Green stuff, and the mouse trap

I found a style of cabinets that Lowe's has started carrying in stock that has the look I have been wanting. So although I can't get all the features I was hoping for by going with the in stock cabinets, I can get a look I wanted, at a much lower price and without having to deal with the long time between ordering and having semi-custom cabinets delivered. Then I spotted that Lowe's was running a special on the in stock cabinets. 20% off through Labor day. Mom helped me decide on my cabinet layout in one afternoon, and I went and bought my cabinets. Last Thursday night we hauled the cabinets to my storage unit. Pictures will have to wait till we install them.

The grass has started to grow on the areas beside the retaining walls. I decided that I needed to get more water on the roof, and that I needed some straw to help the roof retain the water and to help get the grass going. To be able to deliver more water to the roof at one time, I did two things. I bought two oscillating sprinklers to see if I could get better coverage on the roof. I also needed a larger holding tank that I could put a lot more water in at one time. For the tank, I didn't want to spend a lot of money, since this would be a temporary thing. I had the walk boards laying around, and a spare tarp. So Friday night, we made a small pond and put a large battery on the well pump and let it run overnight.

Saturday morning, we got out to the house, and I had a 4 legged mouse trap come check us out.

Then I checked on my pond...

Almost full. I had a reflecting pond :-)

Melissa, David and Erin came out to check out the build progress. Erin decided that she would help with construction. She retrieved building materials, and proceeded to very deliberately place them on the panels laying in the dining room.

Now for the straw. I checked at two places that I knew had straw for sale, but they were both closed on Saturday. They were predicting rain for Sunday, and I wanted to have the straw up there before I gave it a large watering, or we got rain. Talking to my neighbors, they let me know of a farmer nearby that had lots of straw for sale. It was also at a better price than the two places that I had priced it at previously. I took the truck and dad's trailer which had hauled the kitchen cabinets a couple evenings before, and went and got some straw.

Dad and I spread about half of what I bought on the roof, and then put a tarp over the rest, which we just left in the trailer.

There were still some plants that had not been pulled, trampled, cut or otherwise killed when we put the soil on top. So they are still poking up through the straw, but not much in the way of grass as of this point.

I watered the roof that evening, and put a few hundred gallons of water up there. Then Sunday it rained. We worked on stuff that needed to be taken care of at my parents house.

Labor day, we labored. It was somewhat messy. Sunday there was about 3/4 of an inch of rain that fell. I got some pictures of the grass that was starting to show through the straw beside the retaining walls.

Yay, the gold is turning green!

We spent most of the day putting panels up in the utility room. The room is now fully paneled, and ready for me to paint the walls and floor, before I put equipment in.

By the end of this week, I am supposed to have all my drywall delivered. I am also supposed to go from my construction loan to a permanent loan (even though the house isn't done). However, that may get delayed since I have been having trouble finding an insurance company that will insure my house. Two that wouldn't even consider covering an earth sheltered house, and the last one objected that my house was not visible from the neighbor's house or the road. There are a lot of very private houses in this area, I think that last one was making some sort of excuse for not covering my house.