Grandma's House

We are all so excited that Grandma has bought a house just 40 minutes away from us. She is not quite ready to move yet so we will be taking care of it(and enjoying it, of course) while she waits for just the right time to move. We are hoping for sooner rather than later. We spent the weekend working in the yard and boy did it look good when we were finished. The males in my family will just have to remember that we are in a neighborhood and folks might not take to kindly to them using the bathroom at the nearest tree.

Bring the Hot Dogs, I gots the Fire

And then some! One small burn pile plus an unexpected wind equals one fire gone wild. I was working down at the burn pile, and the wind picked up. It blew for a few minutes, so I decided to go up and take a look at the upper hill. When I got clear of the smoke from the lower fire I could see that the upper hill was ablaze. I dropped the chainsaw, ran like hell to the truck, grabbed the McCloud and water can, ran like hell again, and started fighting my screw-up! I worked it from one side while the other side burned like crazy. The fire was popping and hissing, and I could hear it roar when it really started taking off. The wind shifted and blew smoke right on top of me and nearly choked me to death. My eyes burned, I couldn't breathe, I gagged from the smoke, and I never knew that humans could make so much mucous.

I fought it alone for about 20 minutes and I realized that I was outnumbered, so I called 911. The local Volunteer Firefighters were there in about 15 minutes, and I was glad to see them. They put the water cannons on it and had it under control in 10-15 minutes.

Smooty asked me where the flames were in the pictures, and I had to explain to him that I didn't think it would have been appropriate to snap a few cool flame shots while the whole damn knob was burning.

Jordan and a Red Oak

Views

Tarzan?

Da Crue





Well, we are at it again. This time we are working on the 17 acre piece of property off Hickory Lane. The Old Timers call it Grapevine Ridge, so respectfully we named our cabin development the same. The property is really amazing. The more we clear and open it up, the more we see a diamond in the rough. The views are million dollar, that would be nice, and there are two creeks (springs). I walked the North and West sides of the property and found a t least ten more lots to be developed. I will need to get a small bulldozer to continue our new road. The local guys are pretty tough on trees and land when they bulldoze. These pictures are from Friday when Patrice and the kids and I cleared brush and trees from Lot 1. They are on Spring Break, so I figured I could get the old crew together because I could use some extra help. After working on the 5 acres on Spence Lane last Spring, Patrice and the kids tore through the first lot on Hickory. I could barely cut fast enough.

We have cut in a new road that wraps around to the south side that reveals the views that you may see in some of the pictures, but trust me you can't appreciate it completely unless you're standing here with us taking it all in. We have been trying to decide on a name for the road, but nothing yet. This is our first actual road, so it is a significant milestone for us, therefore the name should reflect this.

In naming the project Patrice was absolutely sure about using "Grapevine". Last week while I was looking through the tax maps of the area I noticed that the old road name was Grapevine Ridge, but somehow had been changed to Hickory Ln. From this we named the project "Grapevine Ridge Cabin Community". A local sign shop is making the property sign for us, and when I saw the proof for the sign I was struck by the words "Cabin Community".

It has been a very hard 12 months for us as a family. The uncertainty, the money, the sweltering heat of Summer, the ticks, the sharp chainsaw against my damn knee, the rain on our concrete, my terrible temper and equally terrible mouth, the biting cold of winter, cold showers, hauling wood for the stove, splitting and cutting wood, teenagers without reason, waking up to 19 degrees outside and 24 degrees inside, seeing our breath while lying on the floor, sleeping by the wood stove to feed it fuel every 3 hours and waking up 6 hours later only to find glowing coals, going to bed fully clothed, the desolation, the crying, the fighting, the fractured egos and marriage.

"Cabin Community",huh. You're damn right! As I have read somewhere and find it appropriate to share here, "We have done so much with so little for so long, that today we can do almost anything with absolutely nothing".

I thank God for adventure, entrepreneurship, America, friends, and most of all an amazing wife and kids.

Baine