Posted on by Emily

Day 212

We had a three-generation inspection at the property this weekend.  My grandmother, mom, and sister hadn’t seen the property in months so it was fun to see their reactions to the big changes since it was just a raw piece of land.

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Look at these cuties! I can’t wait until they are coming over for dinner and a visit on the reg.

It’s a little treacherous to walk around the house with all of the rock and dirt, but Grandmother was not about to stay in the car and miss out on seeing everything for herself.

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Grandmother, patiently waiting at the front door.  I love so many things about this picture.

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My seester, Eugene, asking when dinner will be served as she stands in the future dining room.

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OK, back to inspecting…

Over the last couple of days, the forms for the basement walls have been removed and the walls have been waterproofed.

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They put in a drain so we have a basement instead of an indoor swimming pool.

Thank you.

As we were there, John (earthwork guy) was busy filling in around the basement walls with gravel and dirt to get things leveled out.

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I forgot my ladder to be able to get down into the basement and really get a feel for the size, but don’t worry, that will be happening soon.

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Grandmother and Eugene were busy watching John in the bobcat…

…Kath was busy watching her firstborn climb a precarious pile of dirt to take this photo.

There’s a lot of rain in the forecast this week, which means it probably won’t rain.  I’m hoping by our next visit that some of these block piles will have been rearranged into the foundation.

We shall see!

 

Posted on by Emily

Day 203

Just over 200 days in and there is cause for celebration!

We have footers, y’all!

The weather has been uncooperative, per usual, so after a lot of back and forth, they decided to dig the footers and pour them all in one day to beat the rain.  Josh and I headed out to the property after work/meetings just in time to catch the last few minutes of pouring around 6PM.

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I could not believe my eyes when I turned onto the easement road and saw this machinery as tall as a skyscraper!

OK…slightly taller than the trees.

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This is some major equipment.

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John, our earthwork guy, inspecting everything.

This looks like ancient ruins to me so I’m glad someone knows what’s going on.

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I’ll be honest.  When they said they were pouring the footers, I had no mental picture of what that was going to look like.  I’m not even sure I would have gotten it right on multiple choice.

I might have guessed they would look more like big blobs or squares of concrete rather than a strange concrete maze.

Good thing I’m not in charge of this operation.

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Josh is much more familiar with concrete pouring so he was eager to check it out and walk dangerously close to the edge of the wet concrete.

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Here he is walking through the hall into the dining room.  I’m imagining many lovely, leisurely meals in that room, soaking up the golden hour.

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After those lovely meals, we can head out to the front porch to watch the sunset.  This is where the front steps and porch will be.

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This terrifyingly narrow and deep trench is for drainage.  Josh is a major drainage nerd so he was delighted to see this.

I was less delighted, but still appreciative of the water mitigation planning.

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I still can’t believe this is real.

2020 has been the most bizarre year of our lives.  Though we have had sadness and challenges, we have so much to be thankful for.  Building our forever home brings us a lot of joy in the process and in the hope of many happy times to come.

 

Posted on by Emily

Day 147

Well, we’ve owned the property nearly 5 months now and all we have to show for it is some temporary orange fencing around the septic fields.

Oh, and we also have some animal planet worthy trail camera footage.

To be fair, we have been doing a lot behind the scenes so that when things do start, they can move efficiently.  I have selected and specified nearly every detail in the house down to the door hardware.  We may even be ready to order the windows next week!

The things that excite you when you’re an adult…

Also exciting is the fact that the earthwork guys should be there this week to start moving dirt, especially given all that has happened here in the last couple of weeks.  Since my last post, we’ve had another 47 inches of rain, a devastating tornado that came within a mile of our current house in Nashville, and coronavirus hysteria has set in.

Regarding the tornado: Many people around us have lost their homes and businesses, which certainly puts into perspective how lucky we are to be safe and to have a roof over our heads.  The night of the tornado, we had just minutes to wake up and realize what was happening, grab the cat, and get into the basement as the tornado passed us. The large trees in our backyard were swaying back and forth 30 feet, but thankfully, we were spared any damage.

Though I was ready to nix the basement in the new house for budgetary reasons, now I am really glad Josh insisted we have one.  The homes near us that were destroyed were almost identical to our current house.  All of them had basements and everyone in those houses survived because of that.  Pretty much everything above grade was flattened.  I still get chills thinking about it and I know that compared to what these people are going through, being delayed in building my new home while I have a perfectly intact home is really not a big deal.  So, we are prepared to be patient and to help however we can.

Next topic: coronavirus.  We are self-quarantining as best we can.  I will be working from home and avoiding as many meetings as possible.  I have requested that Josh work from home for the foreseeable future, too.  His company did a trial run Friday and as far as I’m concerned, it went extremely well.  It seemed to me he got a lot done and was able to eat a proper lunch.  Let’s keep it up!

Thankfully, the population density around our new property is so low that the chance of running into another human being while onsite, or within 5 miles, is next to nothing. With these statistics in mind, we ventured out earlier today to check up on things.

Earlier this week, during his meeting with the contractor and the earthwork guy, Josh determined that the tree directly in front of where the house will sit is actually a pecan tree.  Now, I was pretty sure that we had decided to eliminate this tree (and plant many others in its honor) due to the fact that it would be smack dab in the middle of the parking pad and be far too close to the house for comfort.  Well, evidently my landscape architect of a husband has had a change of heart and as of now we are trying our darnedest to save this tree.

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He limbed up the tree with his chain saw.  Here he is surveying his work.

While he was doing this and dragging the large cut limbs away, I was reviewing the trail camera footage in the comfort of the truck.

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Pardon the glare, but these people are well past the highly visible “no trespassing” signs on the trees to their right and left.

One of these folks was also observed on camera several days prior, scoping things out.   It’s going to be awkward if these people are our neighbors…

Screen Shot 2020-03-15 at 3.43.15 PMNot sure who this was past our Fort Knox gate, but if he/she wants to leave his/her truck for us to use, that would be super in exchange for trespassing.  Thanks.

Then there was a rogue group of turkeys fanning their tail feathers…

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So, I know I’m partial, but I think this is the cutest shot, with my husband, Josh (middle), the earthwork guy (left), and our builder (right), all walking along as dudes discussing moving dirt like it’s no big deal.

I’d like you to know that Josh is extremely proud that “earthwork guy” is now a part of my vocabulary.