It's "taking a village", alright......

It's "taking a village", alright.....if a person were to collect the names of all of the people SO FAR who have been involved in this project, it would definitely look like it belongs in the Ozarks. Friends, neighbors, hired hands, true professionals, blood relatives, in-laws, consultants, prospective clients, students, passers-by, droppers-in, tourists, dogs.....and a story behind every one of them, if you had the time and the inclination.

I was out at the house on Sunday and thought I'd do some serious picture-taking for a blog update......but, I was getting in the way of progress (On Sunday? People working? Yes, if you happen to be related to someone.....and were helping on your day off...) so I came on home.

Meanwhile, I'll give you a brief update. As you may have noticed, a great deal of trash had accumulated on the building site, including four of the shipping container sections that had been cut out and had fallen down the hill. There were also several dead trees lying around and one that was too close to the container to be safe or practical. My friend and landlord Ken Richardson was hired to get the trash shoved into one pile and out of the way, to cut and remove some of the dead trees and to retrieve the container panels from the hill. So, Sunday before last, he brought his new Kubota tractor and his ninety-one-year-old dad Loyd to get the job done. Quite the crew, eh? A 55-year-old, a 65 year-old, a 91-year-old and thankfully, no dogs. That was about an eight hour operation, with time to sit on some overturned buckets to eat lunch, and an unforgettably impressive experience to watch how Ken and his dad work together and know exactly where to put the chains, where the tractor needs to go, where to attach the "come-along", how to use the pry bar to guide the tree or the metal that was being pulled, which wood was good for what.......and enough energy and humor for conversation and philosophy and a couple of Loyd's famous jokes. That was a day I will always remember and appreciate. And it wore me slick.

Michael created a beautiful concrete pad on which has been installed an air conditioning unit.....Jason finished the piers for the storage container to be installed on Thursday (WITH A CRANE!!!!).....the pier that will support the ramp that goes from the house to the ground by the storage container/car port is now in place.......Michael and the plumber have been at work in the crawl space getting it ready for a pump and hot water heaters (which could not have been a fun job).... sinks have been installed in the two bathrooms......toilets are there and almost installed....Jason is getting ready to put up the translucent panels that will separate the bathroom and my bedroom...the furnace is in place.....Gabe installed the speakers and did a final check before the phone guy and the electrician come....more people have been out to check on the progress......and I'm back at work and no longer able to spend the whole day standing in the future living room, looking at that river and trying to decide between lawn chair, kayak or inner tube. It's tough.