One foot in front of the other and on we go

Well now, where were we before I got distracted?

Oh yeah, building a house.

The house is intact, looks much as it did before, and we are still not in it, because those last details take Forever.

Not to complain or anything, because in truth, we do keep moving along, interrupted now and then by little things like needing to replace the water pump in the trailer, but generally making steady, if slow, progress.

Ok, fine, I'm complaining, but only a smidgeon.

We have electricity now, and lights, and today DH used said electricity to put lights on a medium-size Christmas tree growing by the driveway. It's a very pretty Christmas tree and looks beautifully festive. Maybe tomorrow I'll manage to add a picture of it. He also draped the lights up along the staircase because I had mentioned wanting a baluster to drape lights and greenery on.

We also have stacks of Douglas fir flooring wood sitting about in the way, awaiting installation. Some of it is upstairs, more or less out of the way. The upstairs is also full of boxes that used to live in a storage unit, and we are possessed of some very sore muscles from carrying them all up the stairs, which required approximately 10,000 trips, some of them carrying very heavy loads. What kind of lunatics have that many books?!

At some point the cookware and all of the cookbooks are going to have to be carried back down the stairs, but DH refused my suggestion that they therefore remain downstairs in the first place. He said they would be in the way. My aching calves and arm muscles said they did not care, but they lost the argument. They lost the argument with the stairs, too, and my calves are still informing me of  their complaints. The book boxes were packed by idiots who apparently thought someone else would be carrying them, so a number of them were unmanageably heavy, a problem I dealt with by rolling them up the stairs like very unwieldy boulders.

I also was reminded of the fact that, although we are possessed of enough books to stock a small store, numerous sewing machines (Why??? Were we also planning to open a sewing machine store?), and boxes of fabric, we are not possessed of any living room furniture, or a bed, because we got rid of those items. Because we're practical like that.

In other developments, the water pipe is (mostly) in, and we have electricity to the well, but not yet water to the house.

And we're still trying to figure out whether and how to treat the water, because it:

1. Has a pH level of 5.5

2. Is hard water

3. Contains iron

4. Contains iron-eating bacteria that are really disgusting.

Each of these issues requires a different treatment system, naturally.

We tried sampling the untreated water. In a word, ick. Interestingly, after we let it sit out for 24 hours, the taste improved. It did not taste Good, but it tasted much less Bad, and more neutral. Which is something, at least.

In other news, we bought the rest of the oak for the front door (a space currently occupied by a charmingly rustic piece of plywood) from the local sustainable wood place just a bit down the road, and tomorrow DH plans to commence with the building of the door. It will be a charming, attractive and sturdy door, the design of which he's been working on for weeks, and he is very excited.

What other small details remain?

Only small things.

Like installing the radiant heat flooring in the bathroom, installing the tile floor in the bathroom, installing the toilet, stripping, refinishing and installing the tub, locating and installing a vanity, building and installing the kitchen cabinets, installing the appliances... So, we oughta be done in a couple of weeks easy, no?

No?

Damn. Well. Onward.