The New DogHouse

Windows and Paint!

2010-12-23T17:32:00.017-06:00

Hello all!

The New Doghouse is really starting to look like a house! Mom has meant to post more pictures but she has been busy with Christmas preparations. Mom and Aunt Bec did something new this year ... they made tamales. Grandpa likes tamales and Aunt Bec volunteered the two of them to make some. Mom wasn't so sure it was a good idea. It took them three days to get everything prepared and the tamales steamed and frozen for Christmas but they are ready. Mom says we don't get to eat them but we will let you know what the rest of the family says about them ... assuming anyone is still healthy enough to talk! No, really, they smelled great and Mom and Aunt Bec tried them and they didn't suffer any ill effects.

Anyway, this is about our new doghouse. When we posted last, we almost had all of our siding. Well, the siding is on and the windows are in. This is the north side. It faces Aunt Bec's house so it is the first part of our doghouse you see when you come down the driveway.

This is the front of the house. Look at all of those windows! We will be able to see every cow and bird and anything else that is outside! Wait a minute! Those double windows on the right are in the dining room and we aren't going to be allowed in there. We guess we will have to settle for the triple windows on the left.

This is the side and front of the doghouse with our special wrap-around porch. We will be able to see just about everything if we are outside even if it is raining. We don't like to get wet so this porch is going to be a great thing for us!

This is the side of the doghouse that is away from Aunt Bec. Our bedroom is on this side.

This is the back of the doghouse. You can see where our personal porch will be off our bedroom.

This is a picture of the inside. They built the half wall between the kitchen and den/living room. (Mom was standing in the den looking toward the kitchen.) There will be a flat surface where you can put stuff but mostly Mom will look over it and into the den to watch TV while she is messing around in the kitchen. They haven't done much on the inside except frame the walls. They need to finish "weathering in" the house so the inside won't get damaged if it rains.

And now! They painted the house! Mom wasn't too sure about this color when she drove up. It is so ... so ... green?

She went out the next morning to take this picture and to see if she liked the color better.

Mom even pulled out the color strip to see if they used the right color. It sure looks like the same color she picked. After a few days of looking at it, she is getting used to it. And it looks better on the front where you don't see a solid wall of color!

And these are the metal sheets for our roof. They have been putting the roof on the last couple of days and they finished tonight but it was too late to get a good picture. Mom will get out there tomorrow and take the pictures and post them. The roof looks really great!

Look What We Had One Week Ago!

2010-12-08T21:35:00.003-06:00

We had some of our outside walls a week ago but Mom took the pictures in the morning and then went to work. She kept forgetting to bring the camera into the house. Once she got into the house, she didn't want to go back out to get it because it was cold. Can you hear her whining about that? Does she think we care that she might be a little cold? Do we complain when it is cold and we have to go outside? Wait - don't answer that.

Anyway, the builders started putting the walls on the house last week. The outside looks like wood but it is Hardi-plank (or something like that) which is a cement product formed to look like wood. It is good product to use when you live somewhere with lots of termites. Termites eat wood but they don't eat cement. When it got dark, the builders stopped and said they would be back when the windows came in. So part of the house has walls and part has the wrap that goes around the house. Mom thinks that "wrap" might be to help keep moisture out but she isn't sure.

While Mom was out taking pictures, one of the neighbor ladies came by. Mom took a picture of her. We would have barked.

We made Mom get her camera and make an entry because they started putting in windows today. Mom isn't sure if they are all in or not because she didn't want to walk around there at 8:00 at night, in the dark and in ... are you ready for this ... the cold.

The house looks yellow but that is the color of the of the Hardi-plank. Mom picked out a green color for the house with a creamy white color for the trim. She said there is so much red clay out here that she wanted something that wouldn't immediately look dirty. She refuses to have an orange house which would really hide the clay so she had to pick something else.

As soon as she can get pictures of the new windows ... and brings the camera into the house ... we will show them to you.

It's Almost a House!

2010-11-28T11:13:00.010-06:00

We cannot believe how much they have done since our last post! We had a foundation with some pipes sticking up and then they started putting up framing! This is looking toward the front of the house. They started off just framing the house so the part sticking out in front is the porch.

This is the view out through the front windows from the den/living room. We are pretty sure the extra wood crossing in front will be gone. Those boards are to support the frame. Mom is getting diamond polished concrete floors (sort of like acid stained concrete floors only less maintenance), so the support beams are not supposed to be nailed into the concrete. If you look, you can see where the supports are nailed to other pieces of wood.

This is a view from outside of the house looking through where the side windows will be for the den/living room. The doorway just inside the window leads to our bedroom.

This is a picture looking into the doggie bedroom from the side porch window. The door to the right leads to the bathroom. There is a doorway at the back of the bedroom that leads to our enclosed porch.

The next day, they finished framing the porches and put up some boards along the outside!

Mom and Aunt Bec went to Houston to see the family for Thanksgiving. Aunt Bec, the good, kind, considerate and responsible dog owner, came home to feed us. Mom spent the night in Houston so she could watch her college football team play a game. (The game was aired on a channel we don't get out here yet.) When Mom drove up on Friday afternoon, this is what she saw ...

In the picture below, you are looking at the back corner of the house. The part on the right (in the shade) is the back of the house. The first thing is the porch off of the utility room. Then there are two bedrooms (with paper on them) and finally the enclosed (screened in) porch attached to our bedroom. Going to the left from the corner is the porch, the utility room with the little window, the breakfast room with the big window, the dining room (with the paper on it) and the front porch.

This picture shows you the front of the house with the porch. The part closest to you is the dining room and the rest of it is the den/living room. This is pretty much the same shot as the first picture in this post but with a lot more house to see!

This is also the front of the house but from the other side. You can also see how the porch wraps around. The wall where the porch ends is the bedroom. There will be a window there. In fact, that is the window you looked through in a picture earlier in this entry.

This is the work they had finished up on Friday. Mom didn't even make it over there to see what they did yesterday. We are going to tell her to get out there and take more pictures. We want to be able to see all of the things that are getting finished. Since she won't let us go over there to check, we have to depend up on her!

Foundation

2010-11-22T16:39:00.007-06:00

It has been a busy week. We have been barking at the guys building our doghouse almost every day! It looks like they stand around a lot so we tell them to get busy or we will get mean. We can tell they are afraid of us because they eventually get back to work.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures where you can see the whole foundation. The first picture starts from the front of the house which is on the left and the second picture shows the back which is on the right.

The low part on the left is the front porch. Next comes the dining room which Mom has already said we are not allowed to enter. Can you believe that? It is our doghouse and she is making part of it off-limits? We know we have mentioned it before but it just really makes us want to pee when she makes rules like that! Anyway, next you can see where there is a part sticking out toward you. That is the breakfast room. You can't really see it but next toward the back is the utility room which will have a special dachshund length sink in it for torturing us with baths. Then there is a little back porch.

Our doghouse will have lots and lots of porch space. Mom took pictures of it so you can see. It is the section that is a couple of inches lower than the rest of the foundation. You can see that it goes all the way across the front of the house. The part closest to you is 8 feet deep (from the front edge to the wall of the house) and the part farther away is 10 feet deep.

This is the porch from the other side. It wraps around the house a little bit. The part of the house with the porch on two sides is the family/living room. This section of the porch is a little over 7 feet deep. In case you are wondering, that is Aunt Bec's house in the background.

This smaller piece of porch is off of our bedroom. It is going to be screened in so Mom can sit on it most of the year and no matter what the weather is like. It will be a little warmer in winter and a little cooler in summer. It is also on the south side of the house so it won't get the cold north wind. This porch is a little over 8 feet deep.

Finally, just so you don't think we are going to live on big block of concrete, here is the first shipment of building supplies. They will use this to build the frame. We don't know if you can see the boards on the top that are green but those are called "green board" and they have a special treatment so they can be used in bathrooms and other areas where there will be exposure to dampness.

Well, that is all so far. Next time we will probably be able to show you the framing. It still won't look like much of a house until they get some walls up.

Plumbing

2010-11-14T09:04:00.004-06:00

Hello all,

Things have been progressing on the new doghouse. Mom says it will seem like nothing is happening because they have to do things that go in the ground. This week they did the plumbing. You can see all of the stub ups in this picture. The stub ups are those white post looking things. They are in the kitchen and both bathrooms. Mom and Aunt Bec walked around checking the locations. They both said how small the area looks when there are no walls. When Aunt Bec's house was at this stage, she used a tape measure to make sure everything was big enough ... it was.

Here is another picture of the stub ups. They aren't very exciting but they do indicate progress! If you look at the right side of the picture, you can just see the corner of Aunt Bec's house. The garage and storage building is behind the trees in the middle of the picture. Mom says she is going to have to do something about those trees - or at least something about the scruffy part of those trees.

And, while we are talking about plumbing, the builders brought a lovely addition to the landscape. Mom drove up on Wednesday night and this is what she saw -- well, sort of, it was dark when she drove up and it is daylight in this picture. People are so silly. If the grass is good enough for us ...

Okay, that's all for now. Maybe Mom will get out there and take some super-exciting close up shots of those pipes. We are sure that the possibility has you too excited for words.

Foundation Work and Neighbors

2010-11-06T08:41:00.009-05:00

Hey everyone!

The builder finished clearing the area where we are putting the new doghouse. Then he hauled in a lot of dirt. There were piles all over but Mom didn't get any pictures of them. She got home late and the dirt guy was here early the next morning and was spreading everything around before she could get out there with her camera. Here is a picture of the dirt when she got home. This is the side view.

This is the front view. The pile of lumber on the right was for the foundation frame. The yellow building in the back is Mom and Aunt Bec's garage and storage.

This morning we got up and Mom was laughing because the neighbors came over and were using the front porch even before she got to step on it! As you can see, the foundation is framed. The builder called Mom yesterday to ask where she wanted the septic system. (We are out in the country so we don't tie into a city sewer system.) Anyway, Mom is going to see if the system can go on the left side of the house. Mom also needs to settle on a color for the doghouse because the builder wants to paint the siding before he puts the roof on. Mom says there are so many decisions to make!

Mom went out later to take a better picture of the foundation frame. Here it is.

Day One - Site Clearing

2010-11-01T20:17:00.003-05:00

It's started! It's started!

Today they started clearing the site. This is about the same view facing the front of the house after the trees have been cleared.

And this is the view from the side.

Not much to see but at least something has happened!

And when Mom got home from work, she found me (Sammy) and Jake checking out the cleared site. She seemed to think we should have stayed inside the fence. Aunt Bec is going to ruin our fun by blocking the escape route.

The Doghouse Site Before Anything

2010-10-29T18:03:00.008-05:00

Hey, sorry we didn't post the site pictures last night. Mom didn't realize the card reader was at the other house. Fortunately, Aunt Bec went over there today and picked it up for Mom to use. That just shows you how long it has been since she has posted any pictures!

This is a picture of from the front of where our new doghouse will be. You will be looking at the front of the doghouse after it is built if you stand in the same place where Mom was standing when she took this picture. Yes, those trees are going away. It may seem a shame but those are junk trees and there are lots of other trees to admire.

This is the site of our new doghouse from the left. That smaller tree on the left is about where the front of the porch will be. The big tree in the middle is about where the dining room will be. We have issues about the dining room because we found out Mom is putting up French doors so we can see in but we can't get in. Something about dog pee and her good dining room furniture keeping the good stuff for herself.

This is a picture of our back yard from the back of the doghouse. All of those trees are staying. We should have lots of squirrels to chase. Mom says she likes the trees but she might not be so fond of them when it comes time to cut the grass in the back yard!

Well, that's about it for now. Mom got the paperwork to get water and electricity set up. We know you just can't wait to see the water meter (barking so hard we are going to pee).

And for good measure, here is a picture of some cows - the neighbors.

And here is a pretty picture of Grandma's wisteria vine when it was blooming last Spring.

The Construction Loan is Signed!!

2010-10-28T10:45:00.003-05:00

Mom signed the construction loan papers yesterday! They are coming out to clear the pad space on Monday! Mom took a picture of the spot before any work is done. We will add that to this entry tonight. Now Mom has to pick out colors and fixtures and whatever else people think is important to make a doghouse comfy for humans. All we can say is that there better be a place for our kibble.

We have to rest our voices. Since we are staying with Aunt Bec right now and we are building our doghouse next to hers, we will be able to watch everything the builders do. And you know we will have to tell them to hurry up or watch out or any number of things so they do it right!

Something

2010-08-10T19:52:00.002-05:00

Well, this was a long road. It took a year to finally get my house on the market and another year to sell it. In the middle I got laid off. Well, now I am gainfully employed, my other house is sold, I have a nice chuck of money in the bank, I have a location on my land, I have a house plan and I have a builder! I have names of four local lenders to talk to about a construction loan. Once I get the financing out of the way, it is time to break ground!

This would be a little more fun without the broken ankle or the wrist brace (long story which you don't really want to hear) but I can still feel the excitement. I'll be posting progress. At first it will be blah and boring but then things will move quickly.

I hope you enjoy following along!

Activity, Movement, Progress

2008-11-23T15:07:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I posted but things are finally happening. When I last posted we had selected our alternate location. Well, now we have settled on a third and final location. The second location was wonderful but it turns out it was really on our brother's land and, while we could have swapped out a few acres, we decided to keep looking since the power lines were an issue. The new location is more south and west so we are closer to our Mom and Dad's place and farther away from the front gate, the family cemetery and the power lines. We thought the cemetery would be a peaceful view which is why we picked the location. Now we have the same cow fields you see on the Dachsies' blog as our front yards. The catfish pond is off to the west and we will be able to see it from Bec's back deck. Bec's house will face mostly north and my house will face northeast. Since Bec is going to have an extensive back deck, we decided the better (there is no bad) backyard view should be off of her deck. I will have a wrap-around covered porch on the front so I will have a better (still no bad) front view.

So many things have happened.

We had surveyors come out and set our boundaries. Since we bought the land as undivided acreage, we needed to each pull an acre out and bequeath our half interest to the other so each of us owns one acre outright. The surveyors are finishing up their work so we can get it recorded at the courthouse.

The state or the county or someone had decided that all house foundations need to engineered after a soil analysis is complete. We have the soil analysis and we have the engineered foundations plans.

We decided on a builder. The contracts are here and we just need to put the finishing touches on them and send them back. The builder has been talking to the bank to get approved. Once that is done we need to finish our final approvals at the bank. We have both been pre-approved but that is only good if nothing else messes up the works.

Bec has talked to the Emergency (911) System. They assign addresses. We might need to name our street since there will be three houses (mine, Bec's, Mom/Dad) on it. It can be an unnamed driveway for one or two houses. We put our head's together and came up with a few names which have historical significance to us. I did a search for similar street names and didn't get any hits so keep your fingers crossed that we get our first or, at least, second choice.

Bec started her new job a couple of weeks ago. She has almost an hour commute each way but she didn't take too much of a pay cut. She is busy settling in at the new job but, once that is behind her, she will look for something closer. At least she has something so there is no urgency to finding a different job.

We definitely have our house plans. We even had to get them flipped since we changed orientation to each other when we relocated. I'm loving my plans and can't wait to get that roof over my head. Bec's plans are just what she wants and is equally (or maybe even more) excited about getting started and finished with this project.

That seems to bring you up to date of the current status. As you can tell, lots of things have been happening. Maybe soon we can start posting construction pictures! How cool would that be?!:?!?

Builders, Houseplans, Location

2008-03-24T19:58:00.005-05:00

Two posts in one month! My loyal two, or is it three, readers will be shocked!

It has been three weeks since the Dachsies and I moved to the country. We all seem to be settling very well. Things happened very quickly.

First off, we parted ways with the architect. He has gotten very busy at work and we have gotten very interested in getting plans and building a couple of houses. He was very understanding so no one's feelings were hurt. We would have loved for him to design our homes because he is very knowledgeable and very talented. He is very active in COTE (Committee on the Environment) so the houses would have been very ecologically friendly. He taught us quite a bit so we hope to be able to incorporate some of his ideas into our final designs.

My sister, Bec, and I talked to a custom home builder a little over a week ago. Bec has been surfing the Internet house plan sites and has a house plan that she likes with a few modifications. The builder has a plan that I really like but it will need a few modifications too. We should get our quotes sometime this week. We are both excited and have a few twinges of apprehension ... this is a big step, big investment and a big change!

We are hoping to talk to another builder over the coming weekend. You never know what you might overlook if you don't talk to a couple of people. Besides, what do we know about the cost of building a custom home? The prices we have heard sound reasonable but it would be a good idea to get the information from more than one source.

This passed weekend Bec and I walked the land and looked for the perfect place to build. Our original location was next to some trees. Well, the trees are there because it is a low area that gets a little "boggy" during rainy times. Maybe not so good for building a house ...

Our second choice we decided was a little close to the southern edge of the property so we decided to move north. That's when we realized we have power lines running the length of our property and they are about in the middle. This makes things a little more interesting since we do not want power lines strung over our yard. We have precious dachsies and live power lines could lead to some bad results. Anyway we did select something where the power lines would run close to but on the outside of the fence line. At least we won't have to bring power to the area! We just need to get attached to existing pole.

We were going to have solar panels but have almost decided it is not worth it since we plan to build with good insulation, double paned windows, tankless water hot water system which will probably run on propane. If we are only going to use electricity for lights and summertime air conditioning, it seems a little extravagant to spend $15,000 on solar panels to avoid a $50 per month electric bill. If we are worried about power interruptions, which are common during stormy weather, we can get a propane powered generator. That's still less expensive than solar panels.

Once we have plans picked out for sure, we can post the basic floor plans for you. Then you can tell us how much you like them!

Things are Changing ...

2008-03-02T08:46:00.001-06:00

Mom and Grandpaw were up at the country house on Thursday and Grandpaw found some builders for Mom and Aunt Bec! They need to interview with them but they all came with a good recommendation - a realtor who is married to a very distant cousin (they all share the same great-great-great-great grandparents). Grandpaw said he would help if Mom and Aunt Bec want him too. We know that he wants to make sure they don't get treated wrong.

Mom and Aunt Bec have not heard from the architect in over a month. They are starting to get a little worried about him. Aunt Bec called his cell phone and it wasn't in service anymore! Mom even checked the obituaries but she didn't see his name. Aunt Bec left a message on his voice mail at his office and they hope to hear from him soon.

Since they haven't heard from the architect, they are going to talk to some of the builders Grandpaw found and look at plans they have built before. Maybe Mom and Aunt Bec will like two of those so much, they decide to build them. The builders would probably like that better too. Mom and Aunt Bec will still be able to customize their houses a little.

So, even though we haven't broken ground yet, things are happening. Mom says she would really like for the house to be finished this summer so she can move in and let Grandma and Grandpaw have their house back and they can come out to the country all of the time.

We are just glad we are moving to the country where we can bark almost all that we want. Mom says not ALL that we want because she doesn't want us to bark all of the time in the house. Mom can be so silly sometimes!

No House Yet But We Are Moving to the Country!

2008-02-18T13:37:00.002-06:00

We are moving to the country! We are going to live in Grandma and Grandpaw's house until ours is built. Once we start building the house, we will be able to post pictures on a regular basis because we will make sure Mom takes lots of pictures! To find out why we are moving, read our blog tomorrow!

Finally, something is happening ...

2007-11-06T14:14:00.000-06:00

Finally, something is happening. Mom and Aunt Bec are meeting with the architect about the floor plans. We were thinking about building one house and sharing but we've decided two houses with our own space is a better idea. The houses will be near each other so we can share a fenced yard. We also expect to have lots of doggie doors so we can go visit our cousins! Mom is ready for something to happen. She's even talked to the bank about financing the construction loan. She can't get the paperwork in until she has a building plan and a builder so she really wants the architect to get his ideas on paper.

We probably have to pick a different place to build too. Grandma says the area we picked is a bit boggy and that is why the trees have grown there. We will probably move a little more to the east. Grandma and Grandpa will probably like that better since it will put us (and our barking) a little farther away from them. It's not like we don't have lots of land and we have to stay in one small area!

Here's hoping for the best. We wanted to be in our new house by Spring but it looks more like it will be Summertime.

The Views

2007-07-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

Not much has happened since our last entry. The architect told us he would have something for us by the end of the week but that was two weeks ago. Mom and Aunt Bec are trying to be patient but they have been hanging around us for so long, they don't know how to be patient. We told you that Mom had some friends in town last week. On Monday, while the man friend was in a long meeting, she and the lady friend drove to see the land. Mom took her camera and took some pictures from the building site. This is basically what we will see when we look to the north:

The east:

The southeast:

And the southwest:

Since there will be a big grove of trees to the west, Mom didn't take that picture. As you can see, there is nothing but nature (and some cowdogs) around there. We really, really hope we have something interesting to show you soon though blueprints and talking to builders probably won't be interesting. We need to break ground and start seeing some real action!!

Where Will the Mommies Work?

2007-07-07T18:39:00.000-05:00

Pippa asked if it would be hard for the Mommies to get jobs near our new home. We would like it best if the Mommies just stayed home all day. That way they could pet us and play with us. But Mom and Aunt M say that they have to get jobs so they can bring home the dog biscuits. (sigh)

Mom told us that she has been researching architecture/engineering/ construction firms in the area and has a good list going. She said that the closest cities are growing, so she should be able to get a job there.

Aunt M has what she calls a degree in counting. She's a very good counter. We know because whenever we are called in to the house, she always counts 1-2-3-4-5 and says "all in". There's a place called a university in one of the nearby cities. There's probably a lot of things for her to count there, so she should be able to get a job at the university. Besides that's the university that gave her the piece of paper that said she could count real good.

Answering Some Questions

2007-07-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

Hershey and Lorenza want to know if this will be an everyday house or a vacation house. This will be the everyday house but Mom and Aunt Bec think living out there will be like a vacation every evening when they get home from work. Mom is going to sell her house and Aunt Bec is going to sell her house and they are going to move to the new house and get new jobs and every night they are going to come home and sit on the porch and have a vacation.

This will be boring for most of you but we will give a history of the land again.

Four brothers came over from Ireland. They came in through the port in Savannah, GA. They migrated to Alabama and settled but decided to move on. In 1834, they came to a place in Texas that they finally settled. They had to clear the land and build homes and fight Indians. They were lucky in some ways because they didn't need a cemetery until 1838. Three of the brothers had families and they had families and on down through the years. Mom and Aunt Bec are descendants of the youngest brother.

Each brother was given his own 180 acres to clear and farm. Amazingly, all 180 acres that the youngest brother received still belong to the family after 173 years! (We don't know about the other brothers' land; we will ask Grandpa.) Grandpa has three cousins who own 100 acres. Grandpa owns 39 acres. Uncle John owns 19 1/2 acres. Mom and Aunt Bec own 19 1/2 acres. The other two acres are the family cemetery. (Yes, that grave site from 1838 is still there.)

Grandpa and his two sisters inherited 40 acres from their father. Grandpa's sisters sold him their part of the land. Grandpa's aunt gave her 40 acres to Grandpa's cousin. In March of this year, she asked Grandpa if he wanted to buy the land because she has other family land. That's when Uncle John, Aunt Bec and Mom bought the land. Somewhere along the line those two acres were set aside for the cemetery.

So, now we are to 2007 and Mom and Aunt Bec own their 19 1/2 acres of land. They picked a place to build a house. Since it is for both of them, they want two master suites. They couldn't find any floorplans that came close to what they wanted so they hired an architect that Aunt Bec used to work with. They took the architect out to see the land and the location where they want to build and he is designing a house for them.

Right now, they are waiting for him to draw up some plans for them to look over. That is why we said not much will happen on this blog for a while. Until they get some plans, they can't hire a builder. And once they get a builder, they will need to go out there every weekend to see what he is doing. THAT'S when you will get to see things because they will take lots of pictures from the foundation up to the roof and all the things inside.

We are just so excited about it, that we wanted to set up the blog. We had picked a name for our blog and, since it was available, we grabbed it up. For a while, we will write about what is happening until we have pictures of the house being built.

Our New House Too

2007-07-06T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hi! This is Maggie. Jake and I are cousins to Roxie, Sammy and Andy. The new doghouse is being built for us too, and we're VERY excited about it. We can hardly wait until we can live together with our cousins! Jake dreams every night about running over acres and acres of land chasing squirrels. I like snoodling around too, but most of all, I'm happiest whenever and wherever I can be with my Mommy.
Jake and I love our aunt M (she's our cousins' Mommy), and we're glad we'll get to have a new doghouse with her in it too.

The New Doghouse!

2007-07-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

Mom decided she wanted to catalogue the building of the new doghouse. She says the house is going to be for her and Aunt Bec but we know it is really for us. Since we are still in the planning stage, there won't be much to post but we wanted to set up the blog so it will be ready for us!