Rising from the Georgia Clay

It's been another week of progress and activity at the Farm on all fronts.  We have mud in the cabin. We have a concrete slab at the house.  We have huge fires.

First, the cabin.  The sheetrock guys came back and did all of the "mudding" of the seams and nail holes in the walls and ceiling.  Sorry.  No pics.  I forgot and it's not that compelling anyway.  Not that the plumbing and concrete pics to follow will be any more exciting.

Second, the house.  The plumber came and laid out all of the downstairs plumbing in preparation for the concrete guys pouring the slab.

The master bathroom isn't as luxurious as I pictured in my mind.

Kitchen plumbing to the right.  Laundry room to the left.

Layout for the downstairs guest bathroom

Once that was done, they also laid out a couple of in-floor electrical outlets in the living room and office and covered it all up with a plastic moisture barrier before this happened:

A house is beginning to take shape.  Carport, front porch and main house level.

Looking across the front porch into the main living space.

The concrete slab is poured and in place.  Today (Monday, 5/16) the framers are supposed to arrive and start actually building a house.  Now the real, visual progress begins.

We met Tracy (our builder) on Friday and picked out windows.  The ceiling height will be 9 feet so we are putting in tall windows to make the house even brighter, especially with a front porch roof overhanging the sunny (south-facing) side of the house.  We haven't picked out the front door yet, but we'll have a glass transom over it to also bring in more light.

This weekend was another busy weekend of usual and not-so-usual chores.  The usual is comprised of cutting acres of grass (which I love), clearing trees and parts of trees leftover from the timber operations to clear our path around the big pond, Neta adding more to the vegetable garden and adding other little touches to make it look nice.  The not so usual was getting rid of a couple of large brush piles that we've been continually adding to.  We got rid of it the old-fashioned way...fire.  After obtaining a proper fire permit, of course.  

At it's height, the fire was more than twice this big.  The biggest fire I've ever started.

The two piles we burned have been growing for months as we piled on more stuff.  The biggest (picture above) was about 8 or more feet high and about 15 - 20 feet in diameter.  Part of the pile consisted of smaller branches of the cedar tree that was removed next to the old house.  The cedar needles(?) were dry and brown and we knew they'd burn hot and fast.  They did!  At it's peak, the fire was about 40 or more feet high and I could feel the heat from about 75 feet away.  Despite being in an open area, it singed the surrounding trees that were 40 or more feet away.

Not as big or as hot, but it got the job done.

Both fires.  I think Neta took this picture just to show off her garden

We didn't think that either pile would burn down as much as they did as there was so much green on them, though there was lots of older, drier stuff underneath.  The fires were so hot that almost everything except for some larger pieces and a huge stump (first fire) burned completely.

By the time the stump burned more, it looked like a mushroom.

Those piles will continue to be added to and more burns will take place, but it was a good start and we're happy to more progress on clearing and cleaning up.

On a lighter note, here are a few nature pictures to calm you down in case fire makes you nervous.

Neta stumbled upon a pair of geese on Saturday ambling around the farm and then she noticed some furry-looking lumps teetering along with them.  It was a mated pair (we assume) with their two goslings.

Family time!

She noticed them again on Sunday, though something was different.

Somewhere in that pic is FIVE goslings.

Neta snuck up on them...well, they knew she was there.  She watched them walking around between the stands of pines and noticed an additional 3 goslings for a total of 5.  They've also been spotted by the big pond (naturally) and judging by the droppings, they really enjoy that area.

Several years ago a lone goose started coming to the little pond and Terrell began to feed it.  Terrell and the goose formed somewhat of a friendship...until the gator got it.  Terrell was not happy.  He has mentioned that he'll be on the lookout for gators to try to keep these geese safe.

We have one more bit of family news to report.  Mockingbird babies.

This is how I look, minus the downy feathers, right before Neta puts the food on the table.

A house being built, brush being cut and burned, new babies hatching.  A lot of changes are taking place around the farm.  It's fun to watch.