had been in that morning and installed the counter in the powder room. David assembled and installed a analog TV antenna in the attic to pick up local stations. Leslie worked some more on touch ups to the used furniture we purchased. Our relator, Laurie, came by to see the counters and noticed that one corner of the kitchen island looked like it had been broken off and glued back into place. We had not noticed that. She was going to call the builder herself and chastise them about their quality until they replaced it. She was also going to press them for a closing date. 

Saturday morning, we woke to find that Cupid had visited and left Valentine cards all over the place!  David worked on our federal taxes and then we made a wonderful cheese souffle with roasted brussels sprouts for our Valentines Dinner.  We figure the Ranch is our Valentines gift to ourselves. 

1-8 February 2026 Painters finished (Mostly)

 The painters finished their primary painting work and cleaned up. They still need to stain the pine ceilings on the front and back porches and also the entry ceiling and study doors. I reminded them they also have to paint the doors on the shop. Skyler started to claim it was not in scope of our contract but was corrected by Kelby. But Kelby wants to wait until the driveway is installed since they will need to use a lift truck to get to the top of the doors. The paint job looks great. They will have to come back and do some touch-up after the other trades are finished. On Wednesday, we went to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo ($20 for parking and $30 for entry) and walked the stalls, vendors and watched the kids leading these huge steers around, washing them, and primping them before judging. The brick masons came and fixed the brick alongside the garage to allow the meter box to be installed and took another shot at fixing the cable pass through in that corner and again got it wrong. Over the weekend, David built another, smaller, rolling shelf unit that will work in the garage and Leslie cleaned up and touched up the Leather Loveseat we had gotten the previous week. Our real-estate agent, Laurie, stopped by to see how the final paint colors had come out and to see how we are doing on our projects. This next week they are supposed to install the electrical meter box and counters in the kitchen, bathrooms, utility room and pantry. That should set things up for the electricians to come back and install the fixtures and get the power company to run the cable from the street to the meter. It will also allow the tile guys to come back and install the backsplash in the kitchen and utility room. We're hoping things are going to accelerate from here. 

 Monday and Tuesday it was too cold for the painters to work. We received almost 2 inches of snow, ice and sleet since Friday. David got out Tuesday to refill the propane. By Wednesday afternoon, the roads were melted off. We went out to the house late in the day. The paint crew was still not bac but they had gotten a lot of the trim painted on Friday.  When we went out Thursday, the paint crew was hard at work. They had started putting the final coats on the cabinets. We received a CR from the builder claiming it would cost almost $2,000 to change the color of the island and utility room cabinets. Leslie decided that she liked the color of the utility cabinets after they had dried thoroughly and we saw them in the daylight. We discussed the color of the island with the paint crew foreman. We showed him the paint chip of the color Leslie wanted and even offered him the pint of the paint (if only they had taken them up front!). On Friday we went back out to the house and looked at the sample the foreman had obtained and sprayed on part of the cabinet.  It was finally the correct color. Meantime, Skyler was being a pest and did not realize we were coordinating directly with the crew. We also approved the exterior paint color (third try). Meantime they continued on the rest of the house and got all the trim and cabinets painted and prepped for painting the walls and ceilings. On Sunday, we went and picked up a beautiful leather love seat that Leslie found online. When we dropped it off at the shop, we went in and saw the repainted island. It was perfect! They will finish painting this week with painting the walls and ceiling (primer and two coats of final color). 

Before the final paint.

Finally, the right color!

19 -25 January 2026 Brrrrrrr

 They began issuing winter storm warnings for later in the week on Monday. We topped up the propane tanks and went grocery shopping on Monday, before the mad rush later in the week. The painters are making good progress. By the end of the week, they had started doing final finish colors. When we checked in with the painters on Thursday, they had shot the final colors on the island, utility room cabinets and the guest bathroom cabinets. Leslie decided later that the island color was not what she had picked out, it was too peachy and not the richer color she had selected. Also, that the light green utility cabinets were too pastel tinted, not the deeper blue/green she wanted. We raised the issue with Skyler on Friday. He will work with us to get them changed, but it will be a CR since we had approved the paint samples they had put on the wall early in the week for us to see. David spent Wednesday afternoon finishing his shelf project in the shop. The weather started to turn on Friday, with rain and cold weather moving in so we did not go out to the Ranch. Skyler told us they had drained the water out of the pipes in the house so there would be no issues with pipes freezing this weekend. Friday night the temps dropped below freezing and the roads began to ice up. Temps will below freezing until Tuesday with lows Sunday and Monday in the single digits. By Saturday morning the roads were ice covered and there was a layer of sleet pellets and snow on the ground. The steps out of the Wanderer are ice encased and very slippery. Keira did not enjoy her morning walk with wind chills down near zero. David woke up early Monday morning because it seemed colder than normal. When he checked the controls, it was clear that the propane tank had froze up. With the temperature around 9 degrees, he was concerned this might happen. He also noticed no water was coming out of the faucet and the water pump was running indicating the pipe from the fresh water tank to the pump was probably frozen as well. So, he pulled on layers of cloths and went out to check on the propane. The front tank we were using had a thick layer of frost covering the lower half of the tank indicating the liquid propane was very cold. At -44 degrees, propane stops flashing from liquid to gas. So he opened up the back propane tank and set the pressure regulator to pull from both tanks. This resolved the problem and the furnaces came back on and warmed up the Wanderer. The fresh water pipe thawed out and we once again had water. The fun of living in a trailer in the winter. 

Rolling Storage shelves for the shop

11-18 January 2026 Paint Preparation

 The paint team got to work prepping for painting by filling all the thousands of nail holes in the trim and caulking miles of seams throughout the house. They prepared all the cabinet frames, doors and drawer fronts. They also laid paper down on all the floors and taped off the windows. Late in the week they began priming the trim and cabinet doors and drawers. They have a lot to do. Fortunately, the weather has been good,  not too cold and not to warm. We had some light rain on Wednesday afternoon, enough to get a wonderful rainbow over the RV park. We spent Wednesday in the shop working on the new tables and putting a more permanent solution in place to block mice from coming in. On Friday we shopped for furniture. We went down to the Granbury square and had a wonderful German lunch at Ketzlers on the square. Then we went to the Wagon Wheel and scoped out the couch we want to buy. We will order one in a couple of weeks so it can be delivered straight to the house. While there, David spotted a “Welcome to The Ranch” metal sign we had to have for over the front door. Sunday, David spent the afternoon working in the shop on some rolling storage shelves and got ¾ of the way completed. 

Rainbow over the RV Park

Priming the kitchen cabinets

Priming cabinet drawers and doors

Priming utility room cabinets

Priming more cabinet drawers and doors

5 - 11 January 2026 Trim Finally Finished

 Nothing got done on the inside of the house Monday through Thursday. On Friday or Saturday, the trim carpenters finished the trim around the front and back doors the way we requested and finished up the closets. This week the painters can get started. They are now telling us it will take an additional 6-8 weeks to complete. We are pressing them to get electric and water to the shop and driveway in so we can park the Wanderer out there soon as possible. Friday, we headed to Dallas to have lunch with our friends Ann and Bill. Then headed up to McKinney to pick up some end tables and coffee table that Leslie had arrange to buy through Facebook Marketplace. Unfortunately, the seller ghosted us at the last minute and the sale fell through. On the way back to Granbury (a 2 hour drive), we stopped off in Irving to visit “The Dump” to see what furniture they had. We were surprised at how expensive the furniture was which was not what we expected from the advertising. We got back too late Friday to stop at the house. Last weekend, we had visited River’s Wind, an auction house, and Leslie saw a large (6 foot tall) candelabra that she fell in love with. So David bought for her Birthday. On Saturday we met our friends Mona and Wade for lunch and then went down to River’s Wind. While walking around the warehouse, we found a couch table and coffee table that set Leslie’s “heart on fire”. Since the other tables had fallen through, we got those for only $400. We loaded them up in the truck and drove them down to The Ranch and put them in the shop. That is when we found they had finished up the trim work in the house. On Sunday we went to Cristina’s American Table on the square in Granbury for Leslie’s Birthday dinner. It was excellent! 

Front Door Trim

Back Door Trim