A Little Change In Plans

Well. All those nice words I wrote about saying farewell to the trailer? Hold that thought. As the weekend got going we realized that we can't avoid one more trip there, to go to settlement on the construction loan. There was no point in putting everything away, uninstalling all the appliances, and forcing ourselves to pay for lodging for that momentous occasion. When we were making plans for this Delaware season, seemingly years ago and before house plans solidified to the stage they've now reached, we had contemplated making the last weekend November 20-24 anyway. So that's what it'll be. It's a good thing we were there, because the guy who will be doing the clearing and demolition came knocking to see if we were still dismantling as scheduled. We were there, thank God, to inform him of the delay. We may have driven up to a barren lot come November 20.

But one important decision did come of the weekend. We had our final meeting with Dale, the designer. We arrived still with every intention of showing the plans to a couple of other companies to see if we could get a better price. But when we left and had some time to think about it, we realized that Dale, with his intimate knowledge of the place and of our desires, not to mention his total investment in the process, was too good an asset to let go. He has been a true partner through all of this and it was impossible to imagine the same kind of relationship with somebody else. On top of that, the price his company offered turned out to be a bargain impossible to pass up. The fact that prices will probably change by the time we get around to building is unavoidable and would be true regardless of the company we ended up with. Given all these considerations, we decided we couldn't do better anywhere else and still be assured of the service Dale will provide. So we removed one cumbersome step from the process. One load gone. It feels like an accomplishment!

I'm a bachelor yet again this entire week, until Friday. This closeout of Steve's project, of which he is hands-on director, is more complicated than anybody thought it would be. (I guess that's par for the course.) I hate rattling around here alone, and he returns from these marathon away jobs like a rag doll. But it'll soon be over and it's helping to pay for this huge project we've taken on. Hate living with it, can't live without it. What else is new?