Week Twenty Four

Don was back out, and we got more nitpicking.	"$120 re-inspect fee." Don's a grumpy guy.
	Don was back out and didn't like more stuff. This is the yellow copy of the inspection: 1. Fire stop at chase by entry. 2. Fire stop at bathtub wall. 3. Incorrect use of electric box - out side of west wall and east wall of ground nails [?]. 4. Leak at ABS by scuttle [?] hole. 5. Protect any non I.C. rated can from insulation. 6. ABS leaking downstairs. 7. Any wood used for bottom plate must be treated. 8. w/c flange downstairs. 9. At new hanger for 4x6 above stairs - use all holes per Simpson spects 10. Double blocking at attic access is needed. 11. [Blank]
	ABS is the black waste pipe. Item 7 refers to a downstairs leak. Although you can't see the water dripping from the pipe joints in the picture to the left, here's what it looks like on the floor of the master bath as it drips.
	I'm assuming this is the "scuttle" hole Don is talking about. This will smell bad if it leaks.
Here's an underexposed shot of Leisa walking down the stairs.	One of Don's complaints was the headroom under the stairs. Bob redesigned the stairway. Those are his plans, on which I'm bumping my head. Just a few short weeks ago, I was bumping my head on a beam, instead. Now, there's nothing but headroom!
Tony, the plumber, has been steadily roughing in the plumbing. This is the master bath. The shower enclosure is glass block, so the handle is at the opposite end from the shower head. That way, I can turn on the shower without standing in it, freezing until the water warms up.
	By the end of the week, we had a driveway.
	Mark also started pouring the supports for the carport columns. That look of concern on Leisa's face is because she doesn't like the driveway strips. "I'll never be able to back down them," she frets. I retort. "If the car is pointed straight up the strip, you are also pointed straight down the strip. You don't even need to steer." This falls upon deaf ears, though, and she insists she's going to park the car on the street.
	Under the category of miscellaneous stuff, as part of the rough plumbing, Tony put a hose bib at the northwest corner of the house. Disconnecting the plumbing to the original house also disconnected the hose bib out front. I was worried about that. Here's a new one.
On Saturday, I had a cordial visit from the Phoenix Police Department. My friend Clyde was visiting from Yuma, and we ran by the house at about 1pm on Saturday so I could give him a tour. I opened the front door, and we moved from old to new. As I wandered into the new construction, I noticed someone sleeping on the floor of Brittany's bedroom. I shouted at him, asking what he was doing there. At the same time, I pulled out my cell phone and called 911. I told the vagrant that I was calling the cops, and that I was going to have him escorted from the premises. He groggily told me that he could escort himself. He unlocked the back door and started down the alley. I followed. As I followed, the 911 operator was asking me for a description. Since I was only about 15 feet from him, it was an easy thing to provide. "6'1" brownish-black hair, glasses, Diamondbacks t-shirt, light blue denim jeans, heading east down the alley." When he got to 15th Avenue, he started running, and ran down Culver Street. I walked back to the house. The cops showed up about a minute later. Clyde thought the female cops were cute, and was trying to establish a dialog with them, to no avail. On Monday, Mark sealed shut the windows through which we think the vagrant entered. There had been some previous suspicion that bums were sleeping in the house. Chris said the dining room window was often open, and that after they showed up in the morning, one of the doors would be open, too. I guess that the most disappointing, discouraging thing is that there was some wine in the house. It was a gewürztraminer that I made a year or two ago. When I moved my stuff out several months ago, I ran out of room on the truck for the several bottles that had been in the cellar for a while. I left them at the house, and when I stumbled across this guy on Saturday, he had an open bottle of my wine next to him. It was untouched. I take this as a comment on my abilities as a winemaker. My wine is so bad, that not even homeless guys will drink it. For free. I was later told that Ernie also sampled it. Four words and a hyphen: Danny Thomas spit-take. Ernie sprayed the wine from his mouth and ran to his forty of Miller to wash the wretched taste from his lips. I can't wait until the security system and block wall are both in and functional. I almost forgot. I spent $5,500 at Home Depot this week on cabinets. That was quite a blow to the savings account. I'll update the Burn Rate soon. And we have to buy a granite countertop in the recent future, too. That's another $3,000 or so.