10.30.2013

Today was our first day of seeing snow here in NY!  Well...it would be a stretch to say that it snowed.  Jim called me to the window to look and there were tiny little spits of snow if you looked hard.  But we'll call it the first snow!  It warmed up by the afternoon to about 50 though so that was good although I think we are in for some wet weather the next few days.

Jim worked here this morning on some school work and planning ahead work.  He headed out to the land after lunch.  I had to run into Saratoga to pick up some printing and stopped on my way home.  He was working on cutting more of the driveway back to the carriage house site.  Hard to tell in this picture, but it's looking really good.  He forget to take a picture before he left in the evening, so I'll have to update it tomorrow.

 

I did forget one important thing that happened yesterday.  While I was picking out rocks while Jim was filling in the trench, I found this piece of a horseshoe.  Besides that being good luck, it's significant to us because when we were clearing the land back home to start building, we found a horseshoe there too.  Jim kept it in the shop the whole time we were there.  So it was kind of neat to find another one year...although this is a partial one.  But it looks really old too - we'll have to clean it up and see what's underneath the dirt and corrosion.

We keep talking about getting a metal detector - in this area, who knows what really old, historical artifact we might find?  In fact, there was just a story in the paper the other day that some work on a parking lot near Lake George (just a little north of us) had to come to a stop because they found arrowheads.

Tonight was the first Cavs game - we had signed up for NBA League Pass so that we could watch all the games here.  But the Cavs played Brooklyn tonight so after a call to Time Warner when we couldn't get the game, we found out that whenever NY plays, it's on regular broadcast TV and not on the League Pass channels.  So while we had to watch it listening to NY announcers, the Cavs won their home opener!  Go Cavs!

 

10.29.2012

This morning was the first frost on the car windshields that we've seen here.  The day still warmed up into the mid-40s but it was definitely cooler, especially when the sun started going down.  Plus, the work today was down at the bottom by the road which is all shady, so it made it cooler.

Jim worked all morning getting these two giant stumps pulled out.  These pictures don't quite show how big the crater was that was left behind! 

These are the "after" shots - Jim then filled in the crater and graded everything out nicely!

After lunch, it was getting to work on the last stretch of trench that is left - the leg leading to the utility pole.  This stretch is a little tougher because it leaves the driveway area and goes between trees.  So it's not easy to work in this area with the machines and there's not much room left for dirt, collected rock piles and workers!

This is where we started...

...and this is how much we got done when I left.  There's probably only 40 feet left to go!

As I was leaving, the sun was setting and it looked so pretty among the trees.

Of course, Jim still stayed and graded off the area where we worked...it looks great!

 

Jim had both of the machines down at the bottom of the hill working today because he used the excavator to get the stumps out.  Just that fact makes things more difficult.  It takes about 15 minutes to drive the excavator all the way up the hill to the top where he parks it!  Then of course he has to come down and get the Bobcat.  So after I leave to come home, clean up and think about dinner - Jim is still there grading and putting all the equipment to bed for the night!

 

 

 

 

10.28.2013 - Upper trench finished!

These pictures probably all look the same, but every day I go to the land it's so beautiful I have to take another picture!  Love that blue sky!  Today actually got to about 60 degrees - once Jim and I were working, we had to start shedding sweatshirt layers!

I got there at lunchtime again and Jim had gotten lots more of the trench done, but in what seemed like no time we were getting really close to being done!  In this picture, we had probably 5 feet to go!

And now the entire upper part of the trench is all filled in!  Jim spent the rest of the afternoon getting it all graded out.

 

Some end of the day pictures when it's all graded - looks fabulous! 

We feel really good getting to this milestone.  In just a few weeks, we have dug the trench, sifted through a mountain of rocks, got utility poles up, wire and cable in, and very carefully and methodically got the trench filled back up.  Jim says that no contractor would do it this carefully but it's ours and it's forever, so we want it done right.

This is the last part remaining - the little leg going to the utility pole.  Jim first has to get the excavator down there and dig out some tree stumps so he can better get to the trench.  So that's on tomorrow's agenda.

 

 

Meanwhile, Jim has been busy assembling the parts he will need for the pump.  So really cool all stainless steel pump parts are arriving in the mail.  With some delays things are arriving - our PO box can be a pain when ordering from companies that don't like to deliver to PO boxes.  So that project will be next after the trench is all done.  Which will be soon!



10.27.2013

Since it was Sunday which involves church, pecan pancakes and a more quiet morning, we didn't get to the land until after lunch today.  Still gorgeous and not as windy today, so with temps around 50 it was a good day to work.

So this is what it looked like when I left - we got another big chunk done today.

This is all that is left to do on the upper section - hopefully tomorrow we can get that part done, weather permitting!

Jim stayed after I left and did all his more finishing type of work - grading, pulling all the piles of dirt away from the edges where we are putting the rocks.  It looks fabulous!  Look out cool the mountains look in the distance.  With the leaves off the trees, you can see the 360 degree view of mountains!

10.26.2013

Jim got out to the land this morning and worked on getting all the rest of the upper section done with the first layer.  I joined him at lunch time and we were able to get the last bit of tape put down! 

 

 



So then it was back to work filling in the trench!  I picked out rocks again - we wanted to be really careful up near the transformer.  By the time I left just a couple hours later, look how much we got done!

 



 

 

Jim took this picture as he was leaving - it looks amazing!  He got the area all graded around the transformer, got the cable box set, and even got our rock piles organized!

 

10.25.2013

Today Jim had to spend the morning with the insurance agent - talk about loads of fun!  Even though we are with State Farm, things are much different in NY than OH.  Plus things didn't transfer real smoothly from our agent there to this guy, so lots of work getting everything figured out.  Jim's been doing lots of research so we'll see how it goes - our agent is supposed to get back with him on all the things they discussed.

So after lunch, we headed out to the land.  And what a gorgeous day!  Gotta love that blue sky!  Temps were a little chilly - probably high 40s but the wind made it feel a little chillier.  But once we got busy, you warm up pretty quickly.

This is the area at the bottom that Jim was working on after I left yesterday - it looks SO good!  The grading is coming out really nice.

 

It was back to the same thing today - I played rock hound while Jim filled in the trench.  We got quite a bit done - getting close to the transformer on the first level that requires more careful rock sifting. 

 

We also spent time moving some of the piles of rocks.  If you look at this picture, the piles of rocks basically follow the trench up the hill!

 So we picked up probably 4 different areas where we were putting rocks and dumped them into one of the bigger piles out of the way.  That's a lot of rocks and this is just one of the areas where we are collecting them!

This is what it looked like at the end of the day.  Jim got the turn all graded and started moving up the hill.  Looks great!

 

10.24.2013

The headlines on the News Channel 5 app from Cleveland (yes, I still check it!) showed snow!  Apparently some areas got a few inches while others just a few flakes.  It was definitely chilly today - especially up on Angel with the wind - but no snow in sight.  It was probably around 50 degrees today.

Jim worked in the morning on more backfilling of the lower section - look how amazing everything looks!  He's done a good job grading everything out and making it look so much better than it ever did.  You can see the tiny speck of the Bobcat in this picture - I took it as I was leaving and he was back to work down there again.

 

You can see from this angle how close he is to the leg and then all that will be left on this section will be the little stretch to the road. 

 

 

While I was there, we first picked up rocks at the bottom part so that Jim will be able to get the Bobcat next to the dirt piles to continue backfilling.  That's the hard part - you pick out rocks at one point and put them into a pile, which eventually requires you to pick them up again and move them somewhere else!  After that we went to work on the top section.  It had the layer of sand on top of the cable, so again, the next layer needs to be pretty rock-free and requires me picking the rocks out while Jim back drags the dirt pile.  We only worked for probably an hour and a half and we got from the bottom of this picture to where you see it turn again - so probably over halfway to the transformer.  So that was good.

 

 

I had just gotten out of the shower when I got home and the new landlord knocked on the door.  Not the best way to meet him, but oh well.  He seems nice - he owns Cleveland Landscaping and lives on Angel - both of which seem like good omens!

 

10.23.2013

Yesterday morning started off drizzly - the forecast was for rain much of the week but in typical fashion here, by afternoon things dried up enough for Jim to go out and work a little bit.  You can see in this first picture that he got another big section backfilled and graded.

Plus he got the first layer of dirt on this leg of the top part too!

He knocked off a little early and we went to Home Depot and Lowe's to look for a portable generator.  Since we aren't going to hook up the electric until spring, he needs something to power his tools to do some of the work until then.  But neither one of them had the one he wanted and had seen on line.  We were looking for other pump parts but we kind of struck out there too.  I told Jim that he's kind of outgrown those stores except for the basics.  They just don't carry enough specialized things.  He hasn't found anything to compare to Wolff Brothers who had all things building.  But at least we know what they have and what they don't - he can probably get a lot of things on line.

Speaking of which, this morning Jim found the generator he wanted new on eBay for $100 cheaper than Home Depot online with no shipping or tax.  So he'll order that one tonight.

The forecast was for rain today too but no rain.  We had planned to go to Glens Falls to try that DMV office to get our driver's licenses.  So we went there right after lunch.  On our way, we stopped at that scenic lookout that I had wanted to see - we thought it was going to be the other side of the dam/falls we saw last week.  This scenic lookout took us through some beautiful woods...although we said that all of the woods are beautiful here!

 It did take us to another power plant/dam area that probably is really pretty too but because of the pre-drought conditions here, there was no extra water going over the dam.  You could just see all the rocks.

This DMV office was much friendlier than the Saratoga office.  But of course the process is the same - big form to fill out, passport, old driver's license, and original Social Security card.  We were both semi-worried about the eye test - no matter how good your vision is, those little machines at the Ohio DMV with the flashing lights always put you in panic mode!  When you wear glasses, it just compounds the problem.  Here, the eye test was turn around, look at this framed eye chart and just read one row of letters.  No stress there - that was it!  Jim was able to take in his DD Form 214 and he will have his license marked with his Veteran's status.  Jim never likes to do things like that but I told him that he earned that right.  So we smiled pretty and then they gave us a temporary license - apparently they mail the real one in the mail to you.  Since we are moving in from another state, this license is only good for 5 years; after that, they are good for 8 years! 

So we think we are just about done with all the administrative paperwork to license the cars and ourselves here in NY!

On our way home, you can see the West Mountain Ski Area - this is probably 5 miles from our house.  This isn't a great picture - if I could have gotten my phone unlocked earlier, you could have seen a couple different ski runs in this shot.

 

The Glens Falls/Lake George area is really pretty - and they say the further north you go into the Adirondacks, the mountains are just spectacular.  We said that once the bad weather sets in and we can't work on the land, we want to take a day a week and just explore the area.  Definitely want to go north a bit, but there are so many historical areas that we want to see - Battle of Saratoga site, Fort Ticonderoga, just to name a couple.  We're still kind of pinching ourselves that we are living here and not just on vacation!

 

Jim went back to the lot this afternoon for a few hours - he said he got more backfilling and grading done so I'll take pics when I go out tomorrow, weather permitting!  My mom said she had snow on her windshield from overnight and she's in southern Ohio - no flakes in sight here, thank goodness!

 



10.21.2013

Just like in Camelot, it appears to only rain at night here and it rained Saturday night.  So it was too wet to do more work in the trench so Jim just went up to the land for a couple hours in the late afternoon and did some work on putting sand over the cable on the upper section.

This morning, we headed out to try the car inspections again.  Jim's passed with flying colors now that he put new light bulbs in.  Since my car is only a year old, they didn't have to check emissions - just the safety check.  So it was only $10 instead of the normal $21 - and it passed too!  Now all of our cars are official.  Driver's licenses are on the rainy day list and we still have to do the box truck at some point.

It was a beautiful fall day - sunny and probably mid to upper 60s.  Jim got the rest of the sand in the upper stretch before lunch.  I brought lunch up and we ate and then got busy again.  We used the dirt pile that Jim got from scraping the new driveway back to the carriage house and did the same back dragging with the Bobcat, I picked out rocks, and then Jim drove the Bobcat down and filled in the trench.  This was the first layer again where we have to be extra careful.  We got a lot done - in this picture you can see the tape at the bottom of the picture where we stopped Saturday...and we got all the way down to the point where it turns to go to the road!  So then Jim was doing some backfilling until it got too dark.

Lots of progress!

I had forgotten to take a picture of this last week...this is a picture of all the conduit from both the cable and the electric going up the pole!  It is so nice not to have to be waiting for anyone else to show up at this point!

 

 

Looking ahead to the next project, Jim has been busy researching the best pump for the well and has started ordering the parts!  That's on the to do list before winter sets in.



10.19.2013

Happy Sweetest Day, Jim!  I know it's a made-up, Ohio holiday but I'll never pass up an opportunity to celebrate us!

So last night, Jim said he would try and estimate how much sand, dirt and rock he's moved doing this trench.  Here's what he came up with...

• It's a 700' trench that is 3' deep.
• That equals out to 120 cubic yards of earth that had to be removed and then will have to be replaced.  As a comparison, the basement for a medium house is usually about 240 cubic yards.  So he's moved half a basement worth of dirt!
• Out of that trench, we removed approximately 45 tons of stone!
• Finally, along with a little help from the Bobcat, almost 40 tons of sand had to be hand placed in the trench!

Those are some crazy numbers and no wonder Jim sleeps well at night!  Pretty amazing.  We always say that no one realizes what goes into doing this by yourself...one of the reasons for this blog.  When you say you had to dig a trench, it sure sounds easy enough but when you are doing all the manual labor yourself and not with a crew - it's anything but.

So today it's back to work digging that sand.  Jim would like to get a layer of dirt on the downhill part of the trench from the driveway so that it doesn't wash away the sand if we get some rainy weather.

Evening update...

I got to the land about noon...these pictures never convey what it really looks like but the mountain ranges are really showing through now.

We ate lunch and then Jim put my new NY plates on my car!  I'm almost official - still need to get the car inspected and then I can put both of the stickers on my windshield.  And we still have to do our driver's licenses too. 

Before I got there, Jim had gotten all the sand finished over the top of the cable.  So the next steps were to put dirt on top of the sand, put the special caution tape down, and then totally backfill.  Again - sounds somewhat easier than the reality.  We have SO many rocks - you would think since I spent so much time picking rocks out when Jim dug the trench that there wouldn't be any left!  Ha - far from it!   You have to be careful with rocks on top of the cables - you don't want any issues down the road.  Although I'm sure contractors would have just backfilled, we took our time.  The first level right above the sand, we were pretty picky and tried not to get anything bigger than a baseball size rock.  For the final layer, we were a little less picky but still didn't want big rocks in there.

Here's Jim putting the tape over the final layer of sand.  The tape has to be there so in case someone ever digs in that spot, they'll hit the tape well before they hit anything else!

Then he shoveled a little dirt to keep the tape down.

Then, he would scoop dirt from all our piles next to the trench, back drag it so that I could get out the rocks, and then dump it in.

Then the last layer was not as gentle...

And finally, back dragging the area to grade it off.

And then it was back to repeating all those steps and moving on down the hill.  We really wanted to get as much of the steep part of the driveway done so that any rains wouldn't wash the sand away and require that process to have to be redone. 

Wonder how many scoops of dirt he took today?  Way too many to count!

Of course no job is complete without hand work...after the layer right on top of the sand, Jim would smooth it out before rolling the tape over it and then filling up the trench.

And this is how much we got done today - no more trench in sight!  If you look closely at the top of the hill, you can see a dirt pile - that's where the driveway is so we got all that done this afternoon!  Plus Jim got all the sand work finished before I got there.  A good day's work for sure!