And It Begins...

Now that we've been so blessed with property and home, having closed on Monday, the only thing left was to actually break ground.  There is lots to do before we can actually bring up the camper, much less start building structures!

Dad's friend, Tony brought his backhoe up and promptly began uprooting trees and bushes.  When he went for my rhododendrons, I literally couldn't watch.

It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, standing by while all our pristine forest was torn apart, but I do know that much of it was necessary in order for us to build. Still...it made me want to cry.

Keith was feeling it too, but it was great to see him so actively involved.  I just hated going to work everyday, knowing what I was missing.  My hands itched to be out there with the guys!  Here you can see part of the existing deck.

Tony pushing down more trees to make a clearing.

Better view of the deck with Keith's little garden tractor parked on it, out of the way of Tony's big backhoe.

Gotta love that view off the deck...a pure wall of green, just now starting to turn all the colors of fall.

Our water line!  Don't wanna cover that up...we'd never find it again!

Another shot of Tony pushing down our trees...

A very scary sight.... three men meeting in the woods. A strategic pow-wow, where Keith was very diplomatically trying to explain (to no avail) how much he wanted to preserve what trees we could.  Tony wasn't really on board with the concept, apparently.

Our good boy, who went to work with his daddy every day, and made sure to stay out of the way on the deck like he was told.

Boys are boys the world around.... they all hate getting their pictures taken!

What appears to be a huge scar on the land.  I know you gotta make a lot of mud pies when you're trying to build...but this is painful!

Two huge pines that will have to come down for safety's sake, as well as to make the necessary room.  Tony's convinced he can push them down, even though we'd prefer to get a tree service to come do it.

A kinder, gentler backhoe...the kind with no driver, and the ignition off.

I decided to climb in and investigate.  Luggie was very obviously wondering if I had lost my mind.

A pic I took while sitting in the cab.  It gave me the willies to be looking out on what were quite obviously Tony's targets.

Luggie chilling in a sunny spot on the deck after a long day chilling in sunny spots on the deck, out of the way.

Dad and Keith had to fix the existing power pole.  The cables had come loose at the top and the pole had to be rewired.  Fortunately for us, Dad's an electrician...it would have cost a chunk of change if we'd had to rely on the power company to do it!

Sitting down on the job...not.  They're actually working on a fairly steep slope.  You can see the road below them.

I managed to sneak up on Luggie while he was in the middle of one of his naps.  He must have been chasing rabbits, because he was twitching everywhere!

The wake-up was gradual, and he stayed groggy for a bit, but finally decided to rejoin the world of the living...

...right about the time I mentioned something about 'kibble' and 'home'.

A Home for Wayward Newlyweds...

Now that we've finally settled on a location for our new home, all that was left was to find something that could serve as temporary housing for the next year or two until we could get the permanent house built.

Enter Craigslist.

Through this modern marvel of the world wide web, we found exactly what we were looking for...a camper manufactured by FEMA for the victims of hurricane Katrina.

These campers (and I do mean camper...they are totally road-worthy for camping) were designed with long-range living in mind. To that end, they have full-sized appliances, and loads of sleeping space....perfect for what we had in mind!

Here, you can see the main living area, including the full-sized fridge, and galley kitchen.  The booth lets down into a bed.  The bathroom is beyond the far door.

A queen-sized bedroom is located toward the front, and yes, it is a room, despite the appearance of this pic.  There is room enough on both sides of the bed for cabinets and a closet, and you can easily walk around it.  There is also a door....perfect for privacy, even though in our case, it's really not necessary.

To the rear, beyond the fridge, is a nook that includes two bunk beds.  We'll remove these to make a laundry and storage area.

This is the sink area, which is actually located outside the tiny bathroom.  This is a good thing; it will make it easier for us to both get ready at the same time in the mornings.









The bathroom can be seen here, although it's really hard to tell from this shot how very small it actually is.

The advantage to having a camper is huge compared to a mobile home.  For one, we don't need a permit for it.  We'll never use it on the road, so we won't need to tag it. And when we're done with it, we can sell it to someone who can just hook it to the hitch of their truck and drive off with it!

It may not look like much, but we call it twenty-eight feet of pure heaven.

What Satan Means for Evil....

 We got some bad news a couple of weeks back....Keith's brother, who owns the property where we've been living, asked us to move.  Now, this had been the plan all along, except that we'd expected to be there at least another year before finding our own little piece of the Ridge.  Nevertheless, we stepped into our Big Boy (and Girl) pants, and started looking.

 After numerous jaunts across the county, looking at house after house, and tons of land, I finally found these gorgeous pics online, and KNEW that This Was It!  I told Keith that he needed to take Mom and Dad to see this piece in the morning without fail, and if he got the same vibe from it that I had, he should waste no time.   Needless to say, they did, and he did, and they signed the papers pronto!

 Now this unbelievable six-acre piece of real estate, located on the upper part of Stoney Creek on the sides of Iron Mountain, will, in three short weeks, be ours.

 As you can see from the pics, the property is heavily forested, and is covered with the most enormous ancient rhododendron bushes, some upwards of 15 to 20 feet tall.  The road itself (seen in the first pic) is gravel, and there are only two other families that live on it. In next three pics, you can see parts of the driveway (or what, at one time was a driveway), looking from the road.

Another pic of the road.  There is also a huge 20' x 20' deck, sturdy enough to build a house on, and that's no exaggeration!  At one time, someone bought the property with the intentions of doing something, but got no further than running a water line and a temporary electrical pole so that they could park an RV there.  Lucky for us....we won't have to pay to have all that done!

Just goes to show what God can use for our good, especially when what we originally think is the worst of news is given to us!

A Home for Wayward Mutts...

 What better way to spend a beautiful Labor Day weekend, than by laboring?  So we decided to use some of the lumber we had painstakingly salvaged from the barn project to build our boy his very own home.

 Of course, there wasn't a doubt in our minds that he would be sharing said home with his very best friend...

 So early Monday morning, we backed Keith's truck up the holler and loaded it down with the necessary supplies....right after a quick cuddle with the boy.

 OK....maybe two.

 Once cuddle time was over, Keith laid out the foundation.

 Then the floor went down next.  We tried to find the smoothest of the boards for that....wouldn't want Luggie to get splinters in bad places!

 Since we were going for a rustic, mini-barn look, Keith decided to slant the roof like a lean-to.

 Once it was all framed up, he began on the sides.

 The first side done.  This is the back.

 Three sides done, and the floor.  The dog barn is sitting on its side. You can see by this pic that we think we're building it to house several Great Danes instead of one medium sized mutt and a fat cat.

 The fourth wall in place, leaving room for a door.

 Another shot, showing the front and side.  You can see the slant of the roof.

 The finished product, complete with swivel-hinged door and corrugated tin roof.

 Another shot from the side.  He was rather proud of the way it turned out. Considering it's a dog house, it really is quite charming!

 A shot of the back.  Here, you can see the distressed roof a little better.  Rusted, but not rusted through.

Now, all that was left was the christening.  After quite a bit of initial reluctance on the future occupants' part, I'm happy to report that Luggie settled into his new home quite nicely.

And reports have it that Callie the cat has been known to slink out the door at daybreak.  Of course, that could just be a nasty rumor...