I am building my first home. Lucky me because it is in the woods! It is an adventure I surely will not forget.

Me with Rory

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Yes, Master

Finally, after roughly two and half years I have finished my Master of Arts degree in Public Communications. Yahoo!
I started my degree while i was still an undergrad. I took two online courses at my undergrad school. I figured I should try it out before I applied since I had always heard that grad school is really hard. I took those courses in the fall of 2006. Then in Spring '07 I finished up my Bachelor of Science degree, then started the official Masters program at my new college in May of '07 before I had even had commencement for the BS degree. I went straight from Summer I to '07 fall coursework to presenting my final project Oct 2nd of '09.
Whew! Am I tired. Actually I am recovering nicely. I have been bouncing back to normal life. I went to a gem and mineral show this past Sunday. It was in a Moose lodge in a small town so it was great. Good prices (my budget was $20.00). It was run by a local club and only had a $2 admission fee.
I stopped in at school today and checked out their National Writing Day celebration. The organizers did a terrific job. It was fun and i wish I could have stayed longer. It was so great to see my professors.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

What the heck

was I doing going to a doctors appointment yesterday when I needed to be focusing on my presentation. I had made the appointment a month ago with a new doctor. I have been searching for the right fit of a primary care physician since my other one moved on to employee health at a hospital.
Then two weeks ago my professor scheduled, at my request, my presentation, for this Friday. I had forgotten about the physical.
Everything is good, though, the new doctor is nice and now I am racing to hem my dress and making notes for Friday.
Tomorrow I must stop at school to refresh my memory on the podium dials and knobs I'll have to use to get the screen down, turn on the computer, level the volume, etc.
Wish me luck. It all happens on October 2nd at 11am.

Friday, September 25, 2009

House Design

I have been online again seeking house designs. There are so many!
I am sticking with the log cabin, but believe it there are so many types of even just the traditional one. What kind of roof line, what kind of roof materials or a panel system, how many windows on the front, sides, back, what style doors, do I want an 8' deep porch, or 6, or 10...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Paperwork

My graduation date will be December 2009, with commencement in May 2010. ( My college stopped Dec commencements just last year.)
Simlar to when I finished my BS degree, I finished March 20th with the last exam, graduation date May something and then commencement in July.

Memoirs

It is all about school these past two weeks. One more to go and I am done. I will have my Master of Arts degree in Public Communications. Oh, yeah, and a student loan....

My presentation is Oct 2nd. I have already turned in the project and have clearance. My prof said I won't have to defend the paper. Yahoo! That is great. He said he has already given it the green light, so I am just presenting my paper and project.

Still, it is nerve racking to stand up and speak, especially in front of all the professor's. I know once I start presenting, it will zip by.
I am still busy printing out everything and having spiral bindings put on some extra copies.
The two main ones for school are finished. One goes in the library for circulation and the other stays in the department.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Design

Saw Sammy yesterday and we went over some things on costs. I had been thinking of running four courses of logs up onto the second floor loft wall to give it a knee wall rather than have the roof line come right down to the floor. But considering the cost and the fact that half the upstairs will be open to the ceiling it seems like a frivolous expenditure, so I will probably pass on it. It really would have only been a benefit for half the upstairs, but I would have been paying for it for the entire second floor.

Also the difference between having a 25 x 35 house and a 28 x 38 house wil be about $23,000. So, do I need that extra footage? It would be nice, though. We'll see. In addition, I really would like an extension on the bedroom of about 12 x 8 and that will be another 7 grand if I do it. I will see. So many decisions.

Also I am going to go with concrete blocks for the double chimney and I can face them with field stone later.

Sammy doesn't think we will have to put in the required 4' frost wall on the walk out basement side because we will probably hit rock. We did hit horizontal shale at 5' on the knoll when we were digging for the 1st perc test. In one spot I think we even hit it at 4'.
I wasn't sure if this was the level of rock code counts as suitable to anchor the foundation into or not. Like, does the rock have to be limestone, granite, impervious to drilling, or whatever.
Because I think realistically a huge rock smasher could bust up the horizontal shale, but Sammy thinks it counts and we will be able to anchor to it so i won't need that frost wall.
(Frost wall equals more $).

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Filed

Didn't think it would happen so fast but I got the maps filed on Friday. I got in and out in the town office, the city downtown office and the same at the uptown office. Yeah.

I spent the weekend doing some fun stuff mixed with working on my paper. I went to a psychic fair Sun and the church Fall Festival on Saturday. So nice to get outside.

I am waiting to hear back from my prof on when I can present. I am aiming for this coming week. It will seem so strange to not have homework. I won't know what to do with myself...not. lol

I am looking for an agent and/or publisher for my paper and for the memoirs I wrote to go with it. Let me know if you know of any.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Maps are signed

I just checked in with the building department and the maps are signed, but one form wasn't. The clerk and I went to school together, so she called the chairman and asked him if he could come back and sign the form. I checked back in and the chairman was there doing it. Yahoo.
Small towns are so great in that sense and since I know the chairman's brothers from the school bus ride he has been really helpful also.
We use to ride 50 minutes to school everyday and knew everyone along that route pretty well.

Right from work, I'll go grab the maps and the form and go to the first county agency I need to go to to start the filing process. I doubt if I'll make the second county office, but you never know.

I'll have to go fuel up my truck on break and grab something to eat.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Voted In

The Planning Board voted yes to the subdivision. Yeah!

The surveyor spoke at the public hearing with me. He was worth every penny and when I think about the three meetings he attended the two visits at the property with me/Ma, The many site visits he did, including last fall, and all the measuring, point posting, metal detecting (when we were looking for markers from 1912, which neither one of us ever found), drawing he did, prints he made, he was really reasonable. He gave a ton of his time on the phone and in person.

Now more paperwork is in my future. I have to pick up the maps once signed, get a copy of the letter they are sending to Ma saying it was approved, go to one county building and pay $25. for them to do a tax search to verify that Ma has paid her taxes (I can't bring proof, they do a search themselves), and I get permission to file the maps from them in the form of a receipt, and one other thing there which I have forgotten. Then I go to another county building to file the maps and pay another $25. and get on the new tax roll for assessment, and I have to pay $10. for some other thing.
Simple. lol

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Paper Hill

I had accumulated I don't know how many documents to do the survey. It was an incredible amount of paperwork. Yes, of course the surveyor does this, but then again you have to pay him for the privilege, so I gathered all of it. Since my mom had never had the property surveyed and any previous owner didn't (that we knew of) it was a chore. I would have still had to survey it, but we would have had some of the records already. It turned out to be fun being such an investigator anyway.

The parcel I am buying is surrounded by two different roads and three other property owners. One road had taken some of my mothers land back in the 50's so we had a map for that. The other road took land in the nineties, so that wasn't to hard to get at the county clerks office, but it was a massive amount of documents. In addition, the one neighbor had given me her survey map which really helped. The deeds for the three neighbors weren't too hard to get because they all owned their parcels for a shorter amount of time. Meaning that their deeds were on line.

At the time I gathered documents last fall, I didn't know if I would be buying the property across the road also, so that involved still yet another two property owners. I had to get all their deeds, and I got the deeds that their deeds referenced. i also got deeds for their other properties as well, since a couple of them own more than one parcel. Then I found out that my mother had two deeds. One from the 50's and one from the 60's. I got them both. Then I also got deeds for her land all the way back to 1902 in case the title search people or the lawyer, whomever needs them.
Now normally the seller would have already done this or had the documents, but since she wasn't planning to sell the land before I asked her if I could buy it, and since she is my mother, I did the leg work. I also did not want to pay tons more money for someone else to do it.

The real surprise that came a week or so before the survey was completed was that in 1912...Yes, 1912, now you are probably saying, "What the heck does something in 1912 have to do with 2009?" Well, as it turns out, in 1912 the county took a piece of the same land for a road improvement! What is now the state road once was a county one. They took some land from the maple tree marked with a K to the..you get the idea? So it had to do with my survey because no one had recorded this information on to any subsequent deeds and it did show up on one of the maps from the road takings in the 90's, but with no info. That is no map number, no deed book or page numbers, nothing. Just the little numbers 1912 between some bearing points with a jagged line depicting the taking. Of course between those two bearing points where road taking should have had bearing points there were none.

Anyway. Off i went to the clerks office with nothing but a date and a land owners name. Now if you have ever been to the clerks record office you will know that you need more than this.

I told a staff person there that I needed help with this and he kept repeating that it was impossible. The more someone tells me this the more determined I am. I sat with the index of maps book, sans map number and went through it page by page. Yes, page by page. Long story short a week later I had the maps, the deed, the new bearing points, the entire kit and kabootle. Now that first day I can proudly boast that within 20 minutes I had discovered what I thought was the right map number, but I had to screen microfiche that was unclear, go to another building, The Hall of Records downtown, and search for the original map and go through many more sets of unclear microfiche that no one could read, and then finally from 10:ish in the morning I got back home at 3:30 hungry, yet happy.

These maps turned out to be fine, but we were still short the deed and the bearing points. Another day I searched and got the deed since I had more info now, and then into the next week, I was able to fortunately track down the right secretary and retrieve digitized images of the bearing points within an hour of one phone call to DOT.

I now have every record anyone could possible have on this parcel. The surveyor told me it is all complete except for a deed for the Hill road from when the county took some of it in the 50's. The surveyor didn't need that deed since the description was on the map, but I will get it for my records. He discovered that the neighbors two iron pipes are about a foot off a bit from the takings.

The new survey map is a work of art. Beautiful and informative.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Public Vote

Tuesday night at 7 will be the public vote on the subdivision. Please pray that it goes well. The Planning Board already gave it their thumbs up.
I've been working on my paper for school this past week since the family has returned to the coast and abroad. It was a great visit, but never long enough.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Been forever

Unloaded the truck yesterday and loaded it back last night! It never seems to be empty, but I guess that is why I have a pickup.
I had milled logs in it form our trip up North to see the log manufacturer. He gave Lee and I samples to take back. Lee, daughter's brother, knows the son of the manufacturer and by coincidence we all came together.
I say it was coincidence , but I believe it was you now who's force at hand. He was at hand again today, and everyday, when i went on my break at work.
I have to check out the property again for more markers for the surveyor. The ones I am looking for today are from 1912. Yes, 1912. I meant to bring a rake and didn't, so off on my break what do you suppose was on the side of the road waiting for me? A rake. I am very grateful.
When I do the search, I am hoping if I rake a way some leaf litter I may be able to find something or just happen on the markers. At the least I have to find the culvert the highway commission put in in 1912.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

No more nails

'Just spoke with logger and he said not to nail the trees. We'll have to take them out and retag with something else. He says paint. I forgot about the logger needed nail less trees for sawing.
Isn't there an environmental paint out there. Dig Safely used an orange paint that was gone within a month of application.
Logger called me to tell me to check into the incentives from the government. Logger is really being helpful by taking a personal interest in this project. It is nice working with my homeboys I mean... home town boys. lol

Monday, May 4, 2009

Tree tags

While I was out pumping the well yesterday, I measured and tagged about 20 trees. This way I can add up all the 39/41/45 etc. inchers and see what I have.
I want to have many in one size, so that the curve will be the same angle when the sawmill cuts them. If I have a flatter curve on one, and the next very rounded, I may get shelving, which I don't particularly want.
The most equal in circumference seem to be around the stream and power lines. They are between 39 and 45 inches mostly. There are some real fat ones deeper in the woods.
I calculated 37 inches to be the smallest I'd want for the house walls. That will give me an 8 inch square from the lower part of the tree, but possibly not as much length as the tree tapers. It looks like my bottom circumference goal should be 41 inches for the longest logs. I can use other narrow ones for railings, posts, stairs, etc.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Arrest Made

The city police detective finally arrested the guy who committed Identity Theft against me. The guy admitted to the detective last November that he had charged the stuff to my phone. Yes, He confessed. So why did it take until two weeks ago for the detective to arrest him?
Had he been on the lamb? No, Had he moved? No. Had he changed his confession. No. So why?
I have no idea.
Every time (the few times the detective returned my calls) I asked what was up, the detective replied that he had a lot of cases on his desk. My favorite line was when he told me that 'this was not the crime of the century.'
Thank you, Detective Cole.
But the business is done now. No word from the city prosecutors office, yet.

$4,000 Paper

Looking over floor plans, interiors, and exteriors of log homes is a full time job, or it could be if I wasn't in grad school, working, and trying to do laundry. I love doing it (the house research, not the laundry) and use it as a filler to break up the monotony of working on my paper.
You, know, The Paper. The one I get six credits for. The one I am now referring to as the $4,000. paper.
It may become a year long project or even longer. I started it in August as an Independent Study and am working on it now as my final project.
Wow! Now that I think about it, it is a $6,000 paper! I am getting 9 credits for it, inadvertently, because I already got 3 on the beginning research phase, as indie study, and now 6 more. Wow!
If you want to see $6,000 paper just ask me to send it to you.
It is becoming my Opus, my academic Opus.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

First water


Finger in the shot belongs to my friend Earthgirl. She spent some time looking over the 'job' with me on Barry and my first day of pumping.

This is the first water and boy did it taste minerally!

I'm in charge

Well pumping water out of the hose.
Well with sonar, hose, and power attached.

Generator in place.


Here is the well pumping action as I am in charge (for a few days anyway).



Yumm
















Friday, April 3, 2009

Snowballs in Spring

Funny how a generator purchase snowballs...

This is the way this is going:
1. I buy a generator
2. realize I now need truck tailgate ramps for it
3. realize I need a 5 gallon gas can to keep with it
4. I need a green/camo tarp to wrap it in in the woods with a cable and padlock to lock to tree
5. then I realize I need a shed at the Hill to keep it and other tools in
6. then I figure I really should get tenants insurance and make sure it covers stuff I leave out there
7. then I figure I need a trailer to haul the generator and other logs, materials, tools, etc,
8. then I need DMV papers for the trailer which must mean $ registration
9. then I need insurance for the trailer...

End result...I should have just grabbed power from neighbor! lol

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Pumpin'

I got to pump the well myself today. Barry says it's like watching paint dry. He handed the job over to me today, so I don't have to pay him to come out 2 hours a day for the next few days. I get to do it. I started the generator by myself, yes, to those doubters, and ran the well pump. I had so much fun!
I realize more and more how I have almost no one to share all this fun with, so I hope some people are out there reading this blog.
I used my 'new' drawknife today and cleaned the bark off a log. I tried it yesterday so see if it was hard to do or not. Not. Only where the branches stick out, then yes.
I was so fortunate that I went to a wood workers show on Sunday and bought it from an antique tool vendor who happens to live near the build site! Coincidence. Nice old-timer. He helped me select one that would fit my hands and body size well, and it truly does.
I love using it. I moved the log after I finished it to a place to dry and I dropped it on my thigh so that is the kind of stuff I have to be really careful about! I may have to think about getting steel toed boots, too.
I will peel as many of the fallen pines as possible. I can use them for stairs and porch poles, and railings, etc. I would love it if it turns out I can work it out to build the walls with them, too.
I've read that for the purlins, white pine doesn't have enough tensile strength, so they would have to be red pine.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Well Pumping

Barry began disinfecting and pumping out the well today. What fun. I learn so much with him. He takes the time to answer my questions and share his knowledge with me.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Shed

Okay, now I really need a shed up there. I'll have to store my new generator and other tools as needed. I was carrying around shovel, sledge hammer, hammers, stakes, etc. all in my truck last fall. It would be better to leave stuff there so I could have the truck a little cleaner.
I knew it last fall, and Florida had even suggested to me that I buy a Rubbermaid one to make things easier, but nooooo. I'll probably do it the project way and build one. I have a lot of scrap wood left over from my fort build. I have been looking on craigslist, freecycle, and reuse also. There was one last fall a 10x10 and I should have gone and gotten it. Darn.
I know either a free one will come along or else I'll build one, hopefully.
Peace out.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Power up


Bought the Husky generator yesterday.
I really like it. Bro-in-law put the wheels on it and all and had me power it up, run it, and power down and load onto the pickup with his ramps. Now I need ramps and/or a trailer! The more you buy, the more you need somehow, and just when I work toward minimization.

Barry can use it to pump out the well and ready it for the water test, then Sammy can use it too, for construction. I figured, heck, why pay others, as deserving as they are, for rental on a generator when I am going to need one for the house anyway. The neighbors are always out of power, so I will be too during those ice storms. This 5000 watt baby will allow me to still watch all my favorite movies and eat ice cream from my running fridge while the coyotes are howling to the moon outside.
This 10hp engine has some power!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Next week home show

I'm going to another home show next week. I'll take off a bit early from work and traverse the countryside and the Berkshire spur to the Big E.  
It is supposed to be the biggest home show in New England. 
Yahoo!
I better wear comfy shoes and bring snacks 'cause there will be a lot of hoofin' it.

Great cabin

I saw a cabin on Sunday that I really love. I have stopped by to see a few in the past few months, but this one topped the cake. It is simple. 1000 square feet including the loft. It has a front porch, and a walk out basement. 
I am thinking I may have plaster or sheet rock on the ceiling between the beams. I dream of painting the plaster with an outdoor sky scene.

Home show

I went to a tiny home show last Saturday. The up side to it was I had the vendors attention for Q & A and didn't have to squeeze in to any booths through masses of elbows. 

Weird thing, though, was how surprised this one guy (log home vendor) was when he asked if I was doing this by myself. I responded, "well, sort of, but not really 'cause I'm hiring all my childhood friends to do the heavy stuff", but anyway, he didn't listen to a word I said. He kept saying "Wow, you are so interesting!!!!!...I never expected to meet anyone soooo interesting here today."

He couldn't believe a girl could/would get involved in building...huh? so he quickly raced to my rescue and said he would come out to the property and use his compass and orient the house (as I had mentioned southern exposure for passive solar) and mark off the building site, etc. 
I thought it was so funny. Yet not.

BTW, I was a girl scout and, as you know from previous posts, I mark out everything quite effectively with all my color coded string and flags. lol

(I moved into the color coded string after I had so many strings running around the property I quickly realized that using white for this and yellow for that, etc. simplified everything.)

Then when I asked what wood his company used for the homes and he said all white pine. Surprised, I said, "for the rafters? because the tensile strength of white pine is not recommended for rafters." 

"Oh", he said,  "well, no, gee, you've done some research, no, we use Douglas fir." 

A hah! Just as I suspected.


Friday, March 13, 2009

Well estimate for water quality test

Barry sent the estimate to put the well pump in, disinfect the well, and set up for the water test. About 2 grand. It includes a two day rental, if nec., on his generator, plus fuel, and a labor estimate based on an hourly wage. There is no pre-determined amount of hours that it will take to disinfect the well, which includes pumping out all the water and waiting while it refills.
I keep wondering if I should get a generator or have construction power set up via power pole and meter for the construction, otherwise Sammy will be bringing his generator, too.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

School

My final project is progressing. I am sort of laying low on the house (focusing on research on styles) while I finish up my final project. I took off a couple of days of work and got a lot done. It is on Memoir Writing and I love the project. I wish the world could slow down so I'd have more time for everything. I've been overwhelmed with too much lately, so I hope I can not answer the phone, not do laundry, not do any errands and just focus on my paper.

More Breaks

The ex broke his arm again...yes, the same arm. He went back in the hospital for another surgery. Our daughter said he needs to be handcuffed this time. He just can't stay put, but who can. This time it was even more serious because they had to go back in where it wasn't even healed yet and remove the plate, etc. and start over with the whole mess. Yuck.

Seeking Tips

I've written to my cousin; the one who hand built his own log cabin. He and his horse dragged the trees out of the woods while my cousin removed the bark and began his many-year project of building. He had lived in the basement for a number of years while planning the build. He hand pegged the floors and even built the kitchen cabinents by hand. This house is a treasure.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Quandary

I am still in a quandary over what style home to build. There are so many great ones out there and that's without me designing my own. I have researched tons of plans and styles. I love them all.
The timberframe has the barn appeal.
The log home has the cabin appeal.
The stick frame has the change-the-color of the walls every-year appeal.

What's your vote?
1.) Timberframe
2.) Log Home
3.) Stick

No matter what, it will be small. I may become part of the small house movement.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Log Home Company visit

Back to the house project...during all of this truck shopping I visited a log home company.
http://www.loknlogs.com/
The salesman, Barry, was very helpful and totally informed. He reported being with the company 30 years. They do just about everything and have many different log styles to choose from.
It was all positive, but may not be what I'm looking for. Fancy Pants houses Wow.
Amazing how log homes are blending into traditional stick frame construction. The old-school hand-peeled log doesn't seem to be very common.
I'm looking for something simple, cute, homey, and with character.

All Mine

I own the new silver truck and it is with me now at work. Done. Fhew!
Thanks Geeksinrome for your name ideas, keep them coming.
A BIG thanks to Bro for finding this truck for me on EBay!
On Monday I am meeting with the Toyota rep to sign over Black Beauty and collect the dough.
Peace.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Help me pick a name for her







New truck under contract. Finalize tomorrow.
Add your name picks to the comment section. Thanks.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The right truck will come along

The owner of the truck I saw Friday changed his mine and took it off the market.
I'm not sad about it as I am thinking that I will stick with a 2WD anyway. The mpg are better and I discovered that I don't like being up so high in 4WD's. I feel tippy in them.
I just will have to remain careful when I am off-roadin' up to my campsite and to the house property. I'll need to keep a shovel, tow strap, come-along, tracfone, and my AAA card ready at hand. lol
I made out on that excursion Friday anyway because on the way back I stopped in a store that had Keen hikers discounted and with no sales tax! I finally replaced my worn out ones. Next are sneakers. All of my footwear was worn out, no wonder I am having foot problems.
Peace out.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Trucks

Off to see another one today.
2002 Tacoma, 4X4, 4cyl 2.7L, 5sp, 93,000 mileage, air, CD, casette, bed liner, tilt wheel, dark red, bug screen, 160 hp, split back window.
Asking price $7,900.00 Do you think he'll take $6,900.00? kbb is $7,600.00 for good condition.
Peace out.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Lost book

Monday I checked out of the library a memoir book to read as research on my final project. I last remembered seeing it while thumbing through it in my office. I remember seeing it sitting on my staff's desk, on the corner near mine. I always set stuff there because it is usually the only clear foot-square space in the whole office.
Sometime later that day I looked around my bedroom and I couldn't find the book. My floor is covered with books, tissues, socks, very-important-papers, candy, etc. So you'd think I could find a 5x7 white paperback easily. NOT. I sort of put it out of my head got into bed with another one and soon fell asleep. The next morning when I met my ex at his place and while helping him get dressed, taking him to the hospital, listened to him complain, getting his clothes back off and readied for surgery I didn't think about the book.
Later that night at home with my foot pain roaring and the rest of my body exhausted I got on my pink pajamas and sat on my bed. Where was that book? I scanned the floor again and even looked on the piles of blankets on the bed. No book. Now I am really starting to wonder what the heck happened to this book. It must be at work.
The next morning after I washed ex's old clothes and the ones I bought him the night before, I broadened my search. I looked in the dining room and living rooms and a little in the car. I thought about some of the very serious library staff and how appalled they are when someone is late with a book, I wondered what they did to you when you lost one.
A girl I know who works there was talked about for years because she lost so many videos and books. The Director took away her library privileges. The rumor was that her substance abuse using now ex was having her 'steal' them to sell for crack! Most of the materials she lost were children's and you know how beat up the kids books are, scribbled on an all, so these are what she supposedly was getting enough money to buy crack with.
Book Nazi's every one of them.
I knew there would be no way I could buy a used copy from Amazon and have one of the clerks duplicate the stickers bar code thingies for me and just reshelve it. If the girls I use to work with at the hotel would have totally done whatever they could to cover up the loss. One might have even put in the computer that it was a lost item and moved on with her day knowing she was satisfied with a job well done.
But not clerks and especially not librarians. No. They believe themselves to be the protectors of papers stuck together with horse glue like each and every book was their own personal rare collection. By the way, on Amazon, the book sells new for $16. and used for .o3 cents-- I checked just in case I could realize a 'fallen' library staff member.
The only one I knew I could turn to was the clerk who wore the scarlet letter for the mystery loss of books and videos surely eaten by her German Shepard or lost under the pounds of debris in her little girls unswept room. Lu Lu. She was my only hope. Somehow I came to share my miserable tale with her about me loosing the book into the abyss within a matter of hours.
As she pulled down the lost and found box from a really high shelf, she said if maintenance had found it they would have turned it in to circulation, or even if someone else found it that is what they would do. She checked my account immediately.
I shared with her my tale of the hospital and my ex and his broken arm, surgery, and the 7-8" plate the surgeon screwed into his bone, the 32 staples to secure his muscle an skin, and how I had to get him in and out of the car and bring his clothes home and go out and buy him some more and put his boots and all the clothes back in the car and go back to the hospital, etc...and the reality the book is gone.
Maybe in the hospital parking lot snow pile I had to climb over and hope I wouldn't fall in. Maybe in the bag of clothes I had to carry in and out of the hospital. Maybe in the dumpster at work where it must have fallen from the staff's desk into our garbage can picked up and dumped unseen next to the one post-it-note into the bigger can and then to the dumpster. Lu Lu who lived a chaotic dysfunctional double life was the only one of sixty plus employees who would not be shocked by the events that had come about in my life the past four days.
As I wound down, she looked at me and with a moment contemplation, said, "look on the shelf, you never know, someone may have re-shelved it."
Great. I went like a wasp to my thigh a couple of summers ago,. As my eyes focused more an more, I knew this was the book. I recognized the wrinkle on the cover, the food crumbs smashed into the design, and the proper placement of course as Dewey would have loved, and made a hit that was big and scary.
Just like metaphysics proves everyday. We are all connected.
Properly alphabetized under BIO Mullen was "It Takes a Village Idiot."

Walk to work

I have finally given up looking for a truck. I am too tired to think about it anymore.
I am wondering what the heck I am thinking by not thinking about it? Am I planning to walk the nine miles and back to work everyday? Heck no.
Me with my sore foot and the bitter cold. No thanks. In the summer when my foot is better and I have the sun to keep me warm is another thing.
I made a conscious decision a week ago to stop looking. This of course came after I hung up a test drive truck on a pile of snow and had to call for help and then the help (dealer) ran out of gas and left me on the side of the road, and after a 10 hour trip to Brattleboro and back to see a truck with a rebuilt title.
Finally last Sunday, I checked out my Bro-in-Law's two vehicles for sale and decided if the perfect truck doesn't fall into my lap by the time I have to give up the loaner car then I may just buy one of his 'winter cars'.
I have never in my life been so energy sapped buying a vehicle. It's because in the past I just bought whatever $100 would buy, but now I have choices and I have also owned the nearly or perhaps, perfect truck so to buy anything less is just cruel.
I would like, however, to bank half the dough I am getting from Toyota and put it toward the house. I could ride a dirt bike back in forth -- if I had one -- and just freeze my hands and face.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Next step

Pay Barry for phase one which was pounding the right hole with the right everything for the well.
Phase two is him bringing out his generator, putting in the pump, and having the health department come and verify the gallons per minute and then take a water sample back to the lab to test the water quality.
Barry gave me his house plans, a passive solar salt box. I like it a lot. It is 28x30 with chimney through the middle, southern windows and none on the north side. Something to think about.
There are so many house designs...

Monday, January 26, 2009

Taking out the slurry.


Valve on the bottom of this long 'pipe' opens and closes allowing the slurry/water to get in and to be released.

Action


Pounding away.

205'

These are pics of the casing being delivered on Monday. Barry put them in on Tuesday and I missed it!

205' and 3 gallons per minute on the water! Yeah! Thursday we were at 180' and 2 gallons per min and then Friday at 5pm we were in the clear. It was so great to see all that fresh clean water getting pulled out of the well on top of the slurry.
I needed 2.5 gallons per minute to be acceptable to the county. It actually was 3.9 at 42 degrees on the sonar. At 50 degrees it was 4.2 gallons per minute but then Barry changed the temp rating to match the gauge that comes with the sonar gun and for our region it is supposed to be at 44 degrees in January and 41 degrees just a mile or so away. so 42 made sense. 
The temp is the temp of the air in the casing.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Lost friend

I received a call yesterday that a guy I knew since I was around 18 died suddenly. I was sure it was a heart attack since that ran in his family.
Today as I was opening my fancy gift I was being told he had committed suicide. He traveled to the next state over, booked himself into a motel, and drank antifreeze. The maid found him, he was hospitalized for five days, and then died. He left behind six children and no note.
JJ, I am sorry you were in so much pain. I pray for you sweet little peanut.

I feel that the tiny-house charm helped me hold on to see that my life will be okay and that there is a bright future ahead of me. Thanks again, Princess, for connecting with me when I needed it.

Charmed life

What a lovely surprise! I have a charmed life because my close friend Princess, Fedex'd me an artisan-crafted silver tiny-house charm! Jill Davis is the artist.
It is this tiny 3/8 inch size silver house and it was in a black fabric cloth bag, in a great bronze colored wrapping paper with several bows tied all around it, and it was Fedex'd. How nice!
It feels like my birthday. This surely will be a good luck piece.
Thank you Princess!

Well update at 140 feet

Barry got down to 140 feet yesterday before he went home. He pounded Monday and Tuesday. Too cold today so he'll come back when it warms up again. We have water just not enough yet. He is in soft rock and went faster and further yesterday. He said when they hit water at the next house up it happened after the soft rock and when he hit hard rock again.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Duh...

I don't know what I was thinking registering for 12 credits when I only need 6 more to finish. I got carried away with some neat sounding classes. I went to them this week but I dropped the extra ones today. I am sticking with my 6 credit final project on Memoirs and that is it. 
I am much happier with my decision. Now I can continue with the house project, which would have been delayed 'til May, and also focus on getting a truck replacement. I am still looking.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Well Guy



Yes! The well guy, Barry Berger, came on Saturday and began pounding. He called me Sunday and let me know..huh. Anyway so Monday and Tuesday I watched before work. Monday he was down 30 feet before I left and Tuesday he was down 60. 
Please pray he hits water the next time he comes out.
The weather has turned frigid so he'll come back when it warms up to 20 degrees.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Log Cabin

I am moving on with my home style selection. The barn guy hasn't contacted me, his barn is still standing so I don't know what is up, but I am not concerned. I love log cabins, too,  and either one is just as wonderful to me. I have been doing tons of research on the floor plans. So many to chose from.  As a kid I loved playing in the barn and the chicken coop. I also had admired log cabins since childhood and I can say they may have a slight advantage in my heart. I am leaning toward the log home.
I visited three log homes last Sunday from around Ma's and they each had their own unique qualities. I like the idea of cutting our own white pine, debarking it, and using it for the house. That's the romantic side of me. But realistically, short of physical manpower, I may go with wholesale milled logs.
I am surprised at how endless the varieties of logs there are and certainly log homes. Even with a simple traditional cabin (which is what I'm headed for) there are so many log choices. And with those log choices also comes construction choices. If I go with round then I'll have chinking. Lots of types of chinking also.
 Then there are the notches. Lots of types, Swedish coping, two notch, single, grooves, splines, etc.  
I have decided on the butt and pass style corners, though. They are the kind I picture when I picture a log cabin.

Time

The best advice I can give the reader is to anticipate changes and lots of time. "The well digger is coming any day." These are the words I keep saying. One lady said, didn't you say that like last week. Well, okay lady, it takes time.
Two mornings this week were welcomed by sleet, today by frigid temps. Barry had already told me that he won't come out in bad weather or below 20-25 degrees. Who can blame him.
I am fortunate in that I am not under any deadlines. Thank God.
I do wish it had happened before school starting next week, but it is no problem.
I am looking for another truck, slowly. I need to get on it. Toyota sent me phase one letter yesterday and said that in 2 days I will be contacted with an offer to buy back my truck. I did go visit it at the dealers last week when I dropped off the reg. It was parked up in back of the dealership, out of the way, waiting.