trees – Primm & Property

Posted on August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 by Emily

Day 311

Our moat is working well and keeping delivery trucks at bay. (sigh.)

They were trying to deliver our exterior doors in this picture, but unfortunately our plywood bridge here was not going to cut it.

It is strictly a pedestrian bridge. A very small pedestrian bridge, for very small pedestrians.

I safely crossed the bridge several times; however, I will be very relieved once the electrical has been inspected and approved, and the ditch can be filled in. I am hoping this will happen tomorrow.

Somehow, these bricks showed up for the chimneys…

Inside, there has been progress on the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems (MEP). At our site meeting, I walked through with the builder and the electrician to verify placements.

The electrical foreman’s name is “Country”. Now, when our builder told us the electrician “Country” was coming, I had in my mind that this man would look something like Blake Shelton. “Country” is neither tall nor cowboy-like. No, in fact, he is a stout, hispanic man who is about my height, which, for the record, is 5′ 4 1/2″.

Because I had very detailed electrical layouts for him, which I assume made his job easier, we are now best friends.

Now taking suggestions on what my construction nickname should be.

“Country” and his crew have been busy wiring the upstairs.

(This is my husband Josh in the picture. Not “Country”.)

The HVAC guys have most of the ducting in place.

And we have some plumbing! These are drain lines for the mater bath sinks.

Kath has hot and cold supply lines in the guest bath! She’ll be tickled.

These nooks in the mancave and studio came in handy for all of the HVAC.

Just a few more pieces of plumbing to put in. (yikes!)

I give them an A+ for organization.

And they finally remembered to frame in the basement access!

I took a class in Phenomenology in graduate school and for some reason this photo reminds me of a spa we studied in Japan. It was all about a sensory experience with light, touch, and sound.

OK, time to end the interior tour.

Out front, our baby volunteer trees are starting to grow. Just another 50 years or so until they’re as tall as the others.

Hopefully the house will be done by then.

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Emily

Day 250

Hey there!

I stopped by for a quick visit between meetings the other day and saw many interesting things as I turned onto our easement drive:

The property adjacent to ours that has been for sale for quite a while now has a gigantic septic fence in place.
The “For Sale” sign had been taken down, so this sale is likely really happening and we are getting some new neighbors. We were secretly hoping the seller would give up and offer to sell it to us and our existing neighbor for a fraction of the cost.
Due to the odd shape of this lot and the gigantic septic field in the middle of the lot, I have no idea where they will place a house. I really hope it’s not a big factor in any of our views.

On a more positive note, I spot a chimney!

A little imagination required, but can’t you see it coming to life?!

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The chimney was really exciting to see. There is another one on the opposite side of the house that is more for looks and balance. This one here is a wood burning fireplace in the living room, but the dining room and library will have ventless gas inserts.

I love fireplaces.

It’s hard to imagine wanting to have a fire right now because it’s almost 90 degrees and 80% humidity as I write this.

No worries, though, because I can just lay down in the puddles on the floor to cool off.

It’s sort of a panicky thing to see water like this on the interior of your house even when you’re still in this rough stage of framing. The good news is there are no windows and doors on the house at this moment in time so there will be plenty of time for this to air out and evaporate.

There’s that gigantic septic field fence from the other side.

As soon as I saw this, I told Josh we may need to go ahead and put up a fence along the shared property line…

Back to the progress! Check out these dormers taking shape. The bedrooms are going to be so cozy.

Though I know we have to have it for waterproofing, I really detest this paper they are putting on in a somewhat random fashion. It is very distracting and they are covering up the window openings.

I can’t wait until we can cover it up with siding and put in the windows. I’m hoping at our meeting tomorrow, the builder will tell us this is happening very soon.

I like this view because you can’t really see the ugly paper.

Also, it cracks me up that it looks like our house is hiding behind the tree, somewhat unsuccessfully. Sort of like when my cat sticks his head under the sofa and thinks you can’t see him.

I turned around from my vantage point and admired all of our little “volunteer” trees that have sprouted up. Hopefully some of these will make it to be big trees someday.

As I was leaving, I spotted a work truck at the edge of the other property adjacent to ours. It is entirely wooded and we have about 40′ of woods between us, but we haven’t see a soul or any evidence of human life on this property the entire time we have owned our property. A little strange that literally the same day that the other property looks to have something happening on it, this one does too. We went from feeling like we were out here by ourselves to all of a sudden having a bunch of activity.

Looking into that fence tomorrow…

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Emily

Day 243

I can barely concentrate on anything else at the moment because I’m so excited about the framing!!!

But, first things first: Check out our driveway that has been graded up so there’s no longer a pond in the middle of it. They also put in a massive pipe specified by my dear husband who does not mess around when it comes to proper drainage.

I had been parking at the very beginning of the driveway due to it being impassible in my short SUV. Next time, I will drive on up and park in front of the house…

… right by the front porch!

They are starting to put in the floor system for the second floor. The room above the front porch is the guest room. Kath (my mom) will be so delighted to see this as she is eager to stay in her suite.

They put in the stairs to the future headquarters of my design firm. The way things are going with COVID-19, it sounds like I will be subletting some of my office space to my husband.

Ok, back to the tour.

My kitchen!

Which will eventually look like this!

But probably not for 6 months…sigh.

This is the living room, which overlooks the front porch and yard. They had somehow missed one of these windows in the first round of framing, but they quickly got it added in after I brought it to their attention.

I’m sure I’m their favorite already.

Though I planned for all rooms to have lots of light and pretty views, I am particularly smitten with the view from the dining room.

I am also a big nerd about sight lines and axes. This is the view looking the opposite direction of the previous photo. Once all of these lovely temporary supports are removed, there will be a sight line down through the hall and out the windows of the library on the back of the house from the dining room table.

The L-shaped screened porch that wraps the back and side of the house will have an uninterrupted view of the tree line. Though right now, these temporary supports are really killing the mood.

Here’s another angle showing the screened porch and those library windows I’ll be able to see through from the dining room. I foresee spending a lot of time on this porch. So does our cat, Bu.

And this is the beast from her widest angle.

This house has been in my head and in my heart for so long that is really surreal to see it come to life.

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Still quite a bit left before she looks like my rendering, but well on her way!

Posted on May 24, 2020May 24, 2020 by Emily

Day 219

We were pleasantly surprised to see that, in just a few days, almost all of the block had been laid!

Here they are finishing up the back of the house and then the only section left is the front porch, where my dad and Josh are standing on the right.

John has been spreading out the Pride Dirt Pile so it’s harder for me to get up high enough and far enough away to get everything in one shot. I had to use the panoramic setting to capture this, which is a little bit distorted, but you get the idea.

Though I can barely contain myself in anticipation of framing, seeing this step has been extremely exciting!

That L-shaped thing on the left will be our screened in porch. I’ve never had one of these before. I predict that we will spend a great deal of time on that porch, safe from all of the mosquitos and critters that will eat you up out here.

Also, please note on the left, Barry (my dad) taking a picture of me standing on a pile of dirt taking a picture.

Now, when we are not on the screened in porch on the back of the house, we will most likely be on the front porch, which will be right here.

I have the rocking chairs ready to go for the minute the house is complete.

The horses next door are largely disinterested in the construction.

So, this is the second time in my life that I’ve gotten to be part of the building process on a personal level. The first time was when my parents built a house outside of Philadelphia when I was 4.

You might say, that’s where it all began, or at least where it became clear, that I would wind up in a career related to construction and design.

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Last year for my birthday, Josh put together some still shots from a home video circa 1992 of me supervising on the jobsite at my parents’ house. I was sporting pink sunglasses and an ensemble I can no longer pull off.

Josh did get me a new pair of pink sunglasses so I could recreate the inspection vibe when the time came for us to build our house.

Well, the moment has arrived.

Josh brought the ladder so I could climb down into the basement.

The view from below.

Here I am several decades later, sporting my pink sunglasses and assessing the situation.

On our way home, the same way that we had come just a few hours before, there was suddenly a tree all the way across the road. Josh maneuvered around it and then he and my dad tied it to Josh’s truck so he could pull it out of the road.

It’s always an adventure out in the country!

Speaking of adventures, we have been practically camping in our current house for the past week because our refrigerator decided to stop cooling. Thankfully, it has since been fixed and we had 7(!) days left on the warranty. Always the optimist, Bu was making the most of the temporary setup and had found himself a great spot for lounging and watching the squirrels in the front yard.

He is going to love the screened in porch.

Posted on April 19, 2020April 19, 2020 by Emily · 2 Comments

Day 181

We have a partial driveway, folks!

Josh could tell from here that it had not been graded per the plan. More on that in a minute.

As we drove in on the easement, we could see a bunch of new rock on the easement itself. Evidently the developer we purchased the land from did not build up the easement road properly so one of the dump trucks delivering gravel sank into it earlier this week. Oops! Thankfully, our contractor was able to repair the road and keep things moving through the week.

Hey, guess what?

This is our driveway. Nifty, eh?

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We had several videos on the trail camera of the driveway coming to life.

See where that dip is between the trees? Yeah, that’s not supposed to be a dip anymore. Josh was not pleased. But, good news: it can be fixed! I keep telling him this.

Back to other progress. They have gotten the house pad pretty well set. Next up: digging the footings and the partial basement.

The spot where Josh is standing will be graded down a few feet for the driveway.

Joshua, step away from the heavy machinery.

The first bathroom has been installed. Ready for guests!

We decided to take a walk around the perimeter of the property to asses the trees. Though they’re really close together, Josh wanted to keep both of these. One is a sycamore and the other he believes is a birch.

We stumbled upon an ephemeral stream. I just learned this term from Josh yesterday.

Since we’ve started this process, “ephemeral stream”, “cubic yards of dirt”, and “earthwork guy” have been part of my vocabulary.

Boy, does having a partial driveway make this feel more official.

We brought this sapling from our current house. It was growing in the landscaping right up against our back porch. Josh thinks it came from one of the gigantic oak trees we have in our yard.

We planted it in one of the back corners of the new property. Hopefully it survives and thrives and becomes an eighty foot tall tree in the next fifty years. We named him Craig since that’s part of our current street name.

We didn’t want Craig to be lonely, so we searched in our woods to find a few more saplings to plant in the other back corner.

This one is a beech tree. There were several others that were slightly bigger, but Josh was concerned that they had already developed “a habit” and wouldn’t transplant well. Nobody wants a tree with a bad habit.

My dad loves beech trees so we decided to name this one for him. Meet Barry.

This is Dora, the dogwood. I don’t know anyone named Dora except for the explorer.

And this is her sister dogwood, Darla. Also don’t know any Darlas.

Let’s hope they all make it!

This tree did not make it.

According to our neighbors, much more of our property used to be forest, but a tornado took out a lot of the trees about twelve years back. Many of the remaining trees in the open space have a narrow span or have no branches except at the top. They are also really close together, which works in a forest setting, but not so much in an open setting where they will start to crowd each other out and compete for resources.

My husband is rubbing off on me and I am now a tree expert, in case you were wondering how I know all of this fascinating information.

So, Josh decided this tree needed to go because he wants the tree next to it to thrive.

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My dad, Barry (beech tree named for him), helped move the sectioned tree so we can use it later for firewood.

It was a red oak and it smelled so good!

OK, just one more thing to end this rambling post:

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We’ve hired Tom as security at the front gate.

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Emily

Day 174

Despite a beautiful week of weather, it seems there was no progress on the property. Still waiting for an explanation of this. Hoping everyone is OK.

Josh and I spent several hours on-site yesterday doing very fascinating things.

First, we flagged the driveway.

Josh was measuring and placing the flags as I called out the measurements to him from his plan. If you squint really hard, you can see the orange flags.

I’m so glad he knows how to do these things. I just told him I’d like 1) the driveway to curve around for a pretty approach to the house, 2) a place for people to park out front, and 3) a loop so it’s easy for people to get in and out without a 75 point turn (a challenge we have at our current house). He takes this information and produces a lovely plan to make all of my driveway dreams come true. I think I’ll keep him.

This is his “Why are you taking my picture?” face.

Because I’m so glad you’re my husband and a landscape architect!

It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that we are building a house, which will sit between these two piles of dirt in the near future. Hopefully, this time next year we will be living in it and we’ll be able to have people over and give them hugs without fear.

In the meantime, we’re enjoying improving the property so it is beautiful for us and our future guests to enjoy.

Our second activity was cleaning up this hot mess:

Among this tangle of vines and trees are two dogwoods, a black cherry, and a cedar tree. You wouldn’t know it except for the dogwood blooms.

Josh quickly got to work on this with his chainsaw. And before long, it looked like this:

Much better!

Josh hauling off all of the brush to the woods. His truck looking like a Chia Pet.

While Josh did the heavy lifting, I reviewed the trail camera footage.

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Not much action in the last few days except for Tom desperately searching for Jenny. I think she may have moved to a different block…

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Sorry, Tom.

Well, if my boots are any indication, I would call that a successful trip to the property.

Posted on March 29, 2020 by Emily

Day 161

I’m starting to think we actually live in Portland, Oregon, not Nashville, Tennessee, with the number of rainy days we’ve had the last few months.

This weekend, however, we’ve had two lovely, dry, and mostly sunny days. Let’s hope this trend continues into next week and for the next few months so they can grade the spot for the house, pour the basement, and frame the house without further delay (ha!). Word is that the earthwork guy is showing up rain or shine this week. We shall see…

I have many pictures that look like this. I’m looking forward to having pictures from this angle that have a house in them.

Back to the nice weather this weekend. Friends of ours that live very near our current house were taking out some landscaping that had become too much to manage. They generously offered us some boxwoods and azaleas so we went over to help dig them up and then headed out to the property.

We planted them in the two front property corners so they would be out of the way during construction. Once the house is complete, it is likely we will transplant them to the landscaping beds, but for now they are anchoring the front of the property.

The landscape architect, carefully placing the shrubs while I document from a safe distance.

Though it appears they are practicing proper social distancing, the reason for their spacing has more to do with ease of mowing than a health risk.

Aren’t they cute?!

Here’s how they look from the future front porch. Josh had to limb up the tree a little bit more so construction vehicles can maneuver.

My phone camera is not doing this justice at all, and the orange septic field fencing really isn’t helping, but this is one of many beautiful “volunteer” dogwoods along the edge of the property.

This past Christmas, we asked for contributions to our landscaping fund along with the gift giver’s favorite tree, shrub, or plant. Now that the weather has turned a corner, we are excited to start planning for more planting around the property!

Posted on February 2, 2020February 2, 2020 by Emily

Day 106

Let’s start with some excellent news: Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow!

This is a big deal when you’re hoping to break ground in the next few weeks.

Speaking of that, I got really excited earlier this week when I received an email that said “construction permit approved”. I forwarded it to Joshua with roughly 1,000 exclamation points. He texted me to gently inform me that that approval was not what I thought it was. Had I taken the time to read the next two words in the email subject line, I would have seen the words “conventional system”, which refers to the type of septic system we will have. This was an email confirming our septic permit approval, which we knew had been approved several weeks back.

Oh well.

Another email came through this week that said “Permit decline reasons”. As excited as I was about the previous email, I was equally deflated upon receiving this one. It turns out the “decline reasons” weren’t really for anything we could have anticipated. We had carefully reviewed all checklists and submittal requirements before we sent in our plans, but the county likes to come up with additional items because they can. We ran into this earlier in the process with our plat so weren’t entirely surprised.

Thankfully, we should be able to satisfy these additional requirements, and hopefully get our building permit any day now.

Patiently waiting….

In the meantime, we drove out to the property Friday evening to review where the house had been staked by the surveyor as we had indicated it on our site plan. We are really trying to save the tree that is in front of the house. The driveway will run between the tree and the front porch so we wanted to make sure there will be enough clearance. We decided that we’ll need to limb up the tree a bit but that we should be able to keep it. Whew!

These flags do not photograph well and it’s hard to tell much about the shape of the house, but we verified that edges and corners were in a good spot. You can see the tips of the tree branches we were discussing on the left.

You can also see Josh photobombing my lovely shot as he was carrying my chair so I could practice sitting on the front porch.

photo credit: Joshua, from the living room

There’s the tree again, this time on the right side. We confirmed that the west-facing front porch is in a great spot. This was an overcast evening, but I can’t wait for many spectacular evenings on the front porch, watching the sunset. I think our realtor thought I was a little nuts, but when we were searching for a piece of land, one of my requirements was that the front of the property had to face west so we could have this setup.

I cannot wait to be sitting on the actual front porch!

On our drive into the property, we spotted a new structure underway at one of the neighboring properties:

I have construction progress envy…