Passed the Inspection

We've been trying for the past 2 weeks to get the final occupancy approval from the county (Who would have thought that you needed an occupancy permit for a tea house?).  There were a number of hurdles: The wanted an entrance light. In fact they wanted the entire "path" lighted.  We found this really ironic. The stepping stone path around the back of the tea house is somewhat symbolic, and one could more easily walk across the lawn from the (well lit) patio to the entrance.  So we dutifully went out and bought some solar powered lights to satisfy the county.  On cloudy fall days, there is only enough power to keep them on for about an hour, but we figured this would satisfy the county.

However, this turned out not to be the major problem.   As it turns out, when one puts in a request for an inspection, you never know which inspector will show up. And each one has their own ideas as to how to apply the code. So we failed the first inspection last week because he didn't like our metal and steel stairs. We had no way to predict this, because this particular inspector had never been here before.   But David, being an old hand at this business, suggested that we just try again. So Henry met the inspector yesterday, and we seem to have passed (I have know idea if there were any flying colors).  So now we can legally "occupy" the tea house.

We hope to meet Henry tomorrow to settle the bill and get the key (it's been locked for the past several weeks) and the remote control for the heating and cooling system.   Thus ends the first part of our journey.  

But we will be back. This blog will continue with future events at the tea house, and observations of seasonal changes within the garden.   Thanks to all of you who have been following (so far from 37 states and 41 countries). We will be back. We'll try to get some pictures on the next day of good weather.