Flakey Framers or Flakey Blogger?

I have been a little neglectful of the blog lately.   I need to blame someone so maybe I'll blame it on "flakey framers" but in reality I should blame the one and only flakey blogger...me.

We've been having too much fun having Cade and Becca here visiting for a couple of weeks while they convert their new Sprinter van into their very own tiny house.  It's been fun to compare notes on the two build jobs..theirs is just a tiny bit, well...more tiny.


I'd better back up a couple of weeks.  Last time we checked in at the little river house, the boys were busy doing the drain field for the septic systems. 

 They also had to do some trenching to put in the septic and well lines to the house.  The reason they were doing all of this work is a sad one.  The excavator who was going to do the work was killed in a work related accident just a few days before he was scheduled to start work at our place.  The boys were able to borrow a backhoe from their cousin, Rod and do the work themselves. 


 It was a lot of dirty, hard work but they were pretty pleased when the inspector came by and not only approved everything but commented on how good of a job they did.

The septic tank is in...right in front of the house..really??

Donna and I have taken turns bringing the guys something to eat.  They get so hungry but rarely stop to eat unless the food is right under their noses.



Okay that was week one since I've blogged, now on to week two...

 Framers..

So we had the framers scheduled to start last Monday.  They were going to frame P and D's house and barn first, then move over and do ours.   The weekend before starting, the framing boss called and said he had decided he just couldn't do it for the bid he'd quoted.  After much discussion (and snarling and gnashing of teeth and maybe some swearin') they were told to take a hike...we'd find another crew.

Daughter, Codi, brought her family out to clean out the foundation in preparation for the framers.  They picked up a lot of nails and garbage.

Happy baby!

The clean up crew

The middle of the next week, we had two brothers, each with their own crews lined up. One crew would start P. and D.'s house on Monday and the other would start ours on Wednesday or Thursday.  After another delay, work finally started on theirs, but our framer never confirmed and seemed to have dropped of the face of the earth.  Pat scrambled looking for us a framer once again...that would make it the third attempt (if any one is counting) and sure enough he was able to find us another one and they were all lined up to start.  

It's hard work lining up all these framers!

On Friday they said they'd be there on Saturday to start. That was sooner than expected, so Mike had to quickly call the lumber guy and see if he could get the wall framing package delivered on Friday afternoon so they'd have materials to work with through the weekend.  If they hadn't been able to swing that, the framers wouldn't have what they needed and would   have to wait until Tuesday.  Luckily, Curtis came through and had it all delivered.  We thought the framers would  be there this morning but when the boys got out there at O' dark thirty, ready to go over things...yep, you guessed it...no framers!   
A few phone calls later and it seems they are taking off for the Memorial Day weekend and will be at work bright and early Tuesday.  NO...don't say it...don't even think it!  I'm one hundred percent positive they'll be there!

In the meantime, the neighbor's framers showed up on Friday and they have almost framed the first floor of the barn.  They also have the flooring and one wall up on their house.  That's exciting progress!

P and D's barn

Mike is going to start framing his barn tomorrow with the help of a framer friend and two of our boys. 

Looking from our place over to Pat and Donna's barn and house.  It's farther than it looks in this picture.

Tonight Mike and I went to dinner with friends.  A year ago almost to the day, this is where we were.... on our way to eat dinner in Triangle with Mike's mom and Pat and Donna, when we happened to pass by the For Sale sign that set this all in motion.  I still can't believe this has all happened.  We really do have so much to be grateful for, and on this weekend we'd like to express our gratitude to those who gave all for their country, their faith and their families. 

Field of Dreams..er..Drains

The boys went to work digging the holes for each house's septic tanks.  Those big holes are located next to the houses.  They will connect to a drain field that is further away from the houses.  The drain field isn't deep (maybe eight inches), it just has to be so many square feet big and the boys decided twenty five by twenty five feet would do it. 


  

The inspector came out and approved everything but he said that if you have room, which we do, he would like the field to be longer.  In other words, six feet by one hundred or two six feet by fifty feet fields.   That makes sense..and I want you to know I actually figured the math out on that one.  Pretty amazing for someone who considers math a foreign language of which I have no knowledge. 

We have our son, Scott, in town for a couple of days, and he has only seen the place from the air.  He was anxious to go see it from ground level.  We also had grandkids London and Lucca for the afternoon.  London loves to play in the dirt, so what better place?  Let's go extend some drain fields!

After some measuring....really, the measuring never ends around here!  It was determined they would have to fill in some of the area that had been dug and then dig out some more to make two six by fifty drain fields on each home site.

It was hot and dirty work, so after watching for about an hour, we left the men to do the work and made a quick trip to Sonic for cold drinks and dogs and then headed for home.  






We also met with some friends who recently built their home and we had a great visit picking their brains for any bits of advice they might pass along to us.  My friend said she was just a little jealous that we were just starting to build our dream home and hers was finished.  She really enjoyed the process of designing and choosing all the components of her house and wished she could do it again.  Sometimes, I get so tired of making decisions about every little thing and every BIG thing, that I just say "whatever works".  

It was so good to be reminded that while at times this process can get tedious, challenging, mind taxing and frustratingly slow, at the same time it is exciting, creative, bonding and fulfilling!   We really do feel so blessed to be in the midst of this big adventure.  

The Road More Traveled

I've been out of town for a few days this past week.  It was pretty exciting to get back and see how much progress had taken place while I was gone. 

Ollie looking down the long road toward the river.

Ed and his crew have made a road.  A long road.  


To do that, they dug a hole to get gravel out of which was then used to build the road base. The hole became two holes after he couldn't find the kind of gravel he wanted in the first hole. 

 Of course, the holes will become beautiful ponds after he's done with them.  


The ponds are located right where the two private roads connect and are on P. and D.'s property.  They look a little muddy and rough right now.  I don't think any of us were tempted to go skinny dipping, but the dirt will settle and the edges will be smoothed out.  It's going to be so pretty as you drive up to the houses. I still don't think I will be tempted to go skinny dipping. Let's just drop that subject and move on...

Future small pond.

There will also be a small pond on our property, just past the turn around.

Also...we got foundation walls!
 
That's the part that sits on top of the cement footings which were poured last week.  The short round cement things are the front porch supports.  To the left is the angled garage.
Behind the foundation is the river...about 150 feet away.

Mike and I went out last weekend and I watched while Mike moved a phone box which was too close to the road.  It took him about an hour to get his work done. Ollie and I just wandered all over the place and took photos and enjoyed being there.

Ollie watching Mike move
 the phone box.

Last night we took the boy's mom, Vella, out to the place to show her what's been happening. I think we got her stamp of approval or she was just really good and keeping any negative comments to herself.  She's always been pretty good at that and that one of the things that makes her the best mom in law on the planet.

We also spent some time figuring out exactly how the driveway will go from the turn around to our house and barn.  There's probably about another week of road work to be done. 



As you can see, there is always progress being made.  Sometimes it's just a little, sometimes it's big.  The exciting part is just around the corner...when the framing starts and we see the walls rise up out of the foundation.  Stay tuned....