December Madness

MOVE TO THE NEW HOUSE 

We have moved twice in the last couple of weeks; once to the new house and now to the condo for our winter sojourn.  It has been hectic as Mrs. T relates below.  Before that story, we would like to give a few thanks to some of you who sent us news with your holiday greetings.

Thanks to SSD with pictures of the girls – they are certainly growing up nicely.

To JB & PB – you have certainly collected frequent flyer miles this year.

And to W-Jl and LL – thanks for the letter from J; we hope she keeps writing.  We really liked the pictures.

 

Rebecca gives an overview of the move:

Well it is happened.  We are finally in our new house.  But it was not easy!!  Less than a week before Christmas we finally got moving.  The house was mostly done.  The cistern was still unconnected to the downspouts but we did have water.  The first time the moving truck went down and we unpacked all the boxes (About 160) but who is counting.  Dan sent me ahead of the truck down the logging road in my fourteen year old Ford Taurus.  I jounced along and the moving truck jounced after me.  The truck driver was not pleased.  Dan drove down the driveway in his Kia.  Exactly what the reason I was the one who went down the logging road was I don't exactly remember – something like – "You have more experience, Dear." 

After unloading the truck the driver was disinclined to go back up the logging road so it was decided that I would drive up the driveway in front of the truck to show him how to do it.  When I say it was decided, I hope no one has the mistaken impression that I had much input.  Well I drove slowly along our pathetic excuse for a driveway weaving around the more prominent pot holes until I got to the steep hill at the end.  There I floored it and flew up the hill spraying gravel, sticks and heaven knows what until I soared over the top of the hill and rolled to a stop.  The moving truck rambled behind me lurching from side to side trying to avoid the potholes I ducked until it got to the bottom of the hill.  There the driver shifted into fourth gear and the truck started crawling up the hill.  The truck was about a third of the way up the hill when it could go no further.  (No Guts, No Glory!) 

The truck reversed and rolled slowly back to the bottom of the hill.  This time the driver revved his engine and surged forward and he made it up the first half of the hill before gravity won again.  The driver tried once more, and this time I actually thought he was going to make it.  Alas, when it was two thirds of the way up the hill the truck hit a slippery spot and began to slide inexorably back down.

The driver got out of the truck and started slowly climbing the hill towards me giving me a very dirty look.  We got the log skidder to pull the truck out andhe drove away without speaking to us.  What to do?  Was the moving company going to fink out on us?  How would we get our furniture to the house? 

After some discussion it was decided that the truck would move our furniture a couple of days later as long as the log skidder was there to pull them out.   I would drive ahead to make sure they knew the way. And to show the moving guys where to put the furniture.  My input in this decision was the same amount as usual. 

 

We went down the logging road with no more problems than usual.  The moving guys unloaded and arranged the furniture quickly and efficiently.  The truck driver decided to go back up the logging road to get out.  And of course he got stuck.  I drove up the driveway to find the log skidder.  I found a logging truck but he refused to help.  At least he did not mean to help.  What he did was walk back down the logging road and ask the moving truck driver what the heck he thought he was doing.  The moving truck driver was so embarrassed that he backed down the logging road and drove right up the driveway on the first try. (!) 

I stood looking in despair at about 115 boxes and thirty plastic tubs.  (About forty-five boxes and twenty tubs went directly to the storage shed.)  In all fairness I must state that Dan instructed me specifically not to overdo it trying to unpack, He had to stay in Columbus until after a friend came the next day to get some of our old appliances. 

"Just take it easy," Dan said, "We can unpack after we get back from the condo." 

Well that idea certainly had little appeal to me!  So I paid as much attention to him as I often do (none whatsoever). 

For sixteen hours straight I manically unpacked boxes.  The kitchen was almost completely done, the bath mostly done.  After five hours of exhausted sleep I got up and started again.  I had a good start on my office.   When I decided I could not face another box I drove down to Wal-Mart and bought an artificial Christmas tree that already had lights and returned to try to put it together.  I was sitting on the floor struggling with it when Dan drove up. 

"I told you not to do too much," Dan said. 

GRRRR!! 

Dan immediately began reorganizing the kitchen where I had just unpacked it.  The disgusting thing is he improved it quite a bit.  Of course when you are unpacking it is hard to develop an overall plan.  And not all of the items of one sort were in the same box.  It seems as if we will have more storage space in the new house than we had in our old kitchen. 

A few new pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157603583867086/

(Most of our best art work will not be delivered to the new house until we return in April.  Even though they have crated it and padded it, the movers are reluctant to take it over the road in its current condition. - dt) 

The next day we bought some new waste baskets and a paper towel holder and Christmas was upon us.  On December 27 we flew to our condo in sunny Mexico where we can rest up.  As Tiny Tim said on Christmas day so long ago, "God bless us, every one!"

 

And Happy New Year to all.  May 2008 bring you good fortune.

 

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/index.html

 

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MOVING MONDAY

FINAL (?) DELAYS

 

We are schedule to move Monday.  And we need to move this next week because we will be on the plane to the condo on 27 December.  We expect everything will go fairly well, but we will be unpacking in the spring.  We could have been in a couple of weeks ago except for a couple of unnecessary delays and unfortunate weather.  Mrs. T explains:

 

I remember talking to Mama about building a house on the land after we retired.  "Someday," she said with a smile.  This has been more my dream than Dan's.  He is a city person, he is a people person.  I think Dan has no need to be where there are only trees and flowers and rocks.  But he has kindly come along.  I am like a horse who when it sees the barn wants to gallop.  After all these years it is finally going to happen.

 

We had ordered new appliances when they were on sale in September.  The salesman assured us that the store would be happy to keep our appliances until we needed them in November.  And we would be able to take advantage of a rebate as well.  This seemed like a good deal - until we called for them and the appliances could not be located.  A couple of days and several irate phone calls later the appliances had been located and delivery was scheduled on one of the nicest dry days in November.  No delivery.  We never heard why and so we reschedule for a couple of days later.

 

The delivery guy called to say he was delivering our appliances that day.  "Let me tell you how to get there," I said.

 

"I know, I have GPS," said the delivery person and hung up.

 

About an hour and a half later the delivery guy called and said "I can't find your house."  Dan gave him directions.  About ten minutes later the delivery guy called to say he was stuck and to ask me what to do.  I called the neighbor who does lumber to get his big tractor thing to pull him out.  The neighbor agreed that the delivery truck could use a different road through his property to get to our house.  The delivery guy refused because he was afraid he would get stuck again.

 

The delivery office called and we rescheduled delivery for Monday.  It rained hard on Sunday and I called and cancelled the Monday delivery so that the truck would not get stuck.  On Thursday a delivery guy called to say he was bringing our appliances.  "Let me tell you how to get there," I said.

 

"I know, I have GPS," Said the delivery person and hung up.

 

About an hour and a half later the delivery guy called and said "I can't find your house."  Dan gave him directions.  This time Dan gave him directions to the second road.   A truck for the plumber had already gone down it and I knew it was OK.  At this point I called the builder who was at the house telling him a delivery truck was on its way and could he look out for it.  About ten minutes later the delivery guy called to say he would not go down that road because he would get stuck.  I told him he would not get stuck that another truck had already used the road.  Then the delivery guy told me there was not room for his truck to turn around.  (Of course it was impossible to see from the top because of a bend in the road.)  I assured him that there was room for him to turn.  Finally the delivery guy told me he would get his truck muddy.  "Yes," I said, "you probably will; are you telling me you refuse to deliver our appliances because your might get your truck muddy!"  While I was having this conversation Dan was yelling at me "You tell him he had better bring our stuff and I don't care if he does get stuck!!  Let me talk to him!!"  I refused to relinquish the phone to my angry husband.  The delivery guy changed his story and said no he would not deliver the appliances because he might get stuck. The delivery guy hung up.  At this time unknown to me the builder drove up in his truck.  He tried to convince the delivery guy that he would not get stuck.  Then the builder asked the delivery guy to give the appliances to him so the builder could take them down to our house in his truck and install them.  He would sign for them.  (The builder was the person who was scheduled to sign for them anyway.)  The delivery guy refused to give the builder the appliances even though he offered to sign for them because the builder's truck had no way to secure the appliances.

 

After a very frank and earnest phone call to the delivery supervisor we agreed that the appliances would be delivered the next day and that the driver would release them to the builder to take down the road.  The next day a delivery guy called to say he was bringing our appliances.  "Let me tell you how to get there," I said.

 

"I know, I have GPS," Said the delivery person and hung up.

 

About an hour and a half later the delivery guy called and said "I can't find your house."  Dan gave him directions.

 

Meanwhile I was packing dementedly to be ready when the house was.  "Take it easy," Dan said.  Well of course the house was not ready on time.  Don't you hate it when they are right!  More delays.  "You are going to make yourself sick," 

Dan said and dragged me away to various functions which only made me more frantic.  A few days later a migraine did slow me up for two days.  I resumed packing at a slightly slower rate. 

 

Dan had begun to evince some interest but it mostly expressed itself in the form of giving me advice.  He began to pack and sort in an orderly kind of way.  After a few days Dan developed chest pain. It was not, he stated firmly, his heart.  The pain got progressively worse and I got progressively more frantic.  After a day and a half he agreed to see a doctor but by then it was the weekend so I took him to the emergency room.  It was not, they said a heart attack.  By then Dan was feeling better and wanted to go home but the doctor and I bullied him into staying.  Dan was flirting with the Dr.s and nurses and I was freaking out.  (My father died of heart related problems so this was especially scary to me.)  My dear children came and comforted me and I began to feel better.  After several tests they admitted it was not his heart and sent him home.  Two days later he took stress test again with no appreciable results.  The results of all this is Dan should take a baby aspirin once a day. He waltzed around saying proudly "I told you it was not my heart!"  How I will ever get him to the doctor after this I do not know, the man has no sense.

 

I was rung out but began to pack again.  Dan began also but was milking it, stopping after half an hour saying listlessly he was tired.  I did not force the issue, still being very concerned.  I suppose it was at about this point that the movers (who had been picked for their experience with fragile items) broke one of our glass pieces.  It was an accident caused by one of our wobbly steps which I had warned them about.  The moving guy was most distraught when he called me on the phone, Dan recovered amazingly and was cussing vigorously and I was trying to calm everyone down, in the middle as usual.  Fortunately this was a flameworked piece so it might be fixable but I have so far been unable to get a hold of the artist to see if he will try.

 

We thought we had the move scheduled when it turns out that the carpet guys neglected to tell anyone that one of our carpet choices had been backordered with no real guarantee as to when it might come.  We went down and picked out a different color which would be delivered two days later.  They promised!  After some discussion we decided to go ahead with the move and not put anything in the room that was affected. (my office). 

 

Unfortunately, the guy who was going to fix the road, which was expected to be done by now had not gotten around to it. I had no trouble driving down to our new house but when we tried to leave I got stuck in the mud.  Sigh!!  We decided to put off the move once again because getting the moving truck stuck in the mud would probably be a bad idea.  The road guy has promised the road will be ready by Monday.  Yeah Right!!  At this point Dan is seriously packing and I am mostly just sitting around.  I have given up.  I just don't care.

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

There are some new pictures at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/

 

We may be offline or online intermittently while we move until our IT guru gets our telecommunications up and running.  The next time you hear from us very likely will be from our sunny condo.

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Nearing Completion

The End is in Sight

 

I almost believe it's really going to happen!!  After some ten years of delays of one sort and another, our house is nearing completion.  It's not perfect but it's very, very good.  Our house will not be heated by wood, but we do have a wood fireplace with a blower.  In fact the heat with gas from a well on the property, saving us a lot in utility bills we hope.

 

To get to our house you go down a long winding gravel road through a woods.  And then you see it.  There is a small clearing with a cream colored ranch style house.  Not large, but plenty of room for the two of us, surrounded by trees, with a rock wall behind it.  There will be a waterfall over the rock wall, but that is a project for next year.

 

There is a lot of blue in our house.  I like blue, and Dan acquiesced.  I brought up the possibility of purple but evidently that was pushing it.  The guys have done a super job on our house.  We love the round swirly pattern the plaster guys made under the ceiling fan in the master bedroom.  (I think the one plaster guy likes our house so much he is hoping to move in!)  It is harder for me to imagine what things will look like, I think because Dan has a better spatial sense – all of that chess playing, I suppose.  I was especially pleased with the way some of the bathroom lights looked that he wanted.

 

Our builder made the cabinets.  They are made of oak but stained a light walnut.  Quite lovely I think. We have wood laminate on a lot of our floor, but I wanted carpet in our bedrooms.   We got a little storage shed to store the excess left over from us moving to a smaller house.  (We hope it is large enough.)

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157603208076042/

 

I have been transplanting flowers here and there that I want to take from our old house.  Dan and I have been packing boxes, talking to movers, getting a new address at the post office.  By the end of the month we hope to be moving or moved.

 

I have spent the last few days wrapping bubble wrap around 97, 384 picture frames with the stickiest tape in the world.  This tape sticks to my fingers, the table, the scissors and itself (making globs that are impossible to straighten out) in fact anything but the bubble wrap.  I asked my husband if he wanted to do some and he said, "You are doing such a marvelous job, I would not want to interfere."  You might think that one of us is a big dummy (and it is not my husband).  But I told him I was afraid to wrap our glass collection because my fingers were so shaky I was afraid I would drop something.  (Alas, this is very true!)  Let's see him do that marvelous job!

 

Next I think the kitchen will be boxed.  But I am going to try to leave out the things I need to make bread for Thanksgiving.  We are excited!

 

 

Rebecca and Dan

 

http://www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

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Walls are up

TWO-THIRDS

 

The house is about two-thirds completed, at least according to how much of the construction loan the bank has paid out to the contractor.  And that seems like a fairly good eyeball estimate to us.  Most of the work now is in the interior, a bit less dramatic than seeing the frame go up.  According to our builder/contractor, things are still on schedule for a Thanksgiving finish date. 

 

We think we have the flooring under control.  And we have picked out ceiling fans, sink fixtures, kitchen countertop material, and made the Maytag man very happy with our appliance selections.   As you can see in the photos, the walls and ceilings are nearing completion.  We had a bit of discussion about what wall material to use in the patio given the hot tub's humidity, but we think that has been resolved.  (The patio is heated and cooled like the rest of the house so we can use it year round.)   The drywall guys will do the ceiling plaster and then the contractor/builder's crew will do the painting.  The fireplace has arrived and that will also be going in shortly.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157602691793580/

 

On the exterior most of the work left involves the infrastructure parts.  The photos show some of the work on the leach bed; the cistern should be installed soon as well on the opposite side of the house.  The gas line and the electric lines still need to be laid to the house.  We have gutters and garage doors now.  Unfortunately Mrs. T still has a bit of a wait for her topsoil.

 

The main hindrance right now is the weather, but probably not in a way you imagine.  If it rains too much – like the deluge we had on Tuesday – the construction people generally postpone work because they know they will probably be stuck in the mud and will need a tow to get out as has happened a couple of times.

 

We draw your attention to the photo of tree roots.  As has been related, the property was strip mined for coal.  That does not mean every ounce of coal was removed, only the portion that was economical to extract at the time.  We find outcroppings here and there and probably could even heat the house with coal we could find on our land.  There theoretically could even be a rich seam underground somewhere.  It is interesting how this tree managed to grow around a deposit.

 

Some of you have paid a visit and we invite all of you to come if you like.  Just let us know so we can schedule a trip; you might get lost trying to find it on your own.

 

Hope all is well.  Keep in touch.

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

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PROGRESS

Why in the world …Oh!!!

 

We were talking to our builder, Nick, yesterday and he said something interesting.  He said the first time any of the subcontractors work on our house their first reaction is "Why in the world would anyone build a house down here?" (The road to our house is narrow, steep, gravel, and muddy, with puddles when it rains.)  But when they get to where the house is their reaction changes to "Oh, it is really very _____ down here!"  Fill in the blank with pretty, nice, beautiful, peaceful, lovely etc.

 

I have had the second part of the conversation with virtually all the guys who have been working on the house as I have been checking progress in the last few weeks.  In fact, one variation I had with Boomer who drives the bull dozer.

 

"You know it is really very nice down here," Boomer said.

 

"I know, I am just going to sit in the hot tub and look at my waterfall," I replied enthusiastically, "what could be better than that?"  They had just delivered the hot tub which will go on our enclosed patio and I certainly do love hot tubs.

 

"Well," replied Boomer thoughtfully, "I can think of one thing." (!!)

 

I did not pursue the conversation further.

 

Dan went down with me and is really getting into the spirit of the thing.  We spent a lot of time discussing what furniture we would take and what we could discard.  We considered which pictures and pieces of our glass collection would fit in, and what we should do with everything else.  (We are losing about 500 sq. ft. ~ 47 sq. m. and lots of walls.  dt)  Unfortunately, Dan felt he could fit a lot of the items I thought we could discard into his office. He plans to put 1 large desk, 2 typing tables, one TV on a stand, 2 or 3 bookcases, one recliner, one  cabinet with glass doors, and of course a desk chair and a computer in a small bedroom.  (It has a nice closet.  dt)   I was put in mind of Dr. Who's expanding telephone booth.  (The TARDIS – dt)  Time will tell how it will all work out.

 

Yesterday we went to pick out the different flooring.  The girl who "helped" us would not tell us or did not know the prices on anything, so we went around picking out what we liked.  Unfortunately, we have very good taste!!  I (or we) will have to go back again now and try to figure out what we can actually afford.  Sigh!!  There are an incredible amount of different tiles, carpets, and wood flooring options.  Nick, the builder, promised either he would go with us or would find a better sales person for us.

 

The wiring is about done and the plumbing lines are laid.  The outside doors are in and the garage floor is poured.  As soon as they put up the dry wall in the next couple of weeks it will really look like a house on the inside.  Boomer will come back next week to work on the cistern and the leach bed.  He will also spread the topsoil  (many tons)  so I can start planting things!   YIPPEE!!

 

 

We have added just a few pictures; the inclement weather kept us inside.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157601749258506/

 

dan and rebecca

 

 

http://www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

 

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Way Out West

A WEDDING in IDAHO

 

The new house is coming along very nicely.  More about that below.

 

We recently returned from Idaho where we attended the wedding of Rita's (one of Rebecca's sisters) daughter Kate.  We can report that there are still cowboys – and cowgirls – out west.  Rita lives in Boise, Kate in Mountain Home.  The wedding was in the meadow near Kate's place and the reception (no pictures here) was in Bruneau, a speck of a town further south of Mountain Home.  We had a wonderful time and greatly appreciate the friendly hospitality.  Jeremy and Kate make a wonderful couple and we wish them a long, fruitful life together.

 

Here are some random pictures surrounding the event:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157602053565632/

 

We also had a nice time visiting Boise.  The annual Art Festival took place while we were there and we also visited the World Center for Birds of Prey  ( http://www.peregrinefund.org/default.asp ) among other sights.  Just a few miscellaneous pictures:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157602063643691/

 

And if you are a bit interested in cowboy culture and cattle, here are some sites about Jeremy and Kate:

 

http://www.american-journal.org/issue8/featurepage8.html

 

http://www.brokencirclecattle.com/index.php

 

 

Mrs. T provides excellent commentary on our construction:

 

Well building this house is a lot more involved than I ever imagined. I guess it would be easier if we were not so picky. The latest thing is the shower. We never take baths so I decided that I wanted a nice big shower like we have in Mexico. The thing is in Mexico Tile is cheap and so is labor. Also in Mexico Estella comes in twice a week to clean. (I hate cleaning between the tiles when it gets moldy!!) While doing research I found a thing called a shower cabin which would wash you at all different levels, dry you, and massage you while you watched TV or listened to you favorite music. I was really disappointed that it didn't brush your teeth and gargle for you but there you are. Forgoing this marvel which cost half as much as our whole house we are going with an, off the shelf (if it is a very tall shelf) acrylic one piece shower the size of a bath tub. It has a little seat which will be convenient when we get a little older and more decrepit, or I may use it now on those days when I find a shower just too exhausting.

The next thing is trying to reach accord on the colors to paint all the rooms. I asked my husband what color he wanted his office and he finally said puce. I asked him what color that was and he refused to answer (I don't think he actually knows but I am not absolutely certain). I looked it up and it is a deep reddish purple! While looking up puce I noticed that the definition of puddle duck is dabbler something I always wanted to know. Aren't dictionaries wonderful!

For our bedroom I thought purple might be nice but Dan wasn't buying it even when I told him purple was a passionate color. I mentioned aqua but that ship didn't float either. He said we better stick with blue and I suppose he is right. One complicating factor is that while I am picking out colors I am trying to keep in mind window treatments.

Yes I said window treatments, how high falutin' is that. But for the first time in our married life we do not need curtains for privacy. There is no other house within sight of ours. In our bedroom we will probably want blinds so that we can darken the room but other than that I think I will just drape fabric across the top of the windows and let it hang down the sides. I bought some really lovely kimono fabric that I think I will use in our bedroom.

The next question is what color to paint my office but I am still undecided. I think a trip to Andersons to look in their wallpaper books is in order.

On Sunday a friend of our son is coming to stand on top of our house and see where we should put the satellite dish. As I understand it he has a thingy he points at the sky to see where the signal is best. We have never had either cable or a satellite before (Actually we have cable at the condo – dt)so I hope Dan is not overwhelmed by all the possibilities.

 

We have added a few more photos in New House 3:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157601749258506/

 

We hope you look at the links, they have some interesting material.  Our Flickr pictures may be edited in the future.

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

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UNDER ROOF

MOVING ALONG

 

Just a quick update as the house construction completes the next phase. (In fact, the bank inspector is about to go for a visit so the contractor/builder can receive his next draw on the loan.).  As you read this the roof may be on.  The exterior framing is done; the roof joists have arrived, and are being manhandled into place – no crane here.  They built the walls one by one on site and then nailed an entire wall into place.  You can see from the pictures, that the frame structure for the interior is also substantially completed.  The hot tub was delivered and sits on the future patio (which will be essentially a year-round room); it was much easier to build around the hot tub rather than trying to squeeze it through a hole.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157601749258506/

 

Fortunately the weather has been cooperative.  Except for one day, it has rained very little at the construction site even though other parts of Ohio were being inundated with torrential rains causing significant flooding.  The temperatures have subsided a bit and it has been generally comfortable.  However, the mosquitoes and other bugs have been prominent. 

 

We have been told that the place should be ready no later than Thanksgiving.  We hope that will be enough time to move before departure to our condo.  Ah, so much to pack.

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

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HOUSE UPDATE

REAL BUILDING BEGINS

 

Actual construction on the new house has commenced.  More about that below.  First a bit of a digression for a weather report.

 

It has been HOT.  A heat wave of two weeks with temperatures in the 90s (mid 30s C).  And this is not 'dry' heat, the humidity puts the heat index several degrees higher.  Record temperatures have been set in some cities. Our friends in Manitoba may have sent their heat wave our direction.  We are even hotter than Bucerias.  Our friends in Taiwan would feel right at home.  And of course weather affects construction.

 

In our last installment the rain delayed work.  Since then, rain has been almost unknown and the weather, despite the heat, has cooperated.  More land has been cleared.  More importantly, the footers have been poured.  Probably as you read this the block is up.  Because we will not have a basement, construction will be a bit easier.  We did not want a basement – one of the purposes of our one-floor ranch design is to eliminate stairs.  In any case, a basement may have required blasting as the land is essentially bedrock.

 

The new pictures really should provide you a good idea of the area.  We mentioned the highwall behind the house previously.  We will have an enclosed patio, with hot tub, that will look that direction.  In the future Mrs. T hopes to have a soothing water fall coming over that wall.  In the pictures you will note a peak over another highwall as well.  Our house will be situated on a flat space between the two, much like being on a middle step.

 

We anticipate the frame will be up in the next couple of weeks and then building can proceed in earnest.  Because our builder/contractor does not have any other significant projects, we hope construction can continue without interruption, although probably not at warp speed.  Keep your fingers crossed.

 

Check out the pictures from time to time; we sometimes add more before email updates.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157601277094372/

 

Best wishes to all.  Let us know how you are doing.

 

 

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

 

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SOME HISTORY

 

INITIAL WORK IS UNDERWAY

 

Some tree clearing has begun for our house project.  The biggest bit is for the leachbed.  Unfortunately work has been delayed slightly because we received some much needed rain.  Looks like another dry spell is coming, so work should resume this week – some more clearing and digging, including the removal of some major sized boulders.  A few additional pictures are on Flickr at the New House1 set.

 

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157600418511906/

 

(Note on Flickr:  You may have already discovered that if you move your mouse over the pictures in a slideshow an "I" appears like a watermark.  If you click on the I, the description of the pictures will show.)

 

The picture of the giant mantis is from Inniswoods Gardens in Westerville.  Those of you in the area should visit there.  http://www.metroparks.net/  Perhaps we will install some large sculptures in the future.

 

And now a bit of history.  Rebecca has written this short account about our land.

 

 

My grandfather was John William Sellers.  He came from England when he was a boy.  But already he had been a miner. In the mine they started as pit boys when boys were only seven.  The lads were small enough to crawl through low tunnels where men could not, and drag out coal.  Of course John Willie's father was a miner, and his uncles.  There was no hope for them in the dark mines of England.  The tunnels flooded, the tunnels collapsed.  And men died, for very little pay.  The Sellers family was among the organizers.  They tried to start a union in the mines.  But someone gave the owners names.  The family was blacklisted and there was no work at all if your name was Sellers.   How they found the price of passage I do not know.  The men came first and when they had saved sent back for the wives and children.  They came to a land of hope for a better life, America.

 

But here again they did what they knew how.  They worked in mines.  The mines of Southern Ohio were not much better than the mines of England.  But the country was different.  Here it was possible if you saved to buy your own land.  John Willie did.  In Brush Creek Township in Muskingum County, Ohio, he bought land.  There was a little good land that was river bottoms by the Muskingum River.  On the edge of Brush Creek there was about ten acres of flat land good enough for farming, the rest about a hundred acres was hilly rocky land.  You could pasture cattle on it and they did.

 

John Willie married Fanny Peach who also came from England.  They had three children and the farm could not support them.  Still John Willie worked the mines.  In bad times after strikes or when mines closed there was no work.  The good river land was sold.  And later he sold to a coal company the coal that lay under the hill land.

 

The coal was near the surface.  This was not deep mining.  They dug and blasted until they got down to the seam.  They carried the coal away until the seam played out. And then they left.  No reclamation in those days.

 

The hills were barren piles of discarded stone.  Strip sinks were pools of acid water leached from the remains.  The steams bled red from iron in rock dug up and pushed aside.  Time passed.

 

My grandfather died and my grandmother died.  My father owned the land.  He sold the land on Brush Creek and the house but kept the hill land.  No one wanted that.  Slowly the land recovered.  The plants came first sown by the wind from nearby fields and forests.  Animals followed them.  The water year by year washed away the minerals.  The streams do not run red any longer.

 

There are still scars on the land.  Walls of stone (highwalls) cross the hills where the coal seams ended and the strip mines stopped.  But the years and the growth of the forests have renewed the land.  My father had timber cut on the land once.  Not a clearcut but a careful selective harvest.  Then when my mother was quite old they came to her to ask to cut it again.  This was not a careful harvest.  They raped the land a forester told me.  They took more than they should and left invasives free to grow.  After we bought the land someone came in and cut the trees again without our knowledge.  Stealing timber is like rustling cattle, hard to prove unless you are caught in the act.

 

So now we own this land.  We have cleared a little space to build a house.  The timber man who lives next door is clearing out the forests.  He cuts down the invasive Tree of Heaven (good only for pulpwood) to allow the oaks and maples room to grow.  The timber paths he leaves we will spread with wood chips (plenty of them around, God knows).  I have found lots of wild flowers: spring beauty, corydalis, wild geraniums, violets blue and white, bluets, wintergreen, club moss, and mayapples.  The sawyer showed me one ginseng plant.  I hope to plant more native plants.  In time I want a waterfall over the highwall that will be behind our house.  Here we will live and tend the forest, as best we know how.

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

dan and rebecca

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BIG PROJECT

LET THE CONSTRUCTION BEGIN

 

Some of you may have thought that we disappeared since we returned from our Mexican condo.  Quite to the contrary, we have been involved in a major project that has consumed much of our time, particularly Mrs. T's.

 

As many of you know, Mrs. T and I have owned about 160 acres (about 65 hectares) just south of Zanesville, Ohio, for several years.  The property had been in Rebecca's family for about 100 years.  It had been strip mined for coal many, many years ago and Mother Nature has since reclaimed it – this was well before reclamation laws were on the books.  We have been intending to build a smaller house there since we acquired the property.  Well, we ran into difficulties from the people then living on the next-door property.  They would not allow us access through their property which would be necessary to get to ours.  Their position was illogical but we had no choice but to pursue legal remedies.  We spent several years going through two cases of litigation and additional actions by the Muskingum County Commissioners.  Finally we reached a settlement, but one that although it provided an easement to our property on paper was in actuality impractical geographically and financially.  And then these folks sold their property.  The new neighbors-to-be are quite a bit friendlier and much more sensible.  We were able to reach an agreement quickly, albeit at a cost of about 30 acres (12 hectares), and are now able to access our property.  (We have since concluded that the people who caused our difficulties probably were stealing lumber from our land.)

 

Next came the protracted process of obtaining a construction loan.  Our credit is superior, the builder's credit is fine (he is the brother of new neighbor), but the bank's procedures lumbered along agonizingly.  Each week they required some new information.  Rebecca handled the process adroitly and with great patience; she knew I would not be nearly as understanding.  Finally, the loan was approved and we signed the papers about 10 days ago.  Construction probably will have commenced by the time you receive this. 

 

We hope to continue with more blog as the building progresses.  Here are just a few preliminary pictures to give you a hint of the forest to which we will be moving.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157600418511906/

 

 

Note on the pictures

You may notice that the pictures are now at Flickr rather than Yahoo.  Some of you might know that Flickr is a Yahoo division and Yahoo has decided to end maintaining two photo sites that essentially provide duplicate services.  We have transferred the old pictures to the new site and will make them accessible in the near future.  We have not quite mastered the ins and outs of Flickr, but it should not take too long to provide the same material.  The pictures look better as a 'slide show' and clicking 'details' will provide descriptions.  The pictures are a bit random at the moment. 

 

In case you did not know:  Strip mining quite literally tears out the coal and all the land (overburden) above the coal seams down to bedrock.  This process leaves the land hilly if it was not already so.  A highwall is like a giant step between levels of strip mining.  The highwalls in the pictures are about 40 feet (12 m) high.

 

Enjoy.

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

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