Sarge

Here is a sweet, young English Setter boy, Sarge.  He was about 3-4 months old. He had a two day trip to a foster home helped from Birmingham Al to Columbia MD from a variety of volunteers. I drove down to South Hill to pick him up and delivered him to exit 104 on 95 for the balance of his trek northward. 

It has been so long since I've seen an ES puppy.  He was about the same age as when we got Lucy (my avatar).  He was a jaunty little boy looking for things to chew on.  Thankfully I had a rope pull, and his 'stuff' had rawhide chews in it.

He was curious and took a little while to settle down.  I gave him a one handed body massage which resulted in his finally




settling down and going to sleep.  He was well mannered, and did his #1 and #2 outside of the car.  I did a transport no-no and fed him in route.  His insatiable chewing and restlessness made me think that he was hungry.  He was after all a puppy.

It was a lovely day to drive.  I met Iggy and his wife down in South Hill.  They are internet friends (who I met through Slope of Hope) who I asked if they could lend a hand when it looked like the run would not fill for the NC - VA leg.  Iggy said yes without hesitation.  He and his wife have helped these setters out before, and became involved with dog rescue.  I'm grateful for their generosity.  It was truly good to see them both.

On the northbound end of my trip, David was taking the northbound run.  Coming out of Alexandria and coming down to Richmond is tough traffic!  He got caught in standstill I-95 traffic.  I drove 20 miles further north than our appointed stop.  There was no sense in sitting and waiting when I could be driving...and we stayed on time.  It was wonderful to meet him---and Sarge happily went with him.  Later on that evening, Sarge ended in his foster home.

It felt good to help the little guy along the way.














Stuff

I've been busy with client work and my RL home project.  My SR project remains on the market. With quick sales on my other two projects, this one languishing.  I've been reducing the price--I think that the initial guidance that I was given was too high.   It is a good lesson in being more judicious in price setting.  I need to sell my SR project before I buy another as I have a fair amount of money tied up in two projects. 
The RL project is progressing nicely.  The window in the picture to the left was a 4 week lead time from the Anderson factory.  It is a key component of the master bedroom expansion where we reclaimed a screened porch for additional bedroom space.

When 'it' arrived, my contractor called leading off with the dreaded, "I've got bad news."  All sphincters seized up.... "They ordered the wrong window. The size is wrong.  The color is wrong."  Well, I knew that 'they' (meaning the builder supply) did not order the wrong window, because due to the lead times and my belief that customers need to check what their suppliers are doing, I had reviewed the order carefully.    Accordingly, I knew that it was not an order mistake, but a delivery mistake on someone's part.

A bustle of activity--checking, calling, fussing, etc.--yielded the conclusion that the mistake was not on the part of our supplier, but by Anderson.   A misplaced sticker on our window and a Tennessee-bound window produced windows switched at birth.  I was in unwelcome possession of the Tennessean window and the same for them except it was a Virginian window.  An expensive mistake for the factory, and for me--tick!  tock!  Time is money.

Thankfully the mistake was a sticker v. a manufacturing error.  Both windows were switched, and it is now installed safely.  It was pouring down raining when it was installed and it took 6 people to set it in place.  All the sphincters were clenched again.  I could envision my window slipping through the wet grasps of guys on ladders and hurdling downward.  But testosterone and skill prevailed over my worst fears.

While waiting for insulation and drywall for the interior of the addition, the time was field with the laying down of the floor in the basement.  We pulled up Berber carpet, and put down engineered hardwood.  I'm not a fan of carpet in basements (or any place else for that matter--but we are replacing the existing carpet in the main floor bedrooms).  It's a lovely basement, with 9 foot ceilings, two bedrooms, 1 & 1/2 baths and lots of living space.  My son and Herb are doing this work.  We have another 1300 sqf of this to run in the upstairs expansion space.

I found a lovely Robina red oak engineered hardwood at Wood Floors Plus in  a 1/2" x 3 1/2" plank which is paired with the DVR Floor Muffler (the green rolls that you see).  Wood Floors plus is my go-to supplier.  I find better pricing on quality products there than the 'other' flooring store.  The Robina species is a discontinued product which does not make it unfit--just well-priced.  If you find a flooring that you like, make sure that you get your measurements right--because once it is gone, it is gone.

My electrician (husbando) is working today for 1/2 a day hanging a couple of cool ceiling fans in the upstairs and completing the final wiring needed to get the upstairs heat pump in operation.   The upstairs is turning out beautifully.  The drywallers did an outstanding job making all of the funky roof lines come together well.  However, there are two LARGE squeaks in the floor that have to be fixed before we start laying floor up there. 

My goal is to be done by the end of the month!