Relaxing day visiting with friends

 Today was just a day about enjoying our new house and sharing it with a few friends. We packed some lunch and headed up to Gull Lake Ranch.
Jackie, our realtor wanted to come by and see the place. We haven't had a chance to really spend any time with her since she helped us with the land purchase back last fall. Although she is our closest neighbour, she seems to be the one neighbour who hasn't been over to "snoop" around the new construction.

 As we turned on to Campbell Range Road, we saw Bob (the builder). He had unloaded the windows and doors up into the house, put the shingles on the roof for the roofers tomorrow, and was taking his crane and flatdeck trailer back to his yard. He gave us the good news that the house would be finished to lock-up by Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest! He was pleased with how the house was coming together and complimented us on the views from our deck. He offered that Carl (the framing supervisor) would help us mount the solar panels if they arrived before they finished the house. That IS good news!
We had taken our chain saw with us, with the intention of finding a downed log that we could cut a diagonal chunk from. We wanted to put our street numbers on the slice and mount it near the entrance to the driveway. We found a likely candidate (log) in one of the small piles of trees that had been removed to make way for the driveway, but before we could set to cutting the piece we needed, Jackie and her daughter arrived for a visit.

It was great to see her! She loved the house and was full of encouraging words for all the work we still had ahead. Jackie and her family have just gone through a 3 year build on their new house. Apparently their place is spectacular! We'll find out next week when we go for a reciprocal visit.
After they left, we moved the truck down to the wood pile and got started cleaning up the roots and branches around the log we wanted to use. This is my first real use of our chain saw, a Stihl MS 290, and it worked great - I still need some work on my technique, but the saw was wonderful. Our friends Bud and Lea Thorson and their son Carl, from Dreamscape Ranch, chose that moment to arrive for their visit. Carol took them up to show them the house while I finished with the chainsaw.
It was great to show the Thorsons our new place. They have all been great friends and supporters since we arrived in Kamloops and we wanted to share our excitement with them. A year ago, when we first looked at this property, Buddy had told us to just be patient. He said that sometime in the future he would be sitting on our deck drinking a beer and enjoying the view. Today was that day!
We spent the next hour or so munching on cheese and crackers and just enjoying being with our friends. Thanks for coming guys.
They decided that since it was getting late they should be on their way and we weren't far behind them. We packed up our stuff, jumped in the truck and headed for Knutsford.