JUNE 27 UPDATE: A key to our castle

The door parts arrived yesterday, and Dave got them installed last night.

It looks quite nice, don't you think? (I said that to Dave, and he said it had better, considering how much it cost.) We also have keys for the front door on our keychains now, which is kind of exciting!

Sofia knocked on her front door with its new handle.

Other than that, Dave was working again on the floor. He finished putting plywood down on this section, and put 1-by-2s on the rest of the center section, all the way to the big windows on the south wall. He won't finish the floor on the eastern third right now -- he's focused on getting the floor finished enough in the center section so he can get started on the stairs.

He talked more with the man who owns the stove store in Mandan (who has been very helpful with all our planning, by the way) and they think they've worked out a plan. This stove guy checked with several other stove dealers in the area, and the way Dave had been planning on installing the stove is the way these other dealers install stoves -- but, he said, technically they should follow the specs given on for the stove. The plan involves installing the kind of cement board I mentioned earlier, and the stove guy said he had ordered some and should have it in at some point next week. Then Dave will go pick up the stove some evening after work -- the stove store owner said he'd be happy to meet Dave even when the store isn't open so he can pick up the stove (and the cement board, and all the chimney parts we need).

We are soon to be spending money again in a big way -- we need to pay the rest of the stove bill (so far we've just put down a deposit). And hopefully, the excavator will be here soon, and we'll have to pay them for putting in the septic tank and field.

The "locators" are all supposed to be here this morning, but so far, only one guy, the water guy, has shown up -- and he said he won't be helpful at all. He only knows where the water line is up to the meter pit, and we're planning on hooking into the water line at a point between the house and the sauna -- far past the meter pit.

The phone guys just arrived -- I don't think their marks are going to be relevant, either, since the phone lines are far from where we're going to need to dig.

I think that means just the electric company is still to arrive.

We still don't know the exact date when the excavator is supposed to show up, but their secretary said this would be just a half-day job for them, and they'll fit it in when they can. She did say they have to get here within two weeks of when the locators are here, or they have to send the locators out again.

Other than that, we've been enjoying some company the past few days -- Dave's grandparents are here from Iowa. They arrived here a little later than they'd planned -- they didn't want to come before they got their soybeans planted, and the planting was delayed by all the rain they received this spring. It was far too wet to plant until just a week or so ago. But others around them were far worse off, they said -- some had planted once and had to replant, and others lost buildings in the storms. At least they should still get a crop.

The corn here is looking good after the heat of the past couple weeks. It might yet get to "knee-high by the Fourth of July." (That's an old saying, of course, as most years the corn is well past that by July 4th, but this year they'll be happy with that -- the cold, wet spring delayed planting here as well.)

I, however, am not doing so well in the heat. The most impressive photo I could post lately is how swollen my feet are, but I'll spare you the image. At least I have a good excuse to put my feet up for a while!