We're on a roll!

Well, Jacob got his first lesson in driving the bobcat after his double header (baseball game)! As figured, he was a quick learner and handled it like a pro! After Jacob learned how to run everything (and yes...my hubby DID give him a long lesson, saftety instructions and practice session!) we just sat back and watched, as Jacob made quick work of the two big piles of earth that were created from digging the driveway! He was quite content to go back and forth all day long! I think he enjoyed himself a little too much, cause as the piles of earth got smaller...his loads were barely filling the buckets! HA! Here he is doing his thing!

IT'S BUILDING TIME!

Hey all! Sorry it's been a couple weeks since my last post, but after several birthdays, musicals, and a lot of other "busy"....I will try to cram a couple weeks into a few short paragraphs. I'm sooooooooooooooo excited to say that we've closed on our commercial loan for the studio and living quarters yesterday, (FINALLY... after an appraiser that took an enormous amount of time)! WOOOHOOO! I'm soooo excited! And the crazy thing is....our payment for the land and the building is LESS than I was paying in rent for my storefront studio location. Crazy huh? AND...our project appraised for $7000 MORE than what we're borrowing! And with that being said, our plan...and once we unload our current home... we'll have this paid off in 2 years, with completely no mortgage, and be in a great position to start the straw bale home. I'm just feeling soooooooooooo blessed right now...(my cup runeth over)

My hubby and his buddy also drove down to Tennessee to my Dad's, to bring back the bobcat, free sliding glass doors, the cement mixer, and several other things. (Thank You Dad!)

So...here's the low down on how the next couple weeks are going to work. Mike over at DIY Polebarns has been sooooooo great through this whole process, and extremely patient with our long process. I gotta tell ya...if you need a pole barn at a great price, you HAVE to check out DIY Polebarns. DIY is HANDS DOWN the company who gave us the most with top quality. And...get this...when the prices for steel and wood went down, Mike offered to requote the SAME DAY we were closing at a new reduced price. He was HAPPY to do it... and our lead time is about 2-3 weeks. Where else could I deal with the president of the company on a one to one basis? (and NO....I'm not getting any *specials* to plug his business, I just believe in passing on information for good people who believe and practice the way I try to practice in my business.)

So we have 2-3 weeks to prep the site, and get everything ready! Whew... I'm meeting the electric co-op out on the land on Wed. to get electric to the site. "WHAT? I thought you were going green Tara?" Hold up! Let me explain! hehehe We started this project with the intention of showing people that a normal family of five CAN live sustainably in a REASONABLE fashion over a resonable amount of time. Remember folks...it's not about the "I want it now" mentality. We need electric for the building process, and since we're doing this for very little money, we will add solar and wind power AS WE GO, AS WE EARN, (remember...we don't like debt) and eventually ween ourselves off the grid, or at least lessen our dependancy. Practicality people! LOL

Then we'll have to get the site prepped, and if I remember right, the county is still requiring us to have a perk test/soil sample for a septic system BEFORE any construction is done on the site...even though we're NOT going to have a septic system and will be using composting toilets. So I'm going to have to get that just please the "powers that be" at the county level. (remember...everyone want's their piece of the pie!) And we also need to have another load of gravel delivered for the driveway, so we can get our final permit for the driveway, since we need THAT in order to apply for our building permit at the township level. (remember...the pie!) And we'll also need to schedule the cement delivery to coincide with the framing of the pole barn.

These next couple weeks are going to be very busy! It's ball season for the boys too, so when I'm not at the site, I'll be at the ball diamond! I think I better just pitch a tent! hehe! OH YEA...the first project I want to get done is a solar shower stall! That's something that I REALLY want on site during the building process. What better way to cool off and be refreshed after getting all sweaty, grimy, dirty, and covered in drywall dust that a soothing solar shower on site! I noticed some used privacy panels behind our local Napa store, and they've been there awhile...there's only about 3-4, and I know the owner, so I think I'll see if they want to get rid of them. I can easily convert those panels into a shower stall. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

Oh...and I'm also happy to report that the one gutter on the chicken coop filled up the first rain barrel! I'm sure we would have filled another had I had time to convert the second garbage pail into a rainbarrel. So it works! YEA!

Well...that's all for now! I could keep going, but this is getting pretty long! Get ready for some construction pictures! Peace and blessings everyone!