Didn't We Do This Before?

I have vague memories of the long two and a half months it took to get electricity when we first moved here. But most of that sad story is buried deep in this blog, and I had forgotten it.

Had I remembered, it would not have been much of a surprise that the time I hoped the electrical service would be finished (tomorrow seemed a reasonable hope) is more like the beginning.

It's been a frustrating haul. After spending the first two days this week working on an engineering project, Phil turned his attention yesterday to getting electrical boxes mounted. The hoped-for paperwork from the electrical company hadn't reached the post office by yesterday morning (had the utility locate man come when he needed to, it would most likely have reached us last Saturday). That was frustrating, but not the end of the world. Phil mounted a panel inside the building.

And he built a cute-ish panel on the outside, too.

Then he went to try to mount panels in the barn, as the barn will soon have our meter box and such. But that proved nigh impossible. Not only did he not have the meter box to determine what is the appropriate size (can't get the meter box until the paperwork goes through), but the insulation in the barn made installing anything on the walls ... difficult.

This morning, after doing all the smaller tasks he could think of, he realized that there is really nothing he can do, electrically, until the paperwork came. He left in hope that it was in the box. Praise God, it was. So he drove right down to the electrical company, and paid them what they needed (and when he had a question, his contact was actually in the building and could answer his questions there). Tomorrow he'll get the ball rolling, and hopefully in two weeks (maybe three), the electrical company will come and work their magic.

So this day ends better than it seemed about noon, when all I could see was bleakness.

In happier thoughts, Joe has been practicing capital Ds on the white board. He quickly realized that that was a good shape to draw me, and he thoughtfully included a little person inside. I love it.

Abraham drew a very recognizable picture of Snowy, his Build-a-Bear.