It's Thursday morning. I spent all day yesterday at the house. Had to meet the sod guys at 8:00 and the propane tank man from Able Propane. Still no baby-Les had contractions early Wednesday morning from 2:00-6:00 but then her labor stopped so we're still waiting. I have complete faith that God is orchestrating all of this and it will turn out perfectly!--How's that for stepping out in faith?!
Tom, the propane guy, announced to me that the concrete pad was too close to the garage and he couldn't put the tank there. I asked him what our options were and he said he could set it up on concrete blocks and then come back and move it if/when they poured a new pad. I said okay and called Teri to report. She checked with Mike and called me back to let me know that Mike was in a meeting but would be coming out to the house as soon as he got done at 9:00. Said he'd never had any trouble before and wanted to talk to the propane tank man. I told Teri he could talk till he was blue in the face but it was real obvious this guy was NOT changing his mind. Oh, I forgot to mention, he's a yankee to boot.
Meanwhile the sod guys had arrived along with 20 pallets of St. Augustine and another 10 pallets to come around 1:00. I did a walk-around with Charles Blacklak and showed him the areas outlined in lime. I had marked off flowerbeds last Sunday when D and I were out at the house. He and his crew went to work.
Mike arrived while I was talking to Charles and when I finally was able to join him, he and Tom had completed their conversation. Mike said, "How about we just leave the existing pad and you can use it to stack firewood and we'll just pour you another pad around the concrete blocks?" I told him that sounded good to me and it seemed that everyone was satisfied (especially the yankee). Then our builder spotted the fork lift that Charles and crew were using to move the sod. Mike made a beeline to the sod guys and asked, "Who's in charge of this operation?" Charles replied, "I am." "How much weight will that fork life handle?" Mike asked him. "Don't know sir," Charles replied. "Well bring it around back and let's find out," Mike asked him. Next thing I knew, Charles had lifted the existing concrete pad and placed it neatly down exactly 10 feet from the garage! More than one way to skin a cat. I went straight to the Gems office and told Mary she had the smartest son in the whole wide world! "I hope you didn't tell him that," she said, "His head will be so swelled he won't be able to get in the door."
I was back and forth most of the day keeping an eye on the sod and my flower beds. Polo has finished the tile in the upstairs baths and in the master. It looks super. I was surprised at the color in the master--more rust color than I thought but it works fine with the wallpaper. Just different from the sample. The main thing is it's not going to show every speck of dust which was the main objective. Oh, he's also installed Maite's handpainted tiles in the back splash in the kitchen. They are just wonderful. Hope we can get her out this weekend to see her handy work.
The kitchen wallpaper is up finally! It is wonderful. Mike said, "I never in a 100 years would have picked this pattern off the shelf but it really works in this room. The room is big enough to handle it." He's right. The paper is very busy-lots of wildflowers on a mottled mustard background. I was kinda worried about it but with the 10 foot ceilings, it turned out just fine.
D and I went out yesterday afternoon to water the grass. I was so excited to see his face when we turned the corner on Cajun Way and instead of seeing the brown dirt that we've been seeing, there was green lawn! It changes the whole feeling of the lot. I am amazed. I think the neatest thing is the contours of the lot are really defined as are the trees. They just pop out. D immediately took off for Lowes to buy hoses and sprinklers. Just after he left, a van I didn't recognize pulled up in the drive. I had the pleasure of meeting Roy and Lucy Fuentes and their adorable 3-year-old, Karianna, and Caleb who is just 6 weeks. Roy and Lucy have a lot on Oleander and are just beginning to investigate building a home. They had talked with Mary at Gems who told them about our house in Plantation. I had a great visit with them loving(of course ;-) ) any chance to show off the house and tell anyone who will listen what a super job Gems has done for us. They're just the best--no doubt about it.
D got back from Lowes and turned on the water. Dwayne and Linda came out and we sat on the porches watching the sprinklers and talked with them until dark. Just as dusk was creeping in, Linda and I at the very same time spotted something that we haven't seen in a very long time--fireflies! We were just gabbing away and looking off toward the woodline when we both said, "Look, lightening bugs!" And soon they were twinkling all over the back yard. Oh dear Lord what a gift you have given us!
