10.10.2013 - Nat'l Grid put uility pole up...in wrong place!

A busy and exciting day!  Jim took off early to go to the land - I of course was busy with fire school work this morning.  I had to get some flyers printed at Staples so I took all of my paperwork and went back to the DMV - and I am now the proud owner of New York plates!  They aren't on the car yet and I still have to get my inspection done, but it's progress.  I didn't fare so well with the NY driver's license - I had the form, passport and my OH license but then they said I had to have my social security card too, which I never carry.  A job for another day.  I had to do a little grocery shopping and learned another new fact...they don't sell wine in grocery stores in New York!  They sell beer but not wine - you apparently have to go to a state liquor store.  Which seems odd to me. 

So while I was busy doing all that, poor Jim was back on the chain gang digging ditches.  I stopped by on my way home around 1:00 and he had gotten tons done.  He has made a lot of progress on the trench going down the hill.  Plus he got the upper portion done with a layer of sand on top so it's all ready to go.  All of that has to be done by hand now too...he puts the sand in the Bobcat and shovels it in and then goes down and uses the hoe to get it all level.

 

I was just getting ready to take off and get my groceries home when Jim heard the rumble of a big truck and saw that National Grid was coming up the driveway!  There were two guys in the truck and they drove up to the top to see where the transformer is going to be placed and how Jim had everything done.  They seemed impressed and also very helpful - they are going to put the transformer in a certain way that will make it easier for Jim to hook up the temporary service.  Jim is doing this a little different than most - we are going to have 2 separate meters - one for the carriage house and eventually one for the house.  So they talked through all that and they even said they would help Jim with the grounding rod he has to put in which will be great.

 

They headed back down and were joined at the street by another truck with our first pole!  It was interesting to watch the process.

They use this giant auger to drill a hole for the pole - there is so much rock by the street because of the stone wall right there that they really pounded and pounded.

Then they have to sink the anchor to help hold the pole - again they just use the truck to pound it into the ground.

A couple of issues with all of this...if you look at this picture and see the marking on the street that says Pole with an arrow...and notice all the stone wall and stumps gone in front on that area and then look at the far left of this picture where the first cone is - that's where they are putting the pole!  Which means that Jim now has to remove all that stone and clear all that area out.  Frustrating! 

There was so much rock in that area that the utility guys finally left and are planning to come back tomorrow with a backhoe.  Jim is going to try and see if they can move the pole to where it was supposed to be so he doesn't have to do all that work.  We'll see how that goes - I'm praying that they move it if they have to come and dig anyway.

 

I stopped up a little later and Jim had really done a lot of work - he is probably half way down the hill clearing out the trench by hand and even has all that part done with its layer of sand too!  So much manual work -800' of trench to crumb out!

10.9.2013

It was a beautiful fall day in NY...the sky was its familiar crazy blue and while the morning was chilly, it warmed up into the 60s.  I hung around the apartment today doing fire school work and catching up on some cleaning. 

I also talked to our landlord - she did end up selling the apartment building so we're praying that nothing changes as far as our rent or agreements.  Her closing is tomorrow.  Fingers crossed about that issue.

I took lunch to Jim at the lot - poor thing was in the trenches shoveling by hand!  I felt so bad for him.  But he had already done from the new transformer pad to the first culvert section and it looked great.  When I got there he was just starting on the other side that will go all the way down the driveway.  The storm we got on Monday did some damage and the only way to really fix it at this point is by hand.  Thankfully the soil is sandy otherwise it would be an impossible task.  Now it will just be a backbreaking one.  Jim said he texted Kyle and told him that after 3 graduate degrees he's still digging ditches!  These are definitely the un-glamorous parts of this adventure.

The DMV didn't have all my paperwork yet so my trip into Saratoga was postponed.  While we were eating lunch, Jim decided we should go unload the truck of the tools he brought home last week from Ohio.  Plus, in a couple weeks people will be bringing their cars to the barn we are using for storage so we have to compress our areas into only 2 spots from the entire area we had over the summer.  Jim had already done lots of that with both Bryan and Kyle's help at various times, but there was still work to be done plus all the stuff we had to bring into that space.   So we headed out to the barn to get busy.

Jim worked really hard - there wasn't a whole lot I could do to help out too much - and got everything unloaded and everything perfectly condensed into our 2 spots.  So we should be good for the winter without having to worry about that.  That's a big relief. 

We did stop at Knight's Orchard and get some more apples - they are just so good from this place!

As we were driving home and getting close to Angel to drop off the truck and pick up the cars, it was just an incredible sunset.  We were hoping we'd get up to the top of the hill to see it.  This was the tail end of it but it was still absolutely gorgeous - trust me, these pictures don't do it justice!

In this shot, you can see both the moon and the sunset...so pretty!

10.8.2013

So until today, things were either too rainy or too wet from having rained to really do much at the land.  We had needed some rainy days to catch up on life in general at home too, so that gave us a little time.  We took another load to the book storage unit one day.

Then on Monday we battled with the NY DMV.  Jim had already had this experience when he had to get the 4Runner licensed.  They require so many different things when you are trying to register a car that had previously been registered in another state that's it's really difficult.  But Jim had really worked quite a while to get all our ducks in a row, so to speak, and we set off.  On the way there, there was a tornado watch and severe thunderstorm watch out - and we ran into some pretty nasty high winds and rain on our way.  The Saratoga DMV is inside the mall, which is kind of different, but it was everything Jim said and more!  The receptionist, the first line Gestapo type person, was a real character.  She pretty much takes one look at your paperwork and shoves it back at you, telling you what else you need and makes you get out of line and fix it.  There's always random paperwork that you had no clue about.  We thought mine would be good but no, my Ohio title wasn't good enough.  I had to call the finance company and have them fax a certified copy to NY along with a letter of permission to title in the state of NY.  Like they're going to say no, I can't?  Interesting.  But of course when I did that, even with a rush, it would take them 24 to 48 hours to fax the paperwork.  So I failed.  After filling out some emission paperwork we didn't know about and making 2 rounds through the lines, Jim was able to get his new plates.  He also found some good news - the insurance person said that we couldn't take cars in/out of coverage like we could in OH.  Jim typically doesn't drive one of the 4Runners in the winter so we take most coverage off.  Here the agent said it doesn't work that way - the difference is very slight on coverage costs if you don't drive it.  But Jim asked the DMV and the lady said that he could turn in the license plates and ask them for a credit on the time he doesn't have them on the car.  That way, we can reduce insurance since we aren't driving.  Just another hoop to jump through but that should work out okay.  So he has plates and now just has to get the car inspected - fingers crossed about that.  I still have to go through the entire process - and we'll both have to get new driver's licenses too.  Although NY just started a new thing that veterans can show proof of their service and get a special driver's license entitling them to benefits/discounts.  So Jim is going to do that hopefully.

Tuesday, I spent way too many hours of my life (and Jim's too) getting the new postage meter and address printer set up here.  The guy was here over 2 hours - had trouble installing the driver (thankfully Jim finally stepped in and got it working).  Then, I had one label to run after he left and the postage meter jammed and wouldn't work.  I had to call and go through all that again - they had me try and fix things myself because the tech couldn't come back out - only to discover that a belt had totally come off one set of gears that pulls the mail through the machine.  So at least it was his fault and not mine.  It's working now but that means he has to come back at some point and fix it.  Which means another 2 hours out of my world.

A tooth on the excavator had broken - Jim spent probably two hours one day trying to get them off the machine - so he ordered new ones.  They were supposed to be in first thing this morning but after a special trip, they weren't.  But they came in this afternoon and he was able to go pick them up and put them on the machine.  Check out the before and after pics!

 

And this is the excavator all happy looking with its new teeth...

 

 

Unfortunately, some of the heavy rains caused some cave ins in the trench work.  Not sure exactly how that's going to go - it's way too long to shovel it out by hand.  I'm sure Jim will have a trick up his sleeve.

 

Meanwhile, he got the pad area ready for the transformer up on top of the hill - looking good!

 

 

Another side effect from the storm was that it took a ton of leaves down from the trees.  So my Leaf Peeper pics may be soon slowing down.  Although there are still a lot, especially down by the street, that haven't even started to turn.

 

 

 

 

10.5.2013

Yesterday was our first rainy day here - although it was kind of an on/off again thing.  So I guess it does rain in Camelot!  It was kind of nice though - gave us a day to get a few things done around here.  We took a 4Runner load of boxes to the book storage and got those unloaded.  We still have plenty of room and there's still plenty here at the apartment than can go.

Afterwards, Jim went to the land to see if he could do a little machine maintenance but it rained once he got there so he just kind of worked in the back of the truck organizing. 

As he was leaving though, he saw a car down at the end of the driveway and it was a contractor for National Grid.  He was there to make sure there were no underground utilities anywhere (there wasn't).  But Jim at least got to ask him if he knew anything about when our poles would be put up and he thought somewhere in the next 10 days.  So that's exciting!  Just want our work done but don't want anything to happen to our trench work while we are waiting.  So no torrential downpours or monsoons please!

I did a little grocery shopping while I was in town and on my way home, the clouds were hanging low over the mountains...this picture doesn't do it justice but it was very cool looking.

It's not raining today - just cloudy - but too wet to do digging.  So we stayed here this morning - Jim was reading up on pumps for the well.  We want to get that in this fall too and hooked up to a lawn hydrant so that we have access to both water and electricity.  But he can't stay away from Angel long, so he went back up and is doing some more work on the machines, keeping them in good shape for all the work ahead.

I took lunch up to him and took some more Leaf Peeper Pics...

10.3.2013 - Trench is all dug!

Another pretty day so it's back to trenching!

Okay, so this is the biggest rock to date!  It was crazy to watch Jim get it out of the ground.

It was too big to pick up so Jim had to use the Bobcat to just push it out of the way.

We got a lot done today and are really happy at the progress!  Even through this stretch with all the tree roots that made it fun.

But we are now basically done with the trenching down the driveway!  From this point, Jim will have to turn around and go from the street to meet up with the trench.  To take this picture, I stood at the top of the hill where we put the culvert across the driveway...that white spec in the distance is the excavator!

And this is a picture from that white spec of an excavator to the road!  So he will just have to trench through the area that he already cleared, cut those trees down, and moved the stone wall. 

There's of course still work to be done - we will have to crumb out the trench, put sand in the bottom and then compact it.  Then Jim will be ready to work on the area up top where the transformer will go.  But we should have plenty of time - still no poles in sight.

Our beloved Indians didn't do so well in the wild card game last night so they are out of the playoffs.  It was fun watching them here though.  Our Cleveland teams have another chance at redemption tonight - the Browns play the Buffalo Bills and it's a nationally-televised game. 

Leaf Peeper Pics...

 

 

GO BROWNS!!

 

10.2.2013

I didn't update yesterday but Jim got home about 7:30 or so last night - YAY!  I'm so happy to have him back and I know he's glad to be home too.  But it was a good trip for him - he got a lot done, we cleared out another storage unit, he got to talk to Bryan about some things - all is good.

He was anxious to get out to the land to do some real work though!  As he was getting ready to leave, our insurance guy called him and said that he needed to take pictures of my car.  I guess it's a state law here for insuring newer cars to make sure it's in good shape.  The insurance guy said he would come to the lot to take the pictures.  But it was kind of dirty since it hadn't been cleaned since it had been used as a moving truck, so I headed off to Saratoga to wash and vacuum it out so it would be ready for its photo shoot!  After that, I dropped the car off with Jim, took his car so that I could get diesel fuel for him and pack up some lunches before heading back.

It was another beautiful day on Angel - probably the warmest day yet.  Jim got busy working on the trench today and I was his faithful rock picker.  This stretch had a lot of big rocks in it because it crossed over another rock wall.  We eventually want to rebuild that one too - the history in those walls is just so intriguing.

Some of the rocks were so big that if Jim placed the Bobcat just right, he could get them out of the trench with the excavator and put them right in the bucket.  Didn't take too long to fill up the bucket with those big rocks, so he did a lot of emptying them too - we have a big pile up the hill and one down nearer to the road.

Lots of big rocks!

As we were working, a Verizon phone truck stopped at the street where it is marked for National Grid to put up our poles and made this marking on the road...

We're kind of assuming it says OK VZ - meaning okay with Verizon?  But no other information so we're just guessing.  Still haven't heard any update from National Grid either.

Jim made good progress today - we got down far enough that he had to use the Bobcat to scrape the ground to clear all the growth.  Luckily that's an area that he had already graded, so it was in good shape.

 

I told Jim that my job reminded me of being a ball boy/girl at an Indians game...very relevant since tonight the Indians are in the playoffs!  We're excited because it will be a national game so we can watch it here.  I even wore my Indians shirt in their honor.  But anyway, I do a lot of standing/sitting on the Bobcat bucket while Jim digs and then places the scoop on the pile for me to run up and grab the rocks out while he makes another scoop.  I have to be careful and make sure that I stay out of the way of the boom!  Jim watches out for me but he can't always see around him.

 

Jim took these pictures of me, unbeknownst to me - I told him he should be working but I can't complain too much since I constantly have the camera pointed at him!

 

 

 

As I was sitting on the Bobcat, this Danger - Avoid Death sign made me chuckle.  That's our goal - avoiding death!

 

 

Leaf Peeper Pics...it was so pretty today.  At one point, there was a little bit of a breeze and the leaves were slowly falling and the sun was shining on them - they just sparkled as they fell.

 

 

GO TRIBE!!!

 

 

 

 

September Recap

September month was certainly one to remember.  Just to recap a few highlights...

• September 7th - We finished packing up our house and left Ohio for New York!
• We made 3 more trips back/forth to Ohio over the next few weeks to unload the remaining two storage units we had there.
• September 21 - Jim started removing the rock wall and stumps where the utility pole will go.  That's the official start of digging the 700' trench for the electric!