G.W. Builds

Probably the slowest and most unresponsive monopoly I've ever dealt with is Southern California Edison - the local Power Company. I applied for temp power in late August and finally got it yesterday - and I've been doing follow-up phone calls along the way.
Anyway, now I'm self sufficient for power. I've been buying power from the neighbor up to now. They've been very nice and helpful.

The sheetrock is being finished now and should be ready for texture around wednesday.

Here's a photo of my house (on the left with the light stucco) and Charlie's house next to it with the lathe on and ready for stucco. Note Charlie's great roofing job - which he did himself.

Jan came to visit for a long weekend. It was great to see her - since I had not seen her in 3 weeks.

The Last Coat of Stucco was done today. It's the one with the color. The color is Pacific Sand.



It's not pink - like this photo looks. It's just a 'sand' color. The pink in the photo is from the setting sun.


Also, here's another photo of Kent for his mom.

I've been so tired at the end of the day, that I didn't want to take the time to add to the blog. Sheetrock is hung. I should get inspection on it today and we can start taping and finishing it on monday when Dale returns. I'll put up photos of it soon.

Jan comes to visit for 4 days starting today. I haven't seen her in 3 weeks. We'll probably work while she's here, but take off on Sunday and find something to do.

I haven't mentioned that Kent - Dale's son has come to help Dale on his house for a few months. Kent is a great guy and he told me yesterday that his mom wants me to put some photos of him on the blog, so from time to time - I'll put up a photo of Kent.

We started off working on sheetrock in my house, but after checking the forecast and realizing it was going to possibly rain on Saturday, we moved over to Charlie's house to work on his roofing.

Photos:
Dale's house from the roof of Charlie's.


Sunset friday.

We've been sheetrocking for the last few days. I'm writing this on thursday and I THINK we will be done friday night. Here's some photos of the interior before sheetrocking. I'll take more after we're done hanging.

Today, I decided to take most of the day off. I worked a couple of hours this morning, but then took Dale up on his offer for me to take his on/off road motorcycle for a ride. I decided to head to the mountains that are about 10 miles NW of Cal City. I found 'jawbone' road on the map and set out to find it on the 1:1 scale map as well. Some of the riding was challenging, but the view was incredible. I got almost to the peak of a local range which was located between 5000 and 6000 feet.

ME AND DALE'S BIKE


HONDA TEST TRACK IN THE VALLEY


ABANDONED MINE NEAR TOP OF THE RANGE


END OF THE ROAD

I can't believe these guys. Dale, JB and Charles all pitched in and bought me the new Milwaukee V28 tool set!! That's a BIG deal. These tools are $800 for the set and they're the most incredible cordless tools you've ever seen. They provide 28 volts at the weight of 18 volts by using Lithiom Ion battery technology. These guys have already had their own sets of these tools and everytime I use theirs I make a big deal about how they are the most awesome tools ever invented. I couldn't justify getting a set for myself because I have a very complete set of Ryobi 18v. What a great and nice things these guys did. Super guys.

Jan and I met in Vegas on Saturday evening for New Year's Eve and she was back at the airport on Sunday morning to head home. It was a short trip, but it was fun.
Photo is of Jan in front of New York, New York Hotel and Casino

I got back to Cal CIty on Wednesday morning after Christmas at 3:30am. It was a long day!! I'm glad I returned instead of staying back in FL waiting for New Years. I was able to get a lot done in the 3 days before going to Las Vegas to meet Jan for New Year's Eve. Here's what's been going on:

Electrical Done
I was introduced to a nice fellow named Brian who works for an electrican. Brian wires houses. He was out of work for the week due to it being a holiday and was wanting to pick up some extra$$. He finished the electrical rough in on Saturday morning

Some Welcome Help
A nice fellow named Dave came to JB's work site and was looking for work. I hired him to help me with general work. Dave's a finish carpenter who is handy and was a great help so far and will be in the near future as well. The photo is of him and the fireplace 'chimney' surround he built on Friday.

Stucco first Coat
The Stucco guys put the first coat (called the scratch coat) of Stucco on. It takes 3 coats and they won't put the second one on until after the sheet rock is up inside the house.