Roller coaster day.
My dad and I met the surveyor at the new property this morning, and that went really well. Afterwards I did more clearing and I think decided upon where the house will go, dependent upon soil tests. Once again it was a lot of fun. You just can’t beat working with a tractor and chainsaw. The mild weather sure helped too. I took a late lunch and then went down to the lumberyard in Winchester to get a quote. He said that prices were so volatile right now that they were only giving quotes about a week out. So I drove back up the Mountain and drove by my house to see if the plumber was there. He was not. When I went to turn around my car, disaster struck. There was a horrible noise and then it wouldn’t go. Fortunately no cars were coming and I was able to push it off the road. I called the auto service place where I’ve gotten a couple of oil changes before, and they came and hauled it in. On the bright side he said it looks like an axle issue and he went ahead and ordered the part. It should be done by tomorrow afternoon. The mechanic, Joe, drove me to the Goat Market where I hung out and chatted with Eric until it had cooled down enough for me to walk back to the cottage. It was still pretty warm, but the walk was mostly enjoyable. Now I’m just chilling.
More tractor time.
I didn’t get a very early start today, but I did make it to the new property and did a lot more clearing. I was able to uproot some stumps as well. The saturated ground probably helped make that easier. It was a lot of fun to be chainsawing and running the tractor. It wasn’t too hot and I was in the shade most of the time. No rain this afternoon, but I didn’t work much after lunch. Late afternoon I went to the Goat market and talked with Eric for a while. After that I started watching the latest Fast and Furious movie on my phone. I had downloaded it a few days ago when Google Play had rentals on sale, and I used some of my survey credit. As it turned dark I drove to campus, stopping at Green’s View before parking at Lake Cheston. I talked on the phone for a while with Liz.
Back on track.
After another workout video and breakfast I headed to the house with visions of repairing the tractor. That didn’t go exactly as planned. First I needed to go to the supply store for another wrench. I took the hose off and discovered that my replacement didn’t fit. So I drove down to the Kubota dealer in Hillsboro and they made me one. Installing it was pretty simple and I also added two gallons of hydraulic oil to replace what leaked out. Then I got to work. First I moved the logs I had already cut to the back of the property. Then I cut up more of the big black oak and some of the trees that it had fallen on. The forks on the tractor came in handy for hauling the branches, but a grapple sure would be nice. I mostly piled up the wood, but did set some logs aside to cut up for firewood later. I was able to uproot and completely remove a couple of stumps from trees that had been knocked over. All in all it was a lot of fun. Around 2:45 it started to rain, so I left. It turned into a torrential downpour that lasted a couple of hours. So I just relaxed for a while and didn’t really do much for the rest of the day.
A lot of reading, a little work, a lot of driving, more buying.
I was not in a hurry to get going this morning. I gave myself a day off from the workout videos and spent a lot of time reading the Dale Brown novel that I bought at the library book sale. Then I went to the house and spent about an hour wiping chalk marks off the flat ceilings. Tomorrow I will do the vaulted ceiling. That went okay. I needed to get some things from home, so I headed off in that direction, with planned stops at Home Depot and TSC in Manchester. At TSC I saw hydraulic hoses and thought I could get one for my tractor, but I didn’t know the right size. Unfortunately the internet was of no assistance. So I drove back to the house and measured. I attempted to remove it but was unsuccessful. Back at the Manchester TSC they actually didn’t have my size hose in stock. So I drove on to the Shelbyville store, which did. At home I gathered most everything I needed with the exception of a couple of things that I couldn’t find. I was happy to discover a forgotten about new chainsaw chain. For the big saw, it will come in handy. I drove to Lewisburg and stopped at their TSC for a couple of pieces of hardware to make something with tomorrow. The drive from there to the Mountain, through Fayetteville, was lovely. Back at the cottage I read some from another book I got at the library book sale and messed about on my phone.
Disaster strikes.
This morning after another video workout and a leisurely breakfast I went to the house. Actually I just got the tractor there, then started working on the new lot. I cut the big, downed tree into sections and started hauling them to the other side of the property. It was pretty fun work and I didn’t mind the heat. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. In this instance I was rolling over a log with the loader in order to finish cutting it, when suddenly I was taking a hydraulic oil shower. One of the loader hoses had burst. Needless to say I was pretty upset. I parked the tractor at the house then drove to the cottage and showered. I didn’t do much else for the rest of the day other than a little reading and a lot of looking at my phone.
Maybe progress.
The big accomplishment today was having lunch with the plumber/electrician and getting a commitment from him to come out and work next week. This evening I did some measuring and marking on the new property and started to layout where I want the house to go on the first lot. It should be a good building site.
Slow day.
Today was a bit more administrative in nature. I talked with a soil scientist who will come to the new property once he returns from vacation. I bought a bunch of books at the library book sale, although not the one pictured below. I also worked on putting together my documentation for the new building permit.
More progress on the landscaping.
After another T25 workout we went to the house. My dad planted the boxwoods while I prepared the landscape fabric and then installed plastic under the house. I was really dreading the latter task, but it turned out to be not too bad. Just lots of crawling around in the dark. A neighbor came by midway through and wanted to talk with us for about an hour. That was kind of frustrating.
I returned to the cottage and got another trailer, which was full of trash, so I took it to the dump. Then I went to the supply yard to get some straw. It wasn’t as hot today as it has been, but was still a little uncomfortable. I went to get pea gravel at the sand plant, but they are out and won’t have any until next month. On the way back I picked up some grass seed I had in the storage unit. At the house my dad finished up the boxwoods and I began seeding. Then he helped me spread straw. Just about the time we wrapped that up it started raining, so we called it a day.
Back at the cottage we showered, washed clothes, and headed to the Goat Market for an early dinner. Fortunately it wasn’t too busy. After eating we drove back by the house to admire our handiwork, then drove over to campus to look at paint colors on some of the houses there. My dad went to bed at about 7:15 and after talking with Liz I have just been messing about on the computer.
The brothers Wood – Box and Dog.
I did another T25 workout this morning, this time with more enthusiasm. After breakfast I went to the house and finished moving the large landscaping rocks into place. I then cleared everything out of the way in the front of the house in preparation for planting bushes. My dad arrived after playing golf and we drove down to a nursery in Manchester. The guy there gave us a good deal on some boxwoods and dogwoods, and so we filled the truck. There was a slight hiccup when he said that he didn’t accept credit cards, but he offered to let me bring a check later. Back at the house we unloaded the plants and started filling the raised beds with dirt.
During the heat of the afternoon it started thundering, so that seemed like a good time for my dad to go nap and me to go pay for the plants. I left the check in the mailbox as he was closed for the day, then called a left a message saying I had done so. I took the scenic route back to the cottage, kind of, at least from the Pelham exit through Alto and up Roark’s Cove Road onto campus. Then I drove by the goats. I rested for a few minutes at the cottage before returning to the house and getting on the tractor. I started by putting more dirt in the raised beds. My dad returned and we finished up the raised beds then planted four of the five dogwoods. I scraped through some undergrowth in preparation for the driveway loop and we called it a day.
Upon returning to the cottage I saw Randy next door and went to talk with him for a while. Then I called Liz. Dinner was cheesy rice (delicious). I just wish I had some ice cream, but now the store is closed. Hopefully tomorrow we will finish up the shrub planting, except for the few next to the water and power trenches which we can’t do yet.
Fun with the tractor.
I got out of bed around seven this morning, and halfheartedly did another workout. After breakfast I picked up some lumber at the supply yard then went to the house. I continued working on the raised beds until the guy my dad brought the property from next door showed up and we chatted a while. My dad came and chatted with him too. After he left we kept working. My dad made a suggestion to lower the bed height, which was probably a good idea overall, it was just frustrating to undo previous work. But we did it and the beds look pretty good. They are almost complete. I got the tractor and started moving stumps onto my trailer. It was challenging and took all of my skills, but it eventually got done. I drove the stumps over to the new property then used the tractor to push them off the trailer. Next I moved large rocks up by the house for landscaping purposes. They look pretty good, but I will need to bring more up tomorrow. It was super hot today but I am getting pretty used to it. This evening it rained a little and I drove to Piggly Wiggly and talked to Liz on the phone while sitting in my car in the parking lot. Then I went inside for a few things. Since then I’ve just been messing around on the computer.
