Icing Up

On our way to check out the building progress, we spotted this tree with the icicles going up. How'd that happen?

Beam me up Andy!

While the rest of us were out playing in the fresh new snow, Andy and Ken were busy at work, putting up beams that span the width of the house.

On Christmas Eve...

On a glorious Christmas Eve afternoon Don and I took a brief visit to see the construction progress. It's really a gift to be able to build a new home on such a lovely spot in Vermont.

A Gable and an Evergreen Bough

Today, in the middle of a pre-Christmas snow, the highest gable was raised. Don was there to witness it, and to help attach the tradtional evergreen bough to the peak, for good luck and as a sign of respect for the forest.

Movin' on up

This week lots of the outside walls were erected. Stay tuned for next week's addition. Weather permitting,the front, and highest gable, will be built and put into place.

Decked Out

In spite of winds and cold and lots of snow, the guys of Catamount North managed to get the decking on the house this week.

Getting in on the Ground Floor

Our 'walk-out' basement will be more like a first floor, with a den (shown in the picture),a bedroom, craft/laundry room, and a bathroom as well as Don's shop and the mechanical room

A Mighty Wind

I imagine it will become known as The Wind Storm of 2010. The strong wind storm, lasting almost 24 hours took down dozens of trees around the property, took down power lines on the road right in front, and destroyed the temporary barn that was housing the tractor and other equipment. The neighbors across the street fared far worse. No more building until the power it restored.

Building on the foundation

The house is really beginning to take shape as the frame is added to the foundation.

Pumpurkey

Paula's been at it again....keeping the property properly outfitted for the holidays.....Thank you Paula! and Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Powering Up

We've now got the electric panel installed at the site. Time to power up the saws!

Well Done!

After 500+ feet of drilling we tapped into water. The well is now ready to flow.

This Old House

The old house gets some fresh paint. The front door needed a new coat after lots of summers of sun. Sprucing up for selling!

Heating Up

Radiant floor heating coils were laid on the basement floor as the temperature dropped and snowflakes appeared.

Paula....Is this your doing? :O)

I was all set to post some serious pictures of the heavy equipment making more progress moving land, burying tree stumps and leveling out the barn site (all sort of boring). But as I got to the bottom of the driveway with my newly captured photos, my little pumpkin perched on the boulder at the entrance was discovered newly dressed with Halloween gala garb. I'm suspicious Paula did this decoration while out on her morning perambulations. Paula???

Razing Trees So We Can Raise a Barn

A pretty site to the west of the driveway was identified as the best spot for a barn. A few trees had to be removed to make room for its construction.

Building a Foundation

This week the foundation walls were poured.

Set In Stone

Actually, set in concrete. The footings for the house were poured on Friday. There's no changing the house dimensions now.

Bare feet

Thanks to our friend Pat Reed for documenting the bear track spotted up around the housing site. Maybe the creature was hoping the cellar hole would be a good place to spend the winter?

Bottoming out

Last week's blast made a deep cellar hole, full of dirt and rocks. The challenge now is to clear out the rubble and get to solid ground so that a foundation can be poured.

It Was a Blast!

We got some bang for our buck this afternoon. A big hole was blasted into the ledge where the cellar of the house will be. The rock and dirt coming out of the hole will be used for the driveway and grading.

251

We don't have a house yet...but we have an address.

LOGS INTO LUMBER

Many of the higher quality logs taken down for the house site are now being turned into usable beams and siding. Although not of high enough quality to actually be used in the house, they will make a pretty darn nice chicken coop and sugar house.

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

A Zoning Permit was posted at the end of the driveway. Small print informs folks if they object to our building a house, barn, and garage,to do so within 15 days of posting. Hopefully no one objects!

Cracked Up

It's not just planning for the new home. The work also involves patching driveways, replacing tired carpet, and painting walls, to get 12 Butler Drive ready to put on the market.

House Plans and Budgets

It took many attempts, but we've finally matched a house plan to a budget. Once the appraisal is done and accepted by the bank, building should begin in earnest. We will build a one-story house with a walk-out basement that sits on top of the knoll, backing up to the woods, and facing southeast into the meadow.

MOOSE!

A young bull moose appeared out of the sapling stand in the middle of the land this evening while Don was doing a little brush-hogging to open a path around the property, He stayed for sometime, tearing down the little trees to eat. Eventually a deer came out to join him, then wandered off into the woods.

ALL CLEAR!

Don finally got the last tree down on the house site. He was out there cutting down trees in last week's 90 degree heat. Under all those roots was lots of ledge. Stay tuned for announcement of a blasting party later this summer!

The Work Begins

John Scott and his crew have begun the excavating work, beginning with fixing up the driveway. Look at the great new entrance!

Logging

 
Sunday was a full day of logging which cleared more trees around the housing site. Don and Scott were a great team!

31st Anniversary

 
A rainy day turned into a beautiful evening, so instead of sitting inside at a restaurant, we bought picnic food and celebrated on the property. Don gave me a Bocce Ball game setso we played a game of Bocce too

Catamount North

The land was the main attraction, but to really enjoy it, we want to live on it. So finding a builder to help us design and build a suitable house to best take advantage of the property was important. After careful research, we asked Catamount North Construction if they would be our design/build people. Take a look at some of their highly crafted work at www.catnorth.com

Couldn't wait

Don couldn't wait to move in before tapping trees for sap, so he made arrangements with a sugaring friend to boil his sap into syrup. It's delicious, and has been used on many mornings of pancakes and evenings on ice-cream.

Pond Site?

We're hoping a pollywog filled puddle (that has been full since extracting the tractor from the place last fall) means we may have a good spot to put pond. Time and drier weather, (and maybe a hydrogeologist) will tell.

STUCK

Apparently, according to all questioned in my non-statistical survey, anyone who has ever owned a tractor, has gotten it stuck at one time or another. I managed to enter that demographic early on.

Saturday was another day of clearing trees around the house and driveway site. We're saving the big, straight logs for out buildings (like a sugar house and chicken coop), shorter logs will go into the wood pile, but the scrappy stuff went into a bonfire, which made a great way to cook lunch.

The sad part of brush hogging was all the disruption I caused to the creatures living in the trees and brush. I'm afraid I exposed a few field mice to the keen eye of the passing hawks and the resident owls. At least the little nests in the trees were already vacated of their families.

Brush Hog: A heavily built rotary mower that attaches to the back of a farm tractor via a three point hitch. Good for wacking through dense plant growth. Who knew? I learned how to cut down everything in my path with the brush hog behind me. Ahead....I had a great view. Tractors measure hours, not miles. I put double digit hours on the tractor while brush hogging. Thank goodness for MP3 players and pod casts.

Farm Equipment

We closed on the purchase of the land the morning of September 30. That same afternoon, Don finalized the purchase of his new (to him) tractor. The first order of business would be to brush-hog the fields. I'm learning all sorts of new farming terms....like 'brush hogging'.

In the beginning

June 2009, we get a call from a close friend offering us to purchase a piece of land he has owned for many years. It was 42 acres of land on Sherman Hollow Road in Hinesburg. It consists of 37 acres of open fields, used for farming, and 7 acres of woods. Don has been hunting on the land for many years, and was familiar with almost every inch of it. After not too much thinking, we said yes.