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!