I actually didn’t do anything today. Rather didn’t do anything at the house job site today. I got a call around 3:30 that the house was staked out so when I got home we packed everyone in the truck and headed out to see the first real indication of where the house would be. The surveyor’s team did a nice job surveying the property and staking out the house. They staked out the corners and provided the excavator with some offsets and even showed me where my porch corner posts will be (which will be helpful, cause you know who most likely gets to put those in).
And today we got our first complaint, so I must be doing something right. I guess a neighbor came over and was upset about me cutting trees down which, if you know me, is kind of ironic. Winning friends and influencing people, that’s how I roll.
Tree killer. Oh yea, I'm gonna hang this bad boy on my wall next to my deer head. Sorry ladies, I'm already taken.
Setting angry neighbors aside we got the first look at the house site with stakes. Kinda weird, I won’t lie. There was more brush pushed aside. Seems much more “open” now which was not what was in our mind’s eye. We’ll get used to it. Plus we’re planting a ton of trees so in the end it’ll be enchanted enough.
view towards house, standing in the orchard, garage in foreground, house in back
Christine lost her befriended little tree that was by the porch. Kinda sad. Maybe the excavator put him aside somewhere. That’s what we’d like to think anyway. Maybe I’ll pay the excavator to find a similar tree and say “yeah, here’s that porch tree I saved for you.”
I saw where my studio is going as well as the rest of the first floor, or footprint of the house. Seems small, but that’s the goal. Once again, it’ll look different once we build. Our current house seemed small too and now it’s comfortable.
view of house, standing in screen porch, garage off to right. Note two tall cherry's left of the truck. Those are the ones that get in the way of backing out of the garage. See the tall cherry to the right? Yeah I gave him a reprieve too. Also note random "saved" maple tree in my studio.
The garage will be a challenge but not enough to change anything. See, I deviated from the landscape plan and spared about 3-4 cherry trees, two of which are where the drive turn around is supposed to go. The others are where the grassy off-drive parking is. Well the one tree by the garage will hopefully live but it bisects the garage exits, although it is on the other side of the driveway. Should be interesting, but I think we can do it without moving the garage or chopping down another cherry tree. Hey, it’s our house, we’ll be crazy if we want to be. I pay my taxes.
I promise to be nice to my neighbors, even the ones who think I hate nature and the environment.
We’ll start digging the foundation hole next.
-Chris
nine apple trees 