There--It's Settled

After spending the day last Saturday with my sister and brother in law, we've arrived at a conclusion.

We know where their house will be. We know where the garden shed will be. We know where the garden will be. We are pretty sure where the chickens will be.

Now we know where I will be.

The weekend of March 7th, I will begin clearing the land for the build. Then, I must trip back to Mississippi to get the rest of my tools and the materials from my storage shed and find a shed nearby to the building site.

Photos show general vicinity.

Chubs Scout Disc Golf Course

After a round of disc golf at Cedars of Lebanon in Wilson County, Jer, Bear, Bk and I trekked far south of there and scouted the land Saturday for possible disc golf course basket placements. The photos here are from the top border of the land looking south towards town. We'd only just finished a wonderful lunch of catfish and huge as your head hamburgers plus scrumptious desserts at the Local Store.

Anyhoo, Jeremy proffered that we should set out only 5 or so baskets and have different tee pads to reach them. That way, we could minimize the damage to the woods, keep the costs low, and possibly get in more actual 'holes' than we would if we did 1 tee/1 basket.

Bear reiterated that we needed to have the holes go laterally across the hill rather than up and down. After the heavy lunch we had, we all concurred.

Great ideas; that's why I like having these guys near.

The Pictures Are:
1.) Barry thinks our ideas are SO bright, he's gotta wear shades
2.) BK takes a blurry pic of the view from the top of our property line
3.) Jer surveys a possible basket site

To The Work Squared

I'll be goin' on up t' th' land come Satiddy. It'll be warm like that day, so's I can stomp 'round a bit and pick me out a good place t' build muh playce.

When'n I be gittin' back, I'll post sum pitchers hair fer'n y'all t' see.

Preeshadit.

We Stake Our Claim

Today, we took tape measures, hammers, and stakes, and made a preliminary outline of the house my sister wants to build.

We tramped about the place, looking at several possibilities, but settled on something that a) is above the 'perc' site, b) is not too near the dry 'wadi' or gulch that separates the woods/rocky area from the large field, and c) was accessible to the crude driveway the farmer had cut for us during the summer with his 'dozer.

Our friend Jerry helped us think all this through. He will be the one who will draw the house plans and elevation from which the builders will work. He also knows practically everyone in the county and has an 'in' with the local inspectors.

All in all it was a great day. My brother in law and I plan to go back to the land on Saturday to clear that staked out area with DR Brush Mower(tm) and chainsaws.

Here's hoping we keep all our fingers.

P.S. I found a large cache of dressed field stones! Using them, I was able to erect about three feet of a preliminary dry stacked wall using the 'one over two over one' method. It worked tremendously well, and even without supports or sides, it stood steadfast even with my considerable girth pushed against it!

The land awaits. It literally flows with milk and honey.

Hey Spaz, You're On Your Way!

We finally got the 'gang' together today for a meeting to discuss the house build for my sister at the property.

The contractor, his sister (who runs the business part of the thing), my sister, her husband and I met for the first time all together after much back and forth and phone conver- sations.

For our part, my sister and her husband were mightily impressed; they realized that A.) these guys knew what they were talking about, and 2.) they had found people they felt comfortable with going forward with the build.

The next step, according to the contractors, is for my sister to get a set of 'stamped' plans together so the 'concrete' (no pun intended) bids can be made.

Then, as that is being done, I will be in Middle Tennessee to start scrounging around for firms or individuals who can level the building site and complete the drive-way into the property.

All of this leads us to the actual build in the spring.

Meanwhile, my personal house build (the 24'x14' slip form stone house) can begin!

Meeting With The Builder

Well, it turns out that my sister and her husband, in light of the recent economic turmoil, have decided to build without bank financing.

This is good news for me. This means I can build without having to worry about how my dirtcheapbuild will impact their bank loan and inspection.

We are gathering for a meeting with their builder this week; this is a company I have found for them, the owners of which are interested in building an insulated concrete slip form house. That is what my sister's family wants.

I will be, of course, gleaning off them!

In other news, I secured a job only 30 minutes from the house site, so I will be moving forthwith to begin my build this fall and winter.

The latest plan I'm pursuing is the use the slip form stone building methods outlined here.

Can't wait!

We also plan to plant fruit trees this fall for the future years.

Anyone have any suggestions?

...We Ate SAND

"When they was no meat, we ate Frog

When they was no Frog, we ate Crawdad

When they was no Crawdad to be found, we ate sand.

You Ate What?

We Ate Sand.

You Ate Sand?

That's Right."-Raising Arizona

By great good fortune, I stumbled across 4 tons of bagged sand--for free.

My friend, Bob Luttman, called me and said he was cleaning out a warehouse and had over 100 80-lb bags of sand--where did I want them?

Bob and his brother Ron have been cheerleaders and supporters of my gleaning house project since the inception; it was Ron who gave me all those sliding glass doors when his company did an apartment renovation.

So, I had Bob bring the sand down to Southaven, MS, where I could get them and take them the 15 minutes to my burgeoning storage shed in Hernando.

What can one do with sand? Build a slip form stone house, that's what. Concrete and cement. Cob. You name it.

The brothers Luttman might just get their names enshrined in the gleaning house hall of fame yet!