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'.
