Non Electric Homestead McMinn County (tornado, floor, cabin)

[ylisa7]

It all looks great. I know you are so excited. We are still waiting to get into our property. Our culvert(from hell ha, ha) was delivered last week. It is HUGE. The county is supposed to install next week then we can finally start our homestead.

You will be done with your house before we can get our site dug out. I can't wait to get started.

Lisa

[Forest Breath]

At least they got it delivered. Hopefully it will not take long before they install it. THings start moving along pretty fast once the ground is "broken". I hope your place is all you ever dreamed it would be. So far, my dream is surfacing right before my eyes and it is so exciting. One weekend when it is NOT going to rain, we are going to spend the night on the floor. I just cannot wait to sleep in that house....lol....even is it IS just a floor right now. It continues to be an amazing experience.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Forest Breath

At least they got it delivered. Hopefully it will not take long before they install it. THings start moving along pretty fast once the ground is "broken". I hope your place is all you ever dreamed it would be. So far, my dream is surfacing right before my eyes and it is so exciting. One weekend when it is NOT going to rain, we are going to spend the night on the floor. I just cannot wait to sleep in that house....lol....even is it IS just a floor right now. It continues to be an amazing experience.

I know how you feel and hopefully you can spend the night soon. I am so happy for you. Yeserday we went to our property and just sat on the hill where our house will be. It's so beautiful.

I got my camera today- a kodak easyshare and I know Nothing. I love looking at all of your pics. Can you tell me how you transfer pics to your posts. Thanks- I need all the help I can get.

Lisa

[Forest Breath]

No pics today, I was too tired to make any this weekend...and too busy.

This weekend we:

*moved a bunch of statues from the gardens, drift wood, a few plants and such on Friday. We moved some more patio furniture and made plans to shop for windows because it was supposed to rain all day Saturday.

*on Saturday I woke up to no rain, so at 7am I dug up my magnolia tree and a lilac and planted them on the hill near the house. I also carried about 6 gallons of water over to water everything. We then were able to move another lilac, 2 azaleas, 2 forsythia, 4 crepe myrtles, a fig, a small ornamental spruce, all of the daylilies and the turtlehead flowers. We got them all planted and watered. Then the rains came.....uh...briefly. We then had breakfast with my daughter and grandson and shopped for windows. The prices were astounding and disheartening for what we needed. I did not want to go for less than a double pane. What I wanted was almost $400 APIECE! We needed 8! I know to some that is nothing but to someone who wanted to build this house without debt and for around $4000 it is A LOT! On the way back home we decided to stop by the junk place on HWY 68 that we had went to and she gave me an iol lamp that matched my Mam-maws. She had no good windows visible and we chatted a bit. Then she told me she had some NEW windows in one of her 5 million buildings....lol...but she could not sell them cheap. I told her I'd like to look at them. They were almost identical to the ones I had wanted for $400. There were 8 3'x5', 3 2'x3' and one 3'x3'. 12 windows in all, still wrapped in plastic with the cardboard corners. We talked about price and she said she would sell them to me for $100 apiece if I would take them all! That is $1200. They are double pane.with screens. I told her I would think about it and before we got home, we decided it was a yes. We took her money this morning and now have 12 beautiful windows in Jimmy's garage, waiting on the walls and roof to be done!

*Today...we hauled the windows, carried 22 gallons of water to water all of the trees and plants, moved some 14' 2x4's and 4x4's to the building site to be used for porches and a summer kitchen, leveled the floor perfectly, we had to jack up a few places and put some shims in but now with the string level....it is all level, solid and waiting on the walls. We had a Mother's Day dinner with Chris' mother and then chatted with Jimmy and Hazel until dark. We then went to our new home and stood in the middle of our floor in the dark, listened to the bullfrogs in the pond, watched the lightening bugs and hugged each other before coming back to our current residence.

While at the junk place, we were talking about floor and it just happens that the lady (she is the sweetest 78 year old lady you could ever hope to meet) said she had two large storage "buildings" of hardwood, tongue and groove flooring. We looked at it, loved it and she is not saving it for us. When we move in we will be putting the hardwood flooring in as we have time and it is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, we will be starting the walls. We will water all the plants and move a few more. We are going to get the outhouse done this week as well. We are HOPING is the weather holds up, we will have the walls finsihed in a week and the roof in another week. Amanda is taking off work for 2 days this week to help Chris with the walls. I may take off one. I will take of work 2-3 days when we start the roof. I cannot wait to see those walls go up, the roof started, the windows in, the porch done and us living there. We still think it is possible to be done by June 1st!

The only thing I am really dreading is moving the chicken coop, the chickens, and figuring out how to move the storage building and shed. THAT...is when I will begin fretting. I did find someone to move my bees for me and that will be done this week as well.

[Pam& Bill]

Forest Breath,
I look forward to your updates and I am enjoying reading what you are doing. Your excitement shows and I am in awe of you.
Pam

[ylisa7]

You guys are doing great. I love your energy and enthusiasm. I know you are all really excited and if you keep this up you Will be in by June.

Great job,
Lisa

[vacation bound]

Forestbreath, I have been reading all of these posts and time has gone on and I was so amazed at what you are doing I couldn't even find words to put down. I can't wait to see your finished product. I do hope you make yourselves a photo album on everything. Thank-you for taking the time to write and show us your progress. Keep up the good work.

[Forest Breath]

Thanks so much everyone. This is really a true dream coming to life and we are just so excited. I cannot wait to spend that first night in our home, trot out to the outhouse and then blow out the oil lamp before we go to bed, make coffee in the summer kitchen at 6am and take a bath on the back porch after a long day!

Yesterday, we got two walls up! We worked until about 9pm with only a 15 minute break for a piece of chicken and a bottle of water. We even got the walls raised as we made them so they are standing and braced. Today we will finish up those frames and get everything ready for the plywood. Tomorrow Amanda is taking off work all day and my other daughter Shannon is keeping Perrin. They will get all of the plywood done tomorrow and then we will be able to start on the roof! We are working so hard on this house and know that we will certainly appreciate it so much more when it is done and know we did it all by hand ourselves.

On a side note, as we were working yesterday, my granddaughter, Lakota was with us. Her "chore" was to babysit Perrin while she got 11 gallon jugs filled with water from the lower branch. We needed to water al those shrubs we planted. She was thrilled, because this meant she got to get in the water. About an hour later, Perrin came running up the hill. On his way down the last thing Amanda told him was "Don't get too dirty". We looked as he was running up the hill and he was COVERED in mud and soaking wet! When Amanda asked what happened he informed her the "icky mud monster" attacked him and he was able to fight is off and escape! 2 1/2 year olds are just adorable! They were both covered in mud but it was so heart warming to see them having such a great time in that branch and not sitting in front of a TV. Things like that will make this whole experience worth while!

[California Girl2]

Forest Breath,

What a captivating story! I was turned on to your saga by a co-worker and can not wait to read your posts. Best to you.

[Lake.Lady]

All I can say is WOW! I am so impressed. I am really enjoying reading this and look forward to reading the rest. How wonderful to realize your dream. Best of luck to you in this great adventure.