Happy Ho Ho!

We went and cut down our Christmas tree this afternoon. Hopefully decorating it and the house will happen this weekend!

Update...all decorated and shining beautifully in the library!

Leaving...

It's sad...we really start feeling so at home here that we hate to leave. I do miss our house and will be glad to see it but wish we could stay a little longer.

Courtyard Marriott - our home away from home!

We just finished breakfast and are heading out to wash the car. You can't get the full effect from this picture because it's 2 days later and most of the sawdust has blown off, but after the first day of chipping the car was encased with it!

Car...before, with a nice coating of sawdust!

After the car is clean, we're heading back to the lot. Jim wants to cut up a red oak tree that had fallen and we'll take the logs back for burning.

10:00...Okay, cut the wood, picked up the chipper, grabbed the sign and we're ready to hit the road.

6:30...Been a good trip back so far. Jim took the southern route back to avoid traffic and it was all good. Tried to follow the Browns/Steelers game - technical difficulties made it tough but the Browns won!! So all is well in the world. Just finished pancakes at Cracker Barrel - another 120 miles to go.

 

 

Second work day

The forecast for today was snow, wind and temps in the 30s.  After temps in the 50s yesterday, I think we were a little nervous about working outside.  We got started again after breakfast, a quick fill up of gas and buying s'more supplies.  When we first got to the lot, there was a Jeep parked in the driveway. We got out and realized it was the people leaving cat food, corn and water for the animals. She leaves kind of a mess and we don't want to actually encourage stray animals.  But what can you say?  She said she relocated baby squirrels to our property and then felt guilty so she fed them.  While we were talking, a deer crossed the driveway and on our way out last night, we saw the family of turkeys we saw last time we were here.

However, she did have some interesting history on our lot.  We had seen where it was called Bailey Hill for General Bailey of George Washington's Army.  She said her grandfather had once owned the land and that it had been owned by the Comstock's who fought in the war also.  She said she has pages of history that she would share with us.  So that's exciting.

Once we got up on the hill, we started a little campfire to help keep warm (and for those s'mores!).  But it was a little scary because of all the high grass and the windy conditions.  We kept a close eye on it but it felt good to warm up with.



We moved the chipper to another location and got back to work.  We worked til time for lunch - and finally the s'mores!

Sharon, Julia & Jim enjoying our s'mores!

Then it was back to work.  While it was certainly colder than yesterday, when you were busy working it was fine.  It was just when you stopped that the cold set in.  But the weather up on the hill was amazing - we had periods of snow swirling and then bright sunshine.  It was really beautiful!

Unfortunately, the day went by too quickly.  But it was incredible to look back and see how much we got accomplished in two days.  Things look so good!






We had to break early and come back to the hotel for showers and be at church at 4:00.  We went to St. Clements - there are 5 Catholic churches in a small radius from here - like that!

Kyle and Julia had to be back at the Casino to catch the bus at 7:00, so we went to eat at Hattie's in downtown Saratoga Springs.  It's a landmark restaurant know for their Louisiana-style fried chicken.  It was a fun little place and the food was great.  We have major food detox to go through next week but for now, it's been good eatin'!

Jim, Kyle and Julia at Hattie's

So then we dropped them off, stopped at McDonald's for an ice cream and are now back at the hotel relaxing.  Two fun days of being at the lot - it's going to be so hard to leave tomorrow!

First official day of work!

While many hit the stores today on Black Friday, we had our first official day of work on the lot! After breakfast and a stop at TSC for another pair of hearing protection, we headed to the land.  Jim and I had dropped the chipper off last night so we were able to just set it up and start chipping away!  Though Julia took a quick turn, Kyle was the chipper operator for the day.  We concentrated the work on the backside of the lot where they had taken a lot of trees down and left their mess.  Jim used the chainsaw when needed and handled all the muscle work as well as hauling branches; Julia and I picked up branches and carried them up to Kyle.  After a pb&j lunch break, we kind of switched strategies and Jim and I carried all the branches up and Julia fed everything to Kyle.  Quite the operation!  We had gorgeous weather all day until the sun started going down and it started raining. But what a great first day!  You can see a major improvement in how things look.  I'm really hoping it doesn't rain tomorrow so we can get some more work done.

Julia manning the chipper!

After a well-earned and needed shower, we headed to Village Pizza for dinner.  We ended the day with a stop at Ben & Jerry's.

We're back!!

What a gorgeous Thanksgiving morning on Angel Road! We came here after breakfast at the hotel and it's just breathtaking. We dropped off the chipper so we don't have to drag it around all day.





We have to pick Kyle and Julia up from the MegaBus soon - they come in at the casino racetrack. We've never seen that before so another new adventure.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel - a new tradition! It was very good and fun to catch up with Kyle and Julia. After dinner, we checked them into their room at the hotel and then headed to the land.



The first order of business was to take down the For Sale sign. Kyle and Julia even brought us champagne to mark the occasion! So after a few photo opportunities with the sign, Jim popped the cork and we toasted the official start to our new adventure of building our house!

 

 

 

We walked around the lot for a bit and got to see the sunset. So gorgeous!

We topped off the evening by going to see the new Bond movie, Skyfall. Julia posed by a sign in the lobby bearing her name.  Very good movie.

Off to bed...tomorrow we work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the road again!

10:00 am...We're just about ready to hit the road for our Thanksgiving break in New York!!  So excited to see the lot again.  This will actually be the first time we'll be there when it's really ours!  Poor Jim has been working all morning getting last things finished on the truck and chipper getting us ready to go.  Keeping fingers crossed for a safe journey.  I know Jim's nervous about pulling the chipper through the mountains and with all of the holiday traffic.

Welcome to New York!!!

It was a great trip.  Weather was beautiful and traffic wasn't bad at all.  But still a long day for Jim worrying about the chipper.  So once we checked into the hotel, we headed to Applebees for dinner and a beer.

Long Overdue Post!

Wow...Jim has been working so hard on a multitude of different fronts.  I'll try and summarize and add some pics.  Work has still been proceeding on the truck.  And the good news was that after totally tearing apart and rebuilding its innards, Jim started it up on Saturday!  He's still got some electrical work to do to get it running better but that was a huge step.

Then he decided to replace the clutch in the older 4Runner  it's been on the to-do list for awhile but since we are going to NY for Thanksgiving and wanted to tow the chipper, it bubbled up to the top of that list  But such a job.  The transmission is huge in these things.  And this car is more rusty than the other one which creates so many more issues.  But Jim persevered through finding other things wrong and a ticking clock and got it back on the road yesterday.  My hero.

Then he had to do chipper repair work too.  Since the return trip caused tire damage, he had to track down a new one.  Then when he got that off, he saw the hubs were leaking and in bad shape.  So that necessitated more parts and more work.  He didn't get that done til about 7:30 last night.

And we leave today for NY!  Very excited.  We'll stay in Saratoga Springs this time which will be nice.  Kyle and Julia are coming up tomorrow and leaving Saturday so that will be fun.

More posts will be coming about the trip!

The REAL Chipper Story!

Jim just made it in time to meet me at church last night for All Saints Day services.  It was so good to see him.  :o) 

 

But then he told me the story of his ride home.  He had told me on the phone that about 300 miles into the trip, just north of Charleston, WV, I-77 North was totally closed and all traffic had to exit and detour to side roads (narrow, two-lane, windy roads with ravines and ridges along the side).   All of a sudden, the right fender came off of the trailer.  The chipper ran it over and yanked it off completely, jerking the car backwards.  At first, Jim thought he had lost the whole trailer.  Becaue of the road conditions and traffic, he couldn't pull over for a quarter mile or so.  When he was able to, he looked all over to find the fender but couldn't - it must have gotten thrown down a ravine.

 

Apparently, the 4 bolts that fastened the fender to the mount vibrated loose.   Jim had even stopped and checked the hitch, the chains, kicked the tires and visually checked the machine every 50 miles or so for the first 200 miles.  He had no clue that the fender was loose.   It appeared that as the fender became loose, it rubbed against the tire because the inside of the tire was badly chafed.  He thinks that the fender pivoted forward when only one bolt remained.

 

I was able to nurse the chipper the rest of the way home.   He was worried that the shock of the event might have damaged the axle or hub since that is where the fender is connected.  So we are now in the market for a fender and tire.

But his guardian angel was certainly looking out for him.  After the event, you think of all the things that could have happened.  If he would have been traveling 70 mph on the highway and it came off, it could have flown back and hit cars behind him, the higher speed could have caused more damage to either the truck or the trailer or both, the list is too scary to think about.  He was only on that detour for about 8 miles and to think this happened then. 

All home...just missing a fender!

 

Thankfully he's home and with only a few minor issues.  It was still such a bargain - a new fender and tire won't change that.  Jim was showing me smaller models that are selling for thousands more!  He's going to contact Bearcat to see if they can help with the repair.

Homeward Bound

 

Jim is on his way home from Boone, NC, towing our new chipper.  But he wasn't real happy...he said he drove 450 miles south and ran into North Pole-type weather.  Anyone who knows Jim knows how much he HATES road salt and look what he's following!  Oh my.  I'm anxious for him to be home and to check out the new equipment!