Progress Report #18

As you can see, we've updated our heading photo. We took this photo on Saturday, January 24, while we were meeting with our third excavator. Our first bid was higher than we were hoping, so we got a second bid. Unbelievably, the second estimate was almost TWICE the amount of the first. I know heavy equipment is expensive to transport and operate, but, really, $30,000 just for excavation? Thankfully, our friend, Joe, thought of a local man who had some equipment and who might be interested in doing the work for us. Hubby contacted him, and we met with him last Saturday. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that he is very interested in doing the work for us, and he promised to beat our previous estimates. He actually has a source of free shale that we'll use for the first layer of our driveway, and that fact alone should save us thousands of dollars. Quite a blessing...and yet another benefit of our patience in waiting these additional months. We are anxiously awaiting his bid.

Also, our builder's father passed away last week, so he has family matters to attend to. He is getting us new prices on building materials, since we cut the additional square footage we originally added to the plans. We hope to have his bid within another week.

Still looking at windows...again, there are so many choices...and the ones I would purchase "if $$$ were no object" just are not fitting into the budget. As long as the windows tilt-in to clean, I'll be happy. Otherwise, I don't know how I'd clean those windows on the third floor?

Our supplies for the radiant heating are also coming in high. (See a pattern here?) We will probably use our present estimate for the bank's purposes, but see if we can source the materials ourselves, probably on the internet.

So...just a few more numbers to confirm, then "Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the bank we go!" Hoping interest rates stay low for a bit longer, we can qualify for a bit more $$ that way, and keep our payments within our target range.

Back to the new heading photo, you can see a lot of the wood that is down from the previous owner's timbering...we hope to clean up this lower part of the land as one of our first projects. I don't like the way it looks in the winter, and in the summer when everything is grown up, it's hard to walk through there because you can't see what you're walking on. I plan on keeping it as natural as possible, but clearing it out enough to walk through and enjoy. There is a wonderful area at the bottom of the land that is flat, with several small streams running through (the area where we put the culverts last fall). I want to clean it out (it's loaded with jewelweed in the summer), and possibly make a small pond for fish. That won't happen until 2010 at the earliest, I imagine. Oh, the possibilities!!! I'm giddy just thinking about it all!

The photo below is taken from our neighbors' property looking across to ours. We had to park at their home Saturday, because our driveway had not been plowed (because we don't live there, yet), and they were very gracious to allow us to park there. Luckily, they were also spreading ashes on Wills Hollow so their daughter could leave, or else we would've been stuck there until the spring thaw. There is a lot of ice there, several inches thick, probably, so that will be a consideration next winter. As long as we have material to spread on the road I think we'll be fine.

You can see a trailer in the right foreground. This trailer was the object of a lot of our activity and hard work from October to December. Yes, it is crooked. No, my husband has assured me, it will not fall over. I pray he's right.
On a personal note, hubby had his hernia repair on January 13th. He had a rough couple of days post-op, but went back to work this past Monday, and is getting around "almost" good as new. Our good friend, Bob, is giving him a ride to work, as he is not supposed to drive for 6 weeks! Thanks, Bob!

Stay tuned,
Kris