Strawberry picking we will go

Well, our moving date has officially been moved back to the end of June...somewhere around the 25th or 26th. I'm very disappointed, but not surprised. I'm trying to think of the positive aspects of this new revelation, and I've come up with a few:

-J has a couple of extra weeks to practice bike riding on flat ground

-I will now have time to go pick strawberries at Simon's Farm, make jam, and freeze some berries

-I'll have 2 more weeks to be right next door to the Farmer's Market

Today, at the house, they finished laying tile in the Master Bathroom shower.

This crown molding in the Master Bedroom tray ceiling will hold indirect lighting.

The shelving in the Master Bedroom closet is started.

The Library bookshelves are stained and sealed and drying out on the porch.

The pocket doors are installed in the girls' rooms. Look, it can be one room...

...or two!

I signed the girls up for swimming lessons in July. Summer...here we come!

If there is a front door, we can move in...right?

Oh yeah! We have a front door! Of course, none of the doors have any door knobs yet, but they are there...hooray!

In addition, the siding is completed on the front of the house

and the driveway side.

The ceilings are finished. This is in the master bedroom, showing the finished ceiling against the tray. The tray will eventually have faux tin tiles (I think).

The great room, kitchen and dining room will have wood ceilings. They have been working on staining the wood.

They have also been painting trim in a buff color.

The well man finished connecting the well to the holding tank to the house.

Now he is working on digging a hole for the (much smaller) rain water cistern. This water will be used for watering the garden and washing cars, etc. Or we could use it for a swimming pool!

The builder is working on installing our on demand water heater. He tells us that we are the "greenest" clients that he has ever worked with. We are still sad that many of the "green" things that we hoped to incorporate were too expensive to seriously consider.

Some seedlings are sprouting in the pig garden, despite the nasty horse hooves.

More Early Spring

Yesterday we trekked out to the hill to return the window and shingle samples that have been cluttering up our apartment all week (and stick 2 boxes of J's old school books in the garage). The driveway was a mess since it was warm all week. I wonder what it will be like in April when it's warm AND raining? Yikes.

They have installed the mechanisms for 3 pocket doors upstairs, in the Study, Pantry, and this one in the Master Bath. We really had to think through the space while looking at the blue prints to figure out where we would not want a regular door.

The tray ceilings in the Study and Master Bed Room are being refined.

They have been doing a lot of digging. There is a trench from the house all the way over to the driveway, past the well. Also, there are a couple dug in the basement. This one is in the Girls' Bathroom/Room.

After inspecting everything, we headed off in a different direction than last week for another hike. We caught this glimpse of our old property on the way.

This time we followed the 4 wheeler trail, so the going was easier. We heard the stirrings of lots of creatures, and the strange cry of an unknown bird. We attempted to walk quietly through the dried leaves, but the idea of stealth was lost on L, who decided to sing at the top of her lungs. That is, until she got cold, then she whined until the van was in sight once again.