Building a new house and shop (9 Viewers)

[1911]

What kind of fence do you put up ? Just a divider type like a split rail?

Great reading and glad the surgery went well!

Thanks, and sorry that I never replied to your question - just realized now that I hadn't.

The fence will be five or six stands of barbed wire, on t-posts with cemented-in braces and corners. I want to discourage trespassers as much as possible. The fence is not in yet; the developer has his own fence guy he wants to use, and he has been real busy lately and has not done it yet. OK with me so far; gives me more time to save for the expense. I did pay for a surveyor to come and mark the fence line every 100-200' (the trees are really thick here).

After my surgery, I still ended up on a Bipap machine (after a sleep study), all of which I am paying out of pocket as I am self-insured. The good news is, all medical providers tend to give large discounts for everything when you pay cash up front.

 

[1911]

The only real progress on the house is just the native grasses I planted are still growing great. The earliest that sprouted is already going to seed, which is good - maybe the grass will spread to cover more of the thin spots. Some of the seed is still sprouting, which is surprising since I planted it all in July and August. I guess maybe some of the seed was too deep, or the soil conditions in some places just not ideal for germination. The best thing is, I haven't had to water any of it for a long time; we've been getting a lot of rain for the last month, and never more than 5-6 days without rain. The grass is established enough now that I don't think I will ever need to water it again (the advantage of using native species).

The grass on top of the house:

grass on top of the house

• 1911
• Oct 2, 2018

The grass on the hill above the house:

grass on the hill above the house

• 1911
• Oct 2, 2018

A view of the house, coming down the road to the house:

view of house and hill from the road in

• 1911
• Oct 2, 2018

Front view of the house and the hill above it. Couldn't get the whole house in one frame; the garage on the right is clipped:

view of house and hill from the front

• 1911
• Oct 2, 2018

 

[65swb45]

Haven’t been over here for a while. The hillside resolve looks pretty good. It will be interesting to see what the first winter does.

 

[gunracer1]

I saw the road road
Leading to yor place, I was pretty sure it crossed you land. A boundary makes for good neighbors. Glade to here the developer will kick in his share.

 

[mdsims]

How’d the two trees in front of the house fare? They look a little light on leaves in these new photos.

 

[1911]

I saw the road road
Leading to yor place, I was pretty sure it crossed you land. A boundary makes for good neighbors. Glade to here the developer will kick in his share.

If you went in the new paved road to the new development, you probably saw the old gas well lease road immediately to the right as you come in the subdivision. That road goes straight to my land, and is open for now, until the fence goes in. The only other access is through our gate, across the road from the winery gate.

 

[1911]

How’d the two trees in front of the house fare? They look a little light on leaves in these new photos.

They're still alive, but the building contractor used them to brace some of the concrete forms, putting some big nails and wire wrapping around them in the process. I've been pruning and nursing them along, hoping they will survive, but that remains to be seen. They've made it one year, but in my experience sometimes trees take a long time to die. Time will tell.

 

[mdsims]

Often root compression is a bigger issue than the nails. Especially if heavy equipment was used around them. My understanding is oaks are especially sensitive to that. Maybe do some internet sleuthing in that regard and see if there is some soil work you can do that will help them perk back up.

I’m uneducated in this regard, but have read a lot of environmental reports from construction projects.

 

[firestopper]

The current photos look great, the grass is thickening upside. I hope your trees recover.
How you and mama holding up?

 

[1911]

The current photos look great, the grass is thickening upside. I hope your trees recover.
How you and mama holding up?

Good, thanks Paco. The best part is, we already live here on site and enjoy our peace and quiet and privacy every day. It frustrates me that we can't move faster on the house; I can visualize living in it, but it's not a short-term goal at this point - just not willing to borrow money to make it happen right away. Hopefully business will get better again.

 

[firestopper]

Glad your enjoying life on your property. Its a beautiful area. I appreciate the building with cash, It'll come, besides you have a nice shop and living space already. Business will pick up, Im sure of it.

 

[ferg]

So, just how many acres do you have?

 

[1911]

So, just how many acres do you have?

Ninety-two.

 

[thatcabledude]

View of house coming down the driveway is too cool. Wow!

 

[1911]

View of house coming down the driveway is too cool. Wow!

One of things we like best is that you never see the house itself until you are almost right in front of it. It is down in a valley. From a long way away and way uphill, you can see the hill above the house and maybe even the top of the house, if you knew what you were looking for - but 99% of people are just going to see a grassy hill. All of the living parts of the house are completely hidden from anyone/everyone.

 

[planomateo]

So looking forward to seeing how this place turns out. Thanks for sharing!

 

[mdsims]

Can’t wait for the house warming party! I already have my outfit picked out!!!

 

[1911]

Can’t wait for the house warming party! I already have my outfit picked out!!!

LOL. I hope you like Irish Traditional Music.

 

[1911]

No progress on the house to report; spending what money we have on a barbed-wire fence for our southern boundary right now. The fence guys have been working on it for a few days, but it is so wet in some places that the D9 Cat cannot clear trees. All of our other boundaries are already fenced (were fenced when we bought the land).

I did find this image from google earth that I thought was cool. It was taken some time this past September; the grass I planted on the hill and the top of the house is just starting to show. I like the stealth aspect of it; all you can see after the house was buried is just the parapet wall and the two retaining walls on each end. Now that the grass has grown over, it will be even harder to spot from the air.

You can see our road out to the gate at the paved county road on the far right; the road is about 1/2 mile long.

The big tan-colored spot in the southeast quadrant is (was?) my shooting range; I say "was?" because there are some houses being built to the south, in my current line of fire. There is a large 15' cliff/backstop to shoot against, but I don't want to risk a ricochet going over someone's back yard and house. Oh well, there are other places I can still shoot safely, but not with the same long range. I could get at least 250 yards with the current setup, other places will have too many trees and/or hills to get that far. But I mostly shoot pistol anyway. Have already moved my steel silhouette target to another location.

This image shows about the northern 2/3 of our place.

aerial view Sept 2018

• 1911
• Nov 13, 2018

 

[gunracer1]

No progress on the house to report; spending what money we have on a barbed-wire fence for our southern boundary right now. The fence guys have been working on it for a few days, but it is so wet in some places that the D9 Cat cannot clear trees. All of our other boundaries are already fenced (were fenced when we bought the land).

I did find this image from google earth that I thought was cool. It was taken some time this past September; the grass I planted on the hill and the top of the house is just starting to show. I like the stealth aspect of it; all you can see after the house was buried is just the parapet wall and the two retaining walls on each end. Now that the grass has grown over, it will be even harder to spot from the air.

You can see our road out to the gate at the paved county road on the far right; the road is about 1/2 mile long.

The big tan-colored spot in the southeast quadrant is (was?) my shooting range; I say "was?" because there are some houses being built to the south, in my current line of fire. There is a large 15' cliff/backstop to shoot against, but I don't want to risk a ricochet going over someone's back yard and house. Oh well, there are other places I can still shoot safely, but not with the same long range. I could get at least 250 yards with the current setup, other places will have too many trees and/or hills to get that far. But I mostly shoot pistol anyway. Have already moved my steel silhouette target to another location.

This image shows about the northern 2/3 of our place.

aerial view Sept 2018

• 1911
• Nov 13, 2018