A Bit of Musing……

I've got a lot on my mind these days and thought I would muse a little on the ol' blog.

El Edmonds Castillo:

The house is coming along great. The metal siding mixed with the natural cedar shakes and cedar soffits combined with the mass of the concrete makes for a beautiful visual impression.

Interior finishing's should be getting started any time now. It will be interesting to see how each of the rooms feels once you can no longer see through the walls. The fireplace looks like it is going to be massive now that they have the basic framing for it completed. It didn't look nearly so large in the drawings. It will be an interesting feature and the focal point of the great room. Rock, glass, and copper…..

I'm still struggling with whether I want to add a steamer shower or not. I think if I had one I would use it but, if I didn't I wouldn't miss it. Adding the steamer would change the whole feel of the shower, it was designed as an open shower and if I add the steamer I will have to add a door. ??? I just don't know, but I need to decide soon.

We have settled on the Control4 whole house electronics control system. This will allow us to start with a fairly simple audio-electronics control system that can be upgraded in the future and still give us some pretty cool features right now. This system will allow us to control music/lights/thermostat/security for each room individually from anywhere in the house and eventually from remote locations through the internet.

We visited with the water feature contractor who will also be designing/building our patio fire pit. This guy is quite the artist with natural stone. His work looks so natural. He is working on putting together final costs for the pondless waterfall and the fire pit. Lucky for us, he is slow right now and is going to give us some price breaks from his initial estimates.

Allegro:

I got all of the new instruments installed. I washed the decks. I began doing a deep cleaning of the interior. My back hurts! One more long day on the boat and she should be ready for cruising once again. It is amazing how much less stressful it is to sit in the cockpit of a well sorted boat!

The Economy:

It sucks…. For me anyhow.

Business:

It is SLOW! I have got to figure out a better marketing plan. Mine doesn't work anymore. I'm not worried about staying in business but I am worried about how much more of a hit I'm going to have to take financially. I am also worried about how negatively my employees have been, and are going to be, affected and when they will give up and bail. At least I do have a couple of decent projects that kick off next week that will keep most of the guys busy for close to 2 months. Maybe in that time I can get some back log worked in and that will help carry us into the summer and busier times.

Personal Finances:

No…. Let's just not go there. In a word: Ugly.

Until next time:

CHEERS!