Asparagus In Our Future

Just before we left for our annual pilgrimage to the land of maple syrup, we received our order from Fedco. Asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, and two hazelnut trees. We managed to get the hazelnuts in the ground before we left, but the rest had to sit in cold storage. We have a few days to till, fertilize and plant before we leave again for a longer trip to Connecticut and Rhode Island. Although getting these things in the ground at this point is not exactly a priority, they take two or three years to be productive so we thought we'd make the time to do it now.

The weather for the week looks fabulous. Sunny and in the 50's. By the time we get back roughly two weeks from now, the roads should be unposted and the ground should be sufficiently dry to start the rest of the site work.

Chipper?

I am less than chipper after a day of chipping. We rented the same chipper we used seven years ago, and this time it's power did not impress. I though it would suck down the little fir trees without much effort. The teeth that grab the end couldn't get a good enough hold to overcome the branches. I had to trim a couple feet of branches up from the butt end to get the trees to feed through whole. This added work took about 2 hours. We had wanted to share the rental with our neighbors, but I ended up using all but one of the allotted hours. Even if I had finished in time, moving the chipper would have been all but impossible in the soft spring conditions. By the end of the day I was dragging, but it's done.

The delay in construction has given us the opportunity to do more redesigning. This time it was the placement of the bread oven. By giving it more of its own space, one change followed another, and in the end the house was considerably different. The screened in area is now on the south west side, and the shed roof no longer wraps around. This change will give the kitchen side of the house a lot more light and solar gain. I will be making a trip to Block Island and spending a few days with Richard in a few weeks. I'll get to swing a hammer and talk over the plans.

Quagmired

I'm beat after a rough day bouncing around in the excavator, and I don't have much to show for it. That's not entirely true. I actually accomplished almost everything I set out to do. There were a few stubborn stumps frozen in place. And I dug drainage trenches and holes where I wanted to. I fixed much of the road coming in. But the mud! I nearly buried the excavator in mud on more than one occasion. The rich clay soil is saturated with thawing water creating a viscous muck a couple feet deep. The more you mess with it, the worse it gets. Right where our driveway ends is a natural drainage site. Working in that area I came dangerously close to getting hopelessly stuck. The trenches should help to drain the water away and down the hill. But the depressing fact is that mud season is upon us, and it will be a few weeks before it gets any better. Right around the time the roads become unposted. When I wrote that I don't have much to show for it, I was referring to the appearance of the place. It looks like a disaster area. Not much can be done about it until things dry out.

The Excavator Is My Friend

The rental place delivered a small excavator to Sedgwick this afternoon. After a two minute lesson on what levers did what, I was left to figure out the rest on my own. Professional operators certainly make it look easy. Swift, fluid motions. An economy of movement. This sort of blending of operator and machine comes with hours and hours of practice. In the hands of a skilled operator the jaws of the bucket are as nimble as a forefinger and thumb. But in my hands the bucket was all thumbs. After three hours of practice, I was getting the hang of it, and by the end of tomorrow I expect I'll be fairly confident about my ability to dig a 400' trench to bury the power to the house site. I rented the machine for eight hours of running time. I thought this meant that I could have the machine running for eight hours after which I'd have to pay additionally by the hour. Running time, however, is at full throttle. If I turned it on and let it idle for three hours, for example, it would only clock one hour of running time. To get eight hours of running time into a day makes for a long day. That's what I've got ahead of me tomorrow.

Snow Again

I shopped around in Ellsworth for the various things we'll have to rent, and I have an excavator all lined up for delivery tomorrow. Then I woke up this morning to a few inches of snow on the ground and it's still falling steadily. I'll have to cancel the excavator or at least try to delay it for a day; I'd like to be able to see the ground I'm excavating. At least the forecast is for a significant warming trend over the next week. At this pace we won't be driving nails until the end of May.

Porkupine

Last night at a stirring lecture on the fate of the Canada Lynx, I received a complaint about the frequency of my postings. So now,with a small glass of scotch to keep me company, I'm here for an update. Faithful readers must understand that no matter how much I want to have something to write about our construction project, the weather couldn't care less. Right now it's dipping below 20 and blowing. Not good news for a break in the freeze/thaw cycle. I did manage to get over to Sedgwick today for a few hours of dragging dead Christmas trees to a more chipper accessible spot. We'll probably rent a chipper next weekend.

Got a call from a plumber this week about an estimate. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $23,000. A number like that prompted a visit to another plumber for a second opinion. I want to choose my battles carefully, and plumbing is one I'd rather not tackle. The learning curve would be too long and painful for the tight schedule we're facing. Our first estimate did come with some suggestions to help bring the number down. We thought-- wouldn't it be nice to have a laundry facility upstairs. But then we found out how much it would cost.

I also chatted with a guy who installs solar domestic hot water systems. A state-of-the-art system sufficient for a family of four runs about $10,000. State rebates and federal tax credits bring that number down a few thousand. Seems like solar hot water gives the bigger bang for the buck compared to solar electric.

After receiving two estimates involving 5 digit numbers, I quickly added up several of the other 5 digit estimates we've gotten, and came up with $65,000. This total does not include important things like lumber and a roof. It's no wonder that housing prices are high. Even a modest project like ours will end up costing around $200,000 (land but not labor included).

The list of possible road names is getting shorter. One of the favorites is Porcupine Ln., suggested by Aidan and inspired by a resident porcupine. I would be tempted to spell it with a K. We do, after all, pine for pork. Or, even better, porkewepine.

That's all, Meggan. My glass is empty.

Forms

I've been busy making the forms for the foundation for the last few days. Easy but monotonous work. I started by ripping 27 sheets of 3/4 inch CDX plywood in half. Then, like I was building a two foot wall, I cut 2x6's (2@8', 4@21") and screw the whole thing together. One form takes about 15-20 minutes. I have about 50 to make, and I'm more than half done.

Still waiting for the ground to thaw. Temperatures in the teens at night aren't helping matters. Between the frost in the ground and the posting of roads, I'm beginning to wonder when a foundation will happen.