Lots of items to update. None of them worth a whole post individually, but now it's time to update before the next big thing happens.
1. This is our house withOUT a drill truck in the back yard! It sat there for a MONTH. I'm sure the drillers were just as frustrated as we were, probably more. Whatever was broken finally got fixed and we finally have a well. It's 230ft deep which was almost double what we expected based on neighbor's wells, but at least we have water.
2. Drywall went in. This crew gets status as the one we've been least pleased with so far. End result is great, but every time we went in their non-working habits teed me off. Spilled food that sat for days. Orange peels scattered all over the floor. Pop spilled and soaked into the subfloor of the shop attic in several places. I know it's just a construction site to them, but to me it's my new home, and I would NEVER treat someone's new home like that. Sid found a couple places where they missed cutting the opening for electrical outlets, and I noticed just today, a month later, that they didn't cut out the opening for the ceiling light in the laundry room.
Drywall was followed by tape and mud, which spruces up the appearance considerably. A VERY dusty and sloppy process!
3.Garage doors installed! New openers set up, completely programmed for us. Unfortunately not fully functional yet as there are no outlets installed yet and they must temporarily be plugged in with an extension cord to the one usable outlet in the garage.
4. Last fall, when the process was getting into full swing, we realized the trailer could not stay on the hilltop because it would be in the way no matter where we put it. Couldn't stay in our driveway at the house either. So it stayed in it's summer spot under the trees by the garden. When I ordered the flooring, we knew the trailer would be needed to pick it up, so Operation Trailer Dig-Out was commenced. The back driveway gets a considerable amount of drifting in the lower spots, and the driveway is 1/10th mile long to the garden. So this entailed loading the snow blower into my truck, and hauling it out. Sid started at the driveway and blew his way all the way across the creek to the garden side then headed down the back driveway. It was pretty easy going for much of it, but the area nearer the road was so packed in that it required me to break it up with a shovel before the snow blower could deal with it.
5. I decided to try out the driveway on the back side of our hill as a sledding hill. The sled refused to make the curve and instead insisted on heading straight toward the trees and ditch. Banking the curve is required for future fun. I tried to do that on this day, but the snow was too dry and fluffy to pack and the sled went right through the piles I attempted to build. I've been told that hay bales will help a lot.
6. Flooring was picked up just last week. That was a whole adventure of its own! Horrid day for pulling a trailer with high winds and icy roads. The alley behind Lumber Liquidators is narrow, and mostly occupied by tractor-trailers for the neighboring business. Sid had to figure out how to turn the Suburban-with-trailer around while it was empty so we could make an easy escape after it was filled. Three and a half pallets of flooring later, the sales guy noticed that the tires were looking a little flat. (Tires filled in summer get considerably flatter in mid-winter temps) We checked the pressure and they had enough to at least make it to a gas station. St. Cloud traffic is always horrible, winter streets are always hiding potholes, and with a full trailer to pull, both of these make the job dicier. We found a gas station just around the corner and a block up, but it's air hose was one of those worthless quarter-fed vending machines which never work properly in the cold. It wouldn't put any air in, but it was happy to let more out as Sid tried to fill it. Thankfully there was a Valvoline Oil establishment next door with a real air pump inside, and they were nice enough to take care of the tires for us. Sid brought an extension cord over to plug in the opener and we were able to back the trailer into the garage for unloading. 130+ very heavy boxes of flooring!
8. Last up for this post, the cabinets got ordered, and countertops chosen. This is the countertops for the kitchen. 
And this is everything else. Clockwise from upper left- floors for bathrooms and mudroom, chip for downstairs bathroom countertop, tile for shower trim, shower walls panel, kitchen cabinets at the bottom, and flooring for the rest of the house.
Not shown- counters for the pantry and laundry room. Those will be from standard stock at Menards because Sid can handle those with no problem. They will be a grey granite look due to limited choices. The bathroom cabinets will be white. We found them at Building Materials Outlet in Eagan. Three cabinet sections for $450! I need to order some filler strips from Menards for a perfect fit, but they will do the job.
So Exciting to watch all the details come together! Such a long journey and the end is now in sight.
