A Stunned Visitor - Immature Female Hooded Warbler?

While eating a late breakfast Ellen and I were startled by a loud bang on the window - Oh Oh it must have been a bird. We rushed outside to see if it was dead or not. Ellen had found a dead female cardinal one time, but there was no dead bird near the window. After looking further away I saw what looked like a a fat yellow green plant and realized it was our stunned bird. Due to the the heavy rains, the bird was lying on its side in about an inch of water and could have easily drowned. I was able to pick it up and let Ellen hold it as we looked in our National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America to see what type of bird it was. Our best guess is that it was an immature female hooded warbler, another option could be that it was a feamle painted bunting. However its beak is less rounded than a female painted bunting's beak.

Help us identify this little bird.

MidSummer's Eve - An Overgrown Yard and Space Cats

With the window treatments installed (bedrooms, kitchen, entry) and temporary measures for some other windows I decided to take an evening walk around the house to see how they looked from the outside. Naturally the cats followed me around, their eyes getting caught by the camera flash giving them eery, extra terrestrial feel. Having no money yet for landscaping, nor any great motivation to work in the heat & humidity, one can see what can happen to a yard left unattended! The area on the West side of the house has a temporary pond with tall grass which has proven to be a great place for dragonflies and frogs. Thanks to their presence mosquitoes have not been such a problem.

A Hot & Wet Summer - Time for Window Treatments!

When you combine a very hot and humid summer with a sale on Window Treatments like those offered by Pottery Barn and New Orleans Bamboo you get a compelling argument for dipping into savings. Luckily our rapidly depleted funds were replenished when we received our Federal and State Tax refunds. The Solar Panels from South Coast Solar qualified for a 30% Federal and a 50% State Tax refund. The Louisiana refund (~$15000) was deposited at the end of the Louisiana Fiscal Year (end of June). So while these funds are supposed to be targeted to reducing our Addison Avenue Solar Loan, we felt that the sale on Natural Window Blinds offered by New Orleans Bamboo warranted us to make this major purchase. We really like the natural look and feel these shades have on our rooms. They help keep the intense sunlight and heat out of the house which is vital in a southern Louisiana summer! Window drapes and hardware came from Pottery Barn. The son of the owner of New Orleans Bamboo did the installation.

Costs and Financing for 199 Branch Drive - Answers

I have caught up with getting my taxes done, etc and that meant reconciling various accounts which I had left unattended for awhile due to the house construction.

We are getting comfortable in the house now. It has been a cold, wet winter and the most recent electric bill was higher than anticipated but so to was everyone else's bill. The weather is getting nice now and what rain we have had is evaporating quickly.

The house used up most of our financial resources and so we must pay off last items before purchasing other important stuff like window treatments (my wife wants drapes and I want bamboo shades).

We also want to focus on the landscaping now and we will just have to do this incrementally. The drier weather is finally here so our minds have turned to getting a garden started and doing some basic landscaping. I want to start clearing the lot of briars.

The earthwork we did went over budget by $38,000 so immediately we had to make adjustments - one was to give up the garage and the other was to have a shingle roof instead of a metal roof.

We wanted to build the house to LEED Green standards as best we could. This meant sacrificing some East facing windows (2 in the master bathroom and 2 in the master bedroom and one by the shower). Building to Green standards meant finding locally sourced materials, materials with recycled content, are durable, and are energy/water efficient. This was the goal and it probably cost us an extra 10% or so to achieve. A lot depends on what level of finish, roof type, insulation, and fixtures you choose.

When I first approached our builder we were quoted about $150/sq ft but it looks more like $175 to even $$190 sq/ft if we include the builder's fee and our consulting architects fee! If you can do more of the work, the better you will be.

Using my Quicken data I can give you some basic costs breakdowns:

ABC Lighting (lighting fixtures) ~$4000

Acadian Millwork & Supply (windows and doors) ~$30000

Antique Woods Of Louisiana (antique pine flooring) ~$5000

Builder's Risk Plan (builder's insurance) ~$2000

Flat Iron Capital (builder's Insurance) ~$4000

C-N-C Framing/Construction (framing, porch, stairs) ~$34000

Campbell Cabinet Company (kitchen cabinets) ~ $11000

Campbell Contractors (countertops) ~$5000

Campbell Roofing Materials (roof shingles, roof vents) ~$10000

Capital Security System (wired home for alarms, internet, cable, phone, etc) ~$3000

Chrisco Pumping (concrete for slab base of foundation) ~$1000

Calairain Brothers Concrete (advanced treatment system/septic tank) ~$3500

Coastal Insulation of Louisiana (insulation, radiant barrier guard) ~$9000

DA Exterminating (termite pre-treatment) ~$500

David Church (Electrical wiring, etc) ~$13500

Dupont Air Conditioning & Heating (AC/heat recovery) $ 15500

Engineering Services (foundation design) ~$500

Eric Bochmann (finishes) $3000

Floorworks & Blinds (tile work, carpet installation) ~$16500

Greg King (slab work and carpentry) ~$8000

Griffin Polk (Piers) ~$5000

Hayneedle Inc (medicine cabinets) ~$700

Home green Home (earthweave wool carpet) ~$4000

JV Burkes (surveying) ~$1500

JC & WC Construction (Earthwork, culvert) ~$76000

Joe D Hodge (builder's fee) ~$47000

Joey Gamage (roofing labor) ~$3000

Joey Pulliam (wood flooring labor) ~$6500

John T Meeker/Meeker's Plumbing (plumbing) ~$14000

Johnson Plastering (Stucco) ~$17500

KVS Architecture (LEED/architectural consultant) ~$8000

Kern Cole (house cleaning) $1000

Keith Chatigner (plastering/sheetrock) ~$6000

Ken Hamilton (Trim/cabinet carpentry) ~$13500

Kort's Trucking (River sand, gravel, crushed concrete) ~$5000

LCP holdings (tankless water heaters) ~$1500

Lex Pierpont (roof flashing & chimney cap) ~$3000

Louisiana Lumber (lumber) ~$50000

Lowes/Home depot (door hardware, mailbox, etc) ~$2000

Mike's Hardware (hardware, building supplies) ~$8000

Mitchell Lange (driveway, grading, drainage) ~$1500

Northlake Glass (cabinet & shower glazing) ~$1500

Parish Concrete (concrete for slab) ~$16000

Pot-o-Gold (Port-a-Potty) ~$500

St Tammany Parish (permits, etc) ~$3500

St Tammany Supply/Plumbing Warehouse (plumbing fixtures, etc) ~$8500

Tech-Con Systems (wire-tied foundation) ~$4000

Thomas Quave (interior/exterior painting) ~$20000

Vintage hardware (exterior lighting) ~$1500

Waterworks Pump & Well (water pump) ~$6000

William Samuel (site cleanup) ~$3000

Total: ~$527000!! ~$218/sq ft This is about what the Regions Bank Contracted Appraiser rated it, so if one includes land value then we find we have overbuilt.

Spring has arrived- birds, bunnies, and trees all active!

Easter is just around the corner and the weather has been very nice for a change. Taxes are done, the Saints won the Super Bowl, and spring has arrived - life is good!

The birds are coming back from their winter havens heading north while some cardinals are looking to establish a residence around here. I have seen a rabbit cross the driveway a couple of times so his warren is somewhere on our land. On Holy Thursday one of our cats, Leo, came to the door with baby bunny rabbit in his mouth! Ellen and I tried to bring it back to health, but it had suffered a skinned backside and some internal injuries. It survived the night into the afternoon of Good Friday, but it like Jesus Christ, was ready to give up its spirit and died. It was a cute little thing - we buried it on the corner spot by the front of the driveway. The trees are sprouting leaves and everyone has gardening fever.

Our budget having been exhausted due to the construction of the house will have to make do with simple plantings and incremental improvements. Time to get the rain barrel into action.

John - what's in the attic? 03 April 2010

Well the blog has been discovered by some other Tideland Haven fans and we have been receiving some questions from other folks and even hosted a visiting couple. One person asked about the attic. So this post is dedicated to showing our little attic.

You can see the closed window, the Stiebel Eltron Tempura Plus electric tankless hot water heater set at 127 deg F, and the Air Conditioning/Heat Recovery equipment and ducting. This space does not have insulation under the roof, but probably should have.

John

New Year, New Camera, New House! 03 Jan 2010

After a very wet December that caused us to take our boots on/off every time we went outside and taking time to unpack our household goods, Ellen and I were able to enjoy the Christmas and New Year holidays in our new house. With some Christmas money we decided the Kodak digital camera was not worth repairing )too much dust I think) and so we bought a Canon Powershot camera. The software drivers didn't load on my Apple PowerMac but did on Ellen's iBook. using the home wifi network I was able to transfer those files, update them from Cannon and transfer these photos from the camera to the computer for uploading!

We had our first dinner guests over and had more driveway work done. Now we can at least park next to the house without needing to be pulled out by our neighbor's tractor.

There are a few minor punch list items to take care of, but otherwise we just have to now manage our new mortgage, homeowners insurance and real estate taxes.

Note that our orange colored cat, Ember, has found a way to climb the kitchen "superstructure" to find the perfect catwalk and sleeping perch. See if you can find him in the Kitchen picture.

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

Mailbox in, final grading starts - but Hurricane Ida threatens! 08 November 2009

Our builder and his crew put in the mailbox and Ellen and I put on the address numbers. I was worried about the placement of the mailbox since it was further away from the driveway then I had originally wanted. For one reason it could be considered to be encroaching on our neighbor's land. Luckily on Friday morning the JV Burkes Survey crew were there when I happened to be there as well and I asked them about the mailbox. They said it was no big deal and it was considered to be on the Parish road right-of way and that survey crews don't worry about mailboxes.

Taking advantage of the week long dry spell, the final grading got started but couldn't be completed this weekend. That's not so good because Hurricane Ida has survived crossing Nicaragua and is now a definite threat to southeastern Louisiana. I don't expect the winds to be a problem; it is the rain that I am worried about! Oh my nerves are becoming very frayed.

When will we be able to move in? There is not much time between now and when Ellen and I are supposed to go to the UK for my father's 80th birthday.

Inspections complete; cooking vent fixed - 05 November 2009

The weather has clear and dry so the driveway is starting to recover. The deep-clean lady is still sick so Ellen and I decided to do some of our own cleaning. We brought our vacuum cleaner and a couple of brooms, etc and got busy sweeping and vacuuming. Joe say our electrical and plumbing inspections are now complete. Just waiting on the drainage, solar electrical, and final inspection. Now that Daylight Savings has ended we don't have much light left for photos. I am trying out the digital camera in low light conditions and seeing how the house looks with all the lights on.

Rain and cooking vent causing problems - Happy Halloween! 31 October 2009

Frustration is building as a cold front has swept through and dumped another inch or so of rain. The driveway is in real bad shape. October registered 8 inches of rain which is above normal for this time of year. We really need some dry weather so we can get the land graded. The forecast is looking good and if all goes well maybe we can get a certificate of occupancy by 10 November and start moving in on Veteran's Day, 11 November.

Inside the house the countertop hole for the cooking vent has been cut. But now we face another challenge the blower motor is on the side facing the gas range and there may not be enough space! Complicating matters is the additional floor height from the tiles beneath the stove which has raised the height of the cooking surfaces and stove height. Our builder Joe was able to work out a solution with the countertop cutters to create a raised lip around the stove opening. Meanwhile the deep-clean lady has come down with the flu so the house is still very messy.

We had time enough to inspect the house and get home for the few kids we expect for Halloween. I am giving out Louisiana satsumas (mandarin oranges) instead of candy.

EarthWeave wool carpets installed - 24 October 2009

Sure enough remnants of Hurricane Rick brought about an inch of rain early Thursday morning and that has caused our hoped-for move in date to slide into November. The otherwise good weather has been a welcome relief. With the delivery of the kitchen and laundry appliances, the bank inspector was able to record a substantial bit of progress and so we have the funds to pay sub-contractors and suppliers.

One of those suppliers, Floorworks of Slidell, now was able to get to work again installing the last of the floor coverings - the wool carpets in the two bedrooms. These are pure wool Earth Weave carpets that are low/no VOC, but actually they have a bit of sheep smell!

Kitchen appliances get delivered (finally) - 20 October 2009

The moment we have all been waiting for - getting the kitchen and laundry appliances delivered. Gulf Outlet guys made a big effort to get our appliances into the home before the bank inspector was scheduled to arrive. Of course, as luck would have it President Obama made a visit to New Orleans which tied up traffic and the truck with our appliances. Ellen and I met the truck at the Gulf Outlet store in Slidell and led them to the house. By the time we got there it was already dark. Thanks to the our newly installed out door lighting we could work through the evening.

After the delivery was made, Ellen and I did some additional cleaning to tidy up a very messy house.

New Orleans Auctions on Julia Street happened to have an auction the weekend of 17/18 October. We saw two sets of outdoor/foyer lamps being offered and decided to bid on those. Ellen won the bid on the first set, so we brought those over to the house to be installed as well.

This week the Fall weather has arrived, but forecasters say Hurricane Rick in the Eastern Pacific will cross over Mexico into Texas and Louisiana delaying the much needed drying of the driveway and the final grading required for the last inspection.