Ranch House Update

Suna couldn’t wait to show me this racoon print in the mud. They do love water, and we do live in the country. “This strange creature has engulfed Daddy’s foot. Must. Get. It. Off.”

The cabinet doors really dress up the kitchen—that and cleaning it. Now all we need is glass for the center doors. Raul continues to make progress rocking the house. While everyone else was working, I moved dirt around. We have a lot of dirt.

This house isn’t indicative of my wealth. This house is my wealth.

—Danny Thomas [and me]

We continue making slow progress on the ranch house. Ruben continues his contractory behaviors of not showing up when he says he’s going to, but he does eventually show up.

I’m beginning to think that paying as we go on this house was a mistake. It makes mid-steam changes too easy. It also makes tracking time and expenditures to the original budget difficult, if not nearly impossible.

I know what Danny Thomas felt like when he talked on The Tonight Show about a fancy house he had built. He said, “This house isn’t indicative of my wealth. This house is my wealth.” The ranch house is quickly consuming resources to the point where that’s a true statement.

The cabinet doors are now all in. Ruben has been tying up loose ends and touch ups. Raul continues working on the rock. We’ve cleaned up a lot of the construction debris. We put all of the excess drywall where I will haul in a few loads of road base to make the driveway circular—it’s gypsum, after all. And finally, I’ve been moving dirt around to level the yard and ease the slope off the back porch.