Man Week + building “progress”

One word to describe this week – HOT. We bounced around the 100 degree mark pretty much every day this week. Some days were punctuated with some cloud cover that made the 100 degrees only feel like 95 or so. However the other sunny periods were sweltering. I stayed out there all week only running the A/C (and generator) in the evenings to cool off the RV. Needless to say, I’ve really enjoyed today back at the house in the air conditioning holding at a nice comfortable 79 degrees. So, uncomfortable heat aside, I had a pretty productive week with Bertha II. With the help of a friend from work and my Fasha (pronounced “Fasha”), I was able to put about 40 hours on Bertha II and clear a pretty significant area. Between the 3 of us, we took out, literally, about 200 stumps, in addition to some full size trees. After averaging about 2 gallons of drinking water a day, we now have the 1500 feet long path for the electric company cleared along with my 1800 foot long path for the water lines (I didn’t get to actually digging the trench). Also during the week, the water meter was installed at the street. So now, water access is just waiting on me to lay the pipe. The metal building has been ordered. The builders are finishing another job and plan to break ground on the slab on September 1. There’s a lot happening in the next month or two. The more I think about what all we need to do, the more overwhelmed I get, especially considering my company hosts our annual convention in two weeks that brings about 3500 visitors from around the globe. Needless to say, there is some stress in our household right now. I just keep telling myself, it will all be worth it in about 6 months. Hang in there, Jer. Hang in there.

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3 Comments

  • Brett

    August 1, 20113:55 am

    Thanks! Your blog has given us the same idea of documenting our progress and are likely to start one soon. We are starting to toy with the idea of leasing our home while we try to make a go of it, just in case things don't work out. An uncle had a portion of his barn finished out into an apartment, or barndo, and it looks great! If we get this whole blog thing going too, we'll include some inspirational photos. We're in the same region as ya'll, just on the north side, so we can relate that much more. I would like to know more about the whole loan process just because we're learning that it's not anything like a simple home loan.

  • No Name Farm Ranch

    August 1, 20113:24 am

    Brett – congratulations on the first step! I promise that, in time, you'll start to give people strange looks when they say they spent a Saturday evening “watching a movie” or when they complain about their hard outdoor work of “mowing the lawn.” It's a whole different, infinitely better, world. Welcome :) I hope you'll keep in touch with your progress, and we'll be updating a lot more frequently once the house build starts. Also – donkeys: definitely worth it!

  • Brett

    August 1, 20112:44 am

    Just stumbled onto your blog and wanted to share that my wife and I are attempting to do the same thing. We get the strange looks from friends and family when we tell them what we want to do. Our house is already on the market and we've got our eye on a piece of property already. No idea yet as to what we'd raise or grow on the property but we have plenty of ideas. Your comments are hilarious and many thanks to the heads up on whether or not Donkey's are worth it! Thanks for sharing!