Have moved in but digital camera not working. 13 December 2009

Family, friends and followers (who would a thunk it?): my Kodak digital camera is not working properly - probably too much dirt inside it. I have some othe rphotos I will post as soon as I transfer them to a cd and upload them.

Huricane Ida past us by, but not before leaving a sizable rainfall and further delaying the driveway and house grading. After another week of drying out we got some grading done.

Our builder, Joe worked with the St Tammany Engineering department to get us the coveted Certificate of Occupancy. Once that was in hand Ellen and I were able to start moving in some boxes, etc. All progress was getting compressed into the final 2 weeks of November, but another rainstorm dumped more rain. I told Joe to get some recycled concrete at least so that the driveway would be functional.

Another hiccup kept us on pins and needles - I had booked a trip to the UK over Thanksgiving using frequent flyer miles. The final arrangements had to be done over the phone, documents required by the Bank for the conversion to a permanent mortgage had to be emailed overseas, etc. We drove 6 hours to Houston, TX on Friday, November 20th and took our flight to London.
Our 3 cats were looked after in the old home by ourformer neighbor Marta Walters.

We returned on Friday, November 27th and with the help of a couple of energy drinks made it back home to Slidell by midnight. Saturday, November 28th we moved some more boxes while I met with Joe to sign a couple Lien Waiver documents at a Notary Public. Sunday, November 28th my friend Bryan Vieages, my former neighbor (and new neighbor in Magnolia Forest) John Walters, and another couple Sue & Sergio Derada helped us move all the remaining furniture etc on a flat bed trailer, cars and pick-up trucks. Luckily the weather stayed dry. All was complete by 2 pm and then Ellen and I spent the rest of the day cleaning up our rental home.

Monday November, 30th was our scheduled closing at 4:30 pm. However at 4:25pm as I was exiting off I-10 onto Gause Blvd I drove into a white Toyota Tundra truck that I thought had cleared the exit before I made my move! Luckily I had a cell phone because I was the duty officer that day. I was able to call ahead and after a speedy State trooper ticket and paperwork I was at the closing by 5:00pm. The house was ours and this would be bour first night.

Now a couple of weeks later (one weekend was a Navy drill weekend) we have finally unpacked all our boxes but still need to tidy up and put things away. The cats have settled down. A new telephone number will be in place Friday December 18th. The DirectTv was installed Saturday Dec 12th so we were able to watch the Saints on Sunday. We still need the DSl line installed. Charter Communications said it would cost over $1000 to have cable, etc hooked up.

As we get back to normal and photos return I will be glad to answer more questions on how this project came through.

Thanks,
John