Rain, rain go away
Come again some other day…

We moved to the metroplex about 6 weeks ago to live closer to our grandsons (and of course our son and daughter). Since we moved, it’s rained several days every week.  This is a good thing because of the drought Texas has experienced for several years.  In fact, it’s rained so much in the last 3 months that most area lakes’ water levels are higher than they’ve been in over 3 years.

The problem is that we are trying to build a house.

Since the middle of February when the dirt work was started, it has snowed or rained at least once each week.   The builder had several loads of dirt for the house pad delivered; then it seems like El Nino got involved.  The workers can’t get any heavy equipment on our lot without getting stuck; so the work has pretty much just stopped.  Of course, we expected some weather delays in February; but we certainly didn’t expect over 2 months of weather delays. Last night,  the weather man predicted that the next 3 months will be wetter than normal.  (Not exactly what we wanted to hear.)   I don’t want the rain to go away completely — just long enough to get started on our house.

These are photos of our lot after we purchased it in June 2014.  The planning took longer than we wanted because we lived so far away.  Even so, we hoped our new home would be finished by March or April of this year.

Some of the gorgeous trees we are trying to incorporate into our house design.

Hubby pacing out the possible dimensions of our house.

There were the usual few delays; but finally the dirt work for the house pad was started in the middle of February.  We were so excited to see the lot cleared and the dirt brought in to start the pad.  We were optimistically hoping that we’d be moving into our new home before my birthday in June.

Then, it rained and rained and rained!  There haven’t been enough days in between rains for anything to dry out.  After several sunny days, the workers tried thinking that it might be dry enough; but the equipment just got stuck.  These photos are from the first week in April.  As you can see the grass and trees are springtime green — and rather wet and muddy.  The top photos show the tracks where the caterpillar tractor was stuck and then filled with rain before the dirt even had time to dry out.  The last loads of dirt were left next to the street because the trucks couldn’t get onto the lot without getting stuck.

Rain, rain go away.
Come back some other day.
Our grandsons want a place to play.
We just need a little time —
Because our home can’t be built in this slime.

I feel guilty for wishing the rain would stop for a while because Texas has been in a drought for so long.  I’m just asking for enough time to get our house started and to the point where inside work can be done regardless of the weather. Then the rain can come back as often as it wants.  I’m truly grateful to be able to build our forever home and I don’t mean to sound whiny.  However, I’ve been documenting the process of building our home from the beginning and I feel this is part of the story that shouldn’t be left out.  I’ve tried to keep my frustration out of this post; but the topic does make it difficult.

We are living with our son while our house is being built.  I’m sure he expected us to stay with him for a just few months when he made the gracious offer.  I’m also sure at some point; he’s going to get tired of his parents being around.

You can read about the beginning of our building a home journey here or by clicking on Let’s Build a House at the top of the page.