Tag Archives: Land

Haulin’ water

Adventure,

So, yesterday I mentioned that we set the first 4 posts for the bee yard.  To make them semi-permanent, I wanted them anchored in concrete.  The property that we own is raw land so we do not yet have water available on site.  To mix the concrete, of course, we needed water.  I hated the idea of hauling water especially since we didn’t have any sort of official water carrier.  Still, without it, we were dead in the…uh…water.  So, we decided on two water sources.  First, we had a five gallon bucket that had a seal-able lid that worked very well.  Knowing that would not be enough, we also filled a 30 gallon plastic tote half way full of water.

This is next on my list of stuff to get at Tractor Supply!

We (meaning me) should have known better but in my haste to get out there, I decided to press on.  Half way full won’t slosh too much, right?  I mean, I put a cover on it.  No problems, right?  Yeah, wrong.  It’s gets even funnier.  In addition to all that water, I had 320 pounds of concrete and 50 pounds of gravel…oh yeah, and four 4x4s as well as all of the stuff we normally take out there.  We were packed solid and ready for anything.

So, I slowly start down the driveway.  Our house is on a steep hill so we didn’t even get out of our driveway before the water sloshed out and all over the back.  Remeber all that stuff I had back there?  Yeah.  I figured at that point that we are already wet…it can’t get worse, right?  Wrong.

The interstate part of the trip was smooth as you might expect.  But, we go from interstate to a 2-lane paved road.  Also not so bad.  It’s when we went from paved road to “paved” road that things got worse.  Emily and I had a “discussion” about the whole thing.  During that “discussion”, I decided that it would be better for her to drive so we switched places…you can sort of see the tone of our dialogue.

Emily and me "discussing" in the back of the van

Anyhow, we finally made it, missing only a few gallons.  I dug the first hole and went to get the first bag of concrete.  You know, concrete comes in paper bags.  Do you know what happens to paper bags when they meet water?  Nothing good I can tell you.

Anyhow, I quickly learned new and creative ways to carry the concrete and all ended well in that regard.  See, no worries, right?  Not so much.  I am now the proud driver of the van until the mildew smell gets out of the back end.  I hope it doesn’t get too hot the next few days.  I may not survive!

The beginning of our bee farm

Bees, Family, Nature, WV, ,

We bought a piece of property a few months ago.  There are lots of reasons we bought the place including it’s beauty, it’s size, etc.  One of the big reasons, however, was to have a place to move the bees.  You may recall that I had a bit of trouble last summer during the harvest.  It was after that event that I decided that we needed a place out somewhere where the bees could be away from people.  “The event” was probably a once in a lifetime thing (I hope) but I can’t take the chance.

Aren’t these daisies pretty?   They are everywhere in the hay field…

Our new place is outside of Charleston in the country so, of course, there is a potential for bears to be around.  If you remember your Winnie the Pooh, bears tend to like honey.  A determined bear cannot really be stopped, but a good electric fence will dissuade all but the most determined bears from messing with the bee hives.  So, the beginning of our bee farm has to be a good electric fence.

We found a nice sunny spot on the property away from where we plan to do most of our other messing around.  Emily, the kids and I laid out what is to become our first bee yard at the new place.  We set 4 corner posts in concrete.  Being thrifty as I am, we decided to hand dig the fence post holes.  When I put our fence in for the dog, I ran into all sorts of roots and rocks but the digging at the bee yard was easy…apart from the fact that we had to dig 3 foot deep holes.  It was warm and humid so we took turns digging.  Abigail and Isaac both wanted to help so I was happy to oblige…and they earned their supper for sure!  Really, the kids were great and a big help.  Let’s hope they will help with the bees too!

So, we will let the posts set up this week and add the rest of the supports, posts, wire, etc next weekend if all goes well.  After digging the holes, we are committed so the bee farm is officially underway!  Who knew a few fence posts would make me so excited!?!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a funny story about our posts!

Dirt Road People

Thoughts, WV, ,

We have started talking to some of the folks who live around our property in the woods and they are absolutely wonderful people.  One neighbor and I were talking about the view from atop our mountain.  He talked with a sparkle in his eye about when he first came to the ridge.  One view and he said that he felt like he could never leave.  It’s funny but that is pretty much the exact same reaction I had.  There is something about that ridge that leaves me in awe.

The view is incredible for sure but there is something else that makes it special.  Driving up there is a lesson in roads.  We start on interstate, do a little time on nice paved roads, then move on to a “paved” road, and finally dirt.  Our road is not dirty or sort of like dirt.  It is plain and simple a dirt road.  When I was a kid, there were lots of dirt roads around home.  Lots of people lived on some dirt road or another.  It seems like most of those dirt roads have since been paved and I think the pavement took a little something away from those roads.

Dirt roads are a different world.  Maybe it’s about being someplace simpler or maybe it’s reminiscent of old times.  Of course, maybe I just like playing in the dirt.  Either way, part of what makes our ridge special is that dusty old dirt road.

The neighbor and I were talking about how the world works and he said something along the lines of, “it doesn’t matter what happens ‘out there’.  We are just dirt road people and things just make sense up here.”  I am sure that is a paraphrase but it’s the absolute truth.  Regardless of what happens, “out there”, dirt roads just make a lot of things make sense.  While we are not full-blooded dirt road people yet, I like to think that a big part of my heart is up on our ridge and that I have a “dirt road person” inside of me ready to bloom!

Our woods

Adventure, Awesome, Family, Fun, Nature, Thoughts, WV, , , , ,

We spent our time at the property on Saturday walking in the woods.  Our plan was to walk more of the property line as we still haven’t seen the entire place.  We did hike the better part of the boundary and discovered all sorts of excellent things!  Except for the constant chatter of kids, the sounds of the woods were magnificent.  Actually, the chatter wasn’t so bad either as the kids were having fun.

When I was a kid, hiking in the woods was not high on my list of fun.  I played in the woods a lot but plain old hiking wasn’t good for me.  I was so surprised that Isaac and Abigail walked the entire 2 miles in the woods with only a small handful of complaints.  Incredible!

We did walk the better part of the lower edge of the place and saw all sorts of beautiful flowers and animal tracks of all sorts.  There were too many deer tracks to even keep track of but the kids tried to identify every print they came across.

That's Abigail's finger...she's the brave one

We spooked a turkey and saw the biggest centipede the kids had ever seen.  We found just a little bit of poison ivy and a lot of slippery moss.  Squirrels barked and birds announced our path through the woods.  All around us was noise but it felt like silence.  It was marvelous walking in our woods and this weekend was the reason we bought the place!  I am absolutely positive that my blood pressure is still lowered because of it!

Sore legs are nice sometimes

Adventure, Family, Nature, WV, ,

I had an itch.  I simply needed to walk in the woods.  This weekend was all sorts of busy but I was determined to get outside some and enjoy the sun.  Sure enough, the sun was out .  The wind couldn’t miss the fun though.  Honest to goodness, there were times when I thought I was going to blow away.

Anyhow, we wandered around in the hay field on our property for a little bit but the wind made it impossible to stay upright.  My parents tell a tale about taking my brother and me on a walk into the woods.  As the story goes, we started complaining while the house was still in sight.  Of course, as parents some times do, I think they embellished the tale a bit.  Still, we apparently were not good wilderness travelers.  My kids were flat out awesome and never complained once on our hike though.  We walked around for about 2 hours and the kids were awesome to watch.  Isaac plowed through the woods like a bull at first, but that slowed pretty quickly as he got into some serious thorns…Brer Rabbit he ain’t.  After he got some proper respect, it was pure delight to watch them as they wandered around and checked things out.

Isaac discovered the fun of crawling around in the stream that runs through the property.  I have a stream!  And a spring!  Somehow through the magic of the wood sprites, he did not get covered in mud.  Abigail, on the other hand was covered head to toe!  Anyhow, they were like  couple of…well, like a couple of kids in the woods!  Abigail found a bird’s nest that she wanted to put somewhere safe  She found a cool rock on which she could leave it. ( I have a rock!  And a stream!)  As she placed it just perfectly so the wind wouldn’t get ahold of it, she discovered a small snake.  I was sure she would freak but she was really cool and calm about it.  She wanted to touch it so I touched first so she would see that I am super cool and brave.  Both kids ended up touching the little snake and I figure he liked it too.

So, by the end of the day, we were all pretty tired and had sore legs from walking through the woods.  It’s one of those sore feelings though, that’s pretty nice when it comes down to it….plus, I have a stream!

Closed!

Awesome, Thoughts, WV,

On Monday we signed the closing papers for the piece of property we bought (yeehaw!  Past tense!)  We have bought a few houses and been involved in a few other real-estate related things.  This is the first time we have done a transaction with absolutely no realtor involved.  And you know what…the process is not scary at all!

The previous owner put out a post on a message board I read, saying that she had some land for sale.  I saw it and emailed her (it’s cool that I already knew her from blogland…just didn’t know she was selling property).  We went up to visit and walked around the property with her husband.  My kids hung with her as she made apple butter.  They got to stir the big kettle she had over the fire and play in her yard where the turkeys gobbled to offer their greetings (or were they asking us to rescue them?  Not sure on that one…)  We took home some apple cider and a few days later discussed the deal we wanted to make.

After some time, we got back together when it was time to finish the deal.  I wrote up a sales contract all by myself.  Since I wrote it, I was able to have a little fun.  For instance, when you write a contract on a house, you usually say that you want the blinds, lights and toilet seat to remain.  There wasn’t anything like that on the property but I did lay claim to any indian arrowheads that are currently on the property.  No one cared…it was legit!

We worked with a banker and a closing attorney and they handled their details without any hassle at all.  So, on Monday, we decided to meet the sellers at a mom-and-pop restaurant in the nearby town and have breakfast.  Have you ever done a real-estate deal where you get to hang out with the other party?  I don’t know why the transaction of real-estate always seems to be built up as a contentious mess where the buyer and seller have to be kept apart.  I know it isn’t always that way, and I know that some deals are ugly, but being pals and eating breakfast before the deal was just plain awesome!

Anyhow, after we signed the papers, the sellers gave us 2 dozen eggs, fresh from their chickens and we headed to the property (in a downpour) to walk around.  I grew up in the country and had forgotten what rural sounds like.  In the rain, as I walked into the woods, all I could hear was water running in a stream.  I could not hear a single car or radio or another single person…only the woods.  I found deer trails and thickets and some awesome places for a zip-line.  I think I found a spring and a few places for a treehouse.

Even in the rain, I could not have been happier.  This whole deal was so simple and pleasant and I already love the place.  The deal is closed and I can once again lay claim to being a (part) country boy…

Boots!

Adventure, Nature, WV, ,

We are soon to be country folk.  We’ll retain our city-slicker-ness during the week as we both work in the city.  But come the weekend, we are putting on our boots and headed to the woods!  Being city-slickers, we didn’t have proper boots.  How can we be country folk without boots?

Oh no, that cannot abide!  I got new boots last week so we would not be wet-footed-greenhorns!  I was a bit torn about what style of boot I needed.  I have steel-toed rubber boots and I have cowboy-esqe boots.  I have boots with fluffy insides and I have boots with sparkles.  Well, no I don’t.  Anyhow, I figure that running shoes would not work in the woods and I plan to be in the woods and in the fields and generally outside on this property!

Emily actually got her boots at the beginning of winter.  I think she looks hot in her boots.  They are water-proof and snake-proof and termite-proof.  The are so-many-things-proof that I decided to get an identical pair…only mine were half off!  Anyhow, our boots are identical…even in size!

We are ready now.  I got my boots and I got my canvas coat and I got an itchin’ to get outside and enjoy…being outside!  My boots have much work to do in the coming few months!  I have high hopes for these boots.  I am offering up a challenge to my boots.  They gotta be tough.  They gotta be rough.  They gotta be awesome!  Don’t make me break out my sparkley boots!

Let’s see if the banker sees his shadow

Nature, Thoughts, WV

And now, ladies and gentlemen, is the time you have all been waiting for…the announcement of my big surprise.  Well, let me preface this by saying this is undoubtedly more exciting for me than for you.  But humor me, ok?

So, I bought the farm!  Wait, I mean I bought a farm.  Well, technically it’s not a farm…yet.  But I will be moving my bees there and it will be the beginning of a farm.  We are buying 30 acres of raw but beautiful land not too far from Charleston.  We’ve been in this process since the end of September and things are just now beginning to move forward.  Emily says she is curious whether the banker will see his shadow and retreat back into hiding or let us close on this place in 6 weeks!  Phil didn’t let me down this year and I have super high hopes for the banker too.  Actually, he is a great guy and the snafus are not his fault.  Anyhow, we seem to be moving forward very well now and I think we are rounding the corner to the finish.  I am sure that something could still go wrong, so please, find a bit of wood and knock on it for me!

We are actually buying the land from a former blog friend turned real-life friend, Granny Sue.  It turns out, she is cousins with one of the guys I work with. As you might guess, since this is raw land, we will be on it a lot doing whatever we can to make it functional for our use.  I see plenty of projects in the coming months/years.  That means lots of pictures (mainly to show the insurance agent when he asks how I got that car stuck up in that tree.)  So, here are some pics, pre-car-in-the-tree!

These pics don’t really do it justice…It’s WV land so it has hills and hollers and flats and bottoms.  This really is a beautiful state and I am proud to (almost) own some of its best parts!

I am pretty excited!  I suppose I might have hyped my surprise a bit.  No babies or anything like that for us…