m00n

Just got back a bit from picking up the new pup. We'd like to officially welcome Nicolai Sebastian to the family at Chez Phoenix.

So far the cats are taking it pretty well. They haven't really made up there minds and are just wary and curious, but no real hissing or spitting or clawing or anything.

Pictures to follow as soon as I get a new card reader to download images from the memory cards.

So, in my first official "handyman" act as a new homeowner, I changed the locks. I got a nice matching-key lockset from Home Despot and installed it. A deadbolt (keyed on both sides, since there are windows on either side of the door) for the front door with a regular doorknob type lock for the door to the garage.

I'll have to go back at some point and install the door-jamb reinforcement/strke plate piece once I get my tools out there. The existing hole was too small to insert the insert, so I'll have to chisel or drill it out just a bit so it fits. Not a big deal.

We'll have to see what we need to do to change the locks on the garage doors and the storm door (since I don't think they left us keys to those locks), and also to change the keypad code on the one garage door. Shouldn't be a big deal - most likely I'll have to write the manufacturers to get manuals, etc.

Of course, fyreseer works for a garage door manufacturer, so we may be getting new garage doors at some point anyway. :)

( cut for maybe TMI )

fyreseer and I will be headed back out ther this evening to clear the place and measure for the painting festivities this weekend.

I can't really tell you how satisfying it was to pull the "for sale" signs out of the ground. I had to fight the urge to bang them up a bit and toss them around. Instead I just laid them peacefully against the side of the house so the seller's agent can collect them.

Yet.

Yes, the power is back on at the new house. Went in with our agent and verified that the sump pump is indeed working, as are the furnace and water heater.

That last item is of note because the sellers never turned the water heater on after they installed it.

BWAH?

Apparently, their thinking was that since the house was unoccupied, they didn't need to turn it on. At all.

Now, I don't know if they had someone else install it or if they did it themselves. I got the impression that they did most of the work themselves. Anyway, you would think that you would want to turn something that major on after installation just to verify that it was installed properly and working. And I suppose that could have happened. But I just didn't get that impression.

Oh, well. It works now, and that's what matters. And we have a warranty, so that if for some reason over the next year it stops working, we can get it fixed.

And the major good news for the day... we got the confirmation on our final closing costs, and they're about $1000 LESS than what we were expecting! WOO HOO!!!!

Closing is tomorrow @ 9:00 AM. Then it is mine. All mine. :)