Second claw-foot tub

We bought another claw-foot tub today. It seems a bit premature seeing how nothing -- other than moving some dirt around -- has been done toward building the house, but I'll get to that later. The builder asked us to find the tubs as soon as possible so he would know where the plumbing needs to be installed, and we have.

This tub was advertised in a shopper on Sand Mountain, where Randy is from, and Eddie, his brother-in-law, and Rhonda, his cousin's wife, called us and told us about it. The woman selling it e-mailed me some pictures of it tonight. It looks like it's in better shape than the first one we bought and it costs less -- $150. I e-mailed her back and told her we'd take it. The green-and-gold paint scheme will have to go, but if the inside doesn't need to be refinished I might do that myself.

Here are some more photos of the tub. A stamp of the date it was made -- July 27, 1925 -- is on the bottom. A friend who bought a claw-foot tub for the Victorian house she's restoring told me they all have a "birthday." I'll have to take a closer look at the first one we bought -- it's at my parents' house -- because I didn't notice it on that one. The claw feet appear to be exactly like those on the other tub.

We went to the cabin site this past weekend. Scott, the builder, hasn't been returning Randy's calls, so we weren't sure if anything had been done. And it hadn't. It's been three months since the construction loan closed (and Scott received $20,000 from the bank), and the only change at the site is that part of an embankment has been dug out and the area where the house will go has been flattened.

As we were walking around, surveying the lack of progress, Randy asked if I wanted to get the camera out of the car and take some pictures. "Well..." I said, "I don't see how they would be different from the pictures we've already taken." He grinned and said he guessed I was right.

If I get another bill for an interest payment and nothing else has been done I'm going to have to ask someone at the bank what we should do. The house is supposed to be completed nine months from the closing date and if it isn't, we pay a penalty. I didn't understand this at first; it seems like the builder should pay. But the bank doesn't have a contract with the builder, I realized. It only has a contract with us. I'm getting worried the house won't be finished in time.