"Trouble Right Here in River City"

HI!

Fooled you ...... nothing wrong. Just reminding you of a musical called "Music Man." Dear friends thought Deb had contributed mightily to a home DIY project (and she had!), so they invited us to go to dinner at a nice little Italian place in Littleton followed by a performance of The Music Man in the local theater. We really enjoyed the performance and laud the cast for their professionalism and obvious passion for that musical.

Further, this venue, and a couple of others that we've visited, point to Denver area's passion for small theaters and big performances. It's a little different in the Bay Area. We were used to going to events, concerts, and plays that were held in much larger venues. Most of the time, we had less than front row seats and struggled to hear and see the nuances of the performances. There are a couple of venues (like the Alameda Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theater) which combined small intimate surrounds and a big performance, but in the main, the venues were too big. Here the venues seat 200 or so and one can always get a seat no more than 10 rows away from the stage.

There's a bigger than life outdoor concert scene in Denver in the Summer; it seems like there's five or six venues to choose from each weekend with many more opportunities during the week in the evenings. Many of them are picnic style - come early, lay on the grass, play frisbee, and eat dinner before listening to the various genres - jazz, blues, bluegrass, folk, .....

There are so many choices in the metro area, it's hard to believe we'll ever run out. And if we do, we can always begin to explore the venues in nearby cities.

The home building project moves along. The continuing saga is the tale of our appearances before the HOA "Design Review Committee." When we were thinking of buying and building here, we were told stories of the rough time the DRC had given other residents. There's a lengthy and costly process of preliminary, first and final reviews, and along the way, there are always changes to make to your "submission." We've had our share of comments from the DRC and have made the requested changes, and finally have the last review completed - the landscape design - but not, of course, without the requisite "requests." Of course, we've waited so long (as we wound through the process) that we can't plant anything this year. We'll have to go through Winter this year and the Spring of next year watching the rain and snow melt wash our dirt down our driveway and onto the neighbors driveway (where it pools and dries into the hardest sandstone formation you could imagine!).

The spiral staircase is in and being used! What a blessing not having to climb a ladder to get to the main floor. Deb has always been keen (or so I thought) on making a bottle wall out of the wall under the stairway.

One of the things we struggled with was a feeling of an "entry of doors." In that small space, you'd see five doors and little wall. As the framing took shape for the walls on the entry level, we found that leaving out the wall under the front part of the stairway opened the room up considerably. We expanded one bedroom, made the mechanical space smaller, left out the wall, and ended up with an inviting place to rest, snooze, read a book, etc. in a cozy underneath the stairs. One of my daughters will particularly like the idea of our "cozy," eh? But, the large bottle wall is gone, to be replaced with several smaller bottle walls throughout the house.

One of our friends said that the winters in the Denver area can be brutal, and while I found that they are very much different from the Winter in Alameda, CA, they are really enjoyable! But I do miss being able to barbecue year around. So, in the design of the home, we added a covered area in the right angle formed by the stairs to the party deck. The covered area is accessed from inside the home by going through a door in the wall of the "Great Room," and going under the stairway. So, in Winter, we'll be able to go outside and BBQ even in rain or snow! The framing you see above and to your left of Deb's head is for the roof. We'll put Spanish roof tiles there and supper the whole thing with a pair of peeled log posts. Should look really inviting once the sandstone flagstone patio goes in under the roof. Thanks to Renee and Lynn for the inspiration to create this inviting space ..... with the bar, and the TV, and the dog bed!

For the coming week, the windows are delivered and installation begins, and the roofing continues (even though "they were supposed to be completed by Friday" of last week. Funny thing .... the roofers took a day off, didn't get done on Friday, worked a few hours on Saturday, and a few more on Sunday and were at least at the site on Monday ...... and still aren't done. The good thing is that they are working overhead and not really in any other craftspersons' way. Wednesday is the plumbing walkthrough - a signal that work is shifting from the exterior of the home to the interior.

We've completed the electrical fixture walkthrough; confirmed the appliances for the kitchen; ordered the fireplace for the Great Room and the fire pit for the party deck; specified the interior doors; purchased the door through the great room to the BBQ area (a Story in and of itself!); ironed out the sauna specifications; answered the questions about the master bathroom tile floor and dry stack walls; and will complete the cabinet and plumbing walkthroughs later this week. Phew! Whatta week!

Cheers!