December 2nd, 2008.

Today started out so much better. The frustrating inspector came by with a great attitude today. Everything passed without a problem. So the concrete guys filled the corners of perfectly good yard area with concrete to support the posts that will sit at the corners of the "to code, yet fleeting,carport cover". The flooring was finished by early afternoon, thanks to Cristin and John Harrell. They brought their two little blessings along, so I am sure they were working double time, under the pressure of naptime. Dann and I worked together getting in more interior doors, and he put the door trim and baseboards in the bathrooms so that the vanities could be set and hooked up by plumber, Jeff. Of course, I cracked a tooth on Sunday and instead of helping at the house, spent 2 hours in the dentist chair. Looks like tomorrow we'll be ready to start some of the baseboards and door moldings. Everything was finally moving along, until we got home and listened to a message from inspector joe. After going back to the office, he is concerned with the placement of the carport. "Hold off on the concrete, my boss and I need to come out tomorrow and look at the distance between it and the other structures". Hold off? On your approval, we already have 4 cubes (18x18x24) poured and hardening. Now I know there are rules. 5' from the neighbor, 6' from other buildings, and the pad has to be 18' x 20'. I took the plan to the county two weeks ago when inspector boss said we had to build it. Back and forth between zoning and building & safety offices trying to get a straight answer. There is just not room to satisfy all of those rules in the space we have. "Who approved these plans?" asked the zoning guy. "Building and Safety" came my answer. "Go talk to them about it". Finally the main guy, really helpful supervisor from the week before, said my sketch and locations were fine. So now here we are, spending and pouring and building something we don't want, where there is no room anyway. If you could see the hard 90 degree turn that it would take to park there, and then the long backing out down a single car driveway from required carport, you would know as we do, that NOT NOBODY , NOT NO HOW would ever chance parking there. I am pretty sure they know that too, but somehow this rule is supposed to keep people from parking their cars on the street. UGH...enough ranting! Anyway, tune in tomorrow for this continuing saga. Can you tell I'm getting a little weary? Deck the halls? I'm ready to deck some ...oh never mind!