Bella Terra: The Beat Goes On....

From Bella Terra of Gulf Shores, Foley, Alabama         On Friday, August  22, Category 4 Hurricane Harvey roared ashore near Corpus Christie, Texas. Harvey's torrential rain kept us on edge for almost a week before circling, making two more landfalls, drowning Houston, Beaumont and countless small communities. The week of flooding was, by far, the most newsworthy item 'round these parts and everyone here kept one eye to the sky and the other to a weather app.

During the first half of Hurricane Harvey Week (August 22 -31), weather in Foley was hot and dry and our construction project proceeded at the usual slow pace. Outside stone work continued, painting began and the garage doors were installed.

Stone work almost all around the base of the casita.

Standard Bella Terra yellow base paint application begins. 

Double garage doors installed and wood trim goes on around them.

By August 29th, Hurricane Harvey, now downgraded to a Tropical Storm, began delivering a final blow to the gulf coast with outer bands training over Gulf Shores, Foley, Summerdale, Robertsdale, I-10, Bay Minette and points north.

In his construction progress report of August 29, David said he and Kevin Trussel had met again to finalize the corrective changes to our outside kitchen which they hope can be done at the end of the week. The wall side of the bar is shortened enough to increase seating space and I can stop visualizing friends falling backward, cracking their heads and bleeding crimson onto the concrete patio.

All our inspections to this point have passed -- framing included; pending installation of the large 8' double doors to the casita which we can't seem to get delivered. We talked about aborting the order but decided to work around this delay for now.

David happily announced foam insulation, which normally requires a two week wait, can be squeezed in on Friday or Monday because we are a small job.  Good news like that makes me smile but I also feared we might get pushed back because we are so small.  To my surprise, on Thursday morning, August 31st, the foam installers arrived -- a day early! The installer wears something that resembled a Haz-Mat suit. I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture him in action. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the casita and didn't re-emerge. Hope he's not still in there somewhere, packed into a wall, covered in foam...

Foam insulation being sprayed from the big box truck.

Rain subsided by the end of the day and the moment I saw the box truck leave I rushed out to see the result. Looked like a great snowstorm had blown through the little casita.

Standing in the doorway looking through to the garage

Standing in the garage looking back the other way, out the double door opening.

Bathroom on the left, kitchenette on the right. Garage to the far right. 

I suppose sheet rock comes next for inside the casita. Meanwhile, the outdoor kitchen frame installation got pushed away as did completion of the inner side of the porch's privacy wall.

Clearly, I am restless. We've been at Bella Terra since April 7 --  twenty-one weeks. We signed the lot purchase contract April 13 and closed on it April 21st.  We are almost to the end of week nine and slightly over four weeks from the contract completion date of September 27th... But obviously, that ain't happening. 

We will see what the shortened next week brings.