Whoo Hoo...

Returned to the farm at dusk on the 5th. This is what I saw:

Thanksgiving Week

No building this week: the framers were off, hunting and eating. I escaped to Marathon, Florida to spend 10 days with Skip and Linda. Cynthia and Josh were with us for Thanksgiving. Josh left on Friday, and Cynthia on Saturday. Here we are, having a final lunch with Cynthia at the Lorelei on Islamorada:

Linda and I have been moving rocks around to change some of the paths:

I'm off for a bike ride. We'll probably work on paths, and do some more origami, and get ready for leaving tomorrow. I'll stay in Richmond tomorrow night, and return to the farm on the 5th, stopping along the way for my "joint class" at Augusta Medical. I know that the house will look very different because Ray called a couple of times yesterday. Looking forward to seeing the house!

Framing Starts

Early last week, the trusses were delivered:

And then the framing lumber was delivered. In two days, the bottom floor was framed. Now it is possible to see where the rooms will be. Here's Buffy, posing in one of the windows of my studio:

And here she is, posing in the doorway of one of the guest bedrooms:

And a view of the house, as Buffy, the dogs, and I walked back up to her house, using the burn pile path:

In some of the photos, you can see Feeney, the young dog who followed me home. Buffy and Fred are training him; he is so sweet and engaging.

The Well

As promised, here's the report on the well depth: 245 feet....

Reunion Weekend, 15-18 November 2013

Last weekend we had our family reunion. Pam took lots of photos, including many of the house site and us touring the site. Here's one of the house site from the top of the Christmas Tree Farm entrance:

My brother Peter is walking along the walls while Mary Jo and I watch him:

Pete, Mary Jo and I examine the plans (please excuse my farm clothes...I had just finished painting a fence):

We Got Water, We Got Walls....

Morning! We have water at a rate of 30 gallons a minute, but Ray can't remember how far the drill had to go. I'll post once I know. And the "precision wall" forms were taken off yesterday since the concrete was dry enough. But here's a photo of the walls with the forms still in place:

When I got back to the farm yesterday, Ray and his crew were busy installing the foundation plumbing pipes (have I got that right?) because the inspector is due today. This photo shows the piping, as well as the two windows in one of the downstairs bedrooms. The big black flexible pipe is for radon, which Ray says he puts in all the houses he builds (as a "just in case").

And here's a photo of Ray, the builder, looking through the studio window:

Monday, November 11th...

Not much seems to have happened today although the lot is full with machinery. The first photo was taken in the morning:

At the end of the day, I took this one:

Something happened during the day, but who knows what? I didn't want to bother the builder; I'm sure he'll tell me what I need to know when I need to know it. Here's a photo of all the "precision walls" in place. If it doesn't snow tomorrow (ugh, ugh, ugh), the concrete will be poured between the forms. In the distance, you can see part of the Christmas tree farm, ready for the season! Everyone on the farm has been working so, so hard to get ready.

Nancy came to visit today, November 9th

Apart from the folks who live at the farm, Nancy is my first visitor to the "house". She came at a good time, because the "precision wall" system has been erected in anticipation of pouring concrete next week. And the well drilling truck is parked, and ready to drill next week. So, the site looks busy and it is easy to imagine a house there. We had to commemorate her visit with:

Building Plans

In early fall I spent the weekend with Skip and Linda, who know a lot about building houses. Linda spent a lot of time, designing the kitchen cabinet layout (I am forever grateful!). Skip took me to the lighting store to show me LEDs, which he recommended I put throughout the house (will do). He also took me to the Bose store because I was confused about how to do the manage the music inside and out. It turns out that Bose has a service to help with that! They will come to the house, or to look at the plans, and recommend solutions. Of course, I signed up for that and I hope to meet with them in November (they would have come sooner but I wasn't ready). And, I took pages and pages of notes of recommendations/thoughts from talking with Skip and Linda. They were extraordinarily helpful and I am grateful! Nancy came to visit today. Still lifes are one of her things:

Shopping at Lowe's...

I only went to look, I only went to look, I only went to look BUT I couldn't help myself. The exact models I wanted were there, everything was on sale, the sales agent and his manager kept on piling on discounts...so I just couldn't help myself: two tubs, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, a stove top and an oven, and eight ceiling fans later.... Lowe's is ready to deliver but I don't want these electrical items stored in the bank barn because of potential varmint and weather damage. Acorn Storage (where I have five storage units, filled with my stuff) rented me another unit so I am ready to receive my Lowe's order. Crazy, isn't it?

My own personal building supply company

My sister Buffy works for a building supply company, Rocco, in Harrisonburg. Consequently, she has access to a large inventory of building supplies, as well as contacts within the area's building industry. She introduced me to Ray Guthrie, who is the building contractor. Occasionally, usually when phasing out a product line, Rocco will greatly reduce the price of those products. Way before my house was even designed, Buffy came home with a list of patio doors which were being phased out. I bought seven sets! I hope I can use them all: I don't understand about elevations and slopes, etc. etc. so couldn't envision where doors would be possible on the ground floor. Consequently, I may end up with one or two extra sets. We may have patio doors on the garage! The normal protocol of insider purchasing from Rocco is that you have to pickup the items yourself. In my case, Fred picked up the doors and he and Dave unloaded them into the bank barn. How fortunate am I? Just before I went to California, siding trim went on big sale at Rocco so I bought as much as I thought I needed (estimating from drawings; how crazy is that?). Each piece is 18 feet long! But again, fortunate me: Buffy is arranging for the pieces to be delivered to Monger & Sons, who will deliver the trim to the farm when he delivers the framing lumber. I guess those will probably go to the bank barn, too.

Catching Up

Today is November 7, 2013 and I have been in Singers Glen, Virginia for more than a year. Wow! My sister and her husband (Buffy and Fred) had long ago offered me land on their farm, so that I could build a house. In January I accepted their generous offer, and then went off to El Valle de Anton for 10 weeks. When I returned in April we started the process of "house building"...ha ha ha...April to the end of October was spent in all the administrative stuff, including 1) surveying the lot, 2) deeding the lot to me, 3) working on building plans, 4) clearing the lot, 5)obtaining approvals from the Health Department, the Planning Department, the Fire Marshall, and VDOT, and 6)costing the house. At the end of October, I signed a contract to build the house. Ray Guthrie is the builder/contractor. And then I went to California for two weeks to take care of Morgan and Travis while Chris and Kerry were in Europe. So, now I'm back and here are some visuals...

This is my lot, after Buffy and Fred cleared it. They did a magnificent job, didn't they? My niece, Maureen Ward, also lives on the farm. She and her husband Dave built their house about a year ago. Her advice, records and enthusiasm are invaluable! She told me about the "auctions": various building supply stores (e.g., Home Depot, Lowe's) and contractors, send their unsold overage items to "auction". These auctions are held periodically in various cities. In early October, Mo took me up to Woodstock and we bought three toilets, a front door, a basement door, marble tile for my shower, and the kitchen sink with faucet. We figure that we saved about $1000, but that was only because Mo took over the bidding. She is so much better at bidding than I (at one point, I seemed to bidding against myself!). I handed the bid card to her and she did great! We loaded everything on the trailer (with many comments about the pregnant woman doing manual work), drove back to the farm, stopping for a delicious Thai dinner on the way. On Sunday, Dave, Mo and a little me unloaded the trailer, stashing the stuff in their basement and in the bank barn (each of the barns has a different name). Here's Mo, after we returned to the farm:

In early November, when I returned from California, this is what I saw:

Yesterday the "Precision Wall" guys were there. Their mission is to erect wall forms, into which concrete is poured. I'll have a photo later. But while there, a stray dog came by and followed me home. We are trying to find the owner, but isn't he lovely?