A Very Complimentary Failure

I was priming my girder for a paint job when the building inspector mens arrived. Yikes. Two of them.

They poked. They prodded. They unscrewed things. "This place has turned out really nice."

"Does that mean I am not failing miserably?"

"No, it's pretty good."

"Now do this list of things and we will come back to check again."



One utility grounding bar screwed to the wall. Done. Check.



Two ground rods, not one, at least six feet apart on a continuous line. Done. Check. Why didn't you tell me that the first time you looked at this thing?



Bubble covers on the exterior plugs and switches. Two of three done. Half a check.



The exterior staircase needs to be closed in. What that means is any open space greater than four inches beneath the treads has to have a closing board so your foot will not slip through that space on icy steps. That's not much of a big deal. I can handle.



I failed on a short list of minor and mostly cosmetic it seems electrical upgrades. They didn't like the labeling in the breaker box. Kitchen, kitchen wasn't good enough. One needs to be labeled kitchen 20amp receptacle.

They seemed pretty cool with the engineers drawing for the loft ladder, but they really are supposed to see it installed. We have to come back anyway so write that down too.

Overall it went very well and in my mind I have moved on.

While waiting for it to get warm enough to paint and for the inspector mens to arrive, I chopped and dropped my sunny utility meadow and contemplated the stone earth work that should take shape in this section of it this year. I want to think about art and beauty now.



I couldn't have post with just boring construction pictures and a sad story of rejection. A nice garden stroll at the end of the day is good for what ever may ail you.

Iris reticulata 'Harmony' opens on a beautiful day. According to the astute Sallysmom that was my previous ID.



The first daffodil of the year is here. Now this daffodil concerns me. I am near certain it is the annual WUD, the World's Ugliest Daffodil. This year it has a single cup. Last year the cup was frilly and fully double. In the past the cup has been so deformed it was hideous. It is a real phase shifter and it has never bloomed this early. What is going on?



Crocus gather steam in a sporadic and possibly self seeded sweep intermingled with the rising daffodils.



Bigger clumps of crocus get ready to bloom. While kneeling in for the closeup I noticed this clump was surrounded by dozens of much tinier crocus sprouts well away from the main group. They can be identified by the white stripe in the mid vein. Obviously they are setting seed.



It could be my imagination, but it seems like there should be more daffodils. I remember there being more. But this warm is doing odd things I think. There may still be thousands more in hiding, not trusting these sunny days and frozen mornings.



The loft ladder will ship around the 16th. A week to ten days later it should arrive from California. I told the inspector mens not to expect to hear from me for a month.

"Not a problem. Just call when you're ready. You haven't ever been in a hurry with this."

"No I haven't. I'm not like most people y'all are probably used to. I wasn't planning to move in really until the second week of April."

"Then there's plenty of time."

Yes, plenty of time.