The Life for Me

Winter has definitely arrived and the cold days and nights have put a real damper on the building process. John and Pete worked on the road this week to try to alleviate some of the mud issues. More than 50 tons of stone was dumped on the road in various places. Fortunately for me I've been able to pick up some freelance work. It's really nice to have something to do besides waiting for the snow to melt and the earth to dry out.

Even the old barn looks good in the snow. Who knows... maybe we can turn it into the next Nelson County Ski Resort, or just a nice place to watch the snow and sip hot cocoa and coffee. Maybe a little bakery in the chicken house and a book store in the loft. Hmmm.....

We only got a couple of inches, but it was enough for us to have a great time. Leslie wasn't able to get the picture of me doing an endo but we did get a couple good ones of the youngster.

Water was found just past 200 feet and drilling went down to 300 feet. The supply is just under 2 GPM. The plan is to take it down to 400 feet in order to create a reservor and possibly increase production.

The sledding hill is has cut and the sleds are staged for take-off. So what if the footing trenches fill up with snow. It will eventually melt, but in the mean time... BONSAI!

The set-up of the well drilling rig was done a few days ago, but drilling began today. The bright green machine cranked up with a howl and a huge puff of smoke. You could feel the ground pulse as the hammer drill pounded down through the clay and stone. Even though the equipment is fairly massive, the operator, David McGann, runs it like an extension of his own hand. Look out China! Here we come.

One good thing about the rain is that it gave us an opportunity to get rid of a couple of brush piles. Don't let the picture fool you -- those flames are at least 30 feet tall.

What do you get when you mix an art guy turned builder with a physics guy turned carpenter. Not a clue! Actually it wasn't that bad once we figured out which side of the tape measure to use. That's me (in the red) and my good friend Steve working out the math for squaring up the footings. It took us a little bit to get things straight, but in the end we made significant progress. To bad the hole for the basement wasn't big enough. Oh well. It was good practice anyhow.

Reality is setting in. We now have our first real deadline related to the construction of our house. The foundation crew is scheduled to be out on December 5th. We are still waiting on building permits and the footings aren't constructed yet. Who knew that concrete could be so exciting!

Home building has taken a back seat to road building over the past two weeks. And I can tell you -- IT'S A LONG WALK TO THE MAIL BOX! We decided to bring the road up along a contour line instead of shooting straight up the back. It made for a much more manageable slope but added significant length. I can't wait to try a full speed run down the hill on the bike. Hopefully we will get enough snow to try the sled out as well. If you come through town stop by and try it out. Happy motoring!

Colors are really starting to show. If the weather holds out, this would be a great weekend for a Parkway ride.

It would be a nice place for a pool -- heated of course. But to tell the truth it's the beginning of our basement. We started poking around to see how dense the rock would be and before we knew it we had pretty much gone the "hole" way down. This shot here is of Melvin working through the spot where the master bath goes while John looks on thinking about where the diving board should be. Cannonball!!

If you look close you can start to see a little color coming through. It will be interesting to see if the cold temps and rain this week have any impact. Enjoy the view!

Things are still looking mighty green. I think that it is going to be one of those years where the leaves change and fall off over a period of a couple days. Plan your trip now. It's going to be a short viewing session.

Huge amounts of rain came down over the weekend. For the most part the new road did well handling the large amounts of water. The area at the bottom of the main slope did better than expected, although it definately needs improvements. The new pond spot filled up and the creek rose more than four feet for a good part of the day. It was good to get the rain for the fields. Hopefully the trees and foilage will benefit as well.

One site failed but an alternate site passed.

No significant color change seen as of yet. I'll try to provide weekly updates throughout the month.

This week has been designated as bridge repair week. Although structurally sound, the bridge does seem a bit precarious upon first glance. Several of the oak planks that rest on top of two rather large steel i-beams are in need of a little TLC.

So you want to dig a well and put in a septic field do ya? First you go to the building inspection office and pay them some money for a well permit, and some more money for a septic permit -- but that's just the beginning! You then take those receipts to the Health Department and that's when the fun begins. They give you a packet of information and inform you that when you return the packet you will need to pay them some more money. Then after all that is done you get put on the schedule for a site inspection. If the site inspection goes well you can then call the folks that actually dig the well and install the septic system, and of course you have to pay them some more money as well. The good news is that the people you give the money to are quite pleasant.

Louisa Aerial Survey flew this week to take pictures for the 2-foot contour topography map. Morris Foster set panels and established control points. Hopefully it will prove to be money well spent as we continue to develop the property. We still have had no measurable rain. The dust and seed particles from the grass and weeds are overwhelming. I must have looked like I was dealing with a bio-hazard as I bush hogged with my hat, mask, and glasses. That would have been a good picture. Our two antique old rusted square balers that Melvin pulled out of the woods now have a new home at Stumps Scrap Yard. The place is looking nicer all the time. The leaves will start changing in the coming week. Hopefully the dry weather won't dilute the fall foliage.

They sit in the wet soil next to the creek. Sometimes there are as many as 40 or 50 in the same area.

How dangerous could it really be? Being hoisted up in the air in the bucket of a bulldozer on a newly created sloping road base while holding a running chainsaw. I really need to start taking more pictures. Although photos my just provide ammunition for my daughter. "But Dad, remember when you did that stupid thing when you were younger?" Well the question for my last entry has been answered. Melvin (that's him on the backhoe) and I got to work on the road going up to our house site today. Very rocky and very dusty. The bank was cover with small cedars and pines. Melvin said,"They suck every last bit of moisture out of the soil." And he's right. The soil was very fine and a yellowish color, but as soon as we broke into the pasture the nice brown topsoil reappeared. After we reached the top of the hill with the crawler (bulldozer) Melvin thought it would be best to scalp the sod of the rest of the road with the motor grader. That brings me to todays next dang

The debate continues as to where would be the best place to put the road. You would think that with a property this large it wouldn't be such an issue. I spent the morning removing more barbed wire fencing and metal posts. As a bonus I found a large wasp nest under one of the many plastic pallets that had been used to keep the large round hay bails off the ground. I decided that that meant it was time to quite for the day. We are getting a much needed rain today. The grass is coming along nicely in the newly cleared area behind the barns. Estimates continue to come in on the house. Design changes continue at a resonable rate. It looks like the copper roof and the in-floor radiant heat system will have to wait for the next house.

The nights are cooling down. The air is crisp. John and I, along with Melvin and his bulldozer, created a beautiful spot down near the creek. We have one or more Great Blue Herons that frequent the stream and Canadian geese have begun passing by. Estimates keep coming in for different parts of the house even though Leslie and I have decided to make a few changes. Move a bathroom here - add some space there... It is certainly a treat working from scratch rather than trying to figure out an old house, although I was scrolling through some photos of my last house just last night. I really can't believe that Leslie has stuck by me through all this. She must be a bit crazy. Anyway... The port-a-potty is in place. You can bath in the spring house. Bring plenty of chocolate, marshmallows, and gram crackers. Fall is just around the corner.

At least for me... I've finally jumped on the blog-wagon. I'm still working on my first cup of coffee so hold on to your spell checker. Leslie and I have been going over floor plans for our house. The idea of building something from scratch is really exciting and really scary at the same time. I'm hoping that I can use this to catalog our progress through this new adventure. I've already started receiving bids for things like windows, metal roof, foundation, framing, etc. It's amazing how much things cost, but it's even more amazing how much houses with little detail or character or truly custom features are selling for. We are still planning on buildign a guest cottage which is open to any and all seeking a little R & R in the mountains. We won't make it for this season, but if there are any skiers out there that are headed to Wintergreen -- keep us in mind! Thanks for all the support from everyone.