Almost But Not Quite

Ah!  So many friends and family have been asking: "So?  Are you in the bus?!"  Of course not!  That would be too easy.  So why not?  Well.  Let's see.

1. It was raining cats and dogs all last week.  Which meant we couldn't level the land and add the gravel.  Luckily summer finally arrived.  So the land is now levelled but we still need gravel and a compactor.  Gravel will be ordered and (hopefully) delivered tomorrow.  And compactor?  Still trying to find one.

2. There is no power yet!!  We hired an electrical company to dig a trench, lay the cable, put up a breaker box and apply for permits... then the local utilities was supposed to connect the transformer and install the meter.   But they decided that a new pole was necessary.  So then we had to wait for the rain to stop (which it didn't for a whole week).  Finally the utilities company came and set up a new pole.  Then the electrical company had to come back and move everything that they had installed to the new pole (including doing more trenching).  So now.  We wait (again).  For the local utilities to come back to turn on the power.  They are supposed to come tomorrow (fingers crossed).  And then.  We need the electrical company to come back to connect the power to the bus.  And then we pray that the wiring built into the bus actually works (as we do not know that yet!)  So.  Candle light anyone?

3. We waited almost 3 weeks for the water heater to arrive (from Hawaii).  It finally did this week.  But.  It's not the right size!!  It's too big to put in the bus.  So.  We hope that someone (who?!) can help us build a structure outside the bus to house it.  Thank goodness it has been sunny and hot these days.  So.  Cold showers anyone?  Well... actually...

4. tPlumber is not available to finish the plumbing (that he couldn't complete without the water heater) until next week.  So.  No showers anyone?

5. We just realized that the gas stove that we bought and plan to power with propane is set up for natural gas.  So after a number of phone calls and many minutes on hold, we might have a propane kit which needs to be set up (professionally? = $).  So.  BBQ anyone?

Ah.  But let us not dwell on a few challenges.  Let us focus on what is going well!

The bus has been moved to a temporary location (while we await gravel and compactor).  And everything remained intact (i.e. none of the structures above the bus fell off!)

tBOY skillfully driving our big yellow school bus! 

tDog wondering where the bus is going! 

tBOY and I spent a lot of time sanding, filling in wood holes, varnishing (this is what happens when the entire interior is made of wood - sigh!)...

Me sanding the bench/chest

The little holes we filled

tBOY varnishing the shower

tBOY varnishing the cedar shingles on the exterior structures

And cleaning the bus.

Organizing all the tools, recycling and throwing out all the garbage (while tDog hangs out!)

Vacuuming all the sawdust (not so fun when you are allergic to dust!)

And it was finally time for the flooring.  This is significant as this means that the end is near!!!

Prepping for flooring

tBOY and tCarpenter spent 2 whole days doing the flooring

Looking great!

Much better to hang out on wood flooring than sawdust for tDog

As for the bathroom...

This...

is now this!
The cedar siding smells so lovely!  And tCarpenter spent over a day building that shower.
It ended up being a costly project because of its weird shape.
But we love it now!

Shower head installed.
Beautiful light coming in from the 2 windows and the skylight.
Now we just need to install the curtain rod tCarpenter made using copper piping.

As for the toilet side....

Here it is.
tBOY has to bolt it to the floor and we have to set up the fan.
Shelving will be added above the toilet.

Remember that closet door from the recycling store...
It is now the bathroom door.

Folds when it opens so as not to take up too much space.

Last look at the bus (for now)...

As for our current abode...

It is rather messy :(!

Can't wait to move out of here!

As for us.  We are a bit (ok... very) tired!  (tBOY took the week off for vacation, but so far he has spent 6 straight days working on the bus!)  But we are still smiling.  Tomorrow we might be sleeping in our bus - possibly without water, electricity, gas stove etc... But hey.  That's part of the adventure, isn't it!

P.S.  We are on our own for a little while as tCarpenter has left for a 3-week vacation today.  He will do some finishing work when he returns.  But for now.  We will be doing our own home-building-problem-solving...  Eeks!