Electrical updates
Before I left the farm, I had to get one of the stalls cleaned up for electrical panel to be put in. When we moved stuff in to the barn it got piled into that stall. We wanted power put into the barn at the same time as the house so we would not have to hire someone to come out again. I am so glad that we did because this is not a quick process at all. We tried getting the electrical process started prior to closing day.
After viewing the property, we contacted an electrician. He was supposed to give us a quote and a date of installment within the week. This guy was next to impossible to get ahold of. Never answered his phone, and never returned calls. I was getting quite annoyed with it but we did not have anyone to ask locally to find out who to use. If the guy did not want to do the work, then he should have just said that instead of leading us on.
Once we got to the property he came out and met with us but still did not give us a cost of how much it would be. He said he would have a quote to me by the end of tomorrow. Well, the end of tomorrow came and went. I called him, and I text him and finally he called me back. Said he had not had time to work on the quote he was helping his wife do some canning. Yes, you read that right…. he was canning with his wife. That was the last straw for me, apparently, he did not want our business. We contacted our ditch digging friend, Lonnie, that we had met and asked him if he knew who we should use in the area that actually wanted to work. He gave us the number to a man named Wes. Lonnie called Wes and told him about the previous guy and what we were wanting then called us to call him. We talked to Wes that evening and set up a date and time for him to come out. He said he would try to come out sooner if he could but they have been pretty swamped with work. He came out Saturday morning and gave us a quote while he was there…. now that is how you do business. We set up a window of time in which he would be out to get it done. He was very helpful with all my questions, and concerns. We have not heard back from the original guy regarding power being installed. Maybe he caught wind that we hired someone else.
I asked how he would like me to pay him because I would be back in Texas by the time, he would be working on it. He said oh just mail me a check when the job is complete. I was amazed by his trust in people. Would you accept a check from an out of state resident that you had just met?
On August 13, Wes and his crew came out with Lonnie to get the power party started. The power company should have already been out to do what ever it is that they do to decide where the electrical pole will be placed but they had not. That did not stop Wes and his crew from installing the electrical meter box, and both the fuse box in the house and the fuse box in the barn. We decided to go with underground lines so they dug a trench from the house to the barn to bury the electrical lines.
My mom and Hunter were the only ones at the farm during this process. My mom called me bright and early (10 am CST) to verify if the pole placement would be okay. It would be located between two gates by the barn. Wes assured me that both gates would still be operational and that was my main concern. We plan to replace both gates but want to make sure that we would still be able to use them. One gate is the driveway gate and one is a walk-through gate. The driveway gate is old and made of fiberglass. Every time you open or close it you get fiberglass on you. It will eventually be replaced with an automatic gate opener. The walk-through gate is still up in the air. We found an old stall door when cleaning up the barn that I wanted to use but not sure it will work because it is a bit smaller than the opening.
Anyways back to the electric. Hunter had strict orders to take pictures and send them to me during the whole process. I want to document every little thing that that we do on the farm. Mom and Hunter had cleaned out the fridge that had been closed up during the move to have it ready for power, little did they know power would not be turned on today. Talk about a letdown. We didn’t really understand how the whole process worked with getting it turned on. Wes gave my mom the invoice for me to pay and I mailed a check to Wes for $5000, and one to Lonnie for $300. I am so thankful that part is done.
Wes had set up for the electrical inspector come out Tuesday morning at 11am and for the electrical engineer to come out Monday morning to okay the pole placement. And power should be on with 3-4 days after that…. Another week without power but at least there was an end in sight. My mom is tired of “camping” and buying ice to keep food cold is getting expensive.
I had set up our account with the local power company before coming out to Kentucky because I wanted to make sure that there would be nothing to delay the process anymore. Tuesday morning, I get a call from my mom while I was driving to Dalhart (8-hour round trip drive) for a doctor’s appointment. The electrical company is needing a form signed by the property owners since the pole will be placed on our property. They could not do anything without this form signed. Why didn’t they give me this form to fill out while I was in Kentucky? The guy assured me that I would just need to sign it and email it back. Ok fine I can do that; I am trying to stay positive. I called the lady at the power company to email it to me, and I ask why it wasn’t sent to me when I set up the account in the first place. She didn’t have a great answer and I am sure she could tell I was not happy about that. I get the email about an hour later and the form has to be notarized…. are you freaking kidding me? One, I am not home to print it, and two I am driving to Dalhart. I forward the email to Chad and ask him if he can do it. He said the form says it has to be notarized in the state of Kentucky and it is asking for a bunch of information we don’t know. At this point I am about to lose it, already annoyed with the fact that this could have all been done while I was in Kentucky for 3 weeks, I call the lady once again. She asks to verify with someone else if they could put the info on it after we have it notarized and send it back and verify, we could go ahead and get it notarized in Texas. I call Chad back and luckily with no other hiccups he gets it done and I email it back. Glad that’s over with.
The electrical inspector was supposed to be there at 11am but had not shown up yet. Hunter went to go shower still in the basement with our makeshift amazon shower and guess who shows up? Mind you the inspector has to inspect the electrical box in the basement. Hunter was not amused by this but I thought it was quite funny. Hunter texted me that they got the green sticker. Now I had no idea there as any sticker involved so I asked what color sticker did we need? And What did each color sticker mean. Apparently, it just meant it passed inspection and we were good to go. Now we just had to wait on the electrical company to come install and hook up the electrical pole. It was also being delayed by the fact that it had rained almost every day for the last 2 weeks. The electrical inspector said they were putting it in for a rush job….as they should.
Impatiently waiting for electric to be installed my dad installed the electrical plug for the fridge and plugged it in. Luckily it was relatively an easy plug to install since the wall backs into the stairway and the stairway walls are not complete. Hunter is learning new things every day, which is such a great experience for him.
This morning August 20, the electrical company showed up to put the pole in. YAY!! We are so excited to have electric! There are many things that could not be worked on because there was no electric for the power tools and the generator did not have enough power to run. I am sure my mom will be excited to have a running refrigerator and they have a way to charge their electronics. I asked what plug my dad was going to put in next and he said to his coffee pot! Oh, the little things in life that you miss.
Pink Squirrel Farmstead 