Open Vistas

We're still being slowed by the need for dumpsters to get emptied and returned.  However, to keep us jumping, we got a call from our friendly, neighborhood Forester yesterday.  Timber operations are starting.  If you remember, or even if you don't, we posted an overhead map of the property that shows what areas we're clearing and other areas that we're thinning.

Red - Property lines
Blue - All trees cleared
Yellow - Thinning 40% of the trees

Though it wasn't our original intent to cut the trees, Neta's Uncle Donald had planted the trees (some himself, some he paid to have planted) and hoped to one day have a little nest egg from them.  We agreed on a plan that was both palatable to us, as it pertains to the look of the property, and provided Donald with a nice payback for his investment.

Judging from what's been cut in less than a full day, it's really going to open things up, especially providing some better views of the ponds and making the overall farm look much bigger.

Neta took this photo from the top of the hill in the little pond.  Looks like a golf course out there.

There used to be a "woods" across that bridge.

The machinery the logging crew uses.

Below we've added a couple of videos of the operation.  It's an interesting operation to watch.  The tree cutter has a spinning saw blade at the bottom front of the machine.  It moves in, cuts the tree off at ground level and holds it with a claw on top, then it grabs another tree and cuts it, and another.  It can cut and hold 3 or 4 trees at a time, before dropping them into a clear area.

The loader runs the tree through the machine to strip the limbs, then positions it for a saw to cut the unusable top part off (where it's either too skinny or forked), then finally it turns and loads it onto the truck or drops it in a pile depending on what they're loading at the time.

Meanwhile, Neta and I try to go out to the farm at least once a day now to see any changes that have happened.  Yesterday Terrell went with us.  He and I pulled up the anchors that were still in the ground from when the trailer was in front of the Cabin.

Pulling up anchors with the tractor

Terrell and Robert had cleaned up most of the stuff where the trailer had been sitting.  He pulled one anchor out of the ground with his truck and I pulled out about half of them with the tractor on Monday.  The only thing remaining were the rest of the anchors, some disconnected power cables and the power pole that the power company said wasn't theirs.

Robert found this pretty lady was under some debris where the trailer once stood.

Pulling the cabling off the power pole.

The video below is me using the tractor to pull down a disconnected power cable.  The pole ended up partially coming down as the ground around it was soft.

We'll be interested to see what the next Google Earth view of the farm looks like.

One more thing, the logging company usually scatters the leftover debris, but we've asked them to create a pile, out in the open, for each area they cut.  It will make it easier than us having to gather it up ourselves from all over.  In a little over a year, we'll be able to burn those piles, each of which will be the size of a house.  Everyone is invited, in Fall of 2017, to the biggest bonfire/S'Mores-making party since Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over the lantern.

Full Dumpsters, a Salvaged Bathtub and a Stray Quail

Day 4.  Just a quick status update.  The dumpsters are full again.  We knew this would happen.  Our delays are based on the county's ability to drop off new ones and dump the old ones.

Can't get much done when all the dumpsters are full.

Tracy has taken down everything except for the original part of the house.

All of the "additions" are gone.  Only the original structure still stands.

The backporch, kitchen, back bedroom and bathroom have been torn off.

Looking across where the back bedroom, bathroom and kitchen used to be.

We'd asked Tracy in the course of tearing things down, if he could set aside either of the cast iron bathtubs, we'd appreciate it.  Looks like he came through for us.  Better quality than a new one and refinishing it won't be terribly expensive.

Cast iron bathtub and some concrete pylons that were part of the foundation of the addition.

A couple semi-related notes:  An escapee from the quail farm next door was seen sneaking around the bushes next to the house.  I wasn't able to get a picture.  Also our building loan is final and we signed the closing documents.  It feels good to get all of that behind us.

Looks like we'll be on hold, from a construction perspective, until Monday.  Check back at the beginning of the week for more updates.

Loading...Please Wait

Not sure whether today is day 2 or day 3.  It depends on your perspective, I guess.  What would have been day 2 brought us no progress.  Our builder, Tracy, is waiting on the county to replace the three big dumpsters that are full to the brim.

Can't do much when the trash cans are all full

Carport, living and family room are gone.  But hey...it's that open concept kitchen we've always wanted!

This is what the south normally looks like in tornado season, right?

We tried to salvage the wood stove, but it was badly rusted inside.

Neta and I drove out Thursday evening, knowing there'd been no progress all day, but when we got there, Tracy and his son were pulling more of the house down.

The front porch is gone.

Tracy was on the verge of filling up three more dumpsters,  It will probably take another 3 or 4 once these are filled.  He's also doing a good job of pulling out old timbers for us to use somewhere in the new house.  There are a few in the attic that he hasn't gotten to yet, along with the two cast iron (not clawfoot) tubs that he's going to try to salvage for us.

Since we were over there, we figured we'd spend some time walking around.  We ended up walking around the big pond when suddenly Neta let out a small yell.  She'd almost gotten swooped by this guy.

It must have a nest nearby as didn't fly far from us.

He crossed the pond, where Neta tried to flush him back towards me, but he was not intimidated and stayed around long enough for us to get some good pictures.

Neta trying to sneak a picture of the heron.

He's keeping an eye on us.

There's rain in the forecast for the next 3 or 4 days, so I doubt much will get done until next week.

We'll keep you posted...

And So It Begins... (Day 1)

It actually began on Monday, after work.  Neta, Robert and I went over to the farm to help Terrell pack up the last of the things in the house. He'd already started moving in earlier in the morning.  We grabbed some remaining furniture and other items and put them in the POD, we put some other items in the barn and anything that Terrell had left he brought with him.  He's all moved in and enjoying the comforts of home.   Truth be told, I'm sure he's looking forward to getting Neta's cooking on a regular basis.

Today was the start of demolition.  Please enjoy one last look at the original house.

Originally established - 1892

Tracy, our builder, told us that he'd be here to demo the house this afternoon.  He arrived with some heavy equipment and got to work.

The first part to go was the carport.

Once the carport was down completely, he used the smaller machine to grab pieces and put them into the dumpster.

Neta's Uncle Donald watching.  He was born in that house.

Terrell surveying the operation.  He's spent over the last 20 years in that house.

Side of the house where the carport once stood.

With the carport mostly cleaned up, it was time to start on the back part of the house.

Starting to take down the back of the house.  Neta's cousin, Brian, is looking on.

Donald taking a picture of the demolition.

The even demo'd the sofa!

Looking through the front door into the living/family room.

That was pretty much where we left things.  Tracy was still going to work on the demo, but Neta and I had to get back to work.  We'll stop by tomorrow and see how much more he did.  He told us that he wouldn't finish until tomorrow, as he had 3 huge dumpsters that were almost full and will need them emptied and returned.

We hope to have another entry for Day 2 tomorrow...with video!  And so it begins...

Well...that escalated quickly!

There is a saying... "Life is what happens when you're making other plans."

The latest news is that our appraisal for both houses is finally complete.  The appraiser had some difficulty finding comparables to the cabin.  There apparently aren't many, if any, 640 square foot, 1 bedroom houses with a full kitchen and bath on 1 acre of land.  The main house was no problem.  With the appraisal complete the bank told us closing would be soon and gave us the go ahead to tell the builder (Tracy Marsh) to get started.

You're about to get a serious makeover!

As you may remember, our plan is to get the Cabin started first so we can finish cleaning out the main house and, so Neta's Dad doesn't have to move until the cabin is ready.  The builder said he would get started on the Cabin the week of March 21.  We're only a week away!

We'd told our landlord a couple of months back that we would like to extend our rental contract on a month-to-month basis after it ends as our build will probably take us a few months beyond.  He said he had no problem and could work with us.  Our landlord lives in NC and has a company administer the property for him.  To be official we emailed both him and the rental company our intention to extend beyond the end of our contract.  We received a reply from the landlord the next morning.  This is where "life happens".

He recently had an opportunity fall into his lap to work at Georgia Southern University here in Statesboro (his alma mater, as he grew up here...in this house).  While it's not official yet - no paperwork signed - it would start in the middle of the summer and he would move back here...to this area...to this house.

Nothing has been decided.  He told us that a lot of factors are involved including his wife wrapping up her job in NC along with figuring out what to do with their house in NC.  The situation is pretty fluid for him...and for us now.

So...the (possible) worst case scenario is that we'll have to move out at the end of our rental contract before our house is done and find a new place for a short stay.  Regardless of how things turn out, to cover ourselves, we decided to shift our plans into overdrive.  We called Tracy and asked him if he could start on both houses simultaneously.  He said he could.  So demo will start on the main house in a week.  Neta's dad, Terrell, is moving in with us for the couple of months it will take to renovate the Cabin.  Not exactly what any of us had in mind.  Surprise!!!

We'll make the adjustments and get it all figured out.  I'm sure once this is all over it will only make us appreciate the new house and farm even more.  We'll look back in years to come and remember all of the adventures that we'll have gone through to make all of this happen.

Lots of family memories...

Life...right?

Smoke, Fire and Sod-Busting

What a busy weekend!  On Saturday, along with the clean-up both inside and outside and the "farm work" we've been doing, Neta's cousin, Dawn, came by to pick up an old sewing machine from the farm house.  Then Neta's uncle, Donald, stopped by in the afternoon and we gave him a tour of our progress so far.  I also did some more bush-hogging between the planted pines.  Neta's dad, Terrell, has been busy clearing bushes and small trees from around the little pond.

We've been waiting for a reasonably calm day, wind-wise, to burn all of the overgrowth around the little pond and on the hill in the middle of the pond.  Sunday turned out to be the day.  I called Terrell and told him I was coming over, then applied online for my burn permit.  With the permit number in hand I headed to the farm.

Terrell and I started off trying to burn off the cut grass that had accumulated in the front field, but it was still a bit too damp at 10am, so off we went to the edge of the pond.  Those weeds and grass started burning pretty well, albeit nice and slow, so as not to be a danger to surrounding areas.

Burning off the dry weeds around the small pond.

Perfectly contained

Terrell followed the burn around the edge, while I followed it onto the land in the middle of the pond.  It's a horseshoe-shaped pond, with this little hill/peninsula that the pond bends around.  There were still some swampy areas at the bottom of the hill and a lot of blackberry brambles and green undergrowth, so not all of it burned.

The fire slowly burned around the base of the hill and up to and over the hill where the tall pine is in the center.

Sometimes the fire moved into an area of dry weeds and took off causing me to quickly rake up a fire break, but most times it just slowly burned along in the low, dry grass.  At one point I looked out into the field and saw it was finally burning.  I thought Terrell had gone back to it, but after checking with him he said he hadn't.  The sun had dried out the grass enough it had finally caught.  We'd surrounded it with wide areas that we'd mowed down to the dirt and it burned low and slow enough not to spread.

Beats hand-cutting

It took us about 2 hours to get the hill and surrounding area burned, though it didn't all burn.  Some areas were still too wet or the vegetation was still too green.  At one point, a formation of Marine V-22 Ospreys flew overhead.

Our farm is neither the Halls of Montezuma nor the Shores of Tripoli.

Neta and Robert showed up in the afternoon.  They burned up a pile of brush and other junk that has been accumulating on the farm for some time, while Terrell burned off the dry grass in the rest of the field.

The results of our "scorched earth policy".

While the rest of the fields burned, I got started on plowing the part of the field that we'd burned earlier in the day.  I promised Neta a garden this summer and I intended to make good on that promise.  We'd marked off an area of the field next to the small barn for our upcoming vegetable garden.

There is an old plow and disc on the farm that I figured would work.  The disc could use some repair work, but it'll suffice.  The plow is a single blade that will cut down to 15 inches deep.  It's also great for making trenches if necessary.  I'd never plowed (or used a disc) before, but I have watched some YouTube videos on how to plow a field.  Yes, there are instructional videos for that!  I hooked up the plow and it was time to make my first pass.

It's just dropping the plow at the point you want to start and going forward.

My first pass.

I wasn't drinking.  I was compensating for the curvature of the earth!

"Terrell and I confer over whether a straight furrow is really all that necessary."

Here is how the field looked after plowing.

Step 1 complete.  Step 2 about to proceed.

From another angle.  The last row (on right) is straight.  Not bad for a rookie.

I can honestly say that plowing wasn't as easy as the video made it out to be.  Who knew?  Actually it wasn't too bad.  But I can use some practice.

Aside from the curved first row, each subsequent row requires that you drive with the right tire of the tractor in the furrow you've just created, if you have your plow set exactly right (I didn't).  Keeping it on line was hard.  Some furrows were too skinny in places, too wide in others and some were just right.  When I was finished, it wasn't exactly smooth.  It looked like a scale model of the Rockies.   However, the disc will take care of all of that...right?

Not so fast...

This is a flattering angle, trust me.

There are some high spots and low spots, but overall I'm pretty pleased.

All in all it turned reasonably well.  It still needs some additional disc work, but it's only the end of February.  We're not ready to plant yet.  We're just happy to have this dirt worked up.  It's been years since anything grew in these fields, but as you can see, it's nice dark dirt and we can almost hear it begging to grow something.  We'll keep discing it for a while to keep the weeds and grass from growing until we're ready to plant.

Now then...who's ready for some ripe and juicy tomatoes?

My Kingdom for a Plat

When we last left off, the tractor had broken down and we were waiting for the paperwork to do its slow grind through the banking system, held up by the fact that we needed an updated plat since the most recent one was dated from 1920.  We'll get back to the tractor later, but first we'll talk about getting a new plat.

We called a surveyor.  We didn't know any but our builder did, and coincidentally his last name was Marsh (Don) too.  No relation.  I explained our situation and he was able to meet me just a few days later and got started right away.  He told me it would take a few days to complete.  True to his word, he completed it.  I think the sunny 70 degree days that we've had for the last 5 days helped tremendously.

From one parcel to three

The survey shows the total area at 49.75 acres which is larger than the 48.37 acres that we originally thought.  Does the increase entitle us into a loftier status such as "Land Barons" or "Lord and Lady" like on Downton Abbey?  It probably only means higher taxes.

The only possible issue is the current (main) house sits too close to the road (the county road runs through the middle of the property).  Of course when the house was built there was no county road (and no building regulations, either).  When I went to register the new plat, the Zoning Administrator told me that he'll come out and have a look with me next week to help figure things out, knowing that we want to tear down and rebuild on the same spot as the current house.  Hopefully we can be grandfathered in.

I dropped off a copy of the plat at the bank.  They told me it will take about a week to get everything appraised and then another week to get the closing paperwork together so we can start building. We're keeping out fingers crossed.

As for the tractor...  I fixed it...  Myself.  Turns out after explaining the problem to the guy at the tractor shop, he told me what to do to fix it and it only cost me $4 in parts.  WOO HOO!!!  I was up and running on Presidents' Day and also got in several hours of mowing this past weekend.  Sorry I don't have any pictures, but I promise some in the next entry.  I managed to get all of the rest of the open spaces on the farm mowed and am now working on mowing between the trees of the planted pines.  The place looks much larger now that you can see across the fields.

On the other (rental) home front, it's fertilizer spreading time.  Though I don't understand why they picked a day when the wind was blowing directly from the pile of chicken manure to our house.  It was not a pleasant day to be outside...or in our front yard as you'll see from these pictures.

There are chunks flying halfway into our front yard as I took this picture.

He's spreading the love!

Luckily the winds shifted today and it's blowing about 25mph in the other direction.  For that we are thankful.

Until next time...