Knocking and digging.....

Today the excavation for the driveway started. We arrived about half an hour after they started work. We were a bit surprised at the equipment we saw there..a little New Holland Bobcat run by Dave's brother Jackie. But he had already made great headway into clearing out the driveway.

Soon the big boy showed up...and he took over the heavy duties, knocking down a big pine tree was easy play.

In less than four hours they had cleared the driveway, the parking pad section and a smaller one for the motorcycles. Wow! They have to get a burn permit next. Once the tree trash is burned they will grade it and then bring in the gravel.

Stu talked some more with Dave, the owner, and based upon the estimate he gave us (another $1000) we decided to have them clear the driveway and future building spot for the pole barn (Stu's Palace). No grading, leveling or gravel....just clearing. That will enable us to see better where the house will eventually end up.

After lunch Stu headed back to the property to break in his new chain saw, cutting up the bigger trees for firewood. He will go back tomorrow to finish up as well as trim out one tree for future use on our porch. Hopefully we will come up with a second one as well and we'll have two trees from OUR property to use on the house porch. He also is going to try to save a couple of the stumps for fire ring seats.

We've found out that the water will cost us $550 to get our meter installed....better than we thought. That will come in April along with the decisions on power. We have to talk to a local electrician, explaining how we plan to use the property. We might end up with two runs and two meters...time will tell. We don't even know if we will run underground or aerial. The ground seems have some rocky areas that could increase underground costs dramatically.

The other thing that has changed is our plans....we now plan to be back in April and stay till at least June. We'll use that time to work on some of the underbrush clearing, enjoy the area, see friends again and save on camping fees.

Still rolling,
Stu and Donna

You can see all the photos in our SmugMug Album