For a three hour tour, a three hour tour

We are having a bit of a weather delay over this way, but thank you Mother Nature for bringing the rain!! We could do without the tornadoes but we very much appreciate the precip. The dust is now mud -- lots of mud. Prior to the weather, though, we were progressing quite nicely. Even Saturday was a working day for the land peppers...I mean preppers. Two wood chippers where brought up to the house sight, and seven guys fed those chippers until those chippers could eat no more. And the result...mulch and lots of it. Now my pitch to you: free untreated, completely natural mulch for the taking (located at the foot of our hill). We opted to have it dumped there so we could take care of it rather than have the chipper dudes haul it away for us; we're not paying for that!


Since we are having an indefinite rain delay, here is a drier, much more dusty photo tour from the middle of our driveway, up the hill, around the housesite, and back down to the bottom of the hill.

Middle of the driveway. Notice how the Civic made it halfway up. She's not yet brave enough to attempt the second half.

Noel trekking it up the driveway. At the top is the house site. We're pretty sure we're going to have buns of steel before this house is finished.

View of the house site from the top of our driveway. (To orient you, the front yard is to the left and the driveway is directly behind the pic.)

Our front yard. Dear bulldozer dude, I really appreciate you sparing our lovely dogwood trees. Much love, The Whites.

Silly backhoe dude, you should never leave your toys just lying around!

In a few months, the house will sit on the bald spot. Noel at this point would probably be standing in the screened-in porch.

Traveling back down the driveway from the house site.

The view from the middle of our driveway (at the edge of the woods).

Sure beats street lights and subdivisions!

A moment of silence for the trees that once towered over our house site. 

On another note, we are in the process of getting bids from three different geothermal companies, who use three different system brands, in three different towns. We are taking a very active role in this home building process. We get bids. We compare. This whole house thing consumes us right now. On our days off, we are at the site. Noel and I are definitely A-type personalities (myself much more than Noel...at this point my mom is vehemently agreeing with that statement), so we want to make sure we are getting the best product for the best price. Granted, there are plenty of people who pay a contractor to build their house and don't give it a second thought until the keys are handed to them. Not us, though. This is our forever home, and we are picky!

Eat my dust!

We have a lot of catching up to do...


First of all, we are on vacation or staycation, rather. Secondly, Tuesday was my birthday (Happy Birthday to me!). And last but not least, on Tuesday they started on our driveway!!! Can I get a 'WoooHooo?' 


Well, the driveway bears more of a resemblance to a powdery dust bowl, but it slinks nicely around the hill. Four-wheel drive is certainly a requirement to get up that thing at this point. Tires sink right into the dust, which seriously is the consistency of flour.

The middle of our driveway heading up the hill.

Dust bowl 2010!

Noel's kayaking kokapeli was black before driving up the driveway.

Since we have been on staycation all week, we have been able to watch the daily progress (or destruction...ha!). Overseeing this part of the process is helpful because we have been able to tell the dozer operator exactly which areas to clear. It's kind of therapeutic sitting on our 'pondering log' (a girthy remnant from the logging endeavor that is just perfect for our two butts) watching the dozer wrestle with the stumps. The dozer dude told us that we've got some pretty tough stumps. I smiled and said, 'Thank you.' One bulldozer is doing the work, operated by a 74-year old retiree, who has worked in the dozing business all his life. We have experience on our side! He's a nice old man, but he's been getting his lunch everyday at one of the diners in Lynchburg on the square. The food's so terrible, he may just peel over if he doesn't change dining venues.


So far the driveway has been cut and the building site semi-cleared. At the building site, the dozer dude has uprooted numerous, massive stumps and pushed over quite a few trees. The dozer got a bit of help from a backhoe today. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...oops...I mean like a building site. The problem that literally sits in front of us now is what we are going to do with the arbor carnage. The land is so incredibly dry so getting a burn permit is out of the question. (We don't need a Tennessee rendition of some California wildfires.) Two options: wait until it rains enough to completely saturate the land and get a burn permit OR use a giant wood chipper to mulch the trees and haul off the stumps. Since Mother Nature is ignoring our rain dances, we're opting for the second option. 

Before (October 19, 2010)

After (October 21, 2010)

Noel comparing his stump to these.

We met with Indy today for about an hour to chit-chat about the task at hand. He keeps reassuring me that my Civic will be able to get up this driveway with no problem once we have gravel. I'm holding him to it! According to Indy, the next step is to clear the debris, dig the trenches and the footers, get a water tap (please cross your fingers that we don't need a pump), and get the electrical company out there to get some temporary power up in that joint. The same dozer and backhoe (who you callin' a ho?!) dudes dig the footers. Indy digs the trenches for the electricity and water. Well, well we may have footers in a couple of weeks!!

Parting shot: Molly (neighbor doggie extraordinaire) with a light dusting of...well..dust

Noel, please stop playing with your wood

Folks we are on our way to a new homestead!


We closed on our construction loan. Our bank even had a small gift waiting on us at closing. They started a construction photo album for us and gave us a Lowe's gift card! I would have preferred a no interest loan but, hey, we appreciate the album and gift card. 


We spent the rest of the afternoon chopping firewood with Noel's new toy. Yep, he got himself a chainsaw! You see Wednesday night Noel got off at ten. He gets home and before even saying 'hello' walks up to me and asks, 'Do I look like a city boy?' 


'Yes, honey, you kinda do.'
Staring at me.
'You're too clean cut.'


Apparently, the salesperson at the tool store showed Noel how to crank a chainsaw. He was insulted and now, I suppose, feels that he needs to bear more of a resemblance to Paul Bunyon as opposed to Anderson Cooper. Personally, I much prefer Anderson...but that's for an entirely different blog. Long story short, now we have a pile of firewood -- if only we had a fireplace.

All of the sudden I have a hankerin' for some hot chocolate and a good book.

Show that log whose boss!

Seriously, Noel, clean your poor car.

We also replaced the old electric fence solar charger with a brand spankin' new one. After installing the previous charger, Noel used an electric fence testing device to read the amount of voltage flowing through the fence. The charger did not pick up a voltage reading. Not wanting cows to come through the fence, Noel decided to get a new charger. Well, baby, this thing must have some serious zap because it reads up to 3,000 volts now!


We finally met with Indy in the early evening at our property to discuss where the driveway should be cut, where the house will sit, land prep (aka bulldozer fun), and water and electric lines. Guess what?! We are getting a driveway on Monday!!


We also made the first purchase for our home on Friday. Geez, we don't waste any time, do we?! Oddly enough, it was the bamboo flooring...1,400 sq.ft. of it. We have had our eye on this stuff for quite a while and had already picked exactly what we wanted. After obtaining bids from three different places, we decided SimpleFloors in Georgia had the best product and price hands down. It was on sale (50% off) with discounted shipping and the sale, of course, would end Friday at midnight. Now, where to put all of this flooring?


*On a side note, all of this excitement in one day lead to the first semi-sleepless night. Every time I shut my eyes all I saw was firewood and countertops. Ha!

A 'Jolley' good time

GSD. Have I ever introduced you to an abbreviation coined by my roommates and I in college? GSD, a series of letters we liked to use when we had one of those days, those weekends, those weeks, when we got A LOT of stuff done. You know, 'Get Shit Done.' Last week was a GSD week. Allow me to elaborate (and mind you it all happened on Thursday). The bank appraisal for the future house and land came back...lower than we expected but it came back nevertheless. Not understanding what that really meant to us we had to phone a friend -- Lou, of course. Noel met with Indy and signed a contract. Can I get a 'Hoooray?!' AND, Jolley Brothers logging company called...

Not only did they call, but Noel and I met with the Jolley son on Saturday. Interesting character, really, but a nice fellow. And to begin a second GSD week, Monday started off with the roar of a chainsaw and a bulldozer in the air. Of course, we weren't there to hear it because of those things we have called jobs. However, my parents were there to capture it all in photos. After work, Noel trekked down there to inspect the new landscape. The logging was done by only two guys in roughly six hours: Jolley son and Jolley son's friend/co-worker. Grand total: 27 logs and lots of tree tops laying in our house locale. Anyone need some free firewood?! You have until Monday to have at it! Noel is now itching for a chainsaw.

Meet Jolley son...or Jolleymon if you will.

Timber!

Hauling timber down the driveway.

Jolleymon tired...

I'm sure by this point my dad has some serious machine envy.

The carnage.

**The pics are small because enlarging them created some major blurrage issues.

Since Thursday was such a GSD day, Noel and I had to divide and conquer. Noel handled Indy, and I got Lou.

On Friday, Noel headed to Tullahoma to meet with Indy and sign a contract. Noel discussed only a couple of issues with him at that time. One main concern was cutting the driveway. You see the city water line runs into the hill, and we have to be careful where we cut the driveway as to not cut into the city water line. That would be a soppy, expensive mess. Indy's response to each concern was, "Not a problem." It's not a problem, just not a problem. So, hey, our new motto is 'Not a problem.' 

Also on Friday, I spoke with Lou about the meaning of the appraisal since it came back lower than expected. First of all, the reason it came back lower than expected is because of the pitiful real estate market. Remember, this appraisal included the land with the future house on it. Basically, an appraisal yields a dollar amount that the bank can loan you (and they cannot loan  above that amount). Because, the appraisal came back lower than expected, a little bit more money has to come out of our pocket. Appraisals really make you hold your breath, whether you're buying or selling, and we have now been on both ends. 

Tomorrow we are closing on our construction loan. This is the first closing of two. The second closing will occur after construction when we transfer the construction loan to a mortgage. Yes, that means two closing costs but luckily the first one is the biggie. We also hope to meet with Indy tomorrow and get this ball rolling!