Great news on Maisto Mountain! Biggins Construction of Boonville started the framing today, Aug. 4! Brad and I are very excited about this new step in the construction process. We will begin to see the structure of our home take place. Lumber arrived yesterday from Obermeier Hardware & Rental in Rockport, Ind. It took two trucks, and due to our little gravel county road, one truck had to be towed up the road. That’s a lot of lumber! We have not, however, been sitting idly by waiting for the framing to begin. We’ve been busy during the time lapse between the pouring of the concrete and the beginning of the framing. One task was picking out doors and windows at Obermeier Hardware so that Biggins Construction will know exactly what size hole to frame for each door and each window in our new home. For me, it is somewhat nostalgic and very hometown to be ordering doors, windows, and lumber from Obermeier Hardware. I cannot remember this store not being in Rockport. I can remember riding in the pickup truck into town with my Dad to pick up little items or to talk to the store owners about how to repair something. This was a time before shopping local was cool. When I was a small child, the owners were Norb and Ouida Obermeier, and my parents had purchased their home from them in 1971. We lived next door to them. Norb was a great guy who allowed me to follow him and his cute little wiener dog, Gretchen, around the yard. We’d pick up sticks, trim trees, or discover fruit growing on his trees in the yard. This adventure never seemed to get boring. I’d then invade the house to visit Ouida, and she also was very patient. They had a beautiful grandfather clock that I liked to look at, and she allowed me to peruse all the knickknacks that my parents could never have (because of me, of course). I am convinced that Ouida would dust the house just so that I could help her and get to look at her pretty things up close. I loved it! My parents always knew where I was when I came up missing, and they’d haul me back home. Later in life, as a teen, I opened the door in the summer daily to two small little Obermeiers – Jessica and John Michael – asking if my youngest brother Keith was home and wanted to come outside and play. Jessica and John Michael are Norb and Ouida’s grandchildren, and they are about 8-12 years younger than me. They lived two doors down, rode the same bus, and ended up being best friends with Keith. John Michael now runs Obermeier Hardware, and we see his dad, Mike, who ran the store for many years, almost every time we stop in, too. Not only is the store local and nostalgic, but they do great work, give you straight answers, carry quality products, and have great customer service. If you haven’t been to the store in a while, it’s certainly kept up with the times. I suggest stopping by! In addition to door and window shopping in our “down” construction time, Brad also has met with representatives from Southern Indiana Power regarding the guidelines for a Touchstone Energy home. We are working toward meeting these standards with LED lighting and other requirements so that our home will be more energy and cost efficient for us. These standards are not the same or as stringent as LEED, but they follow some of the same concepts. This past weekend, we also took a trip to IKEA in Cincinnati. We purchased closet insert shelving, pantry shelving, bathroom sinks, and a couple of lighting fixtures. It was a nice getaway for the two of us, and having in hand these fixtures that must be wall-mounted allows Brad to work with the framing team to understand where extra wall studs will be needed for reinforcement. If you have never been to an IKEA store, these stores are a lot of fun. One employee told us that the store (not including the warehouse) is the size of four football fields! It’s jam-packed with affordable home goods items and has its own cafeteria and day care. We’ll be going back, certainly! The most important part of an IKEA shopping trip is making an online list beforehand and measuring the space for which you are shopping. We accomplished a lot within our budget this past weekend! Bottom line: Maisto Mountain is shaping up a little more every day! We’ll keep you informed of the progress. | |
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2015
Categories |