Wednesday was as smooth and pleasant as could be. We met John McDaniels, the construction superintendent, at the house at ten o’clock. We went through the entire house inch by inch. He was marking spots with colored sticky dots. Things we didn’t see any problem with. He had red for drywall and blue for paint. Or, maybe, that was the other way around. He tested every window, blind, light fixture, water faucet (hot and cold) and all the appliances. He talked about everything we might need to know. He made a list of things to be done and we signed it. We even got a box of pint-sized paint cans labeled, e.g. inside walls, outside walls, front door, inside trim.
Andy and I got sandwiches and Subway and then went to the sales office for the closing. That was also extremely easy and pleasant. Sign, sign, date, sign, sign, sign, ……… We were presented with a gift bag with Arlington Ridge coffee mugs, key rings, car tag, etc. Then we went to the community association office for our electronic keys for the amenities (clubhouse, pool, gym, etc.) We could not get a car pass for the front gate because we did not have a registration for the car. I don’t know where it went, the last time I remember seeing it was when that guy ran into the side of the car in Marathon last winter. Maybe the policeman forgot to give it back. Maybe it blew away in the wind.
Then we hit the road in a northerly direction. Got well into South Carolina before we stopped for the night. Of course, we stopped at Bill Ellis Barbecue in Wilson, NC for dinner. Finally, we reached Sister Barbara’s house in Prince Frederick MD somewhere between five and six this evening. Bella, the Boxer, was SO HAPPY to see me!
We are here to pick up Brother-in-Law Tom, who will help us with the move. We will head south as soon as he gets home from work tomorrow. We’ll pick up the rental truck and unload the storage unit in Tappahannock VA on Saturday morning. I have two professional movers to do the heavy work.
I’ll give an update next time I have a chance.
Dinata Misovec 
Good luck with the move! 😊👍🏻
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Thank you.
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Sounds very well organised. Good luck with all the moving and sorting out. Exciting times!
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I suppose we should not have been surprised that it went so smoothly after watching how organized they are with building the houses.
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It’s been fascinating to watch your new home come together step by step. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations on your new home. How weird will it be to not have all the furniture bolted down?
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I guess you can tell we enjoyed the process too! The weird part is having the house anchored down.
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Dinata, I am in Solomons, MD at the moment and will be heading back to Annapolis to get some final boat work done before heading back to Florida. I noticed a picture of your Oak tree in front of the house and would like to note that they get big over the years with extensive root systems. Their roots seek out any source of water and tend to grow in undesirable directions. Over the past 20 years mine have broken the irrigation pipes, taken aim at the house foundation, and broken up the driveway. But I love them. They shade to house keeping it cooler on hot summer days. I would suggest talking with an arborist about moving them away from the house and driveway to protect your property. I hope you enjoy your new domicile. Ross
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We are going to be near Solomons next Friday. Are you going to be there then? Solomons was our homeport before we started cruising – Calvert Marina.
Thanks Ross. I have noticed some sidewalks in the development are heaved by oak tree roots. They have rules about how close trees can be to sidewalks and property lines. Unfortunately, the lot is so small that we can’t get the trees any farther away from the house. The county requires so many canopy trees, per lot size. In our case, that is five trees. The landscaper guy assured me that these trees will not get too big in our lifetime. Does this mean we are not going to make it another twenty years?
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BIG question. When you bought the lot, you said the address was 745 Oleander. But recently, one of your photos showed the more numerologically pleasing house number, *3737*! What happened to (the less satisfactory number) 745? Or was it the lot number which eventually was converted to a permanent street number?
Shucks. I was hoping we would be able to get to see you while you were in Tappahannock loading up for the big move…
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It is Lot 745 and the great house number is 3737. I’m sorry we didn’t see you in Tappahannock too, but we hardly stopped to take a breath while loading up the truck. We would not have been worth visiting, for sure.
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Good luck!
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Thanks!
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