LifeAsWeKnowIt: Slow Spot

Well, the rush of progress on the house has slowed a little bit as we wait for the inspectors to catch up with where we are at. Currently, the roof has shingles, the exterior walls are mostly covered in Tyvek (house wrap), and the plumbing and wiring are roughed in. The siding should be going up this week, and the insulation should also be going in. Once the siding is on, AdventureDad and I can start working on the outside, getting the patios put in, the finish grading done in the yard, and even start landscaping, etc. Even bigger, once the exterior of the house is done, the septic system can go in... our last big piece of dirt work remaining. This last weekend we finished the vast majority of the fencing as well. We just have a few more bits and pieces to complete, and the horse pasture will hold horses. Lovely!
The rainy season has returned here on the "wet side". It only took a few days of heavy down-pour to completely revive the muck in the horse pen. I am so anxious to move the horses to a place that has been designed for them, where we can do what we need to for drainage and mud control so that they no longer have to live (and I no longer have to work!) in a mud pit. The rain did force me to be inside, which revived my desire to learn more about wine making. As a result, I now have a small batch of plum wine and a small batch of blackberry wine in the works. We'll find out how this experiment turns out sometime near Christmas!
Catching up with the family, my Aunt, Uncle, and Grandma (the girl's Great-Grandma) came for quick but enjoyable visit. Hopefully once the construction/moving craziness is over we will have more time for that sort of thing. We have so many close friends and family members to catch up with! In addition M started First Grade today. She is officially a "grader", as she called them last year, and she couldn't be more thrilled. A couple of her close friends ended up in class with her, and her teacher seems wonderful. Of course all of this will come to an end when we move in a couple months, but it is a nice way for her to start, and I know she will settle right in at her new school when the time comes. Last but not least in the family category, sadly we just got confirmation that AdventureDad herniated a disc in his back. Not good! He is in a lot of pain and can't walk more than a few steps at the moment. He will have a surgical consult soon, and we will know more about what his options are, and what the near future will hold, but obviously we will have to take things slow around the construction site and farm until he heals. Hopefully things go more expeditiously than they typically do with military health care and he will be on the road to recovery soon!