Days 43-52 (24 November - 6 December)

'Twas the week of Thanksgiving and all through the house, not a craftsman was stirring . . .

We figured that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as well as Thursday and Friday would be a loss, but we had not counted on the entire week.  There was one major accomplishment--the upper window is in place.  It is not going anywhere.  The clearances on the sides were on the order of spark plug gaps.  I will give the installers credit.  They knew how much they could groom the windows without damage (groom (v):  beat the crap out of to establish the proper alignment without cosmetic damage).  The rest of the week was consumed on our part by getting all of the exterior Christmas decorations out of the attic, tested and in place.

But the construction gods have a sense of humor.  If you complain about too few craftsmen, they will hear you.  Days 48 and 49, the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving were a bit slow--the troops were massing for the assault.  On day 50, the masons showed up to replace part of the driveway, the drywall people showed up to start mudding the extension, the tilers started tiling the bathroom, the painters asked for a paint schedule so that they could start painting the eaves and fascias (which they did).  At the same time, the Trex was delivered for the patio, the last of the floor tile was delivered, a new order for a few extra glass tiles was processed and delivered, and the sills for the large lower windows showed up.  The framing for the towel hook and medicine cabinet was completed. The forklift path to our door is well worn.  Grass?  I think that there used to be some back there.  Oh yea--the forced ventilation for the extension arrived.  We were warned that the dust from the sheet rock sanding would be extensive.  Hopefully, this contraption will reduce that problem.

Of course, you must be careful what you ask for.  How much can be done by Christmas has turned into how quickly can you vacate the Master bedroom, the Master bedroom closet, and the living room for work on the floors and ceilings.  It looks like a good deal of next week will be consumed relocating about half of the crap that we own.  Again--be careful what you ask for.

We had thought that the garage would be a large enough lay down area for materials.  WRONG.  The backyard is now taking up the slack.  Hopefully, this will be the case only for another couple of weeks.