Thursday, July 28, 2022

Building time!

It seemed like it took forever to get construction started on our cabin but once we did, things have been moving quickly. Our basement was dug June 23, 2022 and while the Tomans and Mudricks were both out of town the basement footings were poured and wall forms set up. We were sent lots of photos from our contractor and our new neighbor who has been almost as excited as we are to see this progress. In July we got out to the property twice to camp and check out the progress. After the basement walls were completed a plumber came in to do the underfloor drains and pipes to septic. Next up: slab floor and the septic system!

The basement is going to be left unfinished for now with plumbing for an additional bathroom and utility/laundry room. In the future we'd like to finish the basement to include a storage/tornado safe room (yikes!), utility/laundry room, bathroom and the remainder of the basement will be one big open area - maybe with bunks, a futon and plenty of space for fun.

Excavator:

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Finished hole:

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Footings:

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Concrete forms for walls:

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Concrete going in!

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Curing time:

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Walls are finished and underfloor plumbing in:

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View from the driveway:

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Saturday, January 01, 2022

Trail Time

 Both families were able to meet on our property for a day right before Christmas. And the weather was pleasant (for December especially)! We marked out a 1/2 mile loop trail that keeps above the cliffs and visits two overlooks. The kids were excellent trail workers - cutting, trimming, raking and moving logs without complaint. It was useful to have so many feet on the ground to get an idea of trail placement. It was also nice to do trails marking during leaf-off season so we had better site distance and didn't have to plow through vegetation. Took a break for s'mores and roasted starbursts (Mudrick thing). We were also able to meet with an excavator who checked out our driveway and the work that will be needed there to get construction equipment (mainly the cement truck) back to the property. It's exciting to get plans in motion!

Most of us at the main overlook:

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Master s'more maker Owen:

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Cadie's looks pretty good too:

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Group around the fire pit:

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Maren and Sonny liked rolling in the leaves. Trail crew in the background:

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Smaller overlook:

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Dan balancing a rake on his chin:

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Our trail mapped out! Color indicates elevation (red highest, blue lowest):

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Tuesday, November 09, 2021

Cabin Floorplan

 After much deliberation we have chosen and purchased a floorplan for our cabin. We are going to work with the company to makes some changes - probably adding an unfinished basement, but here is the layout and renderings of what we want it to look like. 

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More fauna and flora

In the past month and a half both families have made two visits to the property - primarily to meet with different contractors onsite. One Toman trip was a camping trip (more on that later) but with both trips we were able to document more wildlife and interesting trees. 

We saw nearly a dozen eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina caroline) just hanging out in weird places - like right on the edge of our overlook. They blended right into the fallen leaves and I was always worried I was going to step on one. 

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Asher was most excited to find this eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) and had to read up on it when we got home. Apparently this is the juvenile stage and as an adult they are green and live full time in water. 

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I was excited to see a lot of Sassafras saplings (Sassafras albidum) but I have yet to find the seed source parent!

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We also discovered native persimmon trees (Diospyros virginiana) along the driveway and the Mudricks sampled the fruits with the verdict: not great, dry in the mouth. Perhaps they need to be dried before consuming?

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Thursday, September 16, 2021

It's ours! (Officially!)

 We signed the closing documents! Sept. 13, 2021. FINALLY. The survey took much longer than expected but it is done and we are so happy. The Mudrick and Toman families celebrated with Deweys pizza and root beer floats. Official acreage bumped up to 35.6734 acres. I love that the official legal description of the property includes point markers such as "20 inch hickory."

 

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Camping

 We managed one camping trip this summer to the property. We went over Eric's birthday (also known as 4th of July weekend) and got to hear fireworks in the distance. We have rented a portable toilet to make the camping experience a little more enjoyable. Our new neighbor was also there camping for the weekend. He drove over his mower and mowed an area in the pasture area perfect for tent, camper and fire. This helped greatly with the ticks (!!) but they were still very prevalent. Cady chose to sleep in her hammock in the trees.

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Besides the ticks, we had other wildlife encounters - found a box turtle (cute!), caught some fireflies and Maren got stung by a wasp (boo). 

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We did a little exploring, found more crags to climb, got a little lost on the property and found blooming rhododendrons! 

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I'm also making a mental note of all the different tree species on the property - I hope to make a geo-referenced map of some of them. Down by Laurel Creek I found an American Hornbean, Carpinus caroliniana, and some umbrella magnolias, Magnolia tripetala. The hornbean is going to be gorgeous this fall. 

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We spent Saturday afternoon at Cave Run Lake - just swimming. We look forward to coming back with our boats or even renting a house boat on the Lake and exploring it more. 

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All in all it was a beautiful weekend in Kentucky!

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Wednesday, May 05, 2021

Leprechaun Rock Garden

I think we will continue to find new places and features on the property for a while still. When the Mudricks visited the property a few weeks ago they found the "leprechaun rock garden:" an area of the lower hillslope with large moss-covered boulders. We will need to explore this area more but it seems like a great playground!

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Pasture

 We want to use this property as soon as we can and that means we need to get something built, or at least a toilet onsite ;) From the county road we have a LONG driveway (~850 ft) along a ridgeline that opens up to a 1.5 acre pasture area. The entire pasture is sloping but along the top it is not too severe. We think the highest spot at the back of the pasture will be the best site for a house. We have no idea what it will look like or how big - we have a lot of research and work to do! 

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