2nd - 3rd Week of December

Well, we made some great progress these two weeks.  Weather was both beautiful and sunny, with some very cold nights... some very foggy mornings, etc.  ONCOR pulled cable through and we now have permanent power.  Corinth Water Supply re-routed a water line, put in a meter and trenched our line to the house.  Barn continued to go up, ran power conduit to the barn and we poured the house piers.  The house beam got dug and should pour this next week.

Picture from on top of the camper

Water Line going in

Poring Piers.  Interior piers are 11 feet (in the ground)

Panorama shot - next two pics.  Left side from back of house looking north.  Me on top of camper

Garage pad ready for pour

My tree - will be right outside our bedroom windows

Almost forgot - a shot of my "office"

1st Week of December

Was a fairly productive week although I am finding keeping contractors focused on your project can be a bit trying.  ONCOR the electrical company showed up and installed our transformer, a 28KW unit based on our load calculations.  The septic system engineer also came out, explained why we need an aerobic system and we located the best place for it.  The water company came out to relocate a water line that ran under our pad to along the road where it should have been and next week I should have a meter and temporary service.  The concrete contractor started stringing measuring, etc. and will start drilling piers this next week.  Best of all on Sat morning, the pole barn folks showed up, drilled and set poles while I was there.

Water Company

Stringing and Measuring

Hoover Pole Barn Company out of Kaufman, TX

A couple shots of the new pond at rear of property  and a nice post oak in the rear corner.

One day I will need to clear some of this underbrush to allow the oak more room

Dinner one night.....  Not as good as Regina's, but i'll survive.

Foundation Pads, Fire and Ponds Nov 26-30

This was first full week of construction.. with barn pad being built followed by house pad with the resulting fill dirt being dug creating a new pond on the back (south) side of the property.  The contractor, David Martin, is very skilled and precise in his work which resulted in a very nice and level pad for both barn and house.  The last few pictures below were taken on my birthday, Nov 30th before i left for Houston on a very foggy morning.

Barn Pad - Contractor will start on barn Monday, Dec 3rd.  This will provide me storage for things I need to have on hand for contractors, framers, etc. like doors and windows, etc.

Two shots of the house pad.  It is near grade at front, but with enough elevation for drainage and about 12 inches above grade at rear due to slope of land.

This is the fire from the three large oak trees that had to come down.  It was lit on Wed and burned for two days.

Self portrait in the trailer

Pond at rear of property, you can see the top of the excavator.

Here are pics in the fog.  In first one you can barely see the ashes of the fire on the left hand side, with more wood to be added.  Look for the gray.

This is a close up of the pond.  Should be deep enough to have some fish!  It will encompass everything you see in the foreground.

My home, office and local ice house.

Broke Ground

Well, reality is finally settling in.  Closed on our construction loan last Wed. and I spent the last five days on site doing a multiple of things.  Bought a few required items such as this trailer and lawn tractor.

This is one durable little lawn tractor, I really put it to task.

The Coastal Bermuda grass was just too long (should have cut in Sept) for this little tractor although it is 21HP, so I hired a fellow to help.

Then on Monday, my dirt contractor, David Martin brought in the heavy equipment to start the ground breaking.  Unloading a bulldozer.

The excavator that make easy work taking down the large old oaks that had to go.  Two were completely dead and one had been struck by lightning and was dead through it's center.  David made a big pile to be burned later.

I did a few things like gather up all the old iron I have found on this place.  Unfortunately, an old plow I found last summer has gone missing.

Also brought in a Porto-Potty and put up a mail box.

Saw this long horn and it's calf on a drive to Lindale, Tx witch is about 15 miles away.

Next week, David will be building the pads for the 30x50 pole barn and the house.  The barn  should look just like this.  It is called and RCA or raised center isle.  It will sit about 75 feet off of the house.

Some miscellaneous pictures from this week.