A lot has happened since my last post and I feel like I’m behind since you haven’t seen any pics of our progress in awhile, but I guess it really doesn’t matter. It’s better to see them all at once and just know that we will move in at the end of July (hopefully). I have been trying to record a day-to-day journal of the construction just for us to look back at what happened when and how, but that can get tedious so I’ll zip through the last 14 weeks focusing on the installation timeline and any problems that might have come up. On the next post when the house is completed, I’ll mention the decor selections.
Here’s a little news update about what is going on other than the construction because it feels like we have been running non-stop since February. Neither of our houses in Pampa have sold … yet. There is no rush to sell for Don and Marilyn and it will be nice for them to gradually move at their convenience. Randy and I have leased our house as of July 31st, but will put it back on the market new spring. We didn’t want to be landlords and manage two houses, but we appreciate this opportunity since the housing market is so poor now.
Randy has installed all of the electrical while working full time and officiating a few football scrimmages. He’s gotten a lot of help from Brother Ed, Uncle Steve, Uncle Jerry and Friend Jason and he couldn’t have done it without them. We bought a new hive of bees at the end of April. They have already adjusted to collecting nectar and pollen off of County Road D and they are thriving. At the first of June, Randy’s boss, Aaron, plowed an area for clover and wildflowers near the bees and a garden spot near the house and we’ve planted both. We’ve drilled for water and installed the pump, but the plumber has not prepared it to pump water to the house yet so we haul water and pray for rain. We’re leasing the land to our neighbor, Lance, where he has been rotating sheep and recently added several cow/calf pairs.
Marilyn and I have both had surgery since April AND we went on a week-long trip to New England to visit her brother and sisters. Mine was just gall bladder surgery with a quick recovery, but her’s was a much more serious brain surgery with a longer recovery. She is doing very well and will be back on the mower in no time! We had so much fun in New England, but with no rest and then she had surgery two days after we came home. She is getting lots of care and attention from her daughter, Suzann (who is now living in Canada). She also went on the New England trip, helped her daughter move to Utah and then back to Texas to help Marilyn … whew!
Sometime during all of that Marilyn and I had … excuse me … a big-ass garage sale that kicked both our butts … thankfully we hauled in a lot of cash for our hard work that we spent it in New England!
Okay, I think you are up-to-date so back to the house. Just to recap: it’s a 2,900 square foot ranch-style home on 40 acres east of the loop in Pampa, Texas with a design plan to fit two couples. It is a 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath with an open floor plan for the kitchen, dining and living rooms. One of the bedrooms will be used as an office and another one will be Marilyn’s sewing room. We’ll have to plant some trees, but we are enjoying the view from all directions so much now that it may not be a priority.
Our design, floor plan and decor are natural to the landscape because it fits us and that’s the way we like to live … simply and part of the land. With Jimmy and Amy’s help in design, we think it became a beautiful home and hope you feel welcomed. We’ll have the Lord above us, family and friends around us and good food in the kitchen … we have all we need.
April was a productive month: the framers finished, the exterior doors and windows were installed and the soffit was put on and painted black to match the black composition roof. Randy wired the porches for lighting and fans, the roof, insulation, sheet rock and brick was installed, and concrete for the porches and sidewalks was poured. The water well service drilled, hit water at less than 600 feet in the Ogallala Aquifer and installed the pump.
Exterior doors and windows installed, brick delivered 
Framers finished and electrical work begins 
The roofer was a one-man show – great worker! 
Running the electrical wires throughout the house 
ACME Brick going up … finally decided on “Lancaster”
I searched the colors in nature for the brick … we like it a lot! 
Temporary chains to protect the porch from another wind storm before posts were in place. 
The big bad wind can’t blow it down now 😉 
Getting cozy … foam insulation. 
Drywall and HVAC
Pit for water well drilling 
Is it going to rain? 
Pulling samples of sand and soil to moniter the depth of the well 
Prep for driveway 
Back porch 
A/C pad 
Garage entry poured just before a fiery sunset
Front porch 
Front sidewalk
May was a little less busy, but a lot of work was done on the inside of the house. The sheet rock, tape & bedding, crown & base and texture was completed to get ready for the painters at the end of the month.
Randy installed lighting fixtures and the bathroom and utility room cabinets were installed. The kitchen cabinets also arrived and were ready to be installed, but they were the wrong stain color and we would have to wait another month to get the right cabinets installed in the kitchen. The cultured marble countertops in the bathrooms, the showers and tub enclosure were also completed. The interior doors were delivered, ready for the painters.
Painting 
Texturing 
Bathroom and Utility cabinets 
Interior doors 
Master 1 bath 
Utility with a time capsule in wall where the dryer will go 
Hall to Don & Marilyn’s suite 
Front door 
Kitchen corner with wrong cabinets
Master 1 bath 
JUNE brought more installations that made the house feel more like a home: hardware, interior doors, a garage door ( the single door was the wrong size and had to be re-ordered), more lighting including all recessed lights, exterior lights and pendant lights and more ceiling fans were installed by the owner ;-), the cedar porch posts and A/C was installed, and the LVP flooring arrived and the exterior doors were painted. We’ve had a terrible fly problem and we think it comes from the neighboring sheep herd, but once the A/C was installed we were able to close up the house and that helped a lot. Randy registered us at the post office and put up the mailbox so we’re making the new address official: 12160 CR D, Pampa, TX 79065.
Don & Marilyn’s bedroom 
Master 2 bath 
Four bathroom sinks are all the same 
Dining light fixture 
Office
Office closet 
View to front entry and alcove 
Master 1 bath 
Turquoise sunset from master 1 bedroom
View from hallway: coat closet, front entry & alcove to master 
Master 1 closet 
Living area ceiling fan 
Bath and Utility hardware
It’s official with the post office! 
Finally posts are in place-no more rickety sticks 
Soffit lights are on, but nobody’s home … yet. 
Always amazed by the beautiful skies!
Thanks Uncle Steve for the perfectly placed pendants! 
This turns out to be a stunning selection!
Front door … no doorbell 
Come to the back door … you’ll see us in the kitchen 
Tall Trane … so sweet to have cool air!
UPCOMING in July:
kitchen cabinets * lvp flooring * carpet* more lighting and plumbing fixtures * appliances * countertops * backsplash * septic * running water (finally) * the missing garage door so we can lock up!
We’ll be closing on July 26 … almost one year from when we bought the land and we hope to be completely moved-in by July 28. It will be tight schedule because there is quite a bit of plumbing, septic and clean-up to be done in a week … and we have company coming to Pampa for a wedding in Amarillo on July 27. I’m not through packing, but hell or high water, we’ll make it to the wedding!
Congratulations Haley and Brandon!!!
beehavin' on the prairie 