Moving Day

Hi All,
We've had electricity at the building site for several weeks. In my last post you saw the septic tank go in and the water well being drilled.  On Friday of last week the well was completed and it started producing water.  Yippee!

Over the weekend we finished adding a mezzanine to the barn.

Now that we have water, electricity and a septic tank at the building site it seemed like a good time to move our travel trailer back there so we can cut our commute time (to 2 seconds from 2 minutes) and enjoy our view of the pond. So we did. This morning. Did we get any pictures of the trailer in its new place? No. But that's because we had too much other excitement going on!

Still working with Hitachi- Hitachi Power Tools

Standing up the first wall!

Scott and Grady working on the wall that faces the pond

We have two walls up! Like the rain proofing of the electrical outlet in the foreground? It's called a bucket.

That's all for now. We're looking forward to tomorrow and a couple more walls going up.

Brian

Things are happening!

Hi All!
Finally things are starrting to happen here. Some expected, some not so much.

Our next door neighbors to the west came to visit one day.

Our neighbor to the west is a Texas A&M Research Center. Some of the inmates came to see if the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.

Then something from much farther North came calling. Snow and a record low temperature for Kilgore, Texas.

Officially it was 10 degrees in Kilgore

This was day II after some of the snow melted. We got between 2" and 3".

This past weekend we had several expected visitors. Susan's niece Honey came by on her way to Tennessee. Somehow we managed to not get any pictures. Our friends Richey and Ankie came over from LA (lower Alabama) to deliver our 'new' tractor! What a beauty she is!

1955 Ford Model 600

It's only Wednesday but it's already been a busy week. Monday the lumber for framing the house was delivered.

The guys drilling our new water well drilled 414' and got water on Tuesday.

Wednesday (today) the well guys got the well casing put in, the guys putting the septic tank in dug the hole, dropped the tank in and covered it up and the guys Susan and I are going to "help" frame the house started drawing on the slab so we'd know where the walls are going. This process is a lot more difficult than I expected. We also found some errors where pipes were put in the concrete. Some rooms are going to be a bit bigger than originally drawn while others are going to be a bit smaller. But it is all working out fine.

Our septic tank. Hate to bury it when it says God Bless America

Going to it's final resting place

Scott and Grady studying the house plans

One last thought during flu season...

That's it for now but things are moving pretty fast now. And the grins on our faces are growing.

Take care.
Brian

Happy New Year!

Hi all,
It's time to let you now what we've been doing for the last month or so. To be honest, I'm not sure. We've been very busy but not much has happened at the home site since the foundation was poured. We finally have electricity, which was no small feat. Since the last post we've celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years so that accounts for a bit of time. We've also gotten a quote on the lumber required to frame the house. The water well is scheduled to go in next week. Not sure about the septic tank just yet, probably not long after the house is framed, which should start the week after next. We've lined up a stonemason to lay up the fireplace.

Windows. What do you want to know about windows? That's what has taken up a bunch of our time, learning about, researching brands and looking at windows. I think we're close to placing the order. I hope.

There have been a few improvements around here. Shelton Backhoe and Dozer built a bridge across a narrow spot of the lake. The driveway will cross the bridge.

Susan and I did the rail so we could say we did a part of it

We had a pole barn built by professionals...

The only tool we used on the barn was a checkbook. 

We built the well house from scrap lumber left over from the rotten roof on the crack house....

What craftsmanship!

And we think we're going to build a house? Oh boy. I should point out this well is the one we're on now which supplied the old house. We're just trying to keep it from freezing. Today was the first time in a couple of days the temperature has been above freezing.

Framing will start in about 10 days.  We have some professionals coming but Susan and I want to "help" as much as we can. Hopefully we won't slow down the process too much.

That's it for now. Take care.

Brian