Back to work.....

Just a short update today, the day after Christmas, and the crew is back at work.  Had a load of wood delivered today which will form the support for the

Water Water Everywhere

Last week we were on vacation and traveled to Milwaukee for a few days.  When we returned the crew had done some more foundation cleanup, brought in some rock for the east end of the crawl space floor and installed a sump pump in the lowest part of the crawl space.  This was something I added to the spec.  Just in case any

Houston we have foundation......

The concrete trucks rolled in last Thursday to pour the foundation walls.  By Friday the concrete was set enough to remove the form boards.  Contractors rent those, I found out,  So all the form boards have been removed and

That didn't take long; the first change order

When we surveyed the property the general conclusion was that we were building on a pretty flat site.  At least the area where the house was sited was pretty flat.  Appearances can be deceiving.  There is about a 2 foot fall from the east side of the house to the west side.  This is not a big problem

Making it permanent

Yeah!  The foundation forms passed inspection so the concrete truck rolled in Thursday morning around 10 to start filling the forms.  That part goes pretty fast with a concrete pump and long hose.  Saves a lot of labor also as opposed to pouring concrete into a wheelbarrow and humping it over to the forms and pouring it in by hand (and back).  Still a lot of work to level and smooth the concrete.

It is a messy job that was not helped by the light on and off again rainshowers we had yesterday.  Not complaining of course because I just have to watch.  It's those hard workers in the trenches that have to really deal with the mess.

First Inspection

The first of many inspections will be conducted today Nov 28.  The county will come out and verify that the foundation forms are proper, that the foundation is set back from the wetlands (Bufflehead Pond) by the required 30 feet, and that it meets the other specifications of the site plan.

The contractor and his team were out there during our very nice weather Tuesday and Wednesday installing the rebar, and building the final forms for the piers and supports that will hold up the house and the deck.  Assuming the foundation inspection goes OK they will pour the concrete into the forms on Thursday.

The box forms will be the supports for the front entrance and beam support columns

Bruce Geise, our GC, installing the vertical rebar for the foundation wall.  The horizontal rebar is already in place.

These are the forms for the deck and the dining room

What's in a name?

Yes, it’s pretty exciting to finally have the swimming pool I’ve always dreamed of.  Oops.  I’m not allowed to talk about that.

The farm, whatever we end up calling it, is being utterly transformed from the charming old place I first visited nearly two years ago.

The beginnings of an orchard have been planted, deer fencing (my version, made from fishing line) has been installed in several places, garden plots are dug, that nasty old house with the pink and black S&M room (ask me about this privately… :D) has finally disappeared, the RV has been moved to the back of Bruce’s workshop, by the hops, and heavy machinery and men in orange slickers rule the land.

So while the guys beat up and abuse the land with their trucks, tractors, diggers, and concrete pumpers, busy creating something sleek and modern, my attention is focused on saving some of the charming old structures and making them into something useful and gorgeous. 

I confess, I’ve fallen in love with the old garden shed.  It’s leaning a bit, and most of the roof has blown away, and it’s full of spiders and slugs… but it definitely has potential.  I have had to chain myself to the building on occasion to prevent Bruce, not having what you would call a romantic soul, from setting fire to it.  But already the little garden patch beside it has produced a fair amount of tomatoes, Swiss chard, lovage, and fabulous herbs.  So I’m keeping it!  Next season, it will get a roof and some bracing to keep it standing for a few more years… a fun and handy (and very romantic) little place to keep all my gardening supplies and tools.

For now, there’s much to be done to save the other little Cottage, which is going to become my studio and possibly a small, quaint guest house.  More about that in a future posting! 

Back to the name of our place:  Bufflehead Pond.  A very nice name, especially since all the views from the main part of the house will be toward the pond and its delightful denizens.  But this hardly conjures up the “reality show” drama of the Attack Blackberries that make me look like I’ve been in a horrible cat fight, or the Fireweed that hides under the berries and gives me hives, or the wild Holly Tree behind the Cottage that sends out long stickery branches to start new baby trees in a 6-7 foot radius, or the spiny Thistles that sprout everywhere, 4-5 feet tall, snagging pants and jackets, or the Stinging Nettles that one won’t discover until much too late, after you realize your entire arm has burst into flames.  And dare I mention the English Ivy that some idiot planted against the cottage wall? 

The name “Bufflehead Pond” conjures peace and serenity, a rocking chair on the old porch, a lazy old dog, and frogs croaking in the twilight.  Frankly, folks, I really think we should name the farm something much more honest and fitting… perhaps something more like “Tangleweed Ranch.”  

Cheers!  Dee

Welcome to Bufflehead Pond

Ever since I purchased 12 acres of wooded farmland in Kitsap County Washington I have struggled with what am I going to name the farm.  I toyed with Zelafarms, Zelawoods, Abildough Farms (a previous name I think as there is a carved wooden sign on the property with this name), and several others.  The farm was vacant when I bought it in April of 2009 with the exception of a family of Bufflehead Ducks that lived year round on the half-acre pond that is on the farm.

The Bufflehead Duck is characterized by the unique coloration of the male as shown above.  The white feathers on one-quarter of the head and the white wings, and the jade green face.  So, that is the background behind the name.  I'm going to use it for awhile and see how "sticky" it is.  All suggestions are welcome.

The real purpose of this BLOG is to track the progress of the construction of the new home we are building at Bufflehead Pond.  After a very protracted permitting, construction financing and contractor selection process we finally broke ground on the new house on Nov 12. 

This first posting will be rather long as I provide the background but I hope to make future updates frequent and short.  I figured this would be a good place to document the process with photos and some of the roadblocks we will inevitably run into.  You are encouraged to add comments and share your own rants about challenges you have had with construction projects.

Here is the actual pond.  Click on any photo to see a larger version.

And our actual residents

Getting back to the big picture here is the Google Earth shot of the whole property in the red outline.  The new home site has been changed to the south side of the pond.  The old house in the southwest corner of the property has since been demolished and removed from the property.

And here is our site plan.  On the site plan you can see the new location for the house. 

We did break ground on Monday Nov 12.  Here are photos of the foundation excavation.

And of course the day after the foundation was dug we had a deluge.  Most rain in a 24 hour period in 20 years.  Don't bother with any swimming pool jokes as I have heard them all at this point.  I've got to hand it to the contractor.  They got these forms built during the rain.  They came back after the site was dry and leveled all the forms and put in the rebar.

That's all for this first post.  Look for the subscribe button and you will get an e-mail every time I add new content.