Monday, September 28, 2020

Movin', Movin', Movin'




Been a busy week at Casa Nueva de juvat.  The "leap of faith" I spoke of last week was for naught.  The glitch in the document generating software at the closing company wasn't a glitch.  It was human error involving the address.  Assigning a GPS specific address to the new house is the responsibility of the On-Site Sewage Facility Administrator.  

Beans, that would be the guy that we have to burn incense in front of so he'll approve an application to install a septic system.  Oh, and that approval costs money (but you knew that!).  

Because the septic is a relatively late part of the construction process and a lot of paperwork is completed very early in the process,  we didn't have a "correct" address for the new house in a lot of the forms we filled out in the beginning, so we were advised to and used our current address at the time.  

When we got the new address, we notified everybody we thought had a need to know.  The builder, and the loan officer.  Well, the closing company never got the word, and it took two weeks for them to look at why the computer was rejecting the application. (As an aside, and as anybody who's ever worked with data knows, the computer ALWAYS tells you what the issue is, the message it uses to tell you may be hard to decipher and find the specific incorrect data, but it can be done.  You may have to actually put some effort into the process though. An error message of  "address incorrect" shouldn't be that hard though.)

Been quite a bit of finger pointing going on in the financial world in our little burg.  Meanwhile, the end of the month is rapidly approaching, at which point, we will have to pay rent on the new house for October.

But...Tuesday rolled around, the boys from the moving company showed up on time.  A little over a thousand dollars and 3.5 hours later, our stuff is in the new house.  First priority was putting together the bed and figuring out how to turn on the oven to cook the pizza.  A nice Malbec from Argentina rounded out the first dinner in the place.

The rest of the week has been unpacking boxes, some of which have been sealed since we first moved into la vieja casa de juvat twenty years ago.  Most of the stuff in them went directly to St Vinnies or the trash, because if we haven't needed it in twenty years...

But there were a few treasures that have been resuscitated.

A collage my Mom made for me, probably for Christmas 1980.  Top Center is my first flight in the mighty Tweet (T-37), below that is Dad administering my commissioning oath.  Below that on the right is me exiting the dunking pool after my first solo in the Tweet. To its left is a snowball fight outside the 80TFS (THE Juvats) building in early 1980. Bottom right corner is me playing pinball at the Kunsan O'Club.  I'm pretty sure it's Christmas 1980 as I had PCS'd home in early December of that year and spent Christmas with them.  After New Years, I reported in at Moody and met my Wife that day.  She's not in any of the above pictures.  Therefore...

 

Note the perfect fingertip formation in the top right.

My office is down to 3 boxes to be unpacked.  One is probably going to be tossed in the trash, another is waiting on some shelves to be put up.  One simply must chronicle one's military career, by displaying the unit coffee cup for each of one's assignments.  Picture to follow at a later date.

The last box is all the unfiled photos taken since Mrs J's arrival on the scene.  Got to go through them, cull some, and sort the rest into the appropriate preservation boxes e.g. pictures of Little Juvat, pictures of MBD, Family shots etc.  Adding some historic content on the back would probably be a good thing also.  Hasn't been done as of yet, because...Time.  Running out of validity for that excuse.

I've gotten pretty good at hanging curtains.  One of the things we love about the new house is its openness and the amount of light that comes in.  It is also very well insulated, however, around 3PM sitting in the dining room can get a tad warm.  So curtains are nice.

Did I mention the backyard Firepit was completed yesterday?  Mason recommended 3 week curing period before the first fire.  Mid-October should be cool enough to warrant one.


View from the Kitchen.

Still haven't gotten the large screen TV, but our Refrigerator and Washer and Dryer should arrive on Tuesday.  The Beer Refrigerator has been doing yeoman's work keeping the victuals cold.  It did request relief to return to duty as the beer and wine fridge only.  It is pretty old.

 

Great room from front entrance looking out at backyard and firepit

The next phase of the project is to screen in that back porch and add the petio (Patio for Pets aka "Petio") to the left.  Basically the view out the dining room window will be through the petio out to the back yard.  That will allow us to put a pet door through the wall which will allow the cats (and dogs) to go out at night, while still remaining safe.  A unexpected benefit of that will be uninterrupted sleep for Mrs J and I vs having to get up at Oh-dark-thirty and let them out.  

They are VERY vocal about that request.  I've heard quieter alert klaxon's.

And the following basically sums up my progress through the last few days.


This has been my "Honey-Do" combat station.  I start the day with the coffee maker on the left, progress through the day making tools useful and end it with a bit of Bruichladdich (Brew-Kuh-law'-dick, roll the first syllable) for to assist in sleeping through feline alert klaxons.

Front entrance is storage for emptied boxes.  The recycling guys are going to just "LOVE" us!

 

We have high hopes to take a bit of a vacation for Mrs J's birthday the end of October, meeting MBD and SIL at Lost Pines Resort near Bastrop.  Should be fun.

Peace to y'all and try and keep calm,  November 3rd will arrive pretty soon, here's hoping praying that both sides accept the outcome like completely peaceful adults.

 


33 comments:

  1. I didn't need to play the Rawhide video. As soon as I looked at the title the theme song music started playing in my head.

    The rooms look very nice.

    Best of luck.

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    1. Thanks John. Yeah, took a while for it to stop playing also. Although I could have swore the lyrics were "Movin, Movin, Movin" it kinda rocked my world when it played "Rollin, Rollin, Rollin". Memory is a screwy thing.

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  2. I also had the tune running in my head, including the snap of the whip. Memory is an amazing thing, hadn't thought of the song in years.
    Glad things are finally coming together for you - looking forward to Petio pics. And news the closing is finalized finally!
    Nice collage! Met a young man at the range yesterday that just transferred from I forget where to Seymour Johnson AFBn - echo model Eagle driver who looks just out of high school to me - well, OK, he looked a bit older than that - but not older than a sophomore in college!

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    1. Unfortunately, I'm not positive the closing really IS finalized. They (bank and closers) have only figured out what THAT problem was. Hoping to hear today when closing actually is.

      When I turned 65, my ID expired and I had to go to Kelly AFB to get it renewed. For those that don't know, that's one of the places the military has basic training. Those folks ARE just out of high school, but look younger than that. Seeing them in uniform made me proud and jealous. Wish I could do it again.

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  3. Ya......that music sure brought the memories flooding back, back when Clint actually spoke complete sentences. Nice views out those windows, can see the zombies coming for a fur piece. Aaah.... two photos up from the big pup photo.....red short shorts?!? well, it was 1980 or the 70's......:) La Casa is looking good juvat.

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    1. That would be my younger brother. He and my sister (who lives on the property with us now) were big tennis players back in the day. She even went pro for a while.

      Thanks.

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  4. Good memories of difficult times...listening to converters fly over the house, and T-38's as well.

    The house looks really nice. That card board makes a great back stop. Pick some of those tires laying along the highway, stack them out back and fill with sand. Target practice out the back door is a hoot.... trust me.....

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    1. Yeah, living on Webb AFB you got used to the jet noise over head. I think the Tweets must have used the outside runway as their primary as I don't remember them over head very often. T-38's and the F-104s overhead always got me to stop and take a look.

      Thanks, good point. I've got a nice, large, usually dry, stock pond whose berms make great backstops. The cattle rancher who owns the property behind the Casa, might take umbrage at shots headed that way. But a skunk in the back yard is fair game. And a not unheard of situation.

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  5. I would have chosen the " blues Bros" version. Looking good.

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    1. Yeah, I considered that one also, but it was a bit long for an intro. Besides, I was a big fan of Rawhide as a kid so the video brought back memories.

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  6. Man, the collage got to me. We were airmen once, and young. (To steal a great line from the Army.)

    The place is coming together, snags here and there are to be expected (though definitely unwanted), you'll be a going concern in no time.

    Thanks, as ever, for the weekly update. Great pics too.

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    1. Yeah, I had hair back then! Oh, to be an operational fighter pilot assigned about 100 miles from the godless commies again, would be great...I think.

      Mrs J has decreed that we will work on the new house this week getting things unpacked and in place, then take some time off and do something fun. Thank You, Lord!

      So, maybe, just maybe, something different next week.

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  7. It is never done until the paperwork is really and truly signed. Ugh. Having never built a house from scratch, I did not even think about potential addresses, but will file that away.

    The Great Room looks amazing.

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    1. Thanks, nor did we, for the exact same reason. The problem was exacerbated by the bank assigning the loan to their refinance division instead of their new home division. Tilson fronts the money for construction rather than forcing us to get construction loans, so technically it IS a refinance, however, in a refinance, we would normally be in the house paying the mortgage so a closing date isn't all that important. That was not the case here and Tilson would like to get paid (hard to believe). So we're getting down to the wire on time.

      Thanks, Yeah, we like it pretty well also.

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  8. Soooo.... I take it you have a functioning septic system now, and the issue was just the exact global coordinates? (Visions of sewage lagoons come floating into my head.)

    Glad most of the rest of the stupidity is over.

    Mayhaps when shopping for a tv you can also shop for the Beer Fridge's replacement? Those things get finicky and don't like moving once they get old.

    Other than that, I think the suggestion by your wife of a week off is an excellent idea. Make sure you have that new tv by then...

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    1. Well...we do have a functioning septic and a GPS address (probably entered into numerous commie missile guidance systems already).

      Rest of the stupidity over? I think not. Still no date on closing as of about a half hour ago. The probability of something postal happening is increasing geometrically as the EOM gets closer.

      New Beer Fridge....Good Idea! I like the way you think, Beans!

      I think I may suggest a little road trip, maybe an overnight somewhere. Out to the west, where the Austin stupidity has had enough distance to have dissipated a bit.

      Yep! That's the ticket!

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  9. Hey Juvat, when's the next date/time you are gonna be in Fredricksburg? Trying to coordinate a little housewarming gift at Western Beverage. regards, Alemaster

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    1. You pick a time, it's only about 10 minutes away. You going to be there?

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  10. No Sir, just a little Kentucky style HWG. If you could PM me, I'll send confirmation details. flurme11@gmail.com. regards, Alemaster

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  11. Juvat, Casa Juvat looks great! Looks like you and Mrs Juvat are getting comfortably into the house. Congratulations!

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    1. P.S. -- We had similar address difficulties. The builder got the local 911 Administrator to assign a new address. When we found out we got it changed to our current with a "B" at the end. However it took quite a while to get it all straightened out.

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  12. Ok, so the collage needs to be framed and hung somewhere in the new house! What a wonderful record of great memories!! And, yes, the place looks great! I love those pumpkin dudes on the table in the living room.

    Somehow I think that if the Mrs. gives you a week off, you are going to want to go check out a winery or distillery for some MUCH needed refreshment of the spirit. :) All in the spirit of being able to tell us, your devoted readers, important places not to miss if we ever get to Texas. AmIright??

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    1. I certainly hope so, Suz. And now that we have room, as someone once said, "C'mon Down!"

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    1. Thanks, Murph. Glad to hear from you, was getting a bit concerned about you.

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  14. Day late, but congrats to moving (forward), and getting the paperwork done! That's ALWAYS the PITA anytime you close, regardless of how many people review it.

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    1. Agree 100% with Old_NFO! This is the second house I was involved with buying, and my Sweet Little Wife shepherded it all the way through.

      I can't imagine all the **additional** stuff required when it's new construction....

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    2. Just got a text saying the Noon appointment for closing today has been pushed back til 4 maybe 5. Today is the last day we can close at no cost to us. Tomorrow we owe Tilson rent. To say I'm not happy, would be the understatement of the millennia.

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  15. Dr Jim,
    Yeah, I think that's the issue. The F'in Title company in all their wisdom decided that this was a refinance and sent it to that department instead of a new purchase. I even showed them the letter from Tilson saying it specifically should NOT be a refinance. But, as usual, they know better. If and when the closing is signed today. I intend to show them the letter again. With the word dummass added.

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  16. I have enjoyed following the trials and tribulations of your new build home ownership. Glad it's nearly complete. One piece of advice I'd offer is to have a notebook that lists each household change, upgrade, and maintenance effort you take over the years. So when you need to know when something was done, you have a diary of it.

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