Framing

Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built. ~ James Allen

We started Framing! The floor joists and plywood floor is put on. For the children it was the first real sign of a house (there was a roof over them in the basement! :) They are like scavengers, searching for scrap wood to build their own house and pier. The walls started to go up and it was not long before the the second floor was finished and the roof trusses were put on.

Hannah, Daniel and Jonathan claim their rooms. Daniel and Jonathan will be in the rear of the house so they may watch the oyster boats and Hannah's room will be in the front overlooking the pastures and her horse. She will get a wonderful sunrise and the boys will see the sunset!

The final stages of framing. The trusses are complete, and the plywood is applied to the roof and the dormers are framed and enclosed. Soon the Tyvec will be wrapped on the exterior of the house and the windows will be installed. Framing took approximatley one month. We have been blessed with great weather and great workers!

Some Fun on the Farm

Delight in simple things... ~ Rudyard Kipling

The Burn Pile touches the Stars. Exploring Horse Shoe Island

The Rocks have arrived. We are stockpiling rocks for future shoreline work. It will take at least 9 months to get permits for our shoreline project. These rocks will be with us through the summer; I have no complaints! Scroll down the blog and read our plans for the shoreline.

Collecting dried grass to make comfortable beds in their stone caves. As you can see I do a lot of wash these days!

Awesome! Jones Dump Trucks! Tired Daddy!

The Worlds Greatest Lawn Ornament

How many of you have "Lawn Ornaments" in your front yard. I enjoy driving the rural and suburban roads laughing, rolling my eyes or drooling over these prized possessions. Lawn ornaments make a statement. It is a glimpse into the homeowners inner child or creative side. If you are one of those with a front yard void of lawn ornaments you probably should take a deeper look at yourself.

I am proud to say we had the best lawn ornament around. It arrived today and shortly thereafter it was gone. Have you guessed what it is? I can promise you will not guess unless you speak to one of our children. It will be the first thing that comes out of their mouth. They will talk about it and imitate it for hours...so if you ask them about it be prepared for an earful. I would be curious as to what you think it is. Please pass it on to me for some chuckles.

I was unpacking groceries and police, firetrucks and ambulances started to arrive at our dead end street. We have only been in our rental for one month now and things are very quiet in this two acre lot subdivision. The children were lined up at the window admiring the Hook and Ladder Truck and trying to figure out what they were doing. Two men walked up the road about 50 feet and stopped any traffic that may come through. We were puzzled for we really do not have traffic at the end of our street. There was no fire...all was quiet.

Then we heard it! It appeared from over the trees circling our house and hovering overhead. Daniel was screaming there it is. Its landing. Its landing. I ran out the back door to get a picture for the children expecting it to land in the road. It landed in our front yard!

I ran back into the house because I have never been so close to such a lawn ornament and thought it would blow me away. Inside I peered through the storm door. I could not believe my eyes. Have you guessed yet. It was not Santa's Sleigh nor was it a UFO. It was a meda-vac helicopter...and it landed 50 to 75 feet from our house smack dab in the middle of our front yard. The placement was perfect. I opened the front door to take a picture. The wind whirled like cyclones and the engine roared sending Jonathan to the kitchen crying.

Closing the storm door to block the wind and noise, we stood and watched for 5 minutes before they brought someone out on a stretcher. The chopper was loaded, elevated into the air and disappeared over our roof line never to be seen again. I sent prayers as the children watched with amazement. Mike was at the farm. I prayed he would not come home for I knew he would only think the worst with a medi-vac helicopter in our front yard. He was in disbelief at our story until he saw the pictures for himself. I have attached a few.

I asked the man in the ambulance if he was permitted to tell me what happened. He was vague and said a lady was injured and to ask the police. He was a polite fellow and said thank you for letting them use our front yard. "The police did ask if they could land there didn't they?" he asked. I looked at him a bit confused wondering why they would ask...it was an emergency and heck they could use our front yard any time they needed. I told him no they did not ask and he apologized. I chuckled telling him there was no need to apologize. The helicopter gave my three children a memory of a lifetime. He was pleased and said "Great."

Dollie

Dollie Pine Too

I have waited 17 years to have a horse again and at last I have found her... a beautiful 6 year old sorrel quarter horse mare. We will have Dollie in 6 to 8 weeks for she is being bred. I am going to keep her at the barn 2 miles down the street until our pasture and home are ready. We pass by the barn everyday when we drive to the farm so it will be easy to visit her. Hannah is speechless with excitement and I well...I just keep pinching myself to be certain it is all real.

Foundation Forms Installed and Concrete Walls Poured

The foundation walls are here! They are installed and now we are ready to pour the concrete walls.

We've got it going on today. We are pouring the concrete walls and bring in back fill to fill in around the foundation once the walls are complete. This was one of the high lights of the day... two dump trucks and a concrete truck sandwiched in between.

The concrete trucks and the concrete pump have arrived. The truck pours it into the pump and the pump elevates it up the boom and back down to be poured.

The forms are filled with concrete. The workers did a great job. We are so blessed with such hard worker!

The concret is dry and the forms are removed. The forms were removed the next day. Hannah and Danile climb on the stock pile. The dirt will be piled against the walls when the walls have set more.

The Footers are Poured

It was a cold day for pouring the footers. The temperature reached about 32 degrees and they got it in. It was covered with plastic to keep it warm at night so that it would cure properly. Daniel and Hannah are amazed at this whole process; what a home education.

The photo on the right shows the plastic and our burn pile from clearing!

Breaking Ground

January 30, 2007 we broke ground on "Our Farm". Grammy and Pop Pop were her to celebrate this great event! Dad and Pop Pop install permit sign. We are legally ready to begin :)

The road side of the property is lined with large forsythia. We had to tear out 3 of the large shrubs to gain access to the property. The County placed a drain pipe and gravel at the entrance which is in their right of way. The center line of the driveway is shown with stakes.

The topsoil was removed and stockpiled for later use. Filter fabric was laid and recycled concrete was dumped and spread over top to form the drive. After construction, asphalt or gravel will be placed over top and our drive will be finished.

While putting in the drive we hit a muddy spot. To prevent the stone from sinking, wire mesh was laid, then filter fabric over top, large recycled asphalt and then topped with 2" recycled concrete. Our drive was finished after about 4 days. The area of disturbance was cleared and the foundation dug out 12". This area will be filled with gravel and we will be ready for the pouring of the footings. ... if it ever warms up.

Clearing the limit of disturbance. In the distance is the burn-debris pile from the clearing. The fence row was so over grown with vines that much of the trees and understory were dead. Some of the vines are still hanging in the trees. I cut vines that were 4" to 5" thick off the trees. The trees are happy.

Brr it is cold on Eastern Bay. I feel like we live in Antarctica with the frozen ice chunks :)