Barn part 1

Our barn site is officially excavated. It is behind and to the left of our house.
I would post an aerial photo but, as we haven’t sold enough eggs to pay for a helicopter, we don’t have one.

Prior to excavation…The gravel you see in the picture is the top of our driveway.

During excavation

Finished excavation…Complete with drainage swale. (A special formation of the dirt to direct rain water away from the barn.)

Dumping gravel…We got 6 dump truck loads of rock total.

Finished dumping gravel…The white spot near the top of the picture is the barn foundation, made from very fine rock. (Called screenings)…And isn’t the sky lovely!?

Breathtaking sunset!

And so my post has people pictures in it, here’s a recent shot of Samuel and Daddy driving our tractor:

Check back soon for a post regarding the newest inhabitants of Rehoboth Ranch!

~Amy

Daffodils

What else have we been doing?
Well, we planted 180 daffodil bunches!
Some friends of ours had an overabundance of daffodil plants on their property,  and as one of them is highly allergic to daffodils, they were eager to get rid of them. We were more than happy to take them off their hands!

Everyone had fun helping to put them in the ground!

We put some on either side of our driveway entrance and the rest up at the top of the drive.

The rocks were Josh’s idea. It does look lovely don’t you think?

I am so thankful that God made such pretty flowers!

~Amy

House Delivery Part 2 & House Set Part 1

We officially have a house! Yay!!

The third truck came about 1415. By the time they unloaded the second module, 5 out the 12 wheels on the trailer had gone flat or blown out, 2 on the way up from the factory, 2 getting into the driveway, and 1 coming up the driveway. On top of that, when the truck crossed our creek it slid slightly off the driveway, putting a big whopping dent in one of our 2 culverts. They eventually did get across the creek but it took them upwards of 45 minutes.

The third truck coming up the road!

Getting ready to cross the creek.

While waiting for the second module to arrive, the work crew was far from idle!

They unwrapped the dormers, put moisture barrier paper on them and put the windows in.

Lowering the first module into place.

Making sure it was exactly square with the basement.

Raising the roof and putting the side walls in.

The first dormer is set!

Lowering in the second dormer.

The men and I watching as they secured the dormer. (left to right: Daniel, Josh, Me, and Daddy)

Putting on the next segment of roof.

Past the point of no return! Pulling the trailer out from under the second module.

Setting the second module.

I’ll post more pictures later!

~ Amy

House Delivery Part 1

We found out Friday morning that we were only going to get two of our three trailers that day. Why? Well. . . apparently, when the workers went to put the countertop on the cabinets they did not have a man supporting the weak spot where the sink space was cut out so the countertop cracked. They were not able to fix it in time so they told us that the last (and biggest) trailer will be delivered Monday morning. (The same day as the house set.)

Also, the house company ended up parking the dormer trailer at the gas-station down the street from us Thursday evening so they could detach the truck and bring it back with the first house trailer Friday morning.

The dormer trailer parked beside the gas-station.(In case you’re wondering the dormers are laying on their backs with the windows towards the sky.)

Mr. Horne brought his bulldozer in case one of the trucks got stuck coming up the hill.

Our first view of the front of the house coming in from the road!!

Josh and Daniel taking pictures.

Crossing the creek! The man in the blue shirt beside Josh is our builder. (He was watching the wheels. They got really close to going over the edge of the driveway.)

The front door!

The back of the pod. (The white is shrink-wrap.)

The dormers crossing the creek.

As of today, (Saturday), the plan is still to set the house this Monday!

~ Amy

Entrance Trimming

This morning, Daddy, Josh, and Daniel went up to The Ranch to trim the slopes on either side of the driveway entrance. They borrowed a friend’s string trimmer and cut approx. 35 feet on either side of the entrance.  They took down all the small brush and grass but left the small saplings that were about 15 feet apart. Those, Lord willing, will eventually grow to be full size trees.

Before trimming it looked like this:

(to the left)

(and to the right)

Daddy cutting (Yes, it was as hard as it looks!)

And afterwords it looked like this:

(to the left)

(and to the right)

~ Amy

A Little Bit of Irony

Yesterday we got a call from the house building company saying that our house would need to come on three trucks as opposed to the original two, because they had underestimated the space that the 4 dormers would need on the trailer. That truck was scheduled to be delivered today around noon. The other two trucks with the rest of our house units are scheduled for delivery Friday, and the house setting is supposed to take place on Monday, October 1st.

This morning, we were notified that due to the severe fog and rain in our neck of the woods today the first delivery truck would be delayed untill tomorrow.

Also this morning, Josh got a call from a very bewildered FedEx delivery man. He informed Josh that he was at our address, (that is, our new address), with the flooring supplies. The good news the man said, the supplies are two weeks early, the bad news, there’s no house to drop them off at.

The irony of this situation? Well the house, which was originally scheduled for delivery 3 weeks ago has not arrived, while the flooring supplies which were not supposed to arrive for another 2 weeks arrived this morning. At our property. Where there is no house. Where it is raining.

All this to say, I am very thankful that God has written the story and already knows what the ending will be!! While I often do not understand God’s timing, or His way of doing things I am grateful that He is in control!

Now because I don’t like to post without pictures here are a couple of random ones from the past several weeks that have not really fit in with any of my previous posts.

Josh and Daniel talking about how to bush-hog around the trees.

Samuel driving the bulldozer with Mr. Horne (The owner of the excavation company we used for the driveway and the basement.)

As Samuel later said, “Making big, dirty, dust clouds!’ Just like a boy (smile)

~ Amy

Views on Our Homestead

Cutting the fence for the driveway to go in

Digging the driveway

The driveway entrance

The house site

Breaking ground for the basement

An old two-room shack down the hill from the house

The front hillside (beside the driveway)

~ Amy