Day 2 Adventures

Day 2 started early - Gus the well driller wanted to meet at 9:30. Since we are staying in Albany, with traffic it can take close to an hour to get there. But it was a great meeting...we really liked this guy. Besides knowing his stuff, he was very personable and we chatted for close to 2 hours! Jim has very happy about all the info he gave us - prices were reasonable, he said Jim can do the work, he had good ideas about continuous pressure pumps, talked to us about tank sizes and constraints.

Then at 1:00 the lady from NationalGrid came. Again, things were great. They have to put a new pole on the street to bring service in and then we will have to trench a line back to where we want them to put the transformer. You have to pay by the foot of line and since we have to go back 700 feet, it's very pricey. But we talked to her about going down the hill through the woods - it would be half the distance. Sounds like it may be feasible - she's supposed to check with her supervisor and get back to us. She also said we can have 2 separate feeds and meters - one for the carriage house and then later add another for the house. That's exactly what Jim wanted so he's thrilled.

Of course all of that will lead to the purchase of the mini-excavator Jim wants so he can do all of this work. So when we get back home, serious looking for that and the box truck will begin.

We even found a nearby Bobcat dealer that both sells and rents attachments. That will be a good source.

The lawyer has taken his time on all of the work he's needed to do for closing, which is the only disappointing part of our dealings so far. We finally heard from him about 4:00 - apparently title work isn't done (he's only had 6 weeks!). We're supposed to go in at 4:00 tomorrow and we may have to sign power of attorney for him to sign off on title paperwork. Crazy. But like Jim says - we just need to get it done at this point.

We are going to try and go workout and then reward ourselves with a cold beer to toast an exciting second day!!

We're here!!!

Just got to the Angel lot - it's gorgeous!! The smell of the pine trees is amazing! Can't believe in 2 days it will be ours! Our first appt with the septic guy is at 3:00. Before he gets here we're going to put some stakes out to mark possible locations for house and carriage house.

This wasn't our first meal here (had some lunches here when we were scouting the area) but it feels like ours now so it's different!

Susan the realtor stopped by to offer any assistance that we might need. She's been so helpful.


We staked off some real basic locations. Jim has an eye for that; me, not so much. Fun to talk about what we'd see from different points in the house.

Septic engineer just left. Jim is very encouraged because once this person designs the system, Jim will be able to do the work himself. They talked through system specs and what we need for the two living spaces. All good info!!

Off to New York!

We're getting ready to drive to New York - closing for the land is set for August 1st! After our past disappointments, it still feels a little surreal and we keep hoping that there won't be any last minute issues. We've set up some appointments to talk to some utility people - electric company, septic company and hopefully a well person. That way we'll have a jump start on what our utilities will look like. Unfortunately, not many homes in this area heat with natural gas so we'll probably have to explore propane. So after a pecan pancake breakfast in the morning, we'll be off!

The land search

For years, we have been searching for the perfect piece of property on which to build our new - and final! - home.  Our search first took us to Amish country in Ohio where we came really close to buying a couple different lots.  But something always happened...a sign to look elsewhere?  On the advice of Kyle, and to my dismay, we ventured to upstate New York.  However once we got there and saw the beauty of the area, I was easily convinced to rethink moving out of Ohio.  As we were driving to look at another lot, we just happened to find this lot on Angel Road (divine intervention?) and once we explored it, nothing else compared.  Join us as we begin our adventure!