We got back from Whistler on Tuesday afternoon -- but we've been unable to post to the blog because the cable Internet has been down because of weather and rotten cable. Gary was able to check some e-mail via a (gasp!) dial-up connection (how antiquated!)but it was way too slow to post anything on here. Fortunately Comcast came out and put in the new drop from the street, and Pete Last got the inside connection made so we have TV and Internet again (two days without! so very painful...hard to talk about..)

LOTS of progress! Most obvious was apparent when we drove up. The painters had put the first coat on the garage and it now blends in with the rest of the house. It looks especially attractive we think from the path our neighbors to the north Kim and Mark use to get to their mailbox.


Once we opened the garage door we noticed that the wall between the old and new garage had been removed, and the electrician had gotten a lot of wiring done (with still a lot to go as evident by the spaghetti of wires from the old circuit breaker box that will be junctioned there and then over to the new circuit breaker box over in the new garage. You can see how roomy and big the combined garages will be once it's all done. They still need to do some additional framing to pass inspection and then they'll sheetrock and paint inside.

On the inside of the house the electrician finished up the oven and hanging the pendant lights. This is the LAST AND ONLY picture of these lights you'll see -- we don't like them. It's not the look mind you -- we love the look, but the new "energy efficient" design requires a compact flourescent bulb.
This isn't the problem -- the problem is that no one stocks the light bulb in town, so they have to be special ordered (we did not know this when we bought them), AND the ballast that powers the CF bulbs is faulty on all three lights and they take FOREVER to warm up, IF they warm up at all. Therefore when you flip the switch maybe one light will flicker and then turn off. We flip the switch again and then maybe two lights will flicker and then turn off. A third time we may get one light on but the other two stay off. I feel like I am in front of a slot machine and each flick of the switch is like a pull on the machine. Eventually (usually 12 to 15 tries), all three lights will come to life (Jackpot). So down they'll come and we'll go shopping this weekend for pendelum lights with NORMAL Lightbulbs.

Meanwhile Rob has been busy getting started on the bathroom -- the shower pan is in and the plumbing moved, and he's got a good start on the tile backer board. You can see the new pan is shorter than the old one -- which means we get a "bench" in the shower now. The shower pan is black cast iron -- so none of the "flex" leak problems from the old plastic one. We picked up the new granite vessel sinks too -- they weigh a ton, literally carved out of solid rock. And the best news is that the countertops get delivered on Friday! This should really start to pull the kitchen together.

Finally, the painters got the new front door stained and we think it looks super!