I'll be doing a good amount of work myself, but clients or friends in the trades will do things like framing, rough plumbing, rough electrical, HVAC, drywall and insulation. Hammered many a nail in my life, and have remodeled a few homes. My brother remodels homes in the Seattle area as well, so I have a good knowledge base. I've probably painted 20 homes in the past few years, so I've got that covered as well.

Plain jane landscaping from the start, then we'll add as time goes along. No waterfall, just a nice ditch.

The cottonwood was dead and infested with termites, so it won't be missed, especially since it could have hit the shop. Did that sucker ever make a wallop, and the neighbors came out to watch it go.

Add in 1100 SF of garage on the house and I have almost 3,000 SF of garage/shop space. Wife is excited to be able to park her car in the garage.

Lots of deer in our neighborhood, and the area beyond the jack firs is county, so a few local deer may end up getting culled over the years.

Oldest boy will be in charge of mowing the field. Youngest's job is nail patrol at 10 cents per nail. They like to help, which is good. We might hav to build a dirt track if there is any excess dirt, then of course by some toys.

The wife is oblivious to the amount of work it takes, but that will change shortly when we get the house dried in and interior work has started. I basically get off work, head out there until dark, go home, eat, sleep, wake up, work for a bit out there, then go to work. Only a mile from our current house.

Yup, we will have a house full of Simspon Mastermark doors. Family and friends work there. Just for fun, the next time you drive through McCleary, check out all the front doors on homes. Even the old run down "mill houses" have great looking doors. The community garage sale every September allows for some awesome deals at the mill on "seconds".

A few things we are doing as added touches are pouring concrete under the house, skinny 2" slab is all, and adding a light switch with lights under there, as we have 4' stem walls. Should make for additional clean and dry storage for about a $2,000 investment.

Any other little touches or suggestions would be great, and appreciated.

I'll try to be a bit less cranky, and post pics of the progress from time to time, especially of the shop, with a dedicated 20x40 boat storage area.