Fog

Broken Ground!

This is our excavator and septic man, Art Eggleton. He's a really cool dude and tells great stories. He's been very helpful and patient while dealing with us novices.


Grading of the land has begun. Actually, at the time of this posting it is pretty much done, and the septic system is well on it's way. I've been really disapointed not to be there taking pictures of every step as I had imagined, but work and school are keeping us in the city most of the week. These pictures above show the spot where our house will go- unfortunately the apple tree had to be removed becuase it was at a different elevation, but the hydrangea was saved and moved near the pond. We've flattened out the land and brought it to an even level with the driveway. We've left a berm (hump) by the road and will plant tall shrubs on it, so as to protect us better from the road, for both privacy and water run off.






Here Art moves the Hydrangea tree. These machines can cut through our clay and rock soil like butter! He dug a big hole lickety-split, cradled the Hydrangea in that big arm, and transfered it over. It was a little surprised and drooped all it's leaves, but we thouroughly watered it and it was looking ok when we left.

Ben gets to try the tractor. Even though I didn't catch it on film, I assure you he did move a bunch of dirt around.

Megan gets to try the tractor. Lots of levers and pedals but no real brake. It stops when you will it to hard enough. Very powerful thing.

Monday Oct. 2nd Grey's is scheduled to dig holes and place sonotubes (forms for concrete) for the piers the house will stand on. The following week the house shell is assembled, weather permitting. Things are really cookin' now.

Tent at Night (Ben Reading)

Organized Shed

Shed Improvement, phase I

Last weekend Ben started a project to extend the shed. To get more use out of the space the shed sits on he built a roof on the back and will enclose 2 sides of it. More storage for us that will be somewhat protected from rain and snow.

Fall Color

Labor Day Weekend

I regret to say we forgot our camera Labor Day Weekend so there will be no pictures... a bummer, because it was quite a dramatic time. We needed to paint our shed to protect it before the tail end of Ernesto blew through- so we went up on Friday and furiously painted (they gave us the wrong stain color so it's not red, it's more orange-y or, as the can said, "cedar"...) as the wind propelled bits of leaves and bugs onto the sticky stain. We then covered it with a gigantic tarp which really wanted to be a kite and staked it down, hoping it would last through the night. We managed to cook up a nice meal despite the wind, and then retired to the tent, which proved to be quite cozy throughout the night. It was windyer (is that a word?) than ever, and we fell asleep to the sound of a hundred oceans crashing around us as the wind tore through the trees (wow that's poetic). Sometime around midnight it started raining, and though I barely slept for the entertainment of the elements, we felt safe and warm in our little tent. The next day continued the intense wind and rained on and off as we transfered tools and random stuff from our campsite and our neighbors barn to our shed. I had to get in the car and turn on the heat once in awhile because it was so relentless. By the afternoon we were ready for a hot cup of tea and our slippers and since we have no "inside" we came back to the city. We really appreciated the roof over our head that night as we watched movies, cooked dinner and drank wine while it rained and rained outside. The next 2 days were beautiful, sunny, and warm. We spent them in the city and enjoyed every minute of it.