First things first.  We hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas and we wish you all a happy and healthy 2018!  We took a few days off and spent them down in Colorado Springs.  My daughter and her husband flew in from Houston for a quick visit and I had my first appointment at the VA Clinic there.  As a quick aside, it’s a very nice, modern facility with a caring, helpful staff.  I know the VA has had issues and other vets have some legitimate complaints, but I’m happy to say that all of my experiences have been quite positive.

We had been expecting several inches of snow and single digit temperatures, but the weather was actually pretty mild, which allowed us all to come back up to Cripple Creek so the kids could see our project.  Despite the cold, they also enjoyed shooting up a couple of boxes of ammunition, and my son-in-law wanted to try his hand at splitting firewood.  Who am I to say no?

Their visit ended too soon, as they flew home on Christmas morning, while the other kids headed north to Denver to spend the day with his family, so Sandi and I went back to the hotel to hang out.  I found a John Wayne marathon on TV, while she took a very long nap.  Our plan had been to walk across the parking lot for dinner at the diner next door, but we discovered they closed at 4:00.  Off we went, in search of an open restaurant with not a lot of luck.  We finally found an IHOP, though with the slow service, cold food, sketchy patrons, and food shortages, it was far from our best dining experience.  Oh well, we managed to avoid starvation for one more day.

Almost daily, I find myself sort of drafting a new blog post in my head while we’re working, but it seems that by the time we call it quits for the day and return ‘home’ to the trailer, I’ve talked myself out of actually sitting down and typing it up.   As with most everything else, I can generally come up with a whole list of reasons:

• The day wasn’t really very interesting and chances are, nobody is really going to care that I spent a really boring day hanging drywall.
• I’m tired and would rather sit and watch the news and Jeopardy than type. (Though, to tell the truth, I’m about fed up with the news these days.  Add to that list daytime talk shows, late-night talk show monologues, and any comedian / sports figure / musician / or actor who somehow thinks their celebrity makes them an expert on current events)
• We’ve made progress, but we aren’t done….  I’d rather wait and show completed Before & After photos.

But, we’re still a ways off from actually being done, so progress updates are about the best I can do for now.

The Kitchen:  We cancelled our original counter-top order.  The price was changed on us midway through and we really weren’t happy with the customer service, so we found somebody else.  We made a trip up to Denver where we found the stone we wanted.  We reserved two slabs of a very pretty granite and made arrangements to have it installed.  To make a long story just a little shorter….  The stone got cut, delivered, and installed and we’re very pleased with the results!

Despite having been up here just a few days before, the owner decided that his 2-wheel drive pickup would work just fine to haul a couple thousand pounds of granite up here in the snow and fairly loose gravel.  He didn’t make it much closer to the house than this and they ended up carrying the pieces a lot farther than they wanted to.  I’m glad it wasn’t me.

We still need to install the upper cabinets and put down the flooring, but it’s actually starting to look like something!

Bathroom:  The walls of the half bath on the main level have been textured, primed, and painted.  I’ll start putting down the tile floor in the next couple of days, and then we can install the vanity (shown at left in the photo above), sink, toilet, mirror, and towel rods.

Pump Room / Laundry Room:  It took a little extra time to move the door, outlets, switches, lights and water fixtures in the laundry room, but, like the bathroom, the walls have all been textured and the pump room has even been primed.  The texture in the laundry room should be dry enough to prime today and both will soon get paint, finish work, and epoxy on the floors.  This is what it looked like a couple of days ago:

Becoming Colorado Residents:  I don’t remember if I wrote about our first attempt at getting Colorado driver’s licenses.  It was a wasted day going all the way down to Colorado Springs, only to find out that the social security card that I laminated over 35 years ago is no longer valid.  But, our second effort, with a crisp, new, SS card in hand, and we are now official!  My truck has brand new, Colorado license plates, as well.  What a shock that was!  Unlike Washington, the fees here are figured based on the current MSRP and age of the vehicle.  Annual renewals should get cheaper, but this year, it cost us nearly $1,200.  Almost makes me wish I had held on to that 2003 3/4 ton!

Happy New Year!!!