Camp Metcalf: January 2013

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Just in time - for the AFC Championship

So the one thing that couldn't get damaged got damaged. We ran a 50' HDMI cable through the ceiling (around several corners) to connect our TV, DVD player, sound system, etc. to the receiver beneath the stairs. No boxes, no cables, no nothing visible. Just awesomeness in the form of a giant flat screen and built in speakers. Yeah, well, the arm we bought for the TV was so cool and flexible that it out-reached the HDMI cable and bent the hell out of the connector. Busted. SONOVA&$%(#!

Busted 50' cable end

So we bought another HDMI cable from the same manufacturer and attempted to splice the two together. There were 19 wires, all different sizes and colors, all encased in hard plastic and foil and sheathing. And even though we bought the second HDMI cable from the same manufacturer, when we stripped all the wires back, there were all totally different colors; nothing matched... &$%(.

So began the mapping. First the big cable.

Then the small cable...

Then we started matching them up and connecting using UR telephone splice connectors...

Progress...

And done!

Will it work???

YES!! GO PATRIOTS! (With special thanks to a couple Bronco fans - we forgive you - and for the long-distance consult by JC).

Few more "before the move" pictures::

Light over the stairs

Sink!

Dishwasher and shelves

Storage in the island

New (to us) fridge - she cleaned up alright!

Hood! With external exhaust - novel idea.

The move begins!!

Couple "packing" pictures....

Crawl space emptied. Lotta recreational equipment. Should be fun to use that now that we can see it!

Office "packing..."

The new stools look SNAZZY!

And here is the last step (besides signing the papers): hooking up to the city sewer. Should be done sometime this week if you trust city workers, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, and the word of a couple NZers....

Sewer construction - the tarps on the right have diesel heaters in them trying to melt the frost so they can hook up the last 30' of sewer line to our "out" pipe. C'moooooooooon...........

Saturday, January 19, 2013

So close to the end

The house is almost complete! Richard and Matt have put on the finishing touches inside the house and it looks awesome. The only thing left is our connection to city sewer (this should happen next week). We have started the move. Today we rented a Uhaul truck and moved the majority of our furniture into our new place. In the apartment, it looked like we owned a lot of crap, but here in the new house we can barely fill one room! We are looking forward to signing papers on Friday and making this house our home. Below are a few pictures of our beautiful new place. We will post more once we have furniture in the place.

Looking into the kitchen from the garage

View of the kitchen

Looking into the living room

Richard's feature wall, metal art that you can draw on with chalk!

Living room

Front entry way

TV wall

Powder room

View from front entry

Our cool steps

Looking into living room from front entry

Upstairs hallway and our custom wood hand rail

Master picture window with drapes

Master bath

Tub

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The house warming gift

It's not everyday you receive a housewarming gift that truly warms the house, but today is one of those days. JC mailed an unexpected package to us. We got the box and Alex read out loud the word "fragile." We had no idea what it was! To our surprise it was a leg lamp. So many laughs with my Dad brought this vision to a reality. I love him for his sense of humor and for finding laughter in everyday situations. I am honored to have learned from him. Thank you Dad, I love you.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Lotsa Progress!

Each day is full of lots of progress - some small details, some not so small - so expect some regular posts here as we approach the finale. Here are some pictures!