Entries Tagged 'Change' ↓

 
As we’ve said, this has been quite a year for us here:
 

 
What about you? Has your life changed much in the past year?

For better resolution click here.

 
As I wrote last Thursday, we made a lot of progress last week. The stems walls are now done and Joe plans to go up tomorrow to pack the dirt around the outside of the house as well as level and compact the dirt on the inside. He and his crew will also bend down the rebar and add more to prepare inside of the house for a concrete slab floor. (That area is covered at the moment to keep the ground from freezing.) He hopes to get approval from the building inspector Wednesday so he can, weather permitting, pour the slab the following week.

If the weather cooperates the Tuff Shed crew will start building the shed Tuesday. Again, whatever happens it should be interesting.

Hope things are going well with you. Kaitlin and Torben are coming tomorrow and will fly back Saturday Friday. Do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?

This past week was a productive one. Andy filled the back of the truck with wood to give it more traction in the snow when he plows:
 

 
The well driller installed the new lid for our well house (now being painted):
 

 
And Joe managed to get all of the permits we need for the septic system, house, and shed and dug the trenches for the house foundation:
 

 
The plan for this week was for Joe to put the rebar in and get approval from the building inspector to pour the concrete so we could order the shed. Unfortunately we had a bit of snow this weekend and there’s a winter storm watch for tonight, so who knows?
 

 

 

 
For more, and higher quality, pictures start here.

 
This view of the clearing was taken last Thursday. That was the day Joe was supposed to go down to Bernalillo to get the building permits, so between that and the weather we weren’t surprised that Andy was the only one up there. But Friday was beautiful and still no one else came up.

The weekend was gorgeous and the same is predicted for the first part of the coming week. So Andy is going to phone Steve tomorrow morning to see if (1) we now have the permits, and (2) if they will take advantage of the good weather to get something done on the construction. I will let you know!

In the meantime Andy is cutting down more trees and we’ve been making decisions on the roofing, windows, exterior colors, etc. so some progress is being made.

For larger view click on picture.
 

For larger view click on picture.

 
They continued preparing the site for the shed Friday while Steve and Joe (supposedly) went down to Bernalillo to see if they could get some building permits. We haven’t heard if they had any luck but should know more tomorrow.

We’re still keeping an eye on the weather. There’s a 50% chance of precipitation Wednesday, which might slow things down. Especially if it’s time to start pouring concrete. It’s all very interesting.

 

 
Last Thursday and Friday the road to and from the mountains was closed by semi trucks that rolled over. A company from Colorado was hauling away cars destroyed by the Las Conchas fire last summer, and apparently some of the drivers weren’t used to hairpin turns. Out of four truckloads two made it, two did not. (Both drivers are fine.)

We weren’t affected by the 5+ hour closure Thursday because we went to Santa Fe. But Friday Andy was stopped shortly after the accident occurred. He waited about an hour, and when it was obvious he wouldn’t be allowed through for several more hours he decided to drive home the long way…a three-hour trip. It was raining but he decided if he had to do it over he would simply have parked the car and walked the 5-6 miles home. Not the least because he triggered the 7-pm rule. If he isn’t home by 7 pm and hasn’t called I’m supposed to organize a search party.

He had tried to phone but his cell-phone battery was dead. So when he arrived at about 7:30 I was on the porch waiting for Beate and Tim to pick me up to go up and start looking for him. (They’re our closest summertime neighbors up there. They’re still here because they took a sabbatical to replant and rebuild.)
 

Their new cabin, taken from our property.
 

Beate in their kitchen/living room.

 
Needless to say I wish they lived here full time. Some of the sweetest words I’ve ever heard was when Beate said, “It will take us 15 minutes to get there, but wait on the porch. We’re coming to pick you up.”

Have you ever had neighbors like that?

Las Conchas Fire Information. Creative Commons license.

June 26, 2011. Flames are slightly below our house.

July 18, 2011

 
The big story around here for the past month has been the fire, of course. That’s finally under control and the big concern now is dealing with the aftermath, i.e., rehabilitation. In the areas that were severely burned, the soil tends to repel water and the organic matter in it has been burned, so there’s danger of erosion and flash flooding if/when it rains. That means except for last Monday, when we landowners were escorted in with our insurance agents, we still can’t go up there. But the fire team turned the authority over to the Forest Service yesterday (Saturday, July 23rd) and hopefully they will give us permission sometime this week. In the fullness of time we can start dealing with our own aftermath. It should be interesting and keep us busy for a while.

So what’s new in your life?

WebMD just posted an article that resonates with me right now: Marriage Advice: New Rules for a Good Marriage. The points I especially agree with are

• Forget the old rule “Never go to bed angry.” Instead calm down, sleep on it and deal with the issue when you’re both well-rested and can put things in perspective. Don’t let things fester but don’t try to resolve problems when you’re both tired and being jerked around by your emotions.
• Don’t feel that just because we each develop different interests over the years that it’s bad for the marriage. If both partners are happy with their different interests and still enjoy the time they spend together, it can invigorate the marriage, and
• Don’t assume good marriages just happen. They require commitment and teamwork. Long-term marriages aren’t trouble-free, they simply require the partners work together to solve the problems. And solving those problems together gives richness and depth to the marriage.

That last one is one of the main reasons I’m so happy right now. If all goes well we’ll see the mess up in the mountains tomorrow.
 

 
We’re already making some contingency plans…together.

It looks as if we will get to go up Monday morning at 10 am. A group of homeowners and insurance adjusters will be escorted in at the same time, which makes sense. We plan to take a lot of pictures.

In the meantime I have my spreadsheet set up for the personal property we had, as well as a system for organizing the documentation. We were warned that would be a lot of work, but now it’s broken down into small chunks.

Three insurance representatives came up around 8:30 this morning so we got the ball rolling on the insurance. And Andy saw our architect at 10. It looks as if we will have enough money to build a smaller and more complete structure, but only time will tell. The fellows we talked to don’t have the authorization to seal the deal, and the higher ups may have different opinions. But we were impressed at how the company handled the hail damage to our car a few years ago, and our architect switched to the company after he saw how they handled the claims from the 2000 Cerro Grande fire. If our claim is handled properly we will tell the name of the company.

Then we phoned the Sandoval County Fire Department and started negotiating for an escort for us, the insurance claims representatives and the architect to go up there. We will probably be able to go Thursday or Friday. When we do we will definitely take some pictures.

The fire has now burned 147,642 acres and is 50% contained. We are having a bit of rain which helps put out the fire, but which brings concerns of its own…the danger of flash flooding. Fires this intense burn all the organic matter and cook the soil, making it impervious to water. The water rushes immediately off the hillsides, often causing havoc below.

More later!