Shop materials were delivered and are all ready to go. The holes for the posts will be drilled later this week, and then the contractor can set the posts. That cement has to dry for a few days and then they can start putting up the shop. Contractor says it will go fast - a week to 10 days.
Baxter had to inspect the materials to make sure they met with his approval.
We have been spraying brush, and spraying brush and spraying brush. Mike is in "forester heaven" with his magic spray gun, and Baxter rides shotgun while I drive the Kioti. We have the vast majority of what we want to spray done for this season, mostly in the upper meadow. There is good orchard grass hay there, but the brush has started to take over in a few spots, so we are getting that under control. Hope to be able to get it disked and harrowed either later this fall or early in the spring, overseed, and see what kind of crop we can get from it. There is a good demand for orchard grass hay for horses in this area. We want to get the lower pasture area prepped as well, take one cutting of hay, and then put cows back on it again next summer. Local farmers will come and cut and bale it for 2/3 of the hay, and then we sell the other 1/3.
We have encountered some interesting insects as we work. This guy was on a branch I reached out and grabbed while driving though the
brush!
And this guy landed on Mike while we were working on the trenching for a power line under the driveway...
The contractor started rocking the road yesterday, which is very exciting. No more huge clouds of dust when we drive up the hill!
They are doing a great job of laying a good solid base so the road will hold up to the cold winters. We are laying in about 2300 feet of driveway!
Baxter is in charge of quality control, and supervises from his perch in the shade under the water truck.
Mike is having fun scalping sod at the driveway entrance. He is starting to get the hang of using the bucket.
We took the opportunity after the recent rain to do some chainsaw trimming on a few of the pine trees, to get them limbed up away from the ground. We are working towards reducing fire hazards wherever we can.
We also got the ditch dug for the phone line. The phone company will only bring the phone line to our property line, and we have to install it the rest of the way. We will have to bury about 900 feet of line to get it to the house. He got very proficient with the "Ditch Witch" by the time he was done!
The contractor got the holes dug for the shop poles today, so another big step forward. Mike gave them his seal of approval.
We are truly enjoying our little piece of heaven. We have been blessed with some beautiful sunsets, and were treated today to an impressive thunder and lightening storm. We were able to finish up before it got close and we had to call it a day. Fall is definitely in the air.
We are getting excited for the house to come. Due date is early November. It is so satisfying to be able to do a lot of the work ourselves - truly a "hands on" project. We will keep you posted on our progress.
Mike and Glennis
