And Then Depression Sat In...

Met with Fred today. He brought his incredibly cute four year-old daughter with him.

The delay is with the trusses. With the large span (because of the huge family room), and the complexity of the design from the structural engineer, the trusses are difficult to build, and thus the delay (or as they builder put it after Fred asked about the delay last week, "Do you want them fast or do you want them good?"). So the trusses won't be ready for AT LEAST ANOTHER WEEK. That's a drag.

[Lisa voiced a concern a couple days ago, one I had been harboring silently since the design phase: that we have "architected" in a certain level of "custom"-ness that is coming back to bite us in the ass both schedule- and budget-wise. And I think this is evidence of it...]

I had also a couple of concerns about the placement of the laundry chute and attic access in the south family room wall upstairs... Fred wants to discuss those over the actual plans (not just orally)... he said he'd be around tomorrow (but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to come by, as I've got full-bore kid duty [a final bout before the summer ends and the kids go back to class Tuesday]).

So I ask the question: how does this look for a possible move-in before the new year. He shakes his head: I don't think so.

Great.

But worse is his fear. He points to the really gray sky. If we get rain, there'll be further delays, as he'll want to spray the wood for mold and termites. In the summer, the monsoonal flow brings humidity, and sometimes thunderstorms to the desert, but we're usually spared.

He tries to comfort us, walking us through the house and discussing the Hardy Frames (when the "big one" hits, he says, give him a call and tell him how many of our neighbors will need his help... because we won't). He discusses the possibility of a tube skylight into the laundry room (that'll cost hundreds, not thousands... great). He tells us that it'll seem slow for the next few weeks, but he'll make sure that work continues, particularly on the plumbing front (not electricity, especially, with --he points to the sky as just a few sprinkles fall).

He tells us to go to Vegas and "get away from all this." He invites us camping next weekend (Labor Day). He's doing everything humanly possible to cushion what I think he realizes is the crushing no-move-in-this-year news.

And he gets his girl out of the sprinkles, and leaves.

What's the line from Young Frankenstein?

"Could be worse. Could be raining."

And it FUCKING RAINS.


Thankfully, it's a short rain. But it's rain. How this affects us, I have not a clue. But now I'm depressed and in a pissy mood. So I'll stop now.