Property Updates 7/1-7/4

Spent 4th of July weekend at the property! Had a great time, just Michael and I this time around.  We got alot of work done, and are ready for our first temporary shelter/Tuffshed to go in on the 29th. 🙂

We got a late start on Friday and arrived at the property at 4:15 am. By the time we pitched the tent, and crawled into sleep the sky was already showing hits of morning light!

With one hours sleep, we hit the day at 6:20 with coffee and breakfast of chorizo and eggs with LOTS of veggies. Michael got the BBQ going that we brought up last time, and used that to cook all weekend – AFTER he removed the birds nest from inside.

We remembered the correct tarp for our shelter this time, so that was the first thing put up after breakfast. Those little bungies with the ball on the end are AWESOME! Just sayin’.

Once that was done, we began the excavation of our shed location. Because of the crazy building laws we have, we need to create a “dwelling” within 100 feet of the easement which extends 30′ to either side of the property line. No biggie since the property had already been marked out before we purchased the place.

After location the first corner we took out the pick, rake and shovel and got to work. This took us most of the rest of the morning before it got to hot.

Once it was hot we went to town to purchase the shed for our mini-cabin. This is the configuration we settled on, and Michael will build up the inside the way he want. In the end we will have light, an attic, a porch, a sleeping area, and possible an air conditioning unit. Nothing too fancy, but it means we won’t have to pitch a tent my truck headlights anymore.

We also purchased a portion of the patio pavers for the front of the mini-cabin. We finished leveling the location and clearing out brush when we got back from town, ate dinner and went to bed exhausted with only 1 hour sleep the previous night.

Day two didn’t start out as we planned. Our new fancy tarp meant the sun didn’t wake us as we are used to and my phone died during the night. We didn’t wake til 8:15 and it had already started warming up. While Michael made breakfast, I hauled the pavers in the wheelbarrow to the building site.

We ate breakfast then worked on setting all the pier blocks, getting them level and squared with each other. We cleared some area for the porch which still needs work.

In the heat of the day, we went back to town to look at tractors. Every place was closed because of the holiday weekend or it being Sunday, but we drove around to see what they had available. We also located a couple of places that rent equipment as well.

We drove all over and re-found some stores that we hadn’t seen since our first visit, and got generally acquainted with what town had to offer for future reference.

Then we headed back to the property. My phone was dead so I couldn’t take pictures, but we located the septic test holes that had been dug on the property. Reaffirmed the second new location for our cabin. Stomped around a bit more discussing all our ideas and dreams and what should go where.

All in all it was a GREAT trip with a lot of work, but also a little bit of play and vacation feel. I learned proper pick handling and wheelbarrow mechanics.

What do you think of our little project so far? Leave me a comment below!