Holding My Breath

11:49 Friday, 20 February 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 36.28°F Pressure: 1002hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 14.99mph
Words: 566

Didn't blog yesterday, so I guess it's not exactly "like breathing."

We've been busy here the past couple of days. "Busy" being relative for a couple of retirees.

We're making plans for building a new home on this property. It's stressful. I want to keep the costs down, Mitzi wants what she wants. It's complicated.

But we think we've settled on the outlines of a design, and we've retained the services of a design firm to turn that outline into plans. We're going to build with insulated concrete forms (ICF) and forego timber frame construction. There will be timber frame accents here and there, but the structure will be ICF, minus the roof. The design firm works exclusively with ICF construction, and their engineering partners are also very familiar with the product.

We're going to hire the guy who built the house we're living in now, who's been building ICF homes for a few years now. Home construction isn't the majority of his business, he does more ICF basements for manufactured homes than anything else, but he does have the experience we're looking for to do this project, and he's excited about it because he wants to build his brand and expand his business building ICF homes.

Has the timing given us a break, with SCOTUS declaring Trump's tariffs illegal? Seems possible, though I don't know exactly what the state of play is for construction material. Our siding and roof are looking to be steel, standing seam, panels and I think I recall tariffs imposed on steel. The only lumber in the house will be the interior framing and the roof trusses. We're looking at some European window manufacturers, I don't know if they were subject to tariffs. I also don't know if manufacturers, after "pricing in" tariffs will be inclined to price them out again, but perhaps.

Delighted to see Andrew arrested. Now please arrest Lex Wexner, and expose all of the "Epstein Class."

There's a few more things I want to blog about, but it's been a busy morning and I need a nap. We went to the gym at 0700, in the rain. Since we weren't scheduled to meet with our personal trainer, we focused on cardio and I did some abdominal work and a dead hang. I'm up to 30 seconds, which doesn't sound like much until you consider how overweight I am. I need to get some gloves I think. My fingers sting and burn.

Came home and had more discussions about design. I thought I'd prevailed in my effort to keep the house down to two and a half baths, but Mitzi has returned to insisting on a half bath in the loft. It makes no real sense, is an added expense, and a potential source for leaks high in the house, where they can do far more damage. Maybe it'll succumb to costs later. This is pretty much her project, I guess. I did prevail on eliminating the dormers and bedrooms in the loft for cost savings. I'd welcome just a large open space, like I had in my condo. Now it's going to have a half-bath wedged into it somewhere, somehow, for some reason. Presumably so grandkids camping out up there don't have to toddle down the stairs to the half bath on the first floor, maybe once or twice a year.

Sigh.

The beat goes on...

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