Have You Seen Our Other Blog...?

We're finally updating our other blog, Whose Woods These Are...And What Lives There...if you'd like to pop over there to see what plants and animals we've been finding on our property. We have many photos yet to be posted and identified, so stop back periodically to view our discoveries.

Stay tuned,
Kris

Was This Really February?

Unseasonably amazingly warm weather in early February demanded a visit to our property. It was not a "work day," just a chance to walk the perimeter (on the old logging road) and see how (if at all) the landscape was changing. Sissy cried almost the entire time...she wanted to be carried but not on my back...have you ever tried to carry 25 lbs in your arms...uphill? Not easy...in fact, not really possible (at least for me). Here are some highlights...

Helping Sissy uphill.


Hey, boys...whatcha lookin' at?


Ohhh, I see...that platform up there..."Don't even THINK about climbing up there, boys..." I say...("at least until we nail up some new boards..." I think to myself.) Hehe.


We took plenty of time to explore the water...


Sissy wanted to get INTO the water in the worst way, and was not happy that I was holding her shoulder straps. (She wasn't happy about much, actually).



By the time we were on the way down...I think she decided to actually enjoy her ride.



Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #21

Saturday, March 21, 2009...One of our projects this day was to pick-up the slate we purchased for the kitchen/dining room, hallway, and bathroom on the second floor, and the ceramic tile for the third floor bath. Here is the approx 2500 lbs. of slate and mortar mix that Hubby, J-Bird and I off-loaded from the truck to our storage trailer. Each box contains 10, 12x12 slate tiles, and weighs approx. 50 lbs. If we end up crippled in our old age, it'll be no wonder. At least we'll have stories to tell.


Here's a peak into the storage trailer. On the right you can see the large brown boxes that contain our toilets, and the long skinny boxes behind them contain the laminate flooring we purchased last fall. The back half of the trailer is packed floor to ceiling, the front half isn't as tight. I do not look forward to moving all our stuff, AGAIN...but, Lord willing, it will be the last time. And we'll be moving it into OUR NEW HOME.


Once we unloaded the flooring, it was time to get the fire started and get to work (HA!). The area you see below was, when we started clearing last year, a tangled mess of brambles and overgrowth. We have spent A LOT of time cutting and moving wood, and much work still remains to be done, but we are making progress, and once we are actually LIVING on the property, tackling projects like these will be easier.


Another gratuitous fire photo for our friends Rob & Gina, who we understand have an unnatural affection for burning wood. We're looking forward to the day when we can relax around a campfire, joined by family, friends, and good food.


And speaking of food...we thought that roasting hot dogs might be a fun idea and something we hadn't done, yet...and the kids really enjoyed it. Only trouble was the fire was almost too hot, we had a hard time not roasting ourselves while cooking the dogs...needed longer sticks, I guess.



Sunday, March 21, 2009...Heading over to the land in the afternoon. Looking back towards State College from Ardery Hollow...the "dip" in the far mountain range (towards the right) is the cut out for I-99 at Skytop. This is a particularly pretty view on the way to our land. Gorgeous in the fall!


Back at the land...we decide to pull some logs out of this area and drag them up out of the way. Then we were going to move the cut wood. But...this is the only one we moved. Because...


we decided instead of moving the wood we had cut, we'd load it on the truck and deliver it to Hubby's dad, who installed an outdoor furnace last year, and was running short of wood.


Here's I-Bird on his make-shift teeter-totter. He is always looking for things to ride, climb on, or swing from. Just another great thing about living in the woods! There's always an adventure waiting to happen.


Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #20

Pictures from our weekend work days. Two beautiful warm late winter days gave us time to do some clean-up work on the lower part of our property. Now that the snow has gone (for good, hopefully!), the mess that was left after this property was timbered is glaringly evident. Logs and brush litter the ground, intertwined with wild rose briars, making for tedious and mildly dangerous work.

This shot is taken from the driveway looking right. We have the burn pile going and are constantly feeding it with brush, briars, and the punky logs that aren't good for fuel. A lot of the logs are so soft that they fall apart when moved. Too bad so much of it has gone to waste.

Here's some of the wood we've cut to use later...right now we're cutting and clearing...next time we'll begin moving what we've cut to a large wood pile we've started above the future homesite.

To the left in this shot you can see the future driveway. Yesterday we met with our excavator to discuss the placement of the house and various aspects of driveway construction. He is ready to get started the last week in March...so in just a few weeks this dirt path will finally begin to resemble an actual driveway. He is planning to bring in A LOT of shale to build-up the lower part of the drive to ease the transition towards the uphill climb towards our home. He has put a lot of thought into our project and has access to some materials that are saving us a lot of money. Again, we see God's providence in waiting through the winter...we just learned of him a few months ago...had we started last fall, we probably would've used someone else.

This is looking to the right of the driveway...you can see the red branches of the wild rose briars. They are quite pretty in bloom, and even in winter add color to the drab landscape, but have grown so thick in places that they make enjoying this lower part of our land very difficult. We will be leaving some intact, but are removing most of them as we move through this area.

Same view moving back a bit. You can see both culverts here...in the summer the flow through the smaller pipe on the left actually dries up...the larger one on the right flows all year. We're trying to decide exactly what we'll do down here...a pond is high on everyone's list, and we think that removing the little island between the two streams might be the answer. After we get this lower area cleared, we'll have a better idea of what we have to work with. Most of the ground is quite damp, perhaps planting some ground cover will help.

Looking to the left of the driveway. The water has been flowing really well as the mountain snow melts. I imagine this will be the highest water flow of the year, but I'm not sure.

Same view as above, stepping back. There is a really pretty spot beyond these trees...and a place where you can hear the water flowing UNDER the ground...very cool. The kids would love to have a picnic place back there, but it's hard to access. Another future project, perhaps.

Looks like the hard work is starting up again! The long months of waiting and planning are soon to be a distant memory as (Lord willing!) our dreams become reality. We look forward to sharing our adventure in the coming weeks and months. I'll try to post as things progress, and keep everyone up to date. Thanks for visiting...please leave us a comment if you haven't already.

Stay tuned,
Kris

Photo Essay

I took these photos at our friends' property the last time we house-sat for them...the corner of their property ALMOST touches the corner of ours, and in the winter you can ALMOST see our building site from their backyard. The boys are talking about installing a zip-line...wouldn't that be fun?

Our friends' tee-pee:

Trees silhouetted against a gray sky:

Making our way behind their home:

More silhouettes:

Our handsome teenager...he is becoming a fine young man. He's a hard worker, a great helper to his Mother around the house, and he loves his younger siblings. He is a blessing to us, and we thank God for allowing us the privilege of raising him. We love you, J-Bird!

Progress Report #19

WE ARE ON OUR WAY!!!

We met with our loan officer this morning...submitted our estimates, signed the loan origination paperwork...everything appears to be in order and to his satisfaction...so now it's just a matter of time! He forsees smooth sailing from this point...the appraisal will take the longest, but once that's completed...

LOOKS LIKE WE'LL BE BREAKING GROUND THIS MONTH!!!

Praise the Lord!

We are so thankful. Blog activity should be increasing substantially. As always...

Stay tuned!
Kris

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