first things first

NOT THE ROOF LINE OF MY HOUSE

Andy and I have been working on the enclosure for the pump house, a requirement for a 2 party well system. Since the well gushed sooooo much water Hollie and I are going to split it with the Sorters. No sense in us both shelling out 12K, lets split it.

ENCASED IN CEMENT

We also had to encase the well casing in a "substantial" amount of cement. I hope 240lbs of cement is substantial enough for Thurston County's vague description. It sure sealed up the casing a heck of a lot better than the bedonite (sp?)clay chips the well guys dumped down the hole! If you look at the front left corner of the cement you will see that Foxy was kind enough to lend her paw for the branding of the well head.

SHOT FROM THE AUGER

One more piece of tin, and the roof is done. well, it is done know and we have moved down to the mill to mill up some siding. We are using Cedar and will use the "board and batten" style siding. Old school miner look in my opinion...i like it.

PRESIDENTIAL

No, UDO is not running for president, but whom ever wins this position in the upcoming election will surely have something in common with UDO:
he / she will be a dog. How did we end up here as a country?

What else is going on? Not much. I think I am approaching burn out again here on the "project" I am only good for about 30 straight days and then I crumble. Time to head out for a little road trip. Plus, I am totally afraid to go any further on our house build. Stubbing the water, power and septic is freaking me out...what if I lay it wrong? I will end up with a bunch off pipes in the middle of a room! STRESSFULLLLLLLL!

pump house

Quick update: here is the start of our pump house enclosure.

new fencing up around the bugger shack garden...horse radish has been planted
Udo on the job
Foxy sacked out after a long day of keeping guard over me and hunting brush pickers...that is a whole different story!

I will post more later

typical day at the office

IN THE OFFICE

No, its not a picture from a port a potty with an escape hatch! Its the cab of a John Deere 120 Excavator. This machine is AWESOME. Doctor evil has got nothing on me when I am sitting in that chair! I bet since I started this project I have logged 100 hours in that sucker. I guess I am experienced now! Seriously, I get better everyday at operating that machine...it is an art that you can see in the final product and how quickly the job gets done. My work is starting to look good, but I am not fast by any means.

The Dynamic Duo

There they are, the 2 wonderful bits of equipment making my life possible right now. That little 5 yard dump truck is great too, it has saved countless hours and because its only single axle I dont need a special license.
I thought I would post a snippet of what I do all day.

the sun came out!

So the sun came out and it was kind of warm...like high 40's. I got a good window to get some site prep done:
The Garage / Apartment site

That transit level is pretty cool item. It assists you in grading a flat piece of ground. If you look, I removed a lot of material, I never thought I was going to get the slope out of the site. Andy helped me out a ton today and i think we pretty much get it done.

View from the transit level

SUNRISE

Those little peaks are some southern foothills to Mt. Rainier...pretty cool shot

Mt. Rainier

Crazy looking mass on the skyline...14,410ft, just shoots right up out of the ground. Hollie and I were going to drive up to Paradise, a lodge at Mt. Rainier the other day, but we found out that the road was closed due to avalanche, then we found out that no dogs are allowed! Crazy, the world has gone dog hater on me.

JESUS(thats heysus)

So instead we did a little prep on the garden with the Sorters. If the morning frost ever quits we are going to have some killer veggies!

WORKIN' IT

Hollie put her back into it. The soil is in limbo right now, so its a bit of work to get it ready. But we will be ready. I think Heather started some seedlings indoors today to transfer once the frost is gone.
Not much else going on here. Working on the house project, hoping the other house sells, trying to stay dry and sane.

boat race?

Down at the waters edge...or Ports edge

Hollie and I went down to the Sound this morning to see a sail boat race. We were ready to see all the colors and sails and enjoy the beautiful weather. When we got down there we noticed something was missing, namely the sali boats!

We had fun anyway.

I guess we missed that start and it was a big loop, so we missed all the action!

Hollie thought she saw a boat...PSYCHE!

Up the warf to the capitol

The weather is supposed to be nicer for the next couple days so we are thinking about doing some hiking...we found out that no dogs are allowed in National Parks, well on the trails. What? No Dogs? What is next, no rubber soled shoes? Geez! we pick up the poop and dont let the dogs harass the wildlife!

jonesin'

OPPORTUNITY?

AN UNTRAVELED ROAD CAN SOMETIMES LEAD YOU TO UNEXPECTED PLACES.......

I THINK ITS TIME TO GET THE CAMPER LOADED UP AND HIT THE ROAD.....WE ARE JONESIN' FOR SOME ADVENTURE!

ocean city snow

Interesting work day friday. I dont know the umber of continuous days I have been working, but I think it hit me on Friday that it had been too many. Things were not flowing for me and I was struggling to make good progress. I said to Andy, "man we should go camping, just load up and go." We both agreed that it would be nice and went back to work. I continued to day dream about some great adventure for the better part of the day. Later that day about 2 pm Heather and the kids came around on their walk to visit with their dad and Andy asked, "Do you guys want to g o to Ocean City?" The reply was a resounding yes from all parties. I dropped my shovel and exited the trench and called Hollie to inform her of the new plans. And that was that. I spent the rest of the day getting ready for departure........
Hadden testing the water proofness of his boots

HARMONY flashing a goofy smile

The Vanagon and whatever you call our setup
oh, it snowed

The weather spaced itself out perfectly for us to have a fire and hang out

And to run around on the beach. Poor foxy had to stay on leash, she is injured.
Its a bit strange too that you can drive your car on the beach at high speeds...knuckleheads abound!

The Galley in the vanagon was in full flight

Of course....

That is one nice setup those Sorters have

Everyone took there turn wearing the vacation glasses

washed up

UDO was bouncing off the walls off leash until the cars started coming. He is feeling much better and putting weight back on. I am stoked about that.

Proof the weather was god enough for a bon fire. Hadden prefers to slowly tan his marsh mellows, while Harmony goes for the quick burn method. Both techniques yielded killer smores.

It was a quick trip, and great to get away. It was just what we needed and really got my fire lit to get back out on the road again. I think Hollie and I will be hitting the road again this year for a long one....stay tuned.