Final Walkthrough - Near the end!

Almost to the finish line. Carrie and I gassed up, loaded cars, and headed back to Scottsville again today.

Both cars were packed to the gills.

We picked up a U-Haul trailer so that Carrie could pick up some gates for the yard. The trailer had the funkiest, heaviest duty connection I've seen on a U-Haul.

Unfortunately, there hadn't been a U-Haul dealership near the Tractor Supply we needed to go to. It wasn't a deal breaker, but it would have been more convenient. Carrie (obviously) drove the truck and I played chase car to keep people off her back and assist with lane changes as needed.

"You'll shoot your eye out, kid."

The gates were longer than the trailer and Carrie had a single, heart-stop moment before I said, "Put them in diagonal."

It was good to see the barn crew actually at work. They were making a lot of progress on the roof.

It had to be killer hot up there. The roof is metal and designed to reflect heat...up. Straight back up where they were standing. I was sweating just being outside. 

I saw Scott in person for the first time. I found it odd/interesting that he sat in the truck the whole time while the Amish guys and another hired hand worked. 

The crew left once the roof was done a little before 2 PM. They said it was too hot and cleared out.

So far, Carrie's had no complaints about the quality of their work. It's the pace. There have been some unavoidable setbacks (rain, an injury, etc), but they seem to come out only a few days a week and for a limited amount of time. Scott seems to tell you whatever you want to hear, but nothing changes. 

This guy was incredibly cute, though. His name was Diesel.

A pair of guys came out that Carrie contacted about mowing the fence-line to help construction. It sounds like they're also going to run the electric fence wires for us. "The motto is: Zap the crap out of them if they touch it," Carrie said. That got some laughs. "Yes ma'am. Zap the crap!"

When our outside business was concluded, we went inside to talk to Bobby and hold the final walk-through.

We were treated to a story of how difficult our fridge was to get in the house. Bobby had scheduled fifteen minutes to get it installed, but it had taken over an hour. They had to remove the doors and bring it around front when it wouldn't fit through the garage! Then they had trouble getting it into the kitchen before they could reassemble it.

Carrie and Bobby chatted happily and stuck blue painters tape on anything he or she noticed. Bobby showed us how the shower worked and Carrie chortled with glee.

I got to be a little useful by putting batteries into the fan remotes. I took a bunch of pictures to document things in case we needed to look back later.

Bobby took us through the whole house and let Carrie stick her head up in the attic. She reported it was hot and I waived my right to pop up next.

"It looked like you were trying to edge out some garden beds," Carrie said.

"No, ma'am. That was from our dolly sinking into the ground trying to get the fridge inside," Bobby replied!

He wasn't kidding about it being heavy. It left a trench! 

We were surprised to find that a section of siding had fallen off when we rounded to the front. Bobby said that the topmost siding has to be anchored properly and someone screwed up. That went on the list to fix and he made a call.

After the walk-through, Carrie and I drove down to the arena and unloaded all the gates. She strategically placed them where she wanted them post-construction.

We went back inside to relax in the AC and Carrie plopped down on the floor. Then she started to laugh. I thought she might have finally cracked under the pressure, but she made me lie down next to her and look up.

Fan blades are reversible, so it's an incredibly easy fix. Just funny!

Bobby had left us a bunch of keys for the new house. I pulled off my old kitty key and took a picture to memorialize it.

We left the Volvo in the garage and drove back together in the truck. That would enable us to drive the truck and the Subaru the next time we came into town on Monday to move-in. I noticed a strange sound as we neared the U-Haul dealership, though.

After we unhooked, the truck was still producing an ominous sound. Our fact finding pointed out a failing wheel bearing, but we wouldn't know for sure until we took the truck to a shop. Since it was the weekend, nobody was open. The Richmond Dodge dealership said they could look at the truck on Tuesday.

It was a bummer to end the day on, but we'll figure something out. The truck seems to have been nothing but a project ever since we've bought it.

We're two steps closer and one step back to moving in. Overall, progress!