Little House on the Mountain

I finished the school house Saturday. Here are some pics. It turned out pretty nice. The kids are more excited about the loft than about the school area. That's probably because this is where they will be doing school and the loft is where they will play and hang out. Sandra and I ordered their school books last week and are supposed to be here this week. I don't think anyone is quite ready for summer to be over and school to start back again, but what kid is. Becca celebrated her 9th birthday Sunday. She got an American Girl doll and another Webkinz. We are hoping to get the water meter installed soon so we can have running water on the property. In the meantime I'll still be clearing and burning brush and, oh yeah, looking for work. I bid a job this morning and I still have a couple of large bids out that I'm waiting to here from. It would be great if you could say a prayer for this large apartment job in Huntsville that I'm waiting on. It's 100 buildings that need new roofs and I talked to the manager last week and he said that they were waiting for the top people to approve everything. He was impressed with my bid and hopefully if this is what God has planned for me then I will hear from him soon.

Cody's Rough Week

Last week my son Cody (11 years old) broke his arm skateboarding at my mother-in-law's home and had to get it casted. He was really upset because he was going to come down to Alabama with me and help me work on getting ready to build. My wife and kids came down on Saturday and are helping me build a school house. The first day here Cody was climbing on a log fort he built and managed to fall off and cut his forearm. He had to get 5 staples. This is the first time he has ever really been "handicapped" for a short time and is still getting adjusted to not being able to do the things he normally does.

Cody built this back on spring break



Sandra made him this arm sling out of some hunting fabric. Cody and the doctor thought it was cool.



We finished the grading on the road and where I am going to build the pole barn. I was planning on building it this week but I ran a little short on cash. I spent twice what I thought I was going to spend on the stone for the road and equipment rental. I had two machines over a three week period. That gets quite expensive. I also had problems with the dirt I graded on the road after it rains it gets too mushy and slick in some areas, so I had to bring in 5 more loads of stone. I don't have enough money to dry in the pole barn, so we decided not to start it now, instead we decided to build a schoolhouse/play area for the kids. Part of the problem with staying in a camper with 5 people and trying to homeschool is that it gets really crowded. Sandra needed a separate place for them to spread out and do their school work. It's going to be 16' X 12' with 8' walls and a 8'x 12' loft. It's a short term compromise to our space problem. This will buy us a little time until we can scrape up enough to finish the pole barn. We are also going to have the water meter installed so I can run a supply line to the property. I have to trench about 3600 feet and bury pvc water supply line. Fortunately, the ground does not freeze in the winter and the water line only has to go about 12 inches deep.

After 5 more loads for a total of 12 loads, over 310 tons on stone.



The kids are "helping" me work



"Sandra, where did you put those instructions?"



This is the road about 500 feet into our property where it starts to approach the pole barn. It will sit at the top slightly to the right. As you go past the trees on the left the road curves to the left and faces the cabin site. This is where the camper is sitting now. The picture of the camper was taken from the top where the road opens up in the first pic. So the road is to my left.





I moved the camper up to where the cabin will eventually be built. I had to clear the area to get some of the top dirt to build up the approach to the barn. Since I was going to clear and level the area for the cabin eventually, it made sense to do it now and move the dirt where I needed it while I had the dozier. It's easier to blend the grades if you do all of the site prep at the same time. Besides, I needed a place to park the camper and have room for trucks to turn around and drop material deliveries.

Challenges of Building on a Mountain

Have you ever had one of those weeks? Yeah, I had one this week. It seems like you just get rolling and then something goes wrong. Well maybe not necessarily wrong, but not exactly as planned. Remember the problems that I had with the backhoe? Well, I did have one problem with the dozier. The fuel filter continues to plug up and restrict fuel flow and this has a huge affect on the power. At times, it won't even move. Most of the time it has operated better than I expected. We also had 2 rain days this week. Wouldn't it be great is the dozier decided to give me trouble at these times? Nope, it seemed to only want to give me trouble when the weather was the best. This is my first time using a dozier, I was impressed. This thing is a powerhouse, every guy should own one of these! This thing plucks 6 inch trees out of the ground like they're weeds. Gas mileage not so good. It is too much fun, I found myself clearing trees more than pushing dirt. It's like bubble wrap, you do one and you can't stop, you just want to keep going. The big trees take a little more work, but no problem for this machine. I started with dozing the area where we will build the pole barn. The dirt is much easier to move that the red clay. I had to buy a laser, since I don't own a 100 foot level, and it is amazing how when your standing on a mountain with a little slope to it how deceiving level looks. I would have guessed that I needed to take one side down about 2 to 3 feet. Let's just say after shooting it with a laser, I have about a 10 percent grade. What that means is that for every ten feet of pole barn the ground drops a foot. I'm building a 70 foot long pole barn. That means that the ground is 7 feet higher on one end than the other. That's a lot of dirt to move, not to mention trying to tie the grade in with the road to it and the area where the cabin will eventually be.





Fortunately, the ground where the cabin will be is a lot less sloped. I needed to take out a few more trees than I wanted to in order to get the extra dirt I needed to fill and also I did not want the ground to look like I just cut out a flat spot on the mountain. I would prefer to have a more gradual transition between slopes. Actually I only had to take the high side down about 4 feet and push it to the low side. In theory, one side goes down and the other goes up. Final grade will be in the middle.




I almost forgot, I graded the rest of the 1/2 mile road! This took about 3 days. The problem is that it rained and like any new construction grading the road was mud. It was mushy but I didn't get stuck. I'm going to have to get some stone on it soon. You can see in the first pic where the old road went around those trees. This entire fence line was covered in trees and brush.

Moving Mountains

How do you move a mountain? One shovel full at a time, or in my case, with one of these!



This one is a little bit bigger than the Tonka I used to have when I was 6 years old and it can move a whole lot more dirt. This is the first time I ever rented a dozier and man is it cool. I think I had more fun on the dozier than I did on the backhoe. This thing definitely has more power and can go just about anywhere. Working dirt with a dozier takes a lot of patience. You still have to move a lot of dirt one pass at a time. The red clay was so hard I could only cut about 3 inches at a time. I worked on this front hill for about 12 hours.

Before...



After.



Sandra went back to Michigan on Monday. I miss her already. I have been working all day for 3 days now. Today I had 7 loads of stone delivered. I was spreading it with the dozier when the fuel filter stopped up. Needless to say I lost about 3 hours of work this evening. Danny, the mechanic, is coming in the morning to replace the filter and get me running again. If it wasn't this, it would be something else! I have the machine until next Monday and I still have another hill to grade and also level the ground where I'm going to build the pole barn. Of course, I'm watching the weather forecast as I write this and it looks like I'll be working in the rain.

Here's the first load.





The driver wanted to dump half his load in a low spot on the right and I swear I thought he was going to tip his truck over. This picture doesn't show how bad this truck was leaning. As he was tipping sideways, the only thought going through my mind was "Bob, if this truck tips over you have to get this on video". I reached into my backpack and the regular camera was the first thing I grabbed. So all I got was a still shot. Fortunately, it did not tip over.



I almost forgot this little genius maneuver. Before Sandra left and I had to return the backhoe, I decided to use it to move my trusses from the start of the drive to where I'm going to build. Over three quarters of a mile. It took me 8 hours! I moved 19 trusses, 3 at a time. It was very stressfull. The backhoe is very unstable when you have the arm extended with a lot of weight on the end. Every bump or stump hole felt like the machine was going to tip over. My wife could not stand the stess after the first trip she spent the next 7 hours in the camper, only coming out to bring me something to drink or take a pic of me.

Big Boy Toys!

I finally made it to the point where we were ready to break out the heavy equipment. There's something about climbing aboard one of these "cool toys for big boys" that just makes the testosterone start flowing. These machines make working a lot more fun. I really should have rented a track hoe but I had two other people tell me this is what they would use and it worked great, except that you have to set the outriggers and bucket whenever you want to dig out tree stumps. It did do the job just fine and I figured that I could use the bucket to push trees and stumps around where I needed them. The trick is to clear all the brush and stumps from the edge of the drive while maintaining a clear drive to get in and out with my truck. Once I finish clearing a few more trees where I'm going to build, I am going to rent a dozier to grade the drive and bring some gravel in to finish the job. Tomorrow morning I am meeting Samuel from the DOT to get a permit for my culvert. Of course, nothing ever goes perfect. I actually rented the machine last Wednesday and on Friday I lost a bolt that holds the shear pin on the boom and the forearm almost fell off. I managed to make the repairs on my own since these things always happen late on Friday and the rental place inevitably will be closed. No problem. One hour after starting to dig again a hydraulic line blew. Fluid sprayed everywhere. Well I pulled the line off and was able to get a new one made on Saturday morning. Amazing! I thought for sure I was done for the weekend. It's difficult to find specialty places like this open on the weekend, let alone be able to make me a new line in about 10 minutes. Sandra came down on Sunday and is here for a week while the kids stay with grandma. Next Sunday is our 12 year anniversary. I'm just happy to have her all to myself for a week.






Here's a pic of the busted line, it rubbed on the frame underneath.



Check out the size of this pine tree stump. It took me a half hour to dig it out.



This is a pic Sandra took of this bird that has been following me for 5 days of the backhoe. He figured out that if he hangs around and while I do the digging, he can reap the benefits of fresh food without all the work. He stays with me everywhere I go on this machine. He's like my little Woodstock.

Goin' Mobile!

I finally upgraded my cell phone this week to a Blackberry and I now have mobile Internet. This thing is so cool. I'm able to access the net now anytime, anywhere. I tried twice this week to blog at McD's and both times there was something wrong with their connection and I couldn't log on. It stinks when I purposely make time to go blog and I can't get access. Not anymore. I was separated from my wife and kids this year on Father's Day. That was difficult. I spent the following weekend with them instead. I already had plans for that weekend to return to Michigan for a graduation party. Sunday I took my wife and kids to Cedar Point. It was a blast! It was really cool now that they are older and will ride almost all of the rides with me. The biggest surprise was Becca, my youngest. She rode every coaster with me. She was so excited to spend the day with me. The look on her face when we were just about to go over the big drop was priceless. She would scream "Were gonna die!" as we rode and as soon as the ride ended she would say "Let's do it again!". It was great. I was just happy to have some time with them.



Work has been good. I'm staying busy and at the same time trying to continue to work on building. I cut down about a half acre of trees so far where I'm going to build a pole barn. I got a great deal on some used trusses from a chicken house that was being taken down. I spent a third of what it would have cost me. They delivered them 10 days ago. I'm going to build a 40 foot by 70 foot barn. I still have a lot of trees to clear and brush to chip. I'm renting a backhoe in 2 weeks to clear the road and pull all the stumps. My beautiful wife is coming down to lend me a hand. I'm sure this will be a great bonding experience. I'm really looking forward to it.
Click on the pictures to see a larger image.

40 foot wide scissor trusses.



Beautiful butterfly.



Trees down.



This is a pic of the "driveway"
that will someday soon lead to my cabin.



This is a picture of what we are going
to build with some minor changes.

Summer is Here!

Yes, summertime is here in Alabama. We have had numerous thunderstorms and the temps have been consistently between 85 and 95 degrees. We are supposed to be 97 degrees tomorrow. I love the heat. One of the things I disliked about Michigan was the cold. It's too cold for too long. The folks down here love their A/C. It's seems like everywhere I go it's freezing inside. Here at McD's I think they keep it at 65 degrees it here! It's been almost a month since my last post. I will have mobile Internet access in a couple weeks and I should be able to post more often. I have been really busy with work. It's been very exciting to see God continue to bless me with open doors. I have been working almost everyday and don't usually get back home until after dark. I try to make time for the gym and write new post when I can. There hasn't been much progress on the property because I have been working so much. I did get started on a culvert. I have a couple of jobs to finish and then I'm going to take a week and work on clearing the rest of the trees along the road. I am going to rent some equipment to do it and this should help make for quicker progress. I will be back in Michigan for the weekend of June 26-29 to see my family. You know, I have to admit I was nervous about making such a big change in life and having to deal with fetching water, using a generator for power, living in a camper, ect., but the hardest part by far has been not having my wife and kids with me. I can't wait until they come down to stay. I ordered trusses for a pole barn and hopefully in about a month I should have things ready for them.

Here are some pics from the last month. My cousins Mike and Chris came down to work for a week during their layoff (Ford).

Here are some pics of some cool or funny things I saw.






A couple of the roofs we did. We built this back porch covering and installed steel roofing on the entire house.




Finished this one yesterday.







Chris, Mike, Me, Randall, taken right after a breakfast buffet at Shoney's!