Our well

The biggy for this week was getting the well dug.

It took all day Tuesday and part of Wednesday. We learned about well drilling--what subject does that count for? Earth Science? The guys were very nice and didn't' seem bothered as we pulled up our camp chairs and watched. They even showed us what the bit looks like that they drill with.

This is a bit like the one they use to drill the first 80 feet then they switch to a smaller one.

It was a noisy process and made a mess. They used water to keep the drill cool and to bring up the stuff the bit ate through. They caught most of it and recycled the water as much as possible. But it did spill and we now have yet a different color of dirt around the house.

Sophie (neighbor dog) came to offer her expert digging advice to the well guys.

Tuesday they got down to about 180 feet but it wasn't bringing up enough water, so Wednesday they got down to a little over 200 feet and said we would have plenty of water.

The bummer is that we can't get water from it until we get the tank set in the basement. But that can't happen until the basement floor is in. But that can't happen until the roof is on--about 3 more weeks. So we will continue our daily trips to the village park to fill up our 4 jugs.

S'mores

Last night we our first s'mores as residents of out property--we still need a name for this place hint hint.

Basement walls

This week we got basement walls.

Tuesday Todd went fishing for walleye and did quite well. Then he stayed at a friend's to work on the van.

I stayed home and watched the walls go up and the children. They brought in these great big wall molds and set them up on the footings they put in last week. I am not sure how they connected them. By 11 AM I was hot and tired of listening to the pounding they had to do to set the molds and took the children to the closest Mc Donald's play land. When we got back they were nice and tired (OK just some of us) so it was rest time. I think Tabitha and I were the only ones who rested, but the others were quiet enough.

At 4:00 the cement mixers started rolling in. I didn't keep track of how many there were but I was told there were supposed to be five of them. I found the truck/machine that transferred the cement from the truck to the molds fascinating. It stretched well over the tops of our tallest trees. One guy walked along the top of the wells aiming the big tube to the correct places. When they were done unloading the cement trucks and were evening the cement with towels I did not see an obvious place for the basement walkout door. I walked over to a group of the workers who were taking a break and was casually talking to them about things. I wondered out loud if they remembered my door. They looked at me questioningly but I didn't make any fuss. I went back to my work and noticed the boss getting the plans out of his truck along with a measuring tape.

The next day, after taking the molds off, they cut my door out of the wall. Now we have three pieces of 8" thick cement right outside our back door. Before they left they sprayed the walls with a tar to help with water.

Front view

Back view

The house seems small to us after looking at wide open spaces for so long, but it measures correctly.

Wednesday we took Gabbi to a friend's house near Bay City and went into LJ's Kitchen and Bath to get some info about cabinets. We had our plan laid out and had gotten some quotes and were heaving trouble comparing them because we weren't sure weather we were comparing apples to apples or not. We ended up wanting to change the color anyhow. Randy W. gave us a fireplace mantle that he had taken out of a home during a remodel. It is nice and big and OAK which doesn't really go with the cherry cabinet color we had originally chosen. So now all the wood in the house is going to be natural oak--floors, doors and cabinets.

When we got home we bottomed the van out on the drive because of what the big trucks had done to it, so Todd wanted to fix the driveway a bit. There were places that the sand (all we have is sand) had shifted so much the tree roots were being torn up. He worked on and off all evening spending shifts in the van because it was raining so much. The drive looks nice now...at least until the next round of big trucks comes.

Footings

Friday

Today the big cement truck came. Daniel said it was about this big--holding his hand about the height of his head. Then he told me it was bigger than the camper. I missed it. They came about an hour after I left but new deep tire marks in the sand give their presence away as I pulled in the drive this evening. The forms they made and surrounded with pea gravel had been filled with concrete Along with a couple extra supports in the middle. They will be back tomorrow to make walls.

Today

My new dryer!

My new dryer (aka clothes line) is up and running. I did laundry at the laundramat and only dried about half of the loads--the sheets and towels since I needed to put the sheets back on the beds tonight and knew they wouldn't be dry otherwise. My line is way loaded down with 75% of a week's worth of clothing for eight of us.

Is there a rule about how many feet of line per person? How about how many pins? I bought three packages of 50 clip style pins, I already had about 75. I could have used more. I doubled pinned most things, overlapping.

I prefer to do laundry in one day. Now that I have to go to the laundramat for the summer to wash, I almost have to or I wipe out 2 days doing laundry. I like to hang things on hangers to dry that get hung up in closets so that saves a bit of room, but I think will slow progress. I know that I will have to spread the laundry out over at least two days or get DH to hang more line.

Any other hints or suggestions for using a clothes line?

Waking up in the rain

We woke up this morning to the sound of drizzle. Not the kind that will go away in a few minutes like the afternoon rains we have been having, the kind that might just stay all day. I groaned--getting ready for church is a challenge anyway now we have lousy weather to affect moods and routines. We made it to church a little late, but dry. Tabitha wore her tennis shoes again, because that's all we could find.

I woke up with a headache and a heartache with the normal mother feelings that affect all stay at home moms at some time or another--under appreciation. Todd tried to be supportive. I got to talk to some people at church about things that had nothing to do with me which helped me refocus. Then I got to go to Meijer all by myself. I missed a few things on my list, but got myself some sterling earrings that were 70% off. I can't find any earrings right now so these will be my summer in the barn earrings. Hopefully I will not loose them.

Later this evening, after a nap, we went to the storage unit and got our "real" mattress. No more futon lumps for me. We also stopped at the local ice cream place (there is one in every small town). That helped too.

Yesterday the footings were formed. Tomorrow they are supposed to start the foundation and finish this week. Then, we are told, it will take off from there. I will get some pictures. The big trucks are fascinating to all of us especially Daniel. I guess the next few weeks will be a bunch of big trucks to stay clear of and to entertain us.

Things explained

Many people ask about how we shower or bathe. As I sit here waiting for water to get hot to wash my hair I will try to explain and then add some pictures.

The small children are pretty easy and almost like any home. They don't mind a cool bath. When it is cold we just go fast. The older ones tolerate the cold water and can move fast enough if they are not washing their hair to mind much.

We have improved the process. At first we all had cold sponge baths, but that has changed a bit. We finally found a battery operated camp shower, that was given to us years ago, it really helped, but it didn't like being turned over in the water and now we can't get it to work at all. So back to the drawing board.

The bathing area.

The equipment includes the following:

1. A plastic tub with about 3 inches of water for pre washing. Very important after a day of dirt sledding. Where the top layer of mud and other debris is rinsed or wiped off.

Here is the pre-wash tub and the water cooler mentioned later. Also the bathroom shelf with all the necessities. The shelf is an old refrigerator shelf with a milk crate on top all on a 5 gallon bucket turned upside down. I tried to bungee them all together, but it doesn't stay well.

2. Then the horse watering trough. I first thought one of those tubs you use for parties, you fill with ice and cans of pop, but I couldn't find one. SO we went to Tractor Supply Company (my new favorite store, well, almost); I figured they would have a big bucket of some sort. I walked down the aisle of horse supplies leaving Gabbi drooling over all the possibilities in her head. I found all sorts of sizes. My first thought was a big galvanized tub then I checked the price. Next possibility was rubber or soft plastic feeding tubs. As I priced them I found that I could buy a black hard rubber/soft plastic 50 gallon watering trough for $30. That was it.

It is big enough that even I can sit comfortably in it. I have dreams of making a drain hole in it and covering it with one of those round plastic pieces you can use if you loose the stopper of a tub--it also looks like a thing-a-ma-jig to help with the grip for opening jars. I found that it is easier to drain than I though it would be so that might not be necessary.

3. Citronella candle. Not real effective but I like to think it helps.

4. Normal bath things: soap, towel, was clothes, shampoo is weather and dirt dependent. You know (at least I have read) that we Americans wash our hair too often. I know mine gets grimy after 3-4 days, others in my family have different times. Those who get their hair sprayed at church carnivals just have to live with green striped hair until it comes out on their pillows or until Saturday night.

5. A pitcher or cup. I like the pitcher that I got form a pizza place in college. You had to pay a dollar deposit for the pitcher when you bought a liter pop. I have always had a weakness for pitchers, I figured I'd let them keep my dollar because I wanted the pitcher. It used to have cool flying tomatoes on it, now just part of the logo is left. I can see the inside of the pizza place in my mind but can't remember the name of the place. It is a great size for hair washing and is plastic so it is safe in the bathroom.

Todd "showers" every day before work. For him, I warm water up in the evening and put it in a 3 gallon thermos like the ones they empty on coach's heads after championship games. It is still warm enough so he doesn't freeze and can get clean for work.

For the children we go from cleanest to dirtiest. If there is enough water I will change it half way. On Saturday night or as needed I wash every one's hair. Daniel is of course the easiest. The little girls' hair is still fine so the only difficult part, as in the real tub at our old house, is getting them to hold still for water being dumped on their head for the rinse. The older girls' hair is so think it takes at least 3 pitchers to get their hair wet and more to rinse. They lean their heads over the back of the tub so the water doesn't get full of shampoo.

For my bath I have visions of soaking in a full steaming tub at dusk with no bugs flying around, reading a very entertaining novel by candle light. My ideal has been bolstered by my latest read from Mary Jane Butters MaryJane's Outpost - Unleashing Your Inner Wild check it out at http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/, so far that hasn't happened. To get enough water for steaming it would take all night since the propane tanks are almost empty and it takes about 20 minutes to get 5 quarts of water to boil. My first attempt the water was too hot because I didn't have enough cold water to add to the hot. It did make a nice warm sponge bath, but I never could get in the tub. The next two attempts were better, but I only managed to have about 4 inches of water, not enough to relax and let Calgon take me away. So I will continue to perfect the bath thing. Mary Jane had plans/pictures of an old iron tub with a propane double burner camp stove under it. I showed it to Todd. He didn't say no, but I need to collect the equipment--Anyone have an old tun they aren't using?

My water is boiling so I will go try the bath thing again.