Top Ten Reasons Why We Can't Wait to be HOME

10) SewerSide³ elevator repairs drag on, taping off access to our unit, forcing us to walk around the parking lot to get to the car, filling guest parking to the point where we sometimes have to pick Dad up at the Maxine site just to have him over for dinner

9) SewerSide³ smoker neighbors, who make me close the sliding glass door whenever they come outside to puff away, trapping heat inside an already hot bedroom/office as I work

8) SewerSide³ cutting down the cypress tree that had been the only nice piece of foiliage in the complex, filling the air with just more chain-saw...

7) SewerSide³ noise: between the edger, the mower, and the blower (and today the chain-saws), Wednesdays are a bear to work through (especially as any attempt to close the sound out by closing the door creates an almost unbearable stuffiness)

6) SewerSide³ pool: closed for repairs this week... great... Kyle gets home from water polo camp and he wants to practice all the new skills he learned, and they close the pool... hopefully, it will re-open Monday

5) Fred's Guys: Juan Antonio continues to be a friendly, smiling, face of Fred at the Maxine site. We learned today from Fred, Juan Antonio is 77 years old. And the Fred has the utmost respect for him, allowing him to make the day-to-day decisions on the site. And all the other guys are great as well.

4) Fred's Estimates: he honestly tells us that he feels we're just a little behind schedule; but he's happy with progress (and allowing the framing to breath a little before putting the full second-story foundation atop the first level)... and to get to where he wants to be, he wants to push through the Labor Day weekend (despite the craziness that will be the block-side garage sale that weekend)

3) Fred's reaction to Lisa: Every meeting begins with a smile and a hug... he genuinely seems to like us.

2) Fred's reaction to the boys: He always talks TO them, not at or down to them. He asks about Kyle's foot, broken a month and a half a go. He always shakes Jack's hand.

and...

1) Fred's reaction to the boys, part two: He reiterated that it would be bad for the boys to go in the house, but he told them he had something better. And he took the boys onto the roof of the garage to check out the construction from there!

Lisa took the shot above, while Fred got this shot:


Here's the construction thus far:





and here's the water heater closet...


And here's another reason to look forward to returning home:

The view south from the roof: a preview of views to come ... I bet we'll be able to see the islands from here on a clear day (meaning just about any day not during the summer)!

Yeah, those are the reasons I want to be home (though half the list was just why we like Fred... it works out the same)...